hello

Hello and welcome to my site dedicated to playing with trains. Being a relative newcomer to the hobby (early 2003), having skipped from playing with toy soldiers, I have found the internet a great tool for inspiration and ideas. Hopefully this 'beginner's' perspective will be useful to other people too. I hope you find something interesting here, it's a work in progress so apologies for the mess!

Through necessity, I tend to do things on a budget. Another influencing factor is that I could never settle on one thing and stick to it for years. I used to play wargames in all scales and right through from Hannibal to Napoleon and beyond. Although what got me interested in this hobby was (and still mainly is) an interest in my local bit of the Midland railway, I dare say I'll be dabbling in most things along the way!

I find that at the shows I have attended I am always most impressed by the smaller layouts.. much more interesting to me than 30 feet of mainline an an endless procession of trains running round. I was never a 'spotter' and I suppose I'm more drawn to the detail of the modelling. If I could afford it I would love to play with O gauge Midland engines.. then I would also like a ride-on railway in the garden, but that's another matter!

Before you go anywhere else by the way.. go and look at Carl Arendt's Micro Layouts site.. Made me realise I didn't need a 6x4 board and an oval of track!

Anyway... on to the layouts. As I build each one (I like them small as I said).. I hope to put something on this site to keep a record.

LATEST (19 July 2007)
Due to problems with software I've not updated for ages. I've decided to put a temporary halt to uploads whilst I rebuild. In the meantime, I'll post any pictures of new developments on my Photobucket Site.. and keep sending them to Carl of course!

The Works: Not a layout.. but where I hope to keep stuff about scratch-built cheapie locos and stock

Hogg and Co: Where it started, with a three foot shelf, some old Hornby stuff from my childhood, my three year old son and a cup of rice!

Midland Road: The first layout built on the Southill Light Railway. This is Gn15 scale .. that's about 1:24, using standard HO/OO 16.5mm track to represent 15" minimum gauge track.

Tuther End: Phase Two of the SLR.. more Gn15, hopefully learning from Midland Road.