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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Heaven: The SoF Railway Enthusiasts' Thread
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Sober Preacher's Kid
Presbymethegationalist
# 12699
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
quote:
Originally posted by Wesley J:
Something for you guys here - should you venture to Japan: "Hotels woo train spotters". ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
When I lived in Silver Spring, Maryland, my apartment overlooked a stretch of old Baltimore & Ohio track that carries CSX freight and Amtrak passenger traffic and that runs parallel to the Washington, DC Metro Red Line. I spent many a glorious afternoon trainspotting out on my balcony. I had no trouble sleeping either.
And as I previously mentioned, my apartment in Pittsburgh was in the old Pennsylvania Station and overlooked the bridge on which tracks crossed the Allegheny River and led into the station.
The Manse the Preacher Family lived in in Campbellton, New Brunswick overlooked CN's Intercolonial line. It was down the bank from our back yard, through some bushes and scrub. There was a perfect view from my bedroom window and the family room. I haven had a CN Engineer's cap. Sometimes the engineers would discretely whistle when they saw me, I was the little tyke who liked trains. Who wouldn't when you live on a main line?
Though the Intercolonial Line has been sold to a short line now.
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NDP Federal Convention Ottawa 2018: A random assortment of Prots and Trots.
Posts: 7646 | From: Peterborough, Upper Canada | Registered: Jun 2007
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Horseman Bree
Shipmate
# 5290
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Posted
Minor correction, SPK: CN has bought the three connecting lines back recently. Speculation is that the NTR, which goes diagonally acroos the empty part of the province may be downgraded or closed and the old Main Line will have all the traffic. The huge bridge up near New Denmark is the probable culprit.
The quality of track maintenance under the NBEC was also questionable, as were their operating practises. Absent-mindedly diverting the Ocean Limited into a siding full of freight carsdidn't help!
Posts: 5372 | From: more herring choker than bluenose | Registered: Dec 2003
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Horseman Bree
Shipmate
# 5290
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Posted
Oh, BTW, Enoch, you've left out one of the larger scales.
quote:
Perhaps in the lift the different floors are
1
O
S
HO
TT3
N
Z
G presumably would have to be the Ground Floor, with 1 being the next one up (? British rather than US/Canadian terminology)
This would make Z the top floor, giving a rather pyramidal structure.
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It's Not That Simple
Posts: 5372 | From: more herring choker than bluenose | Registered: Dec 2003
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
call me an imbecile and juvenile nay infantile ............ at least I can top the page each time
Yes Zappa, you are imbecile, juvenile and infantile.
Oh, BTW, Enoch, you've left out one of the larger scales......G presumably would have to be the Ground Floor, with 1 being the next one up
Really good idea HB. I hadn't thought of that. We who are daily becoming sadder salute you.
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Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson
Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008
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Alaric the Goth
Shipmate
# 511
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Horseman Bree:
Oh, BTW, Enoch, you've left out one of the larger scales.
quote:
Perhaps in the lift the different floors are
1
O
S
HO
TT3
N
Z
G presumably would have to be the Ground Floor, with 1 being the next one up (? British rather than US/Canadian terminology)
This would make Z the top floor, giving a rather pyramidal structure.
This tangent makes me think that we haven’t discussed what we have/like in terms of model railways!
I have a continuous-running double track ‘OO’ gauge layout in my loft. It is supposed to be a secondary main line, somewhere in northern Cumberland, built as a joint line by the North British, North Eastern and Midland railways to link the Settle-Carlisle with the ‘Waverley’ route without going through Carlisle. So I run LMS and LNER locos on it, including a B1, J39, ‘Black Five’ and 8F.
It is set around 1945-48, though not entirely consistently as I like my ‘Wrenn’ diecast metal wagons, some of which are in 1950s BR livery!
Posts: 3322 | From: West Thriding | Registered: Jun 2001
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Horseman Bree
Shipmate
# 5290
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Posted
I'm modelling in HO, set in the late steam era, mainly Canadian National. Surprise! I'm relating to the era and locale when I became aware of trains.
