My 1860`s American Railway

[Beano Boy]

This bracket is the perfect size and will make this a simple project.




At this present time,new shelving is being built up the walls in the HoneyWell room,and it is there that my HO OO railway layout is. All the work should be finished by the end of this week,and I thought I`d tell you of an extra shelf that will be in place to take another two track railway system,but one with a difference. The double track will be laid for an 1860`s American style railway, a set piece of the A C W.
This has been a dream of mine,and inspite of having the rolling stock ,and the Loco`s this dream has been long in coming. Now it will soon be up and running,and as cheaply as possible,but done nice with the aid of two Woody Train Sets I bought some years back. A simple conversion was made,it being the case Woody was broken off. A very easy conversion completed in a small fraction of a second. These are toy trains and not models.The model Loco`s and train are far to exspensive,and a much bigger scale,but with a little bit of work painting these and by adding rolling stock with figures and other stuff on board,these will be well fit for my purpose which will be to go around the room.









While this work is being carried out,and the room being unsightly I decided to take a few photo`s so I can share another one of my dreams with you guys. The Loco`s are a bit cobweb dusty,due to the fact they have been on top of a large wardrobe for over 4 years. Later there will be lots of stuff to make,and tiny figures to paint. This I believe is by far the cheaper option to cover this period of American history. Well that's it for now. BB

[Beano Boy]

The walls are now lined with white shelving, and its beginning to take shape. Rather than looking like a bedroom It`s like a walk in Toy Shop! Still lots of work being carried out at present ,I even helped by cutting a couple of boards,and then helping much more by not doing anything else.In future I will probably have to wear sun glasses while running trains,because new double strip lights are going to be fitted soon.
It`s been a while since I bought any ,but I was rather shocked by the price of wall plugs, and screws and I did joke to Mrs B,"I`ll stick e`m up with blu tac !
Soon we will fill up all those brand new shelves with boxes of models,and tons of scratch built stuff that I`ve made over the years.



Stacks of the Honeywell railway lines await their relaying while below new rails are in boxes for the other two new lines.I don`t glue and pin them down on the baseboard because that causes so many problems if a change is needed. If I can squeeze a line through the town I`ll be able to run my electric trams as well. This is going to be so much fun. BB

[Beano Boy]

The Room is taking shape,and I realise white shelves are boring ,but I crept upstairs and just took a few shots ,so you guys can see how much space I`ll have for storage and display in this room. Once this section of layout board is reassembled and stuff moved over to this side of the room,work can begin on the other two walls. This might seem like overkill,( To Much Space! ),but I have lots of stuff just waiting to go onto these massive long shelves. The great thing I will be able to reach them easy like now,as I cannot bend down because of injury to my spin many years ago. So its been a long time coming ,but I`m overjoyed with this Work Scheme Mrs B,and i worked out. Well Mrs B, did most of the planning,while I just dozed away like that Mexican in the Lucky Luke Toy Set!














Above just had to gaze a bit at this storage box and a few leftover figures,and place a few to add a little glimmer of colour for those who visit this topic.








Here is my usual style of highly organized simbolic mathematical chaos,and these are my efforts at cutting boards,and being a bright spark of a FiddleWood Gnome, I could not reason it into my old Norse Noggin of a Head if I needed to cut the long piece off the short piece or indeed the short piece off the longest ! However to make sure that is what was needed I did both,and clever me at the same time. BB

[Beano Boy]

As you can see lots of thoughtful planning and now tons of work needed doing and still more needs to be done before tracks can be laid for the American style layout.However half the shelving is up for this railway theme.

I must admit the look on my face does not look that happy,but really I am,it was the case I was just looking in that split second in time at Mrs B,trying to use my camera, a thing of utter puzzlement for her to do. The daylight fading fast during this juggling procedure ,made it possible for a only a couple of pictures ,and two in this condition is way better than none. So well done Mrs B.

I worked it out I will have enough shelves and wall space on each side of this room to stack up neatly 2.000 Zvesda boxes of model`s, and another 1.500 on another wall near the door.Of course I don`t have that many boxes,but it gives an idea of storage space I now will have.

As you see stuff has been moved onto the shelves for a short while,while the 15 by 8 foot layout board is being put in place. Lots of buildings which won`t stay there long sit out of harms way as work tomorrow continues on the other two walls.

Thanks for looking ,and I hope you come visit this project again soon. BB

[Bramble15]

WOW is about all I can say. Once completed that will be a very nice place to hang out!

