Do You Buy Trains You Like, or Ones that Fit Together?

[Chamby]

For me it’s about 75% that fits and the balance where rule 1 applies. Modelling the ex GC gives me some latitude about what fits, given the number of cross country services that used the London Extension in particular. I also include in ‘what fits’ the stuff that I run on the club layout, which is pre-Beeching West Country.

[Banger Blue]

My collection is mainly BR Blue diesels, that I remember from my teen train spotting days in the early - mid eighties. Now I’ll only really look to buy my real favourites - Class 25s & 40s.

 

The only other models I may consider for purchase (or Birthday / Xmas pressies) is if there is a link to what I do now. The wife bought me the NRM limited edition “Harry Patch” FGW HST and I’ll probably be looking at getting a GWR Class 166 when they finally appear.

Bachmann’s New GWR Hall 4920 Dumbleton Hall at one stage was allocated to Reading (and Oxford?) so that’s on my list of potentials.

 

So yes I suppose my locos do have to fit a criteria but that fit may be rather loose.

 

One that doesn’t fit is Dapol’s D1026 Western Centurion which is currently with Santa. I’ve admired it for a while but the bargain price from Rails swung the deal with that one. (Although I suppose it is BR Blue, not that I ever saw the Westerns and it is Western Region so will have worked through Reading / Didcot / Oxford at one point or another. I did say the ‘fit’ could be rather loose!)

[neilkirby]

I have a strict rule, well two. I only do S&D 1950-55, or GWR 1930's. Which is fine in theory, except that I still have some BR blue stuff round my mums house from my youth. . . and then of course I had to have the models of Locomotives my father actually worked on during his time on the railways, which accounts for the Jubilees, Midland compound, Johnson half-cab,  and LMS  Ivatt 2mt.

 

but now I find myself in a dilemma, in that now I have done my family tree I know more about my grandfathers work on the LSWR & SR, would a Golden Arrow Britannia in tribute to his time at Stewarts Lane be so wrong?

 

and great grandfather was on the LSWR, SECR and SR. This has got me looking at those recent lovely liveried SECR locos,

 

And then, one of my earliest memories of railways is being sat on the seawall at Dawlish by my father just as a Maroon Warship going full blast leaned into the curve seemingly passing over my head. I still remember the shape of the weird stain on the front below the drivers windscreen, If I ever found a photograph to match (and believe me I've looked) so I could find out which one it was, then I would have to have a model of that too!

 

So there you have it 2 very strict rules, but with countless exceptions, all of which I can justify to myself.  but then as long as I am happy with what I do, no one else cares.

 

Neil

Edited November 29, 2017 by neilkirby

[Coldgunner]

If I likes it, I wants it. I have loco's from all regions over 150 years of epoch's. Its liberating. I don't even stick to the same scale. I like stuff in O mainly, but I also regularly buy SM32 and OO. I also have some N stuff. I'm predominantly Eastern Region, mainly due to my love of the LNER (Being a Peterborough lad, its natural I guess).

 

I even have some GWR bits somewhere...

[jbqfc]

yes and no i started modelling 1975-1985 and kinda stuck to that for quit a while

but then over time i kept extending it bit by bit so it now covers 1970-2005 and now has stuck at that for a few years now

but i find it impossible to stick to one region

Edited November 29, 2017 by jbqfc

[crazynitwit]

I usually buy ones that I like. Even if they don't exactly fit in with my era.

[JDW]

I try to stick to things that are appropriate for the area, but my time frame is flexible from Sectorisation up to recent times (though of course usually I only have one era of stock on the layout at once).  For me, that time frame is modern day Yorkshire, locos mainly 37s, 47s, 56s, 60s, 66s in Railfreight two tone grey, Loadhaul, EWS, DB, as well as a few in Mainline Freight, Regional Railways, RTC, RfD, BRT, etc.  DMUs range from Provincial through Regional Railways to Northern Spirit, Transpennine, Central Trains, Northern and most versions of WYPTE colours.  I try to stick to what is appropriate, or at least plausible, as I'm running out of space for boxes.  I'm often tempted with models such as a Western just because I like them, but can I really justify £100+ for something which is likely never to leave its box?  Not really! 