Diesels are very nice and relatively clean, but the diesel era has been all big trains, virtually no passenger service and little personal interaction in the way that used to be the norm even on main lines.
My problem is that it is incredibly difficult to give any sense of Prairie railroading in a space that is only 25 feet long - about 2200 scale feet. A simple station, passing track and elevator siding was normally 3000 feet long, dead straight and set in "big sky" space with no hills to break the horizon (or to hide staging tracks!)
I've started some modules in 4 foot lengths, which may help. They could be moved to shows where they can be integrated with other scenes to give the illusion of real distance.
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It's Not That Simple
Posts: 5372 | From: more herring choker than bluenose | Registered: Dec 2003
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Darllenwr
Shipmate
# 14520
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Posted
(Really just making sure that this thread doesn't drop off page 1 ...)
I had a railway layout as a child and, by the time I headed off to University, it had grown quite extensive. Unfortunately, whilst I was away my parents and I discovered that (a) my sister coveted my bedroom and (b) she was prepared to take direct action about it. I came home one vacation to discover that all of my stuff had been summarily evicted from my room and that my sister had taken it upon herself to dismantle the railway board.
Everything went into boxes and there it has stayed these last 30 years. Periodically, I think of it and start dreaming of building aloft layout. But it has only ever been a dream. Either there is not the time, or there is not the money, or both. Maybe one day ... ![[Tear]](graemlins/tear.gif)
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If I've told you once, I've told you a million times: I do not exaggerate!
Posts: 1101 | From: The catbox | Registered: Jan 2009
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
That must have been a traumatic experience. I had a similar one, coupled with the fact that I then went to a (railway-less) country in West Africa for five years!
Did a sad thing on Tuesday: watched "Tangmere" (steam loco) coming through ...
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
Yes, I'm in much the same situation, a lot of bits but no railway. I've even got a die cast Gem pannier tank which must be nearly 60 years old now. It used to be incredibly powerful by model standards but it's years since it even turned a wheel.
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Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson
Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008
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Darllenwr
Shipmate
# 14520
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Posted
If it's sad you're into, I reckon I must be high on the list. There are models in my roof-bound collection that have never so much as turned a wheel ~ they were bought during my college years and there has never been any track to run them on. From memory, the Dean Goods and the Hawksworth 94xx fall into this category. And I cannot remember whether the Collett 2251 ever ran; I think not. Glancing up from the keyboard, my gaze lites upon a Hornby class 2721 open-back cabbed pannier tank model which has never been out of its box, and which has adorned the bookshelves in my study ever since it was purchase, more than 10 years ago. Now that is saaaaad!
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If I've told you once, I've told you a million times: I do not exaggerate!
Posts: 1101 | From: The catbox | Registered: Jan 2009
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
Attention all of you who do not have a room or a railway. Carl Arendt is your inspiration! Some of these schemes are a little contrived, but it shows that a working railway is possible on a bookshelf.
Now get building! You have no excuse.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Darllenwr
Shipmate
# 14520
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Posted
Some neat ideas there. Tends to work better in the smaller scales (N, Z etc) ~ you don't get a great deal onto a shelf in OO.
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If I've told you once, I've told you a million times: I do not exaggerate!
Posts: 1101 | From: The catbox | Registered: Jan 2009
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PD
Shipmate
# 12436
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Posted
I have always been an HO/OO type. However, my wife has started some serious mischief - she suggested I have a G scale layout in the yard. Then again, it may be a plot to get me interested in gardening...
PD
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Roadkill on the Information Super Highway!
My Assorted Rantings - http://www.theoldhighchurchman.blogspot.com
Posts: 4431 | From: Between a Rock and a Hard Place | Registered: Mar 2007
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Wesley J
Silly Shipmate
# 6075
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Posted
I've had HO/OO as a kid. Though I always very much preferred N scale, my family seemed to have got advice from a model rail shop, and so I received the larger scale set.