[Beano Boy]

Thanks Bramble always good to receive comments from the Land of the Free!
This rather special room is where all my scratch building projects ,and model`s and a few toys will be on permanent display along with all my Vintage 1960`s Loco`s ,and the trains they pulled and rolling stock ,and they all run.I`ve actually lost count of how many I have. Seem silly ,but true. Well they`ve been boxed away for so long.

Large cardboard boxes can now be ripped open, and unpacked. boxed models can then be well placed toy shop style along the walls. Many boxed away for years will see the light of day so to speak.

The Town of HoneyWell with its railway is the main layout ,and has been designed so it can be easy to take apart and put on shelving ,and the sections of rail-track stored underneath 4 huge tables that support the baseboard. This is so my three Waterloo Diorama`s can be unpacked ,and large battle scenes played out ,and set up for film and photo shoots at short notice. Likewise all my other projects will be set up here too ,and hopefully some recorded pictures will be placed here on the Forum.

"This will be room for Ripping Yarn Stuff. A place of very Tall Tales! " BB

[Beano Boy]

Could one of the Moderators Please change this Topic to, " HoneyWell room Shelving Upgrade. " This will make this topic more understandable. Thank you in advance.

Work on the scratch building programme of the 1860`s American Railway will begin at a later date,but will be shown eventually on this Forum. Sorry for any inconvenience caused. Paul.



Hi guys as you see a slight change of direction.Yes the title and a clean shirt for little old Me. However like most who paint model figures, Paint on my trousers.



Another wall has new shelving and so the unpacking of cardboard boxes and the emptying of plastic storage units has begun.
This complete shelf needs filling now. So onward to the next enterprise part of this upgrade which is to find my stored up Treaure!



Some of the old stuff above.

Mrs B,as always has been a great help with sorting out some of the model figure collections,and also helping me,Yes me,Well us.We did all the shelving work ourselves and it was a very enjoyable time too,with cutting boards and drilling holes,fixing the bracket system shelving,and giggling and having side splitting fun. I laughed so much at brilliant times my ribs hurt.





These are some sprues I bought quite a while back.









This is looking good, and tons of stuff looking neat & trim,and the shelf filled up from floor to ceiling.Other model boxes will go elsewhere,and yes it could be said we have ample room for them all now.There are a few smaller shelves to slot in later,but all the walls are finished.The next job to fix a Railway Clock on the wall Mrs B bought me.No not the wall the railway Station double faced clock!

I hope this project that only took a short time to complete,might well encourage others who have lots of stuff boxed away too,to put it on display.

[SamSagace]

impressive collection !!
do you think that you will paint them all ?

I love the Train ! toy ? wow !
could you show the scale with 1/72 and 28mm figures near this beauty ?
thanks !

[Beano Boy]

A pleasure to show these for you Pascal.These are from the HO OO Scale Toy Story 2 Hornby train set.



I`ve laid two rail tracks down for this photo shoot.The track is raised to the level of the road bed ,and likewise locos placed and figures are on the same raised level this is the proper way and the best to see the scale of both train & figures.





Hornby figures same scale of train.



Imex 20mm figures ( ones I never finished )



23mm figure with child. The others are the only 28mm available at this present time.



Hat 20mm Monk & ferret on top.



I managed to put the Station clock up.

NOW A FRIENDLY WARNING!


I think it well worth the mention that the Toy Story 2 Train Sets have many faults! Buy these for a young child and it will break very easy. The thin rails on the cars will break the very second you remove it from the box if you are not careful. The figures snap off easy and requires very little effort. The couplings once fixed together will lock tight and will break when one is trying to uncouple them leaving one with a useless piece of junk that will not pull any other rolling stock because the couplings are not compatible with other Hornby carriages or wagons. The Loco`s run as a normal model train`s do .Power on, wheels turn and it goes around the track well,but,yes there is one Big, Big, Problem!
The wheels on all the wagons don`t turn as ordinary wheels do. They slid upon the rails,and move side ways around the bends in the track. This side way movement has ment this train will not run on my layout because of the Ballast,( Tiny Stones on the roadbed. ) With the wheels sliding side ways it hits the stones and derails the the whole set including the Loco! So I am having to construct another double rail track which is no real problem for me. E Bay is full of broken unwanted sets sold as spares. So I cannot recommend these at all. Hornby has lost a Mint of money producing this set. All cheaply made in China. Disney was determined that their design of the Woody Train Set would not pull other makes of rolling stock,and Hornby paid a huge fee to Disney for a Licence to produce and sell this Set. Refunding money to buyers has cost them a Mint of money. If you know how to handle fine glassware ,and china,and know how to handle model railway sets, then perhaps like myself you might be able to run it,but one must remember this is a very cheaply made toy and not a model.