...That said, I did splash out a few hundred quid on a rather large EWS 66 when they came out a few years ago...

[SM42]

I have all sorts of stuff from all over. 

 

I stopped pre nationalisation era spending many years  ago and went all late 80s /early 90s BR.

 

Then I started to take an interest in things a little earlier and so started the very pleasant pastime of recreating (as near as possible)  trains seen in photographs. So now I have mid 60s stuff as well. 

 

Then just for the hell of it a modern coal train (class 66 and HTAs?) because I saw them out of the window every day.

 

My recent adventure into European HO I have deliberately confined to post 2006 for very sound financial reasons, although the odd one gets through if it is SM42 shaped. (Can't think why). 

 

You could say I fall between two stools here. Yes I buy things that go together in a train, but not necessarily trains that go together and I also buy trains that go together too.

 

Still it's fun 

 

Andy

[JZ]

I strictly stick to stuff which ran on the Somerset & Dorset. But my scenarios allows for it not falling into Western Region hands, the Western Region actually developing traffic and also for the eventual dieselisation of it. But all within a 1955-1968 time frame. This allows me to run pretty much what I want, apart from North Eastern stuff and big LMS Pacifics. Also have a bit of H0, a Pennsy T1, DR class 01 with period train and a DR SVT 137.

[GreenGiraffe22]

I bought everything and anything that was cheap second hand when I was a kid, these days I stick to the theme of my layout which is early 40s South East, it's a lot more enjoyable for me to run something relatively realistic =) I sold off all my old stock which actually comprised of 0 Southern stock (although I've kept my old Flying Scotsman, Mallard and some of my first fictional 040s for sentimental reasons.) sticking to a theme helps control spending a bit too, there wasn't all that much out there when I started the project a couple of years ago but recently there has been an influx of wartime / south eastern models which has been great but expensive!

[petrox]

An interesting thread this. I stick (mainly) to locos and stock that could be seen in South Devon in the mid-1950's, as my layout is inspired by (but not based closely upon) Kingswear. This gives me the opportunity to run a good selection of ex-GW locos, ranging from Castle down to panniers and 14xx classes. However I have utilised rule 1 to allow a few Southern locos and stock to appear, which I gather rarely if ever got to Kingswear in real life. Rule 1 also created a mythical branch to Plymouth Friary, so the Kernow gate stock and O2 or M7 can appear.

The advantage to me of this approach is that I don't get tempted by out-of-area locos and stock - well, not often!

[Nearholmer]

Alex

 

LMS and GWR coaches?

 

Put them on a model of Hastings, and most people would be aghast, but ''tis true that they went there, I think daily in one case, and every second day in the other.

 

As to my own layout, well it has a Southern bias, the second strand being 'everything else', which is reasonably accommodating.

 

Kevin

Edited December 17, 2017 by Nearholmer

[Steamport Southport]

Both. I have no regional bias and like all forms of motive power. It's more important that the train matches the locomotive.

 

I have so many of the damn things that I could probably run a full service on my loft layout for almost every region and era from the 1930s up to the mid 1980s without anything being out of place.

 

 

The idea was that it was going to be a GWR/LMS Joint line on the English-Welsh border. Then I started liking BR 1950s and 1960s liveried locomotives. Then I had a Blue diesel phrase. I also ended up with SR and LNER locomotives. A few modern things have been creeping in recently as well.

 

This is a collection that has been growing for about 40 years though. From 1970s RTR to etched brass kit built.

 

I am planning on a proper layout which is going to be strictly one region/era though. Which will be a BR Southern suburban terminus set in the 1960s with third rail and EMUs and a few lingering steam locomotives.