It's all been put away many a moon ago, and I wonder if I'll ever start again - but then in N quite certainly. The reason being that I don't just like the wee liddle trains, but want to see them in a somewhat realistic context and doing landscaping would be just as important, or perhaps even more (sacrilege? ![[Paranoid]](graemlins/paranoid.gif) ), than running a model railway only. I guess it's the context and overall picture I'm interested in.
Tiny little details you could create there too, on a generous layout - people doing their gardening, having a chat with the neighbours, hanging their washing on the (washing, not train!) line. Trees and hedges in all shapes and sizes, a pond here and there, ducks, dogwalkers, a stream, kids playing... - so in a sense creating your own little ideal world, in little scenes, for your own and your friends' enjoyment. Others would write a book or compose music or paint, or do acting or real-life gardening. I think it could turn out to be quite artsy, really. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
[ 12. December 2009, 08:01: Message edited by: Wesley J ]
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Be it as it may: Wesley J will stay. --- Euthanasia, that sounds good. An alpine neutral neighbourhood. Then back to Britain, all dressed in wood. Things were gonna get worse. (John Cooper Clarke)
Posts: 7354 | From: The Isles of Silly | Registered: May 2004
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Angloid
Shipmate
# 159
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by PD:
I have always been an HO/OO type. However, my wife has started some serious mischief - she suggested I have a G scale layout in the yard. Then again, it may be a plot to get me interested in gardening...
PD
I hope that if you do, you will transform your little bit of Arizona into North Lincolnshire!
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Brian: You're all individuals!
Crowd: We're all individuals!
Lone voice: I'm not!
Posts: 12927 | From: The Pool of Life | Registered: May 2001
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Angloid
Shipmate
# 159
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Wesley J:
I've had HO/OO as a kid. Though I always very much preferred N scale, my family seemed to have got advice from a model rail shop, and so I received the larger scale set.
It's all been put away many a moon ago, and I wonder if I'll ever start again - but then in N quite certainly. The reason being that I don't just like the wee liddle trains, but want to see them in a somewhat realistic context and doing landscaping would be just as important, or perhaps even more (sacrilege? ), than running a model railway only. I guess it's the context and overall picture I'm interested in.
Tiny little details you could create there too, on a generous layout - people doing their gardening, having a chat with the neighbours, hanging their washing on the (washing, not train!) line. Trees and hedges in all shapes and sizes, a pond here and there, ducks, dogwalkers, a stream, kids playing... - so in a sense creating your own little ideal world, in little scenes, for your own and your friends' enjoyment. Others would write a book or compose music or paint, or do acting or real-life gardening. I think it could turn out to be quite artsy, really.
In view of your screen name, quite appropriate, too. The world is your parish indeed, all on a table top.
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Brian: You're all individuals!
Crowd: We're all individuals!
Lone voice: I'm not!
Posts: 12927 | From: The Pool of Life | Registered: May 2001
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Wesley J
Silly Shipmate
# 6075
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Posted
![[Killing me]](graemlins/killingme.gif)
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Be it as it may: Wesley J will stay. --- Euthanasia, that sounds good. An alpine neutral neighbourhood. Then back to Britain, all dressed in wood. Things were gonna get worse. (John Cooper Clarke)
Posts: 7354 | From: The Isles of Silly | Registered: May 2004
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Darllenwr
Shipmate
# 14520
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Posted
In the context of modelling something to look like a realistic landscape surrounding the trains themselves, the layouts at the Pendon Museum (roughly between Didcot and Oxford, UK) are well worth seeing.
The purpose of building the main layout was to record for posterity a landscape and a way of life that was disappearing. In this context, the railway appears within the model because it happens to feature in the prototype, which is the Vale of White Horse in the 1930's. The model is not a strict scale model of the Vale, clearly that would take far too much space, but is a sort of archetype of it (hope I've got the right word there), in that the modellers have taken representative buildings and scenes and reproduced them in the model. The end result is quite fascinating. Trains run through the model from time to time, but are not intended to be the main focus of attention, just another part of the overall scheme of things.
