Number of locos

[joe cassidy]

Its an old Beaver Kit from ABS Models of (unsurprisingly??) Poole!, code N654 dating from the 80's or early 90's AFAICR,   Its not a bad whitemetal kit, using the then obiquitious Grafar GP Tank 0-6-0T with provided truck and wheels. I bought two kits as its a favourite (and visually quite different to almost anything else). Only made one so far, it was shown in the NGS Journal way back when my first non area specific "Wyrefleet" was featured.

And by chance someone listed 3 unmade kits on eBay yesterday.
[/quote]

Thank you Dave and Gareth.

Any idea whether the Beaver kit might fit on a Farish Poole LMS 4F chassis ?

Thanks in advance,

Best regards,

Joe

[Steven B]

By some descriptions on here I'm a collector and have too much stock.

All my stock gets run (albeit infrequently) and when it does I run locos that match the rolling stock. I'm trying to replicate the look and feel of trains in North West England/North Wales in the late 1980s. Doing that means modelling a couple of dozen distinct trains, each with characteristic locomotives.

I could take the class 47 of the Euston train and put it on the rake of HAA going to Fiddlers Ferry but it would look wrong and break the spell I'm trying to make. Would probably be easier (and less expensive) modelling some sleepy GWR branch line...


Steven B.

[thebrighton]

Any idea whether the Beaver kit might fit on a Farish Poole LMS 4F chassis ?

Sorry, I can't give a definitive answer but the chassis block will be the same but wheel spacing may not. The drivers are also larger than those on the intended chassis which may cause clearance issues inside the body.

[crewearpley40]

I have 20 locos, but quite a lot more stock and steven b @Steven B   I have pm ' ed with a link to confirm

[OffshoreAlan]

I'm glad I got in early on this thread, subsequent posts have shown me just
how small a minnow I am in the N Gauge Pond.

Nevertheless I'm happy with my collection 

[ntpntpntp]

@OffshoreAlan  as I wrote way back, it's not a competition you should just approach the hobby in the way you enjoy - whether than be one single favourite loco in your fleet or hundreds of the blighters 

[Jim Easterbrook]

a question--maybe for a new thread--What are your favourite 3 locos--and why ?

That's easy for me to answer: Kato RhB Ge 4/4 III, Kato RhB Ge 4/4 II, and 3D printed RhB Tm 2/2. Why? Because they're the only locos I have!

I think the "collecting gene" is more strongly expressed in some of you than it is in me. I like to dabble in lots of interests, so will never have a model train collection to speak of.

[Steven B]

It depend on your approach too.

I'm aiming for something loosely based on the Calder Valley line in the late 1980s, but also with an eye on traffic on the North Wales coach (several trains were common to both!). To do it justice the locos and the trains need to be in keeping. This means large logo 47s on Transpennine passenger trains with oil tanks and bin-liner trains handled by freight liveried versions of the same loco. Similarly coal trains would be normally be class 37 or 56 hauled. I can't take the 56 of my HAAs and put it on a rake of Mk2s without spoiling the atmosphere I'm aiming to recreate. It'd be like putting an LNER A4 on an engineers train - theoretically possible but not likely or common.

End result is a large-ish fleet of locos to go with the key trains - the fleet could be larger but I can live without return workings!

I do have plans for something based on Dymock on the Ledbury - Gloucester line in the 1950s. To achieve the same level of realism would need just three locos (14xx, pannier and prairie tank engines) and a diesel railcar. Same approach, completely different size of stock-box.


Steven B.

[Newportnobby]

Regardless of how many locos or how much stock we have, there's a high chance it will all end up in the hands of buyers of collections unless you happen to have someone lusting after your models (family and/or friends) when you leave this earth. Mine will all just get sold off and the monies go to a charity of my choice (in my will). It won't stop me adding new ones. Something to perhaps be considered

There - that's a cheery thought for a Monday afternoon, eh?

[joe cassidy]

Any idea whether the Beaver kit might fit on a Farish Poole LMS 4F chassis ?

Sorry, I can't give a definitive answer but the chassis block will be the same but wheel spacing may not. The drivers are also larger than those on the intended chassis which may cause clearance issues inside the body.

I'm pleased to report that I managed to buy one of the Flatiron kits on ebay.

