The last few blog posts have been about getting ready to move house.  I'm happy to say it has gone very well in many ways, and we are delighted to be in our new home.  But what has been the impact on my railway modelling?

 

Getting read to move - the rest of the story:

 

At the end of Episode 8, the rather pleasant  homework I set for myself was to read @James Hilton's excellent and imaginative Wild Swan books:

 

 

If you've not yet got copies, can I please recommend them - whether or not space is a constraint.  Every page paints a beautiful picture that shows just how uplifting our pastime can be.  Well worth having on the bookshelf.

 

It was nice to see some personal favourites I've come across in my (online) travels too, including the San Luis Central Railroad, the Matt Brewery in Utica (NY), the Claremont and Concord, and the Napoleon and Defiance.  It was also another chance to enjoy James' own layouts (I find Kinross inspirational).

 

One comment however stood out for me.  In noting the positive role train sets can play in the hobby, James writes "if you've got this far then I shall assume you're looking for something more."  I agree.  For me, taking a continuous run out of the modelling equation can feel like I'm somehow settling for less.  I like seeing trains run.

 

So, knowing space was going to be at a premium after our move, I found a fantastic deal online for an unopened train set, and bought it as a base from which I could build after the move.  Purely for fun, a PIKO DB ICE3 4-car set:

 

 

 

Now some will look at this and see half a train chasing its tail.  But I looked at it another way.  Calculating the length of a circuit and timing a few laps enabled me to work out the (scale) speed of the train - and how far it was travelling.  Even running-in at half-speed (plenty fast enough for those curves, thank you), I followed my train on a scale journey of almost forty miles in half an hour, before reversing it and watching it return: a round trip of nearly 80 miles!

 

Even without scenery, ballast or the other four coaches the train should have, I enjoyed it.  So much so that I went out and bought a strengthening coach to make it into a 5-car set (some newer ICE units can run as 5-car sets).   There is still fun to be had with a train set.  And it's not all toylike.  True, it wasn't very realistic (in many ways), but I was impressed with PIKO A-Track.  It is Code 100, so fine for my older Fleischmann stock, but has a much thinner railhead profile than PECO Code 100.  The chairs are also more finely detailed (not so clear in the photo below, sorry).  Looks to me like a good product.

 

Peco on the left, Piko on the right:

 

 

I thought I was all set; a stash of kits for after we move, and a train set to run trains on...  Then we moved.

 

One Hundred and Eighty!

 

I'd set myself a downsizing target of 100 boxes of 'stuff' to move for the family - based on the boxes in our last move.  So when the removal team - working incredibly hard in very hot weather - unloaded one hundred and eighty it was clear that whatever the target was supposed to mean, I'd missed it.  Big time: 80% over.  No nine dart finish to see here.

 

Downsizing is continuing, because it has to.  The proposed modelling space is nowhere to be seen, buried under pile of boxes and crates which have nowhere else to go.  Of course, all the practice I had building baseboards at the last house is coming in handy in other ways:

 

 

But I need to think again about how much space I can expect to have.  When I previously shared this next photo it was supposed to show how I'd cut back on the number of buildings I was going to take with me:

 

 

Now it just reminds me how much I had under the tables! 

 

There was always a chance some model buildings might not enjoy the move, but the bag of bits I've collected is not large:

 

 

Damage was sustained by some part-finished platform and awning sections, with twelve of the sixteen supports breaking:

 

 

But I suppose it is a kind of compliment - they must have looked much more substantial than they were!

 

Other damage is not down to the move - such as the warped sides of this scratchuilt HOn30 Combine I noticed when unwrapping it - more internal support needed next time:

 

 

And I've had enough of cutting rows of roof tiles from a reel for an American Craftsman Kit I've part-built - it had been paused for months already with the fiddly bits still to do.  I have plenty of other kits I'd rather be getting on with instead:

 

 

Those are bits and pieces.  What is the 'big idea' going to be now?

 

A 'little bit' of Temptation to resist

 

It only takes a mild case of temptation to get me going.  This time it has come in the form of Bachmann's new NG7 range .  

 

I've been thinking about O-Scale narrow gauge for a while, with Bachmann's North American On30 range also appealing.  The trains are not a problem (certainly not when compared with mainline H0), but the size of everything else around them is what takes up the space.  I noticed 1:43 was stamped on the bottom of an MGA I was unwrapping, so I compared it to a couple of 4mm Scale OO cars I had to hand:

 

 

While I was still keen to inspect the Bachmann NG7 Quarry Hunslets at our local 009 Society Group meeting last weekend, I was able to come away wallet unopened for once.  The test had worked!  But do check out NG7 - for any fan of Narrow Gauge modelling, the models look and, from what I've seen so far, run superbly.  A lovely new range from Bachmann.

 

Creative downsizing

 

Back to the story.  Having resisted the temptation to try something new, it's time for some creative downsizing instead.  The train set might be fun, but without space it's not something I can build around.  I still have more buildings than I have room for (with a crate load of kits queued up behind them, including the large Faller Neustadt building a yard long).

 

So what I've done is put together a book of photos I've taken while modelling over the past few years.  I've used a website called 'Snapfish' which other family members use for holiday trip photos and the like: why not use it for my own models too?  I'd rather keep the models, but a proper book of memories will be a good substitute I can look at any time instead.  It will also take up a lot less space than a grain elevator, or another mainline station:

 

 

 

'Stuff' will then go.  Some for sale, some to the tip, and some donated to the local model railway club.

 

What happens next?

 

The more space I can clear, the easier the way forward will be.  I'll use the summer to re-read James' Hilton's books, and a few others, then hopefully be back in a month with a new plan.  We could be living here for the next fifteen years, and with the house coming with my job, there won't be any plans for extensions, loft conversions or large garden sheds (the garden is small).  I need to fit my ideas to the space - which is something we all have to do, but I've not proved to be very good at!

 

What I do know is that all the experimenting I did at our last home should now pay off: there are a host of ideas I don't need to explore, because I've looked at them already!  As long as I think small, it means I have a clean slate once more.

 

And that, for an imagineer like me, is always going to be exciting.  So, until then, do enjoy your summer, and thank you as always for reading thus far, Keith.