Boxcastle Bray

[Mike Oehlers]

I'm unsure as to whether new members feel that they might introduce themselves with a post when they join a new society and its forum, but I'm going to anyway.

I'll say right away that I've been out of the loop for some 40-odd years, my previous experience gained as a school boy club member modelling (but not completing) a SDJR setting near our school, through which the old railway line ploughed. So there is so much to learn and relearn - indeed probably set the clock back to the beginning, as so many things have changed. And these pages - along with others - illustrate that although many things have changed, some things remain the same!

I've fallen back into line following a chance meeting with a local chap that models EM and he's shown me what he has been modelling; it got me thinking, seeing his layout gradually fill up a room such that the only way to get around while in it is to crawl around the floor. I decided that IF I was to reengage, it would have to be N-gauge (with which I had a flurry of modelling when being brought up in Germany with Fleischmann/Arnold on every corner) or OO9. Initially, and with memories of germanic style railway, I though I'd have a look at HOe/m in the Harz Mtns, but on seeing the prices of Bemo and Tillig engines, I quickly reviewed what was on offer for modellers wanting to model the UK and was very pleased to see so much available in RTR and in kit form.

So, hailing from the Mild West (Dorset), I eyed the availability of stock offerings by Peco and Bachmann and saw that a narrow gauge railway - set in N. Cornwall and Devon could use the somewhat plentiful supply of L&BR and SR liveried stock - could be a runner, although I only have a limited amount of space ~ 3m by 1.5m for the base. My decision has been to set the layout in a quarry that has a mine attached - this was based firstly on the quarries at Portland, but these are huge and the "geology" wasn't what I was looking for. Then I came across quarries and mines at Box, near Bath, but again, it wasn't quite right.

By chance, I was helping the son of a local friend with his geology degree mapping project (I am a geologist by trade/profession) and a photo turned up of a rocky outcrop that blew me away, taken in Boscastle, N. Cornwall. But at the same time I found that there were no large-scale quarries active in the L&BR area during the '20s & '30s, but that there are today and have been since the 60's. Those in the Bray valley, which quarry sandstone for road aggregates and building stone in the better quality rock, lie roughly equidistant between Bratton Fleming (L&BR ) and South Molton (GWR). I have decided to play with the flux capacitors and alter time a little such that these quarries were worked some 30-40 years earlier in the early 30's (there was some quarrying in the Bray valley at that time at the small Mogridge Quarry, but it was the size of a tennis court or two) and that they were connected to the L&BR at Bratton Fleming, which is obviously fantasy, but a mere 4 km away: Boxcastle Bray was born.

So having made you yawn through all that, I do have a few questions for you - and I bet you get them too often - but one of the themes that doesn't seem to have changed over time is that of choices. What I mean by this is the various merits or challenges in using one "thing" or another. There are a number of chats were people ask advice on which one to use or which might be "best": now I realise that this is emotive and one persons choice, being say, a scratch builder, will be inevitably different from a newbie that can only think in RTR because to build everything, first time up, is far too daunting.

My choices (for a OO9 & modelling virgin like me) seem to be:-

Locos - RTR to start some and one or two very basic builds requiring slotting plastic printed bodies over easily accessed Kato/GF chassis
Rolling stock - essentially the same, but I don't mind messing up a few kit wagons as part of the learning process.
Track - some people seem to like Peco, others don't (and watching a few YouTube vids shows this) and others prefer Tillig. Others build their own. Pros/cons?
Electrics - SOS - I don't have a wired brain - it works by blue tooth, I think. Same with wires and circuit boards - there must be a book on this?
DCC - what is this and will it make me eventually go mad? Overkill for OO9 gauge? Will the small locos have room for the decoders or chips?
Scenics - I am looking forward to this bit as it is what I have done some of before.

I would welcome any feedback - positive or negative, especially on building OO9 gauge track using Templot as a guide - or is this also overkill for a narrow gauge set up?