Thanks again for the tip-off.

[PGN]

Well ...

... the idea of my pre-grouping layout "Neraland 2" is to showcase just how much pre-grouping modelling is possible WITHOUT resort to scratch building (people used to tell me "you can't do pre-grouping in N because the trade doesn't support it" ... but that just ain't true). I aim to be able to run a minimum of 4 trains from each of the major pre-grouping railway companies, and at least some trains from as many of the minor ones as possible, and I am marshaling my stock into permanent train formations.

At present, I have:

*51 pre-grouping trains in full running order
* about 20 locomotives which are "good to go" and just waiting for their trains
* about a dozen locomotives in the erecting and paint shops
* about half a dozen locomotives in running order waiting to go into the paint shops
* 7 locomotives which have been contracted-out for repainting or other work and should come back in due course
* 30 or so unbuilt kits / conversion projects queuing up for their turn in the erecting shop
* 20 or so locomotives with no particular purpose in life which will probably end their days as mechanism donors

PLUS

* A dozen or so locomotives in the livery of my fictitious Ouse Valley Light Railway
* 8 locomotives to enable me to run a "Thomas" session should the presence of young children so require (Thomas, Henry, James, * Percy, Stepney, Toby, Duck, the diesel shunter)
* 3 locomotives because my wife likes them (Flying Scotsman, Tornado, and a Class 47 in Scotrail livery)
* 1 locomotive that I have no use for but cannot bear to part with (LMS no. 5552 "Silver Jubilee", recently pictured in the N Gauge Journal)
* Divers other locomotives which I cannot for the life of me remember what they are, where they are, or why I got them, including various which I acquired as non-runners to mine for spare parts, or to appraise for suitability for intended projects only to deem them unsuitable, or that were used in projects which I started and then abandoned for one reason or another

Is that enough? Hell, no ...

[martyn]

No matter how many you have, you'll always want at least one more......

But I agree with Steven B; if modelling a main line station on a busy trunk line, if you had the room then fifty probably wouldn't be enough; if you were modelling a typical branch line with three trains a day, then three locos is probably more than enough.

As has been said, its not a competition, and anyone modelling for twenty or thirty years is probably going to have more than someone who started modelling in lockdown.

Martyn

Not saying how many I've got, I honestly don't know.

[Richardxharrison]

Hi all,
Slightly left field in relation to the main topic on this thread .... So regardless of how many locomotives you have and where they are located on the layout, fiddle yard or in boxes how does one ensure that they all get an even outing? Of course I understand if you run a prototypical timetable (as some forum members seem to)  then usage of locomotives is a given.  However what do people do, say if they are still in the "testing" and building a new layout phase?
How do you allocate your locomotives "track" time?

[jpendle]

I'm with @Bad Raven here.

Everybody has somewhere between too many and not enough, where not enough is greater than too many 

I've got around 45 things with decoders in them, perhaps I'm in a minority but for me, I want every loco to have a train to run, so my loco purchases are sometimes limited by my rolling stock purchases. MU's are a different matter.

I've got 16 CL66's but a couple more wouldn't go amiss, and 7 CL68's but I'll buy one more as soon as Dapol get around to bringing out a second one in TPE livery.
I'll eventually have 7 Pendolinos as well.

As far as running them all goes, all of my stock is on the layout mainly in the storage yards, and gets very little track time.
For that reason, and others, I've started to automate the layout, the first schedule I'll be putting together will be a really simple run every train 3 times round the layout kind of thing.

Regards,

John P

[ntpntpntp]

@Richardxharrison   For exhibitions I keep a suitable selection of locos in one case, another equivalent set in another case etc. so I can run different sets at each show.   The main trouble with that at the moment is of course there are no shows. 

I'd say at present 99% of my collection is just languishing in their boxes, and all I do is pull half a dozen specific types out in order to test track laying and catenary alignment on my current project.  If a new purchase arrives that will at the very least go for a spin around my servicing test oval just to prove all is ok, then it goes to join the rest.

A couple of times a year I get the urge to set up a larger oval of Unitrack and try to "stir the oil" in as many locos as I can over a few days.  The main layout cannot be set up at the moment due to the space being required for working from home and also for junior's music studio while he's back at home after finishing uni.  I'll get my train room back one day!