As I said, if you are in a position to visit, it is well worth seeing. Have a look at this for more information.
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If I've told you once, I've told you a million times: I do not exaggerate!
Posts: 1101 | From: The catbox | Registered: Jan 2009
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
I'd endorse that. It's well worth seeing. It's also not far from Didcot. So you can go there too.
When I was last there, I suggested to them they ought to include a scale model of John Betjamen as one of the Vale's most celebrated residents, and almost the right period, but got the distinct impression the person I said this to hadn't a clue what I was talking about.
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Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson
Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008
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Horseman Bree
Shipmate
# 5290
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Posted
Look up what there is about "modules" or "modular layouts". These are small sections, usually of the order of 4 feet long by two feet wide, that can be connected with others of the same specification to make working layouts. "Fremo" or "freemo" layouts are becoming quite popular, now that digital control allows for realistic train movements.
Building a module allows for you to be as detailed about the scene as you can manage, while still keeping it contained in a manageable, storable space.
You'll have to ask around as to who is doing similar work somewhere near you, so you can comsult as you need to, and you can then bring the modules together for large operating sessions.
We have a loosely-organised club with members scattered over three provinces, who agree on a particular style of operation. About a dozen gathered a couple of months ago in the local high school, and set up a layout that came out over 100 feet long, plus a branch line. Not the highest level of modelling detail, but a good time running trains there and back, all under DCC, so that passing trains while the local switcher keeps on working is all possible.
Report here, just for interest
Obviously, you deal with people who suit your style! (just like church!)
Posts: 5372 | From: more herring choker than bluenose | Registered: Dec 2003
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Darllenwr
Shipmate
# 14520
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Posted
My father's angle on railway modelling was that you had to decide what you wanted out of the model? If you were mostly interested in the running aspect, then the most appropriate layout was what he called the "loop and fiddle yard" ~ essentially a number of sidings laid out to enable trains to be formed and re-formed without encroaching on the running line, plus a loop of track on which the assembled trains can be run around for the benefit of an audience. Before I went off to University (see above) my layout had developed into this model, with two distinct shunting yards and a loop in between.
On the other hand, if it's modelling that is your thing, the track layout itelf becomes secondary to the scenery. You might want to think about putting the track on a shelf that is only slightly wider than the track, whilst the baseboard is at a lower level. This gives you scope to model embankments, cuttings etc. And, of course, if you have an exhibition layout in mind, you need to distinguish between the 'public' and 'private' areas.
A layout designed for shunting poses more interesting control problems (though I guess many of these only apply to the 'traditional' systems of power control) but gives scope for more interest to those running the layout.
At the end of the day, your budget will determine what you build ~ have fun and remember to post us some photographs.
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If I've told you once, I've told you a million times: I do not exaggerate!
Posts: 1101 | From: The catbox | Registered: Jan 2009
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Shubenacadie
Shipmate
# 5796
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Posted
Apparently the real Orient Express (as opposed to the better-known Venice-Simplon Orient Express) made its last-ever run last night; see here, with a link to more information.
Posts: 58 | From: UK | Registered: Apr 2004
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daviddrinkell
Shipmate
# 8854
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
Attention all of you who do not have a room or a railway. Carl Arendt is your inspiration! Some of these schemes are a little contrived, but it shows that a working railway is possible on a bookshelf.
Now get building! You have no excuse.
Thanks for that link - I've just wasted an awful lot of time looking through it! now casting eyes on books-shelves, one of which has an OO9 steam tram and stock standing on it....
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David
Posts: 1983 | From: St. John's, Newfoundland | Registered: Dec 2004
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PD
Shipmate
# 12436
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Posted
Angloid, I am fortunate that I live in the mountains so the native flora of our yard is pine trees and small oak trees. What does not thrive here is grass.