[MickT]

Hi "M" (!) - We would all get to know you better if you sign off with your preferred first name, which stops it getting too formal! Anyway, as you've been on here for 3 hours and nobody has replied yet, may I be the first of I hope many members, to welcome you to the forum.

I imagine from what you have said in your very comprehensive introduction, that you are also a fairly recent "recruit" to the Society? If this is so, then may I also welcome you to the 009 Society with best wishes for a long and fulfilling relationship with the Society. I'm well into my own fifth decade less a year or so in the early 80's when I lapsed due to helping to defend the remains of Empire out in the sticks - which cost me over 1000 membership numbers when I saw the light and came back in from the cold!

If I can start off by answering one of your questions and hoping to offer my own thoughts about a couple of others:
Track - I personally would not go for Tillig as the standard, particularly as people I have known who did this universally seemed to have big problems with the points. My advice (unless you really want to scratch build track, is to go for Peco 009. If you are doing a quarry scene then you probably won't need the "mainline" range with its 18" radius points, so probably the crazy track if that is what it is still called, will be better for you. 12" radius points and 18" radius Y points are the most popular, I would advise against the 9" radius points as they are "insulfrog" ie dead frog and would not be too friendly with the small wheelbase 0-4-0 locos etc that I should think you would want in your quarry!

A growing number of 009 modellers have started to use the Kato set track system, particularly as a quick and easy option for test tracks as it is robust and comes mounted onto a base (do you remember the original Triang/Rovex grey plastic track base from the 1950's? Very similar in looks but much more up to date in reliability etc.

DCC - loads of modellers using this nowadays. Personally it is way too much for me, I prefer a gaugemaster combi or W controller and DC which is what I might call the "normal" route for those new to 009 (If you are adept at electrical knowledge then I stand corrected!) - but I've just read your para on Electrics, so that answers it - keep it simple and keep to plain old DC - yes there are books on the subject - if you just get the Peco pamphlets which I think can be ordered from Peco and are not expensive then if I remember there are 2 that cover very basic electrics for a layout up to fairly complex stuff such as cab control etc etc.

Finally -
1. Editor 009 News is always on the lookout for fresh articles covering anything from a basic "wagon bash" up to layout features so once you have settled in, please do consider contributing
something/anything for the mag!

2. You said you hail from Dorset - I've now escaped but was resident in Blandford for 26 years but am now the Wessex NG Modellers token "foreign member" as I live 150 miles away on the other side of the Severn Bridge. There are several Dorset resident members of the WNGM whose members cover broadly from Weymouth to Portsmouth west to east and from Southampton to Alton south to north- contact details for the Group are in 009 News - If you fancy having a look-see or even joining I can thoroughly recommend and I've been a happy member, even if it is from a distance nowadays, since 1994. They have an open day in Romsey on 31 May which will have the huge 009 Sales attending - could be a very good day out for you, bring a heavily loaded wallet!

MickT

So, a long introduction deserves a long response - sorry about that. Once again, welcome and I hope you enjoy the Society

[Mike Oehlers]

Thanks for your reply, Mick - and I'm a Mike - hadn't thought to change the sign up name yet. However, I've had a good look round the site and some of the threads on here in the few months I've been a member. So, thanks for the welcome.

Sorry for long intro and I'm grateful for your advice - I'll take a look at it more tomorrow, as well as the details for the Wessex Group - cheers.

I lived in Dorset until 1981 - mostly in Blandfold (Camp), Charlton Marshall and Iwerne Minster! 

Cheers,

"M"

[MickT]

I lived in Dorset until 1981 - mostly in Blandfold (Camp), Charlton Marshall and Iwerne Minster! 

Hello Mike

Aha! We are probably "brothers" then! I lived in Blandford Camp in 1975 (College Road - ugh!) and was on YofS 27 course. Followed by moving to Dorset and buying a house in Blandford town in 1994 and was there until 2020. Didn't quite pick up the accent but can do an "oo arr" OK which is totally lost on my newer neighbours in the valleys, who are all very depressed at present following last Saturdays rugby match!

