Why Did You Choose to Model N Gauge?.

Started by longbridge, November 22, 2011, 10:06:14 PM

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broadsword

Was  the Beatties shop in Glasgow the same premises as  Maplins
who have also gone belly up ?

tgv_obsessed

Quote from: violets49 on March 08, 2018, 11:35:01 PM
Quote from: tgv_obsessed on March 08, 2018, 09:33:27 PM
The short answer is "because the man in Beatties in Kingston Upon Thames let me buy 2 curved points and some curves of either 2nd or 3rd radius, when what he should have sold me were some normal points, the return curves and a few straights"

But the truth was he prefered to just fleece a ten year old of his christmas money rather than give advice. Thats what OO scale is all about. Fleecing children.

This is how it should have happened

Me: Can I have these things please?
Mr Shyster: Oooh did you get a trainset for christmas? Which one?
Me: Yes I got the R.790 Inter City set
Mr Shyster: With that set, I'm not sure what you're buying will work very well. Lets go through the catalogue and see what you're trying to do
Me Ok then- Ok then I can probably draw what I want.  it I'm good at drawing!
Mr Shyster: Ah you see the curved points need extra sections to fit together and the curves don't really match up anyway.
Me: Oh (dissappointed)
Mr Shyster: But not to worry, these normal points are the right ones- and they cost less too- you can buy some more straight track
Me: Thank you Mr Shyster!

But instead, Mr Shyster lived up to his name, and i spent all my christmas money on track that I didnt want to use.
So naturally I have hated OO trains ever since.

Having experienced Beatties, but thankfully not as a ten year old, I can appreciate this, But my experience with them was not that they were shysters just that they knew hee-haw about the goods they were selling. (Buy this one, I don't know what it is but its more expensive that the other one!) It was little surprise to me when they went belly up! I don't think I ever bought much in Beatties. Any simple enquiry was usually met with a blank look and an attempt to convince you that what they were holding was what you wanted. I've often criticised 'Modelzone' but at least the staff had some idea of what they were doing. Only thing Beatties were good for was EFE 'seconds' for repaints and Conversions.

Oh I know that now, but this all happened in 1980, well probably January 1981- I'm pretty sure I picked up the Hornby catalogue that had the live steam rocket.

But I digress, yes I know that now, and I don't really think the saturday staff were crooks, but its a first impression of the world of buying model railway equipment.

On the other hand, it was 1980(or 81) and in those days a Hornby was still a big deal and Beatties had almost a whole floor devoted to the stuff, so one might expect at least an eyebrow raise, maybe not.

I ought to have gone to Richards in Wimbledon- a lovely independent toyshop where I used to buy scalextric stuff (that was my passion at the time)- the lady there would natter away very knowledgably about such things as Goodwood chicanes and Dunlop bridges!

At any rate, perhaps Mr Shyster at Beatties wasn't the only reason I didn't maintain a model railway at home. The Hornby set wasn't very good, and I knew enough about electronics (through scalextrics) to know it wasn't very good. Ok not as consistently reliable. The power pack was remarkably lightweight, providing a trickle of juice to the track.

I realised very quickly that a Hornby was expensive, tempremental and took up a lot of space. Even a friend of mine with double track laid on a baseboard found it difficult to keep the trains chugging along. And this was with a lot of fatherly help. Most of our dads were into electronics and they all seemed to have soldering irons and god knows what else.

Friends with N gauge seemed to have none of these problems, and in those days when kids did have trains, I remember 3 of them having n gauge layouts. I was much more excited by these tiny trains racing around their hairpin radii. But I persisted with OO not at home but the school had a layout- which worked!- and once a week some of us would give our locos a runnaround.

But I thought if i ever was going to have a railway it was going to be N.
running in is so you get used to the noise, oops, to bed the gears down properly

violets49

Quote from: broadsword on March 09, 2018, 12:59:50 AM
Was  the Beatties shop in Glasgow the same premises as  Maplins
who have also gone belly up ?

Yes. St Enoch square.

violets49

My recollections of Beatties was a big toyshop. If you asked for anything remotely exotic all you got was a blank stare. The first time I ever went in was when I was converting my 4mm layout to code 75. Ask for Code 75 medium radius points comes back with code 100. "No, I want code 75, the stuff in the YELLOW boxes" Blank stare. "They don't come in yellow boxes." "Code 75 does."  "Do you not want these then?" "No, I want code 75, the ones in the yellow boxes." "They don't come in Yellow boxes" No sale! When Beatties were in Glasgow there was a decent model shop on Bell street, D&F models. and in Paisley there was the not quite so good MacKay Models. I don't even remember them selling any 'N' scale stuff. If they did it would be at full RRP prices. To be honest Hamleys who are now in the St Enoch Centre across the square are as good as Beatties ever were. Sadly we don't have one model shop left in Glasgow who sell model trains. Wildcat models in Partick do a small range. and I think Pastimes up at St Georges Cross also have some model trains. Changed days from when I could spend a saturday morning going around the Glasgow model shops


violets49

If you mean Wildcat and Pastimes. Frankly no. Wildcat are primarily a plastic model kit dealer. They are good for paints and tools. Also do Metcalf kits and some Peco stuff. Any RTR model Rail stuff tends to be on the expensive side. AS for pastimes I'd rather not comment! Lets Just say they don't have a good reputation in the West of Scotland. The last 'real' model Rarilway shop in Glasgow was 'Waddels Models' which was in the old 'D&F' shop in Bell street but he closed down about a year ago.

violets49

 :sorrysign: Sorry, I missed the link (And the point) of your message. Never heard of Uddingston model cnetre but I pass through Uddingston by train every Wednesday going to Bellshill so I my check this out when the weather gets better! I have a friend who lives in Uddingston I ask her where this place is.

broadsword

Mackay Models in Paisley sold Fleischmann N stuff at top dollar prices.
Not sure what's wrong with Pastimes, I've had a few items from them
and can't complain. Best bet in Central Scotland is Harburn Hobbies
in Edinburgh, not too cheap , but a good range and very friendly
people .