I have a long term fascination with Manx and Irish Narrow Gauge for which 'G-20.3' is ideal. However, there was once a proposal to build a narrow gauge roadside tramway (a la the Tralee and Dingle Light Railway, the Cavan and Leitrim - Arigna Branch, or the Clogher Valley Railway) from Brigg to Lincoln. That may well end up being my inspiration, especially as I will be using mainly Anglicized U.S. stock.
As a railway modeller I am an operations man, so I like end to end type layout best. I think that with G gauge I should be able to use a real rather than notional staff and ticket system to control the single line. Of course the times between loops will be unrealistically short, but what the hey!
One thing that irritates me about G gauge is that most equipment marketed as 'G' can be to any one of five scales all running on 45mm gauge. I wish they would adopt a gauge and scale way of marketing stuff - for example
G20 for 1:20.3
G22 for 1:22.5
G24 for 1:24
G29 for 1:29 (or "American" Gauge 1)
G32 for 1:32 (or "true" Gauge One)
By the way, G20 represents 36" gauge; G22 metre gauge; and G24 Cape (42") Gauge. G29 and G32 are both intended to represent standard gauge with "29" being for slightly overscale and 32 finescale.
PD
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Roadkill on the Information Super Highway!
My Assorted Rantings - http://www.theoldhighchurchman.blogspot.com
Posts: 4431 | From: Between a Rock and a Hard Place | Registered: Mar 2007
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Wesley J
Silly Shipmate
# 6075
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Posted
I'm afraid this thread appears to have been an inspiration - I've just purchased my first N size engine ever, I think, from an online auction site. As I don't have any N track at the moment, I had it run for a few moments on a 9V battery, for testing purposes.
Interesting memories from years gone by: I appear to have missed the smell of tiny running electric motors, the little sparks when the wheels touch an electric contact, and also of course the nice, regular purring of the miniature motor. Those wee machines, especially at 1:160 scale, are real pieces of art and craftmanship I'm beginning to think, not unlike a wristwatch would be.
Must say I'm quite happy now with my initial purchase and really believe that N is the right gauge for me - especially as I haven't got any pets at the moment, as in 'darling, the cat just ate your £500 train.' (Mind you, the new old loco now was considerably cheaper!)
I wonder how I'll be looking at and thinking about those liddle trains now, after a trainless decade or more. I'm hoping for a more relaxed, poised and serene modus operandi by myself - but who knows how long I'll stick to it, and populate my place with miles of tracks and hundreds of trains. Would that mean spending less time online? Oh dear. ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
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Be it as it may: Wesley J will stay. --- Euthanasia, that sounds good. An alpine neutral neighbourhood. Then back to Britain, all dressed in wood. Things were gonna get worse. (John Cooper Clarke)
Posts: 7354 | From: The Isles of Silly | Registered: May 2004
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Darllenwr
Shipmate
# 14520
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Posted
[Complete non seq]
Given that it's the season (and if somebody doesn't take action pretty soon, this thread is going to drop off page 1!) has anybody been on any reputable, steam-hauled Santa Specials this year? I overheard a number of colleagues discussing Santa Specials on the Brecon Mountain Railway today and concluded (from what they were saying) that this was one to which I would give the miss. But there might be others that were worth the effort ...?
[/non seq]
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If I've told you once, I've told you a million times: I do not exaggerate!
Posts: 1101 | From: The catbox | Registered: Jan 2009
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
You are too late for it but these apparently are worth the visit.
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
Back to my blog
Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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Alaric the Goth
Shipmate
# 511
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Posted
I've missed the Santa Specials, and anyway my eleven year-old would moan that he's 'too old for that sort of thing'. But I might try the Keighley & Worth Valley's Mince Pie Specials one day the week after Christmas. You get a free mince pie! (You used to ![[Disappointed]](graemlins/disappointed.gif) get a free drinkie as well: a small amount of sherry, but it is in Yorkshire and they must have decided
“Can’t be ‘avin drinks fer folks where they ’ave ter pay nowt! What dost tha think it is , Christmas or summat?”
