Clockwork 'O' Gauge?

KotangaGirl

Pre-Grouping Railways Nut
Call this a silly idea if you will, but before I developed a severe form of narcolepsy I was working in Uk coarse scale 'O' gauge and I had a sizeable tinplate train collection. I had to sell quite a lot of it because I need the money, but I still have some engines, coaches and goods wagons; - mainly the very ordinary commonplace items that were sold in toy shops and given to children at Christmas.
I was looking at my much reduced collection today and the thought crossed my mind that it would be nice if I could build a tinplate 'O' gauge layout in TMR. I'm no 3D modeller, just a reskinner of meshes that content creators are kind enough to allow me to use so anything I did in this direction is likely to be somewhat limited.

Any thoughts or comments forum members might like to make about my daft idea would be much appeciated.

This is the Hornby clockwork engine I always wanted for Christmas when I was small, but I never got one. I own one now though.

FQTj0sG.jpg
 
Don't think about it, do it!
If it doesn't work out then keep it for yourself.

It is something I was going to try, but never did proceed further than looking for track.

mcquirel did some Lionel track and there are tin plate tracks by jjslll54 .. O_Gauge_Track

I had lots and lots of Hornby O Gauge clockwork stuff as a child.

My auntie worked in the Binns Road factory which was also very close to where I lived.

I used to go to the factory employees' childrens Christmas parties inside the factory, a little boy's paradise!
 
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Why not, Annie? I received my first Hornby tin plate 0 gauge starter for Christmas 1938, but not much was added during the next few years as production ceased during the war. It was a modest collection, LMS loco with brake and reversing gear, a few assorted wagons, a platelayer's hut, a level crossing with gates that could be opened and closed by lifting them and replacing in different holes, etc. And of course the inevitable circle of track with one turnout and a few straights.

I realised that not many trains ran in circles, so my usual set up was an end-to-end layout on the floor consisting almost entirely of reverse curves.

A family friend (a member of the clergy, of course!) had an enormous collection of electric tinplate, I presume Hornby, which I believe ran on 110 volts DC.

Are you thinking of making replica locos and rolling stock? It would be quite a challenge. Or using existing Trainz models?

Some time ago, I toyed (sorry!) with the idea of a Trainz 0 gauge simulated model railway, and made a few assets for the room, but there was no interest so I gave up.

Incidentally, I still have my original shunter's pole from all that time ago!

Ray
 
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Don't think about it, do it!
If it doesn't work out then keep it for yourself.

It is something I was going to try, but never did proceed further than looking for track.

mcquirel did some Lionel track and there are tin plate tracks by jjslll54 .. O_Gauge_Track

I had lots and lots of Hornby O Gauge clockwork stuff as a child.

My auntie worked in the Binns Road factory which was also very close to where I lived.

I used to go to the factory employees' childrens Christmas parties inside the factory, a little boy's paradise!

Wow! Yes that is exactly what I was looking for Graham; - proper tinplate track! Thank you very much for telling me who made it so i could have a look for it on the DLS.
I did find mcquirel's Lionel track, but it's too late an era for me. I found a few Lionel inspired locos and coaches & etc on the DLS as well, but they aren't my thing, - even though I do still own one of those massive heavy diecast Lionel locos from the 1950s that somehow missed getting sold back when I was a woman of very slender means.
Christmas parties inside the Binns Road factory! Oh be still my beating heart. That would have been a dream come true.
 
Why not, Annie? I received my first Hornby tin plate 0 gauge starter for Christmas 1938, but not much was added during the next few years as production ceased during the war. It was a modest collection, LMS loco with brake and reversing gear, a few assorted wagons, a platelayer's hut, a level crossing with gates that could be opened and closed by lifting them and replacing in different holes, etc. And of course the inevitable circle of track with one turnout and a few straights.

I realised that not many trains ran in circles, so my usual set up was an end-to-end layout on the floor consisting almost entirely of reverse curves.

A family friend (a member of the clergy, of course!) had an enormous collection of electric tinplate, I presume Hornby, which I believe ran on 110 volts DC.

Are you thinking of making replica locos and rolling stock? It would be quite a challenge. Or using existing Trainz models?

Some time ago, I toyed (sorry!) with the idea of a Trainz 0 gauge simulated model railway, and made a few assets for the room, but there was no interest so I gave up.