Train Waiting

Quote from: broadsword on March 09, 2018, 04:44:58 PM
Mackay Models in Paisley sold Fleischmann N stuff at top dollar prices.
Not sure what's wrong with Pastimes, I've had a few items from them
and can't complain. Best bet in Central Scotland is Harburn Hobbies
in Edinburgh, not too cheap , but a good range and very friendly
people .

I couldn't agree more!  The last time I was in, I was served by a chap who is a very enthusiastic British 'N' Gauge modeller.  If you could imagine the polar opposite of the Beatties' Kingston branch reported above, this was it.  With regard to prices, a 'real' model shop must find it hard to compete with the big mail order specialists.  I actually make a point of paying more for some items at Harburn and paying for the train fare to get there.

Best wishes.

John
Please visit us at www.poppingham.com

'Why does the Disney Castle work so well?  Because it borrows from reality without ever slipping into it.'

(Acknowledgement: John Goodall Esq, Architectural Editor, 'Country Life'.)

The Table-Top Railway is an attempt to create, in British 'N' gauge,  a 'semi-scenic' railway in the old-fashioned style, reminiscent of the layouts of the 1930s to the 1950s.

For the made-up background to the railway and list of characters, please see here: https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=38281.msg607991#msg607991

violets49

MacKay Models have been closed for many years. Indeed, their former shop has, for a good many years returned to its original use as the back (Old Sneddon) entrance to Paisley Gilmore Street Station. They had a place in the Anchor Mill business Centre but I was never in it. This remained open for a while after Mr MacKay passes away but then closed after. I believe a dispute between Mr MacKay's Widow and the two chaps who were running the shop for her.
There was another shop in Paisley which traded briefly but closed as the proprietor was a serving policeman and the rules changed regarding police officers operating a business. so the shop closed.
Regarding Pastimes, They don't have a good reputation among the modelling fraternity in the West of Scotland. My own experiences with them have been mixed.
Appart form the February show in the SECC, I seldom use Harburn. They are an Edinburgh shop who charge Edinburgh prices. Where I live, it would be cheaper to take the train to Carlisle than travel to Edinburgh.

violets49

Managed into Uddingston model centre recently. Not bad wee shop with lots of kit. Not all that much N scale though. Wee bit on the expensive side but thats understandable for a small independent shop. Hope to get back soon.

Platy767

#386
I know it's an old thread, but just my 2d for the record...
A school friend had a rather large 11' by 5' N gauge layout in the process of being built in the late '60s. He must have been a bit of a prophet, because it was multinational. He had a Minitrix T3 0-6-0T, a Concor 4-8-4, an F7 (don't know what make) and a Minitrix V160 that would run all day. Happy times. I started with a Lima Diesel and a few wagons...but then September 1970 RM arrived downunder. Ardoch on the front cover and described in all its glory as Railway of the Month
I still occasionally re-read that article. (There was meant to be smiley, but drag and drop doesn't seem to work)

Mark

AdrianC

As this post has had a bump, I'll add my 2d as well :)

I can't remember exactly when (early 80s though) but despite my now late father having a large but incomplete OO layout in the loft I decided one year I wanted to switch to N, and got a Lima set with the blue 31 and 4 coaches, complete with oval of track with a passing place for Christmas. With further Christmas money I got some more track, the 4F and some wagons. I loved it, and haven't looked back, except I haven't ever managed to build a permanent working layout!! All the Lima stuff is gone now, except some of the wagons and the 4F loco body, which coupled to a tender from a long dead Farish Black 5, gives some bits for the boys to play with where it doesn't so much what happens to it.

The quality change over the years is staggering but although most of the Lima stuff is gone, I've still got all my early Farish. Some of the old Mainline and Suburban generic coaches have become donors for various projects, but all the early Mk3s an the like are currently getting interiors or a bit of end detailing etc.

Don't think I'd ever choose another scale, and one day I'll finish a layout!!  :NGaugersRule:
If it moves and shouldn't, duct tape. It it doesn't move and should, WD40...

chrism

In my previous modelling incarnation I was OO through and through, but that was many years and a couple of house moves ago.
When I decided to take the hobby up again my choice was purely down to practicality. If I switched to N, I could fit Coniston (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=43692.msg573010#msg573010) into an 8' length - which would fit in my spare room and could be broken down small enough to fit in the car. Since I don;t have a 20'+ spare room nor a large van, OO was out of the question.

honestjudge

For me it was a case of being in the right place at the right time. At the time I was a regular at a shop in North London, past, present toys in Palmer's Green.
The owner was trying to get rid of a job lot of n gauge stuff that someone had brought into his shop. I got the 2 large boxes for £40.
It was all Fleischman. 2x motorized turntables, 20 x flexible lengths, boxes of straights and curves, lots of points with motors and lots of various other accessories which I still haven't got around to using. It was a mother of a bargain. But it all started with that.

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