 

 

 

Jason

[njee20]

Like many I’m a bit of both. My layout has a notional location, so stock is chosen to suit. I’m a bit liberal with some of the flows, particularly freight, where there’s more coal than on the southern WCML, my grey 86 pair had been phased out by the time DB Schenker came in, but it’s all close, +/- 5 years or so, and there’s no east coast or SWT stuff or whatever.

[GeoffAlan]

My main layout is BR North Eastern based and I have stock to run it in Blood and Custard and BR Maroon. I also have the stock so I can run it as LNER, Green diesel, Blue diesel, and Sectorised British railways. For fun I can do German or Japanese outline too! I've been N gauge modelling since 1974/5 and over the years built up a lot of stock!

[Giz Puk]

I have great admiration for those that run detailed stock on detailed layouts to detailed schedules. Sadly I would find this very difficult as there are so many fantastic models provided by a plethora of manufacturers that I can never get enough.

Just like Legend at post #23, I'm proud to admit that I enjoy playing trains and having been a GWR officionado since the age of 6 or 7, I now run locomotives and diesels from all regions and era's because I like the model and not because it fits a certain criteria.

My only stipulation is that the locomotive and coaches match i.e GWR, LMS, Southern, BR Blue etc although there is always the option to run 'Heritage excursions' for the kids, although most have their own idea as to what consitutes a real train (as per the Little Muddle thread regarding grandchildren).

Many scorn at the gimmicky 'Santa train' or 'Thomas collection' from Hornby, but I am seriously considering my own christmas train and have started collecting items as I believe that if it makes people smile and brings new blood into the hobby then it is worth having.

Plus I know that my grandson will probably be more enthusiastic at xmas with regard to the colourful Thomas and Friends or Santa Express, than the APT-E, Blue Pullman or Orient Express combined.... and that is what I believe this hobby is all about:- enjoyment.

My only/main problem is suffering from OCD and having to have the whole set whether it be bubble gum cards or the latest green GWR HST set.

And what makes it worse is that now I've seen the thread for the crowd funded APT-P, I MUST have one of those but can't afford it at present.  It's bad enough looking at all the great new releases without more coming along to swallow my pension fund......bah humbug I say.

 

In summary..... run what you want...how you want... as long as it makes you feel good ( even if it is a diesel shunter pulling six coaches at a scale 120 mph) right kids?

 

Yours Aye,

giz

[4railsman]

To answer the OP's question, I buy BOTH.

 

As a long-term modeller with interest in the London Transport scene of the late 1950's to the 1970's, I have considerable leeway on my current layout as I can cover both LT 4-rail stock as well as BR/Southern 3rd rail PLUS various steam-powered locos with both goods and passenger rolling stock.

 

When EFE brought out their 4mm scale Tube Trains, it was a disappointment that they were designed as a purely static model with little or no thought having been given to the provision of a motorising option. Fortunately Metromodels came to the rescue and made a business out of motorising these EFE models for the benefit of the LT modellers. I am but just one of their many happy customers!

 

Metromodels also made their own tube trains in brass and these were extremely good and sought after, but unfortunately they were actually made in Sri Lanca, and when that country suffered serious flooding some years ago, this wiped out their manufacturing facility which was in the process of making the "LT Tube Standard Stock". After that setback, Metromodels went on to produce tube stock using the new 3d printing process, but this has now finished. Sadly, when all the current Metromodels stock of parts and models have been sold, the owner will retire and Metromodels will be no more ~ other than having a new exhibition layout (currently under construction) for a considerable number of years in the future.

 

As a result, I now buy more BR/SR stock of the period from the likes of Bachmann, Heljan and Hornby to run on the layout or to put on display.

 

BTW, I think Heljan missed a trick by not producing the Dreadnought coaches to go with the wonderful Metropolitan Bo-Bo electric range of locos.