Incidentally, I still have my original shunter's pole from all that time ago!

Ray

I owned a Hornby M1 passenger set when I was about 7 and I loved it, but about three years later my parents decided I was too old for it and gave it to some relative's pointy headed Neanderthal throwback children who no doubt ate it after smashing it to bits in their sandpit. It took a long while for me to forgive Mum and Dad for doing that.

I think I could reskin something presentable in the way of coaches and goods wagons Ray. Some of the GNR bogie coaches I made awhile ago were based on Marklin 'O' Gauge coaches from the late 1920s and are unashamedly tinplate like in their appearance. They are on the DLS and built around Blue's old coach meshes.
Locos would be more difficult. Some old models from the early days of Trainz that aren't especially well detailed could be skinned into 'O' gauge tinplate engines, but getting permission might be a bit difficult. Wheels of course are the tricky bit since the old 'O' gauge coarse scale wheels were quite chunky things whereas wheels intended for Trainz aren't.

I for one would be very interested in your 'O' gauge sized room assets Ray so don't give up on them yet.

An original Hornby shunter's pole, - I've never seen one of those. I bet there isn't many of those around since they would be the kind of thing that would get lost easily.
 
I'm looking forward to that layout...

Will the clockwork loco have "realistic" engine specs? - i.e. full speed for about 10 minutes then stop?

Colin
 
I had that Loco Annie! I had quite a lot of O gauge Tinplate, both sets of Grandparents bought me sets for Christmas when I was 4 or 5, had points, level crossing signal box station etc, life was much simpler then.....
 
Indeed it was Malc. I have four of the post war Hornby type '101' 0-4-0 tank engines, but my favourite one is the one in BR lined black as pictured above. My one is in good shape, but it has a wonderful much handled patina which shows somebody enjoyed it. It still runs well too.
 
I'm looking forward to that layout...

Will the clockwork loco have "realistic" engine specs? - i.e. full speed for about 10 minutes then stop?

Colin

Set up well and properly serviced a 'clocker' can be made to run very well indeed. I used one of my Hornby tank engines especially for shunting and it was superbly controllable using just the brake and forward and reverse control knobs at the back of the cab.

As you say though sorting out an engine spec could be an interesting exercise.
 
I had thoughts of wanting to create either Trix Twin Railway originals (0-4-0s) or the original Bing 1920's HO stuff but I fear my lack of modelling ability will mean it never matures.
 
I can't find my0 gauge room assets, Annie they may be lurking somewhere on an external drive, but they would be fairly easy to recreate.

Ray
 
Never really into O gauge apart from a very brief excursion into the Big Big Train, complete with red plastic track! However I did have a Hornby OO clockwork train set at one point as a young lad, I always remember asking for an "electric train set" at Christmas but sadly my parents were not that well off and the best they could do was the clockwork version. It ran for a while but I think at some point I overwound it and snapped the spring.
 
I had thoughts of wanting to create either Trix Twin Railway originals (0-4-0s) or the original Bing 1920's HO stuff but I fear my lack of modelling ability will mean it never matures.

I was given a box of Trix Twin Railway odds and ends some years ago, but they'd had a very hard life and I could never get the locos to work. Interesting mechanisms though.

I can't find my 0 gauge room assets, Annie they may be lurking somewhere on an external drive, but they would be fairly easy to recreate.

Ray

No pressure Ray, - I'm still experimenting with ideas for 'O' gauge tinplate trains. My GNR Marklin coaches look the part and the tinplate track by jjslll54​is absolutely spot on for for this project.
 
Never really into O gauge apart from a very brief excursion into the Big Big Train, complete with red plastic track! However I did have a Hornby OO clockwork train set at one point as a young lad, I always remember asking for an "electric train set" at Christmas but sadly my parents were not that well off and the best they could do was the clockwork version. It ran for a while but I think at some point I overwound it and snapped the spring.

The springs on those were always fragile, - they must've ended up disappointing a lot of children.
 
I know this is slightly off-topic but it is worth considering.

Does anyone remember 2X, content and maps made twice Trainz scale size? Someone in NZ made a route and track and I scaled up one of my locos. There is a different 'feel' when driving., everything seems heavier.

If you intend modelling content that is based on a toy, then Trainz scale is no longer important.

Peter
 
Working in the TMR format