Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: tunnie on 22 September 2025, 10:37:25
-
I recently found an old OO gauge loco, while doing a bit of a clear out. I thought I would have a bash at making a layout in the shed, I never really managed to get a "proper" layout as a child.
We would end up running it on the carpet (really bad for the motors) and it would never last down long. Various board outs were attempted but never really lasted.
The loco itself works, but needs a strip down and clean/grease. While I was waiting for that to arrive, I attempted a suspended board in the shed. What better excuse to spend more time in the shed with a beer?
(https://i.ibb.co/tTpQfSRp/IMG-3661.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/WWXJ6BsV/IMG-3662.jpg)
The shed itself is quite long, but a little narrow. My aim is to have a suspended platform around the entire shed. It's coming together quite nicely.
(https://i.ibb.co/wNWvY76t/IMG-3663.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/zVbVyVXS/IMG-3667.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/sJwQTr4R/IMG-3669.jpg)
I started using some scraps/odd bits I had in the shed anyway. Using some spare brackets.
(https://i.ibb.co/QvXv4wc5/IMG-3673.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/twXycnzh/IMG-3670.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/ZRXRN1Xq/IMG-3683.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/1fZgZRbT/IMG-3674.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/Ndrk2Ch5/IMG-3681.jpg)
I've now got some M5 bolts and nuts holding it all down and it feels fairly secure, at least enough for the light trains. Popped to Selco and bought some 9mm OSB and they kindly cut it into strips and it's nearly ready for one to run down it.
Have a few things on order to strip and clean the Ringfield motor in the old Hornby loco.
It's been quite fun putting it all together, suspect I will enjoy the challenge of building it more than when it's finished. I missed the smell of soldering ;D
-
…………
My aim is to have a suspended platform around the entire shed. It's coming together quite nicely.
………..
This seems to be the favoured method. :y Some just use shelf brackets on the wall all the way around with the board on the brackets, as it doesn’t need to be too wide. The shelf idea is more suited to bedrooms etc., where there are less obstructions, as it can be placed high and not impact on the room at all, but what your doing is equally as popular for shed/garage environment.
Enjoy your project. :y
-
Thanks yes, I've just ordered more brackets. I have some scraps of 2x4 left over from when the shed was built. Might use those to span the door way, as an support either side for another bit of OSB.
-
Scalextric is more fun. Or is that competitive edge coming through again ;D
When I was a kid, my (significantly) older brothers had a brilliant train and Scalextric setup in the loft, complete with paint's roads for Matchbox cars as well.
-
Toy trains, they will never catch on, you need the man scale ones ;D
(https://preserved.railcar.co.uk/Images/108/50645-2025-05-07-Mark-Russell.jpg)
-
Toy trains, they will never catch on, you need the man scale ones ;D
(https://preserved.railcar.co.uk/Images/108/50645-2025-05-07-Mark-Russell.jpg)
I would need a bigger shed to in the back garden, to fit one of those in :D
-
Scalextric is more fun. Or is that competitive edge coming through again ;D
When I was a kid, my (significantly) older brothers had a brilliant train and Scalextric setup in the loft, complete with paint's roads for Matchbox cars as well.
Only dabbled with scalextric, besides there is more here in building things to support it all. Thats where the fun is for me at least
-
I know someone who built a 'branch line' from his layout shed, up the garden to the kitchen, near the fridge. Then when he was feeling the need he'd send a loco and goods wagon up the branch line to kitchen stop, and someone in the house would load a tinnie from the fridge to the goods wagon, and the return trip could be made.
With modern DCC control you can setup an 'alerting' system in the kitchen to signal that some goods loading is required. However, since sections of the line are out in the elements, it's best to build the track from old style Hornby/Dublo/Triang stainless steel stuff, not the modern 'iron' stuff.
-
Scalextric is more fun. Or is that competitive edge coming through again ;D
When I was a kid, my (significantly) older brothers had a brilliant train and Scalextric setup in the loft, complete with paint's roads for Matchbox cars as well.
I wasn't allowed a Scalextric when I was a kid, but it turns out that if you run your 12V trains on 30V and bank the corners of the track they are just as much fun. ;D
-
Love the project tunnie . Keep the photos coming.
Branch line on brackets around the garden wall next?
I had Canadian Pacific Hornsby rolling stock as a nipper ( reflected my mother’s heritage). I strove for distance and had boxes of the yard ? long straights.
A friend had a superb layout in a room above a garage. I remember two things . One him plugging in the transformers by inserting bare wires into the sockets using matchsticks. Two the overpowering smell of ozone?
Another fiend had a superb clockwork train set which we played with in their garden. I bought him a turntable for his birthday.
-
Love the project tunnie . Keep the photos coming.
Branch line on brackets around the garden wall next?
I had Canadian Pacific Hornsby rolling stock as a nipper ( reflected my mother’s heritage). I strove for distance and had boxes of the yard ? long straights.
A friend had a superb layout in a room above a garage. I remember two things . One him plugging in the transformers by inserting bare wires into the sockets using matchsticks. Two the overpowering smell of ozone?
Another fiend had a superb clockwork train set which we played with in their garden. I bought him a turntable for his birthday.
Clockwork? He certainly was a fiend ;D
-
Ilitterat Brittein ;D
-
I know someone who built a 'branch line' from his layout shed, up the garden to the kitchen, near the fridge. Then when he was feeling the need he'd send a loco and goods wagon up the branch line to kitchen stop, and someone in the house would load a tinnie from the fridge to the goods wagon, and the return trip could be made.
