This is a great thread!,
Emjaybee thats a wonderful layout, but I confess my eye was drawn to the wonderful wall of ephemera!

I'm afraid I don't have any pictures of my first railway.  My Dad built it for me and it was N gauge, my little bedroom had room for it and my bed only.  Dad built it high enough that we could hang my clothes under it and put everything else under there.  It was a 3'x 3' double track loop,(in a 6'6"x6'6" room!).  My first trainset was a Lima 31 and 2 coaches, unfortunately gone now, I know they were pretty rubbish but I did love that locomotive.

What's just as remarkable was that my Dad built it despite hating trains (something to do with being stuck in a train at Crewe for hours and hours when he was a squaddie!).  It was my mum who got me into them as she used to holiday at an Uncle's who was a signalman at Pencoed crossing on the South Wales mainline and used to stay in his house in a room so close to the track you could almost touch the trains

Graham

Quote from: Bealman on Today at 11:45:32 AMA great potted history! Thanks for posting.

I like the little 009 bit tucked in the end!

A few years ago the 009 got a new lease of life. Dad said he wished he'd got something to run them on as for 30+ years all it did was occasionally potter back & forth in the timber yard.

So I built him this...





It's progressed somewhat since the last picture. It's fully ballasted & has a complete farm, crossing gates etc..

Oh, and the blighter now has my Double Fairlie on permanent loan!

Oh dear, Gareth.
Some people just can't be/won't be told and, sad to say, it's usually us oldies

A couple of months ago I mentioned how the father in law had another fall, broke his pelvis and 4 ribs. He has been in hospital since and was due home today.

We had a meeting with the various authorities last week along with the father in law and it was agreed due to mobility issues he would have care at home coming in 4 times a day, to get him up, meals, toilet etc and then to bed. He wasn't to try to do anything himself.

All this was met with a stupid grin from him which, as family, we knew didn't bode well.

It was explained if he had another fall he would be in hospital for even longer.

He lasted just over an hour. Decided to get up and go into the kitchen, fell over, cracked his head and was found on the floor by care at home having taken his lifeline off. He is already back in the hospital.

Quote from: njee20 on Yesterday at 07:57:00 PMWell they're not the ideal source of information on such things at this point. I read that Heljan weren't actively seeking a buyer, which is very different to being on the brink of collapse.

Well Heljan seem to have embraced it, and their senior staff are retained, so it can't have been too bad a deal.

Anyway, I expect it will all settle down in a while.

Bob

Quote from: cmason on Today at 12:44:13 PMHmmm... Rails have taken my money for the pre-ordered hoppers already - but no news yet on the C-class. Hope I have not been gazzumped ( I did pre-order...).

No news on my C class either, Colin.
I checked the Bachmann website yesterday and it didn't say 'Arrived' so maybe Rails jumped the gun a bit

Quote from: cmason on March 26, 2026, 03:38:29 AM

Quote from: Newportnobby on March 25, 2026, 10:34:23 PM

Quote from: thebrighton on November 20, 2025, 02:49:13 PM

Quote from: Newportnobby on November 05, 2025, 11:18:09 AMNot often I post in here 'cos I'm a miserable old git, but in the latest Farish announcements they're doing another run of the C class 0-6-0 tender loco, INCLUDING THE GORGEOUS SECR  LIVERY!!

I just wish they'd bitten the bullet and gone for the original Wainwright livery rather than another run of the simplified version but at least another run suggests there is demand for pre grouping liveries 

Rails advised today they have the C class in stock so my pre-ordered SECR liveried should be with me in the next few days

Yes - excellent news! And the email says NER hoppers are here as well! ( @icairns )

 

Hmmm... Rails have taken my money for the pre-ordered hoppers already - but no news yet on the C-class. Hope I have not been gazzumped ( I did pre-order...).

Quote from: Bealman on Today at 04:26:32 AMThat big rock is one of five islands - the road along there out to Port Kembla steelworks is called Five Islands Road.

Clankies as innovative as ever I see! 

A great potted history! Thanks for posting.

I like the little 009 bit tucked in the end!

Okay, the flashbacks are happening.

My early model railway experience was the obligatory 'O' tinplate. We had enough track for a oval & a siding. I can remember the builders doing our family extension winding up the loco for me & setting it off. That was 1973.

Then came my first trainset.



All the rolling stock still exists. The loco still runs like a goodun & only lost the chimney once, which was repaired. That loco got an absolute beating from a small child & still runs like a dream.

I think I was around 4/5 when I got this on a wooden baseboard stored under my sisters bed.

Our family extension was built in 1973, with my father making provision for storage all down one side with a surface over the top for a 14' model railway on it complete with hinged cover.

One of these appeared at some point.



Which was supplemented with real fine chain & occasionally got used to hoist wagons!

Of course we also had one of these at some point.



I think I found it exciting because it had a working light!

Over the following decades my 'involvement' seemed less than my fathers. There came a Hornby Princess Elizabeth, with smoke & 'chuffing' sound made by a piece of emery paper on a flexible strip. That loco survived the best efforts of an enthusiastic youngster, surviving many 'track obstructions'. On many occasions it spent hours blasting at full tilt round a dogbone layout smoking like a goodun to the point that the extension had a 12" deep smoke haze at ceiling level prompting my mother to tell me to "either stop, or open the back door." She still runs well, & chuffs, but the smoke generator has finally burnt out. I'm staggered it lasted as long as it did!

Many other locos came. We even went through a Freighliner phase, complete with BR green '47. But it was always about steam, LMS steam, obviously.

Over the course of 45 years it finally, following a number of track alterations & additions, reached the point where my father declared "I think I've finally reached the point where I can't do any more to it."









The radius 1 curves in the first photo are the original Hornby steel setrack curves. Unfortunately, as the layout hasn't been opened & used for a number of years, these have rusted badly thus rendering the layout inoperable without significant effort which my 89.5 yr old father struggles with, hence he now has a couple of smaller, table top scenarios.

That is my 'early', in very loose terms, journey in model railways.