[ 18. December 2009, 09:03: Message edited by: Alaric the Goth ]
Posts: 3322 | From: West Thriding | Registered: Jun 2001
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Marvin the Martian
Interplanetary
# 4360
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Posted
The Santa Specials on the Severn Valley are pretty good.
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Hail Gallaxhar
Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003
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daviddrinkell
Shipmate
# 8854
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Posted
I was once on a Santa Special on the Kent & East Sussex Railway from Tenterden - all very jolly and festive. My niece, who was little at the time, thought it was great, but the real reason for going was to indulge her father and uncle....
The K&ESR is a nice little line - one of Colonel Stephens's enterprises before it was resurrected by a preservation society. It passes near Bodiam Castle (Swamp Castle in 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' - 'One day, lad, all this will be yours'), and is beautifully kept and run.
I find, personally, that it's less fun chugging along at a slow rate behind an 'Austerity' 0-6-0 pannier tank than bumping up to 40mph on the 15" gauge of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch (which also has Santa Specials, of course). Each to their own....
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David
Posts: 1983 | From: St. John's, Newfoundland | Registered: Dec 2004
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Lord Pontivillian
Shipmate
# 14308
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Posted
I'd imagine that Santa specials on the Ravenglass and Eskdale are quite fun. Then again you could always go to Llanfair Caereinion! I'm sure that you would find a great Santa there!!
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The Church in Wales is Ancient, Catholic and Deformed - Typo found in old catechism.
Posts: 665 | From: Horsham | Registered: Nov 2008
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Darllenwr
Shipmate
# 14520
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Posted
Ahhh, go on, you love it, really!
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If I've told you once, I've told you a million times: I do not exaggerate!
Posts: 1101 | From: The catbox | Registered: Jan 2009
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PD
Shipmate
# 12436
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Posted
Well, my first batch of G scale equipment arrived a couple of days ago - a cheap secondhand trainset, so I can dip my toes before I take the plunge. No scale given on the boxes (#$@&!), but some use of the tape measure on componants such as doorways convinced me that it is either 1:22.5 - not the kindest scale for folks who like to work in imperial measurements; or possibly 1:24 - which would make things a lot easier. Some general diamensions for a full size D&RGW Baldwin T-12 would help to give me a reasonable idea of scale, but I have not ound any online. Oh well, it is library day tomorrow.
PD
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Roadkill on the Information Super Highway!
My Assorted Rantings - http://www.theoldhighchurchman.blogspot.com
Posts: 4431 | From: Between a Rock and a Hard Place | Registered: Mar 2007
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daviddrinkell
Shipmate
# 8854
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by PD:
Well, my first batch of G scale equipment arrived a couple of days ago - a cheap secondhand trainset, so I can dip my toes before I take the plunge. No scale given on the boxes (#$@&!), but some use of the tape measure on componants such as doorways convinced me that it is either 1:22.5 - not the kindest scale for folks who like to work in imperial measurements; or possibly 1:24 - which would make things a lot easier. Some general diamensions for a full size D&RGW Baldwin T-12 would help to give me a reasonable idea of scale, but I have not ound any online. Oh well, it is library day tomorrow.
PD
I am consumed with envy......
There was an ad on Ebay yesterday for a Mamod O gauge LIVE STEAM set - loco, wagons and an oval of track - bidding had got up to US$147. I was very sorely tempted.
Have fun!!