By the way, you don't have to change your username if you prefer to use that - lots of people use their full names for that. I was  just suggesting that if you use a preferred name as a signature it's good for informality - as we are supposed to all be friends on here (most of us are anyway!)

Mick

[Mike Oehlers]

Mick - in '75 we were at 7 Sigs, Bad Salzuflen, although my Dad had me (occasionally) locked up at school, which had just moved to Iwerne. In later years, I was a Sgt in the CCF and had completed my Cert T course, ran the sigs squad and intended to join up - but I left school with a poor academic record but/and a full set of sports colours!

I did feel for our Welsh rugby cousins on Saturday - I was in Swansea in 2007 when we beat them 5-62 in a RWC warm up - but I know one thing - one day, they'll get their own back!

Cheers!

Mike

[Tom Haythornthwaite]

Hello Mike, and a warm welcome to this forum!  Thanks for sharing your thoughtful history and ambitions.

[Mike Oehlers]

Thanks Tom - I appreciate your welcome.

I hope to post my draft track plan soon. Many folk here seem to use some software for drawing these up - is there a basic, but decent free one that runs on Macs?

Cheers,

Mike.

[JulienW]

Might I suggest a pencil, paper and a scanner?

Old school I know but it works for me...

[Mike Oehlers]

Right - after several mock-ups, I've finished drawing up the graph paper - which took some time - and now I'm about to build the scanner - never tried one of these before, but I'll give it a go...

[Terry Mowles]

I had a quick scan around and it seems the most recommended track planning option for Macs' is this one https://www.railmodeller.com/express-edition-en.html.

There is a free limited edition and a paid for pro version.

Doesn't appear to be much else in the free category for a Mac that doesn't require Windows emulation and a lot of mucking about to make it work.

[Mike Oehlers]

I had a quick scan around and it seems the most recommended track planning option for Macs' is this one https://www.railmodeller.com/express-edition-en.html.

There is a free limited edition and a paid for pro version.

Doesn't appear to be much else in the free category for a Mac that doesn't require Windows emulation and a lot of mucking about to make it work.

Thanks, Terry - I'll take a look.

Cheers.

Mike.

[Hugh Norwood]

Just a thought (I haven't used any of this sort of software) - is there anything available online that runs in a web browser?

That would get over the cross-platform issues.

[Graeme Dunbar]

Just a thought (I haven't used any of this sort of software) - is there anything available online that runs in a web browser?

That would get over the cross-platform issues.

There is TRAX. I've not tried it as I use AnyRail.

https://traxeditor.com/index.php/

Edit: forget it. First thing that happened is it asked for my credit card details. It is not so much that I object to it changing to a paid-for product, but it doesn't even give you trial without entering credit card. Plus the presentation is decidedly amateurish with very little to show by way of its capabilities and examples. Pig in a poke territory possibly.

[Graeme Dunbar]

Possibly one for running on a Mac - XtrkCAD

https://sourceforge.net/p/xtrkcad-fork/wiki/Home/

I tried this donkeys years ago and 'Shortliner' Jack Trollope sent me a heap of layout designs (he was a micro layouts 'guru' and contributor to Carl Arnedt when they were alive).

It is (unless much changed) decidedly long in the tooth as far as the user interface is concerned, but one thing I really liked is that it had a built in simulator (of sorts and quite primitive). However it functioned enough to enable simple block locomotive and rolling stock items to be placed and moved that allowed capacity and clearances to be checked.

It is user supported and has what seems to be very active contributors, judging by the mailing list emails I still receive.

Edit: found a fairly recent video:

(changed to different video to the one I posted initially.)

[Mike Oehlers]

Thanks, gents - I'll have a look at that one too. Cheers.