I have been in 009 for two years now and started quite by chance, so often wonder how others started, since it would not normally be by liking models on display in a model shop!As a boy I had 00 gauge then TT which I found a good compromise of size / space. Then life etc intervened and although always interested in trains, and despite numerous trade visits to Nuremberg toy fair with skiving into the train halls, never modelled again until ripe old age of 64. Although I have driven on the 15 in. Bure Valley Railway, fabulous experience.I visited the Broadland MRC exhibition in Norfolk on a whim, and their club layout bore a For Sale sign. I was enchanted by the ' little trains' running along the front and enquired. The quarry section (Corru, for anyone who may know it) had already been sold I was told but the 14 ft x2ft mixed 00 / 009 layout was available. A little negotiation and it was mine....with no controllers locos or stock as these all belonged to members. So I had my own authentic post Beeching railway, infrastructure aplenty but no trains!Up to this point I had never even heard of 009 and ceratinly did not realise that you couldn't just go out and buy stuff.I have extensively remodelled one end of the layout, altering the NG track layout so it was operable without the previous attached quarry. I found the 009 society somehow and joined, so my learning curve steepened. Because the layout was built by club members it was to a higher standard than my teen efforts so I was and remain stimulated
to push myself to achieve higher standards.I attended the Society weekend at Kegworth which inspired me enormously.This summer I have built two new sections to replace the other end of the layout with the purpose of extending the 009 track and enhance operating. That is now in place but very much a work in progress to develop it.Oh and by the way my 14 ft layout has found a home...along the back wall of the lounge! (Very understanding is Mrs S!).Apologies are due to Broadland MRC for not joining the club (too busy with my layout!) but my thanks to them for the original spark they ignited, and to the 009 Society for all the inspiration I have gained. I am well and truly hooked.
Regards to all in 009
George S
I didn't!! I started in 00n3! ;)
I started modelling in 00n3 NG following the Midd Valley article in June 1971's issue of MRC and the local club (Preston MRC) giving me a load of old Triang TT stuff... Since them I've always ploughed a lonely furrow, first 00n3, Irish and then Welshpool on 12mm gauge, (a couple of 009 layouts), then moving into Continental, HOe and HOm, gradually working East as others started modelling what I did! :)
I started modelling in 009 as I gained an interest in the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway. I'd seen PD Hancock's book after a trip to Wales where I picked up a copy of Narrow Gauge Adventure in the old cinema book shop in Hay on Wye, and seeing Alistair in there sparked my interest in the loco.
Being the most local NG line to me at the time I started reading up about it, as my interest grew my parents bought me membership of the L&B trust (then association) and my late father made me a Chivers L&B Manning Wardle for Christmas one year - quickly after a short section of 009 track appeared on my 8'x4' trainset in the bay window of the dining room. Then it grew a bit more and took over part of the standard gauge goods yard, then I added a siding, and a Langley DHR B class arrived and I enjoyed using them a lot more than the standard gauge stuff - the odd mix of LNER and GWR stock would be set running on the two loops, but I would spend far more time running the narrow gauge line 'properly'. As my interest in 009 grew I got membership of the Society as a present for what would have been my 9th birthday in 1994 and, despite a waning interest during my time at uni, i've never let my membership lapse.
Tom, I remember a certain teenager asking if he could help operate my layout at the Porthmadog Ganolfan many years ago. And look where membership of the Society has got you.
Roger
Not sure that was Porthmadog, Roger as I didn't go there as a teenager. I definitely remember kindly being offered the controls at W&L gala one year, maybe in the late 90s/early 2000's, and i can remember Garry explaining his saving mechanism to me to explain how he had so many locos!
Quote from: invercloy on November 19, 2014, 11:07
and i can remember Garry explaining his saving mechanism to me to explain how he had so many locos!
The saving mechanism is still in place but under severe strain - - projected known expenditure over the next 12-18 months will probably include 1 x new Paul Windle Kerr Stuart 0-6-2t ( for delivery early 2015 ), 1 x Minitrains.eu 0-4-4t Forney, at least 1 ( possibly 2 ) x Minitrains.eu WW1 Baldwin 2-6-2t + associated US Army rolling stock,( release dates to be soon ), probably 2 each of Heljan L&B Locos & Bachmann Baldwin 4-6-0t's ( both expected autumn 2015 ), and that's just the stuff we currently know about!
Garry
Quote from: garrywhiting on November 19, 2014, 13:24
Quote from: invercloy on November 19, 2014, 11:07
and i can remember Garry explaining his saving mechanism to me to explain how he had so many locos!
The saving mechanism is still in place but under severe strain - - projected known expenditure over the next 12-18 months will probably include 1 x new Paul Windle Kerr Stuart 0-6-2t ( for delivery early 2015 ), 1 x Minitrains.eu 0-4-4t Forney, at least 1 ( possibly 2 ) x Minitrains.eu WW1 Baldwin 2-6-2t + associated US Army rolling stock,( release dates to be soon ), probably 2 each of Heljan L&B Locos & Bachmann Baldwin 4-6-0t's ( both expected autumn 2015 ), and that's just the stuff we currently know about!
Garry
Hmm... I wish I had your saving's mechanism! Either that, or a more understanding wife...
Jeff
I started with 'n' gauge in the 70s with Farish locos and Peco track. Strictly branchline and no roundy-roundy double track with complicated pointwork. But I did not care for the limited range of scenic details, buildings, figures etc and was soon seduced by 009 which enabled me to utilise the track and mechanisms while enjoying the greater support of 4mm 'extras'.
The James, Jeanette & VariKits, plus Chivers excellent loco bodies soon had me convinced that I had made the right choice.
While I can appreciate big layouts running big engines, it's the small stuff that gets my interest.