What made you catch the bug?

Just a bit of fun, but I read Petermac mention a magazine article which made him catch the bug and I thought it might be an interesting topic…..

My very first foray was a Hornby trainset for Christmas - which was a sizeable present for my parents.  It was a steam loco with a couple of blood and custard coaches, in an oval.  I guess I had pestered them for it.  I used to set the track up on the dining table and I just loved watching the action of the loco… its wheels, the way the train moved.  We travelled a lot by train and I think that is what caught me - it was the way we travelled.  I must have been 8 or 9.

But my friend had a baseboard for his layout and a mains controller.  Although very simple, I think it had a couple of sidings, seeing the points move and the train rattle across them was just magical.  I had always enjoyed making airfix models and I had painted 1/72 scale soldiers and made battle scenes, but moving trains was just wonderful.  So I would say it was Alan Landman's model that got me hooked.

My mother was an artist and quite Bohemian, so she encouraged any sort of craft.  She tried to teach me to paint but failed miserably - I have no skill in that direction at all.  However, their is definitely a desire to create and so eventually I returned to the idea of making a model railway.  I found this forum and that gave me the final impetus to have a go. 

Hope to hear of a few others!

Regards

Michael

Moderator - please correct my typo in the title!!!

Thanks

[user=1512]Headmaster[/user] wrote:

Moderator - please correct my typo in the title!!!

Thanks

Done     Michael.

You star!    :cheers

Michael

I had a fixed layout with my Dad in the corner of the loft conversion which became my bedroom when I was around 14-15 (1977 ish).

Messed about with a small N gauge layout once I was working and had some expendable cash, the layout which was eventually sold to one of my Dads work colleagues.

Then in 2008 I was put on short time at work so as I had spare time at home I started making buildings from card and brick papers and from there the current layout commenced.

I thought about it for a while but it was moving into a new house with a garage with the space I needed to build one. 
I had a few of my dads trains when young, a flying banana and another diesel. Eventually it evolved from just a board to one with some buildings and scenery bits of which I’ve actually recycled for Teasel! I’ve still got some old hornby buildings in boxes under teasel which I cannibalise occasionally! I used the old track as a basic template for the flexitrack curves etc when planning and building the frame. 

When I was a nipper my Dad (who has never taken any interest in my modelling) owned a Hornby Dublo Silver King A4 set with 2 tinplate coaches and 3 wagons.  It had an oval of track and a siding.  I can remember watching the train run round and round.  One day I laid the track out as one long section - "end-to-end" we would call it - and got told off by my Dad because "it didn't go like that!"

Later a family friend's train set fascinated me and I saw an advert in a magazine.  Here is that advert -



I didn't know what the locomotives were or anything about trains but this really fired my enthusiasm.

Whan I was about 9, I received the Triang Hornby Freightmaster set for Christmas and that started a long love of Hornby trains.  We only had a couple of poor model shops near to our home so the only coach I ever owned was a sleeping car but I had quite a few wagons and still understand the immense "play value" that wagons offer.

Not knowing anything about trains, the loco stud was very much what I liked the look of;
A1A-A1A in green + 08 shunter + B12 4-6-0 + M7 0-4-4T.

I always bought the cataloge and did that "need", "want", "got" thing where you mark each item in turn.  I always hankered after the Class 110 3-car DMU and some blood and custard coaches.

Eventually, the stock and System 6 track was all sold and I bought an N gauge Farish 94xx.  A layout around my bedroom was never finished through lack of teenage funds and everythng was sold.

When I left home and got married, I bought a Hornby "Jinty" from Hattons and this developed into my 1920's MR layout based on Edington Junction that ended up as a 24ft long model.  I even bought a house with a through lounge just because the layout fitted into the space!!

Half a dozen layouts later we get up to my Yarslow efforts - what a fantastic journey I have enjoyed!

I am re-living some of this fun with my grandson for whom I have bought his first train set (GWR 0-4-0T + wagons).

Barry

My father modelled antipodean railways  but I was more interested in rugby and girls. On my 15th birthday a distant uncle bought me a wills N7 as they were what moved stuff to Chingford at the time. in my 20's I began a plan to build Chingford station but this never happened.
I dabbled for a bit until starting a Stoke Ferry model in the 80's I had more space and needed something to relax me in the evenings after very busy days at work.

I 1998 I had a stroke and getting better was my main hobby, quite successfully. We moved very shortly before that and railway models were packed away in a couple of boxes. The new house was much smaller so no room for models.About twelve years went by, then Carl Arendt's site was discovered and with it a renewal of interest and a decent shed and away I went again.Amazed that the boxed up models all worked.

Granddad was a ganger on GWR/BR. From his and Our house we could see the line, though by then in a much reduced state (pre beeching just) I was always interested.

Blue Peter had a model railway I was interested in that.

I was bought in the mid 1960s a Triang starter set (some bits still exist).. and until I was in the low twenties was involved in some sort of model railways, later on that being in a couple of RAF MRCs.

Then I was posted to the outer hebridies (1983), No room in my barrack room, for a model railway nor was there a club. So everything got stored at my parents..

Then Life got in the way.

About 2003? saw a model railway in a secondhand shop.. didn't get that, but it planted the seed..

Decided to build a model of the railway my Granddad worked on, this I had attempted a couple of times before), started by building the big shed so it will be ready, when I retire..

Meantime, I found one of my old RAF clubs had morphed into Broadland Model Railway Club when RAF Coltishall had closed, and had moved to only 3  miles from our house..  So I rejoined..