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David
Posts: 1983 | From: St. John's, Newfoundland | Registered: Dec 2004
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PD
Shipmate
# 12436
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by daviddrinkell:
quote:
Originally posted by PD:
Well, my first batch of G scale equipment arrived a couple of days ago - a cheap secondhand trainset, so I can dip my toes before I take the plunge. No scale given on the boxes (#$@&!), but some use of the tape measure on componants such as doorways convinced me that it is either 1:22.5 - not the kindest scale for folks who like to work in imperial measurements; or possibly 1:24 - which would make things a lot easier. Some general diamensions for a full size D&RGW Baldwin T-12 would help to give me a reasonable idea of scale, but I have not ound any online. Oh well, it is library day tomorrow.
PD
I am consumed with envy......
There was an ad on Ebay yesterday for a Mamod O gauge LIVE STEAM set - loco, wagons and an oval of track - bidding had got up to US$147. I was very sorely tempted.
Have fun!!
I find live steam tempting too, but I have gone with electric here for convenience sake - it gets quite hot and very dry here.
BTW, I eventually found a drawing of a D&RGS caboose and determined that the set is 1:22.5 scale. Now I am trying to convince myself that converting feet to inches and then dividing by 22.5 (without the aid of a pocket calculator) is not the pain in the behind it seems at first glance.
PD
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Sober Preacher's Kid
Presbymethegationalist
# 12699
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Posted
The Rio Grande Southern was a Narrow Gauge, 3 Foot Road. Did you figure this into your calculations?
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Posts: 7646 | From: Peterborough, Upper Canada | Registered: Jun 2007
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PD
Shipmate
# 12436
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sober Preacher's Kid:
The Rio Grande Southern was a Narrow Gauge, 3 Foot Road. Did you figure this into your calculations?
Being part Irish (at least, that is what I blame it on) I am a bit of a 3-foot gauge nerd, so yes, I factored it in. I wanted to know whether I was dealing with scale metre gauge, three foot, or Cape Gauge. I can mix 1:22.3 with 1:24 equipment, but I would shy away from mixing 1:20.3 with 1:24 as they are a little too far part. Thankfully most G scalers are "Broad Church" so such discreprencies don't cause a meltdown.
![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
PD
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
quote:
from PD
BTW, I eventually found a drawing of a D&RGS caboose and determined that the set is 1:22.5 scale. Now I am trying to convince myself that converting feet to inches and then dividing by 22.5 (without the aid of a pocket calculator) is not the pain in the behind it seems at first glance.
Perhaps a simple Excel spreadsheet with a column for feet and another for inches and then a calculation for the size in 22.5 scale would simplify it.
Jengie
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Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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Angloid
Shipmate
# 159
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by PD:
Now I am trying to convince myself that converting feet to inches and then dividing by 22.5 (without the aid of a pocket calculator) is not the pain in the behind it seems at first glance.
PD
What are these feet and inches of which you speak?
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Horseman Bree
Shipmate
# 5290
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Posted
For feet and inches, you have to go to the Measurement Museum of the World, known as the USA. Just about everyone else uses the common system of measurement known as "The Metric System", but they are determined to hold on to the old.
Must be something about being a young country, except that didn't work in Canada's case.
Or maybe it is just a socialist plot for someone to get world domination. Haven't figured out who yet.
It isn't as if they knew how big a gallon is!
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It's Not That Simple
Posts: 5372 | From: more herring choker than bluenose | Registered: Dec 2003
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PD
Shipmate
# 12436
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Angloid:
quote:
Originally posted by PD:
Now I am trying to convince myself that converting feet to inches and then dividing by 22.5 (without the aid of a pocket calculator) is not the pain in the behind it seems at first glance.
PD
What are these feet and inches of which you speak?
For railway modelling purposes, unnecessary conversions into metric are a royal pain because they introduce another step into the process when modelling any British/Irish/American railway equipment built before about 1973. The surviving drawings are usually in Imperial or US measure, so converting everything to metric is just a heap of unnecessary work. When scratchbuilding your own rolling stock it is easier to deal with the raw diamensions - whether metric or Imperial (US is irrelevant here) - and divide by the scale. The fewer steps you make, the less chance there is of making an error when scaling down.