With modern DCC control you can setup an 'alerting' system in the kitchen to signal that some goods loading is required. However, since sections of the line are out in the elements, it's best to build the track from old style Hornby/Dublo/Triang stainless steel stuff, not the modern 'iron' stuff.
That sounds like a lot of fun to build, although must have been a bigger gauge to haul a can of beer
-
Love the project tunnie . Keep the photos coming.
Branch line on brackets around the garden wall next?
I had Canadian Pacific Hornsby rolling stock as a nipper ( reflected my mother’s heritage). I strove for distance and had boxes of the yard ? long straights.
A friend had a superb layout in a room above a garage. I remember two things . One him plugging in the transformers by inserting bare wires into the sockets using matchsticks. Two the overpowering smell of ozone?
Another fiend had a superb clockwork train set which we played with in their garden. I bought him a turntable for his birthday.
Shed loop is first, but yes, an exit out of the shed and into the garden is possible!
-
Great project .. keep us posted as it progresses . :y
-
Years ago, I considered getting a trainset and having fun building the scene. My old house had a fabulous loft space that would have been ideal.
The loft here is rubbish, and my garage has been known to spontaneously exploded, so I think that ship has sailed for me ;D
But I shall watch with interest :y. And expect the useless student to rig it together with gaffer tape, the electrics down with sellotape, and have it down by the weekend.
-
;D ;D ;D ;D
No I'm trying to do this right, although I did think of you when I wired up my new controller. I needed shrink wrap, I need to get some and not use insulating tape.
Trying to do this right and take my time, nothing here with gaffer tape so far and I think it's put up rather well. :)
Next up I think is trying to create the bridges across the width of the shed, using some spare 2x4 as supports. While the metal L brackets worked well for the main length, it's not ideal for above the door. Also the angle of the shed roof is against me here.
-
Toy trains, they will never catch on, you need the man scale ones ;D
(https://preserved.railcar.co.uk/Images/108/50645-2025-05-07-Mark-Russell.jpg)
I must agree! But preferably ones with chimneys, coal, water and the lovely smell of hot oil mixed with steam...................what a lovely, gorgeous memory I have of hot pacific loco's, alongside a Standard 4, and a Mansell U class, sitting in the yard! :-* :-* :-*
Mind you, my ex and I built a great OO gauge multi-line layout, with 22 loco's and about 100 coaches and wagons around our ex-garage with model engine shed and houses, for our boys, so I can readily identify with this thread Tunnie :y :y :y.
A really great hobby when you cannot get out and go on the footplate of a real steam loco!! ;D ;D ;)
-
I have an old O gauge set with clockwork engine and a few carriages in a box somewhere up in the loft.
Must dig it out some time and see if it still works.
-
I must agree! But preferably ones with chimneys, coal, water and the lovely smell of hot oil mixed with steam...................what a lovely, gorgeous memory I have of hot pacific loco's, alongside a Standard 4, and a Mansell U class, sitting in the yard! :-* :-* :-*
Mind you, my ex and I built a great OO gauge multi-line layout, with 22 loco's and about 100 coaches and wagons around our ex-garage with model engine shed and houses, for our boys, so I can readily identify with this thread Tunnie :y :y :y.
A really great hobby when you cannot get out and go on the footplate of a real steam loco!! ;D ;D ;)
I am not nearly affluent enough to be dabbling in external combustion engines (and I wouldn't as they are a bit to simple and dull from an engineering perspective for me), with massive six figure sums needing to be spent every ten years and loads of work in the interim. :o
A friend has an Austerity, which he is just doing his fourth overhaul on, by his calcs, he could have bought a couple of extra houses with the cash spent and his is only a small one! ;D
-
I must agree! But preferably ones with chimneys, coal, water and the lovely smell of hot oil mixed with steam...................what a lovely, gorgeous memory I have of hot pacific loco's, alongside a Standard 4, and a Mansell U class, sitting in the yard! :-* :-* :-*
Mind you, my ex and I built a great OO gauge multi-line layout, with 22 loco's and about 100 coaches and wagons around our ex-garage with model engine shed and houses, for our boys, so I can readily identify with this thread Tunnie :y :y :y.
A really great hobby when you cannot get out and go on the footplate of a real steam loco!! ;D ;D ;)
I am not nearly affluent enough to be dabbling in external combustion engines (and I wouldn't as they are a bit to simple and dull from an engineering perspective for me), with massive six figure sums needing to be spent every ten years and loads of work in the interim. :o
A friend has an Austerity, which he is just doing his fourth overhaul on, by his calcs, he could have bought a couple of extra houses with the cash spent and his is only a small one! ;D
Oh yes, they ARE very expensive to keep going! To think the Barry engines were bought for a few grand, but then had people like my ex and me working for free rubbing them down and slapping on the paint! Oh, happy days ;D ;D ;D
-
Little Update.
I bought a cheap OO gauge loco that was on Facebook Marketplace local to me. A Class 91 225 HST set, with a similar ringfield motor issue. I wanted to practice stripping it down and cleaning it up, before attempting the one that is a bit more sentimental.
(https://i.ibb.co/j72Lpwn/IMG-3746-2.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/gxYHSsq/IMG-3771.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/pv1xwVzt/IMG-3742-2.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/vxtR2WT9/IMG-3743-2.jpg)
I stripped it down and cleaned up all the faces with a bit of T-cut, I also replaced the pinion gear, which made a huge difference. Previously it sounded like a car with a clutch that was failing and over-reving and not going very fast. Pulls like errr a train now ;D
Also putting in some bridges at each end to make a full loop.
(https://i.ibb.co/M586BWDQ/IMG-3757.jpg)
-
Progress :y