I bought my two sets very cheaply,at £ 30.00 each and now knowing all the faults intend to convert, and change all the couplings. I might replace all the rolling stock with scratchbuilt ones with proper wheels,that do what wheels were designed to do in the first place,Turn!

On E Bay now at £69.99, but I have given out a friendly warning. BB

[Susofrick]

The Hornby figures looks suspiciously like Atlantic's Gold Rush.

[Beano Boy]

You are right not Imex,but Atlantic figures. Well spotted Gunnar. I did the photo shoot in a rush before I lost the light in that room. I hate shooting under artificial light conditions. The lady with child I`m sure is Imex.



The Monk is from a Hat set and I added my own skull and Feret made of blu tac .I did it for the Monk of the Month Pascal was doing ,but never posted it. Fiirst I tried to do a big Rat,but it turned out oddly like a something else so after painting it,I declared it to be a very rare Beano Boy Production,Feret.BB

[Susofrick]

Saw the clock right now! We have a similar. With Arabic numbers instead of Latin.

[Beano Boy]

The clock has to faces,and is a certain something Mrs B, bought for me a couple a years ago. There she was all of a ponder where to put it in the room,when I walked in. "Put it there ", I said.
"Perfect! Now why didn't I think of that?" she replied . Drill out! job done,and my Mrs B quite pleased that it was out of the box and both clocks were ticking away happily. BB

[Peter]

The shelfs look almost as tidy as mine! Almost!

[Beano Boy]

All the work took 9 days in total, but this was mainly caused by waiting for delivery of the boards.
However we got stuck into the job of drilling and fixing the bracket system to the walls so when the two deliveries arrived it was only the case of cutting and fixing the shelves. The system we designed so extra smaller width boards can be placed where they are needed at a later stage.We bought lots of smaller six inch brackets too ,which simply slot in to make this work possible to do.These will hold more boxes of model figures which are at present housed in 12 large drawers in our downstairs hall way. So another 240 plus boxes to be organised ,and moved into The Honeywell Room upstairs,and hopefully more treasures to find.






Along with the Imex Stagecoaches,the large sets of Napoleonics Mrs B bought me a few years back have come to light,and lots of 54mm models have been found that I forgot I`d bought. The neighbors seemed misterfied that so many empty cardboard boxes had been dropped from the upstairs window into waiting recycling bins below. Why waste energy up and down flights of stairs when its simple easy to chuck it out the window. Thanks for the visit. BB

[Kekso]

WOW Paul, so impressive photos of full shelves

[Beano Boy]

Thanks Dalibor,we have so much space elsewhere in the house now all those boxes have been emptied.
I relaid the railtracks yesterday,and after a few minor adjustments the two Woody Train Set`s were up and running today and on my existing railway track. Job done and dusted. BB

[Peter]

If you don't have enough place for your 1/32 and 1/35 scaled figures, I know a good home for them.

I had the same problem as you, boxes with toy soldiers lying in dfferent places in the house. And now everything is well organised in one room. Much better to find things back!

[Beano Boy]

Well I have found some interesting stuff in all sizes true. The Lone Ranger from the early 1950`s I`m painting now at this present time. Lots of 20mm Cowboys & Indians: Revell,IMEX,AIRFIX, Atlantic, which in the scheme of things to come will be placed around the new 1860`s railway. The two Woody Train conversions ran well on the old track and extended new lines,Pretty Cool for Steam Loco`s . Although one did finally derail after running for over an hour.This was done to run in the motors,and test the track for any faults before proceeding with more detailed work. I actually down loaded an odd type video on my Google Profile of these trains running ,which is a first for me.It`s rather dark because I need to buy new bright lighting for this room.





Above one of two Tenders which I will convert to ones with stacked up wood piles,because the Woody train set`s have no Tenders,so it seems they just run on Hornby`s Hot Air!



A shot of one running fine on the old line,and this means it will save me £100 plus by having not to by fresh new rail track.

I realise only to well that I should start my own Blog,but keep putting it off. What would I put on it though,I`m Thinking! Have fun guys.BB