The three versions of G scale for narrow gauge trains run at 15mm:foot; 13.56mm:foot: and half inch:foot respectively. The middle scale - favoured by LGB, has the most support from manufacturers, and is close enough to the old half-inch scale used by military modellers that you can hijack some of their stuff too. Thankfully "G" gauge is a rivet counter free zone.
PD
[ 19. December 2009, 15:41: Message edited by: PD ]
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Sober Preacher's Kid
Presbymethegationalist
# 12699
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Horseman Bree:
It isn't as if they knew how big a gallon is!
A gallon is 4.5 litres, as God intended. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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daviddrinkell
Shipmate
# 8854
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Horseman Bree:
For feet and inches, you have to go to the Measurement Museum of the World, known as the USA. Just about everyone else uses the common system of measurement known as "The Metric System", but they are determined to hold on to the old.
Must be something about being a young country, except that didn't work in Canada's case.
It's a funny thing, but although Canada has been metric for years, people still refer to Imperial units like miles to travel, inches of rain, pounds of cheese....
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David
Posts: 1983 | From: St. John's, Newfoundland | Registered: Dec 2004
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PD
Shipmate
# 12436
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by daviddrinkell:
quote:
Originally posted by Horseman Bree:
For feet and inches, you have to go to the Measurement Museum of the World, known as the USA. Just about everyone else uses the common system of measurement known as "The Metric System", but they are determined to hold on to the old.
Must be something about being a young country, except that didn't work in Canada's case.
It's a funny thing, but although Canada has been metric for years, people still refer to Imperial units like miles to travel, inches of rain, pounds of cheese....
I find I can still swap fairly easily between Metric and Imperial even though I have been living in the USA for ten years. Thankfully where the US measurements are weird - liquid measure and their "ton" - I rarely need to deal with them.
My basic problem with metric is that I was brought up using Imperial at home, metric was something you used at school. So when I am eyeballing something I think - that looks about 6" not that looks about 150mm.
Initial survey work on the garden - otherwise called wandering around out there while the dogs take care of business - revealed a nice, fairly level shelf through the rocks where I can place a model railway. The "rule of 4" applies to G scale apparently - no grades steep than 4 percent and no curves tighter than 4' radius. That does not work so well in metric.
PD
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Horseman Bree
Shipmate
# 5290
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Posted
4% is metric-only? Who'd a thunk it?
And 4 feet is close enough to 1.25 m. (actually 1.22) that I doubt it would make any difference in the "eyeball" stage.
But, sure, I use "English" units all the time in my carpentry, despite the plywood coming in "metric" sizes, because too many of my plans come from that Great Repository of Englishism to my South.
Remember Trudeau's "elephant&mouse" comment? We can't avoid paying attention to our neighbour.
Where else would you have the joy of interpreting "a fifth" to mean 26 oz, (1/5 of a bastardized gallon at 132 oz.)?
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Posts: 5372 | From: more herring choker than bluenose | Registered: Dec 2003
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Darllenwr
Shipmate
# 14520
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Posted
If it is any consolation, I earn my living as an engineer here in the (metricated) UK. Which doesn't stop my Machinist colleague and myself cheerfully referring to 'millimeters' and 'thous' (1/1000 inch) quite interchangeably. It's careless of us, no doubt, but we seem to manage. I find that one uses that units that are convenient at the time.
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Angloid
Shipmate
# 159
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Posted
[completely un-rail-related tangent] A man called the other day to measure up our bathroom for new fittings: he very happily chuntered on in measurements of 'feet', 'inches', 'millimetres' and unspecified units that could only have been tenths of metres (decimetres?). And a local flooring company have given up using metric units (though all their stock is measured in such) because it 'confuses the customers' ![[Confused]](confused.gif) Despite no-one under 100 not having learnt the metric system in school, and no-one under 60 having learnt the 'imperial' one.[/competely un-rail-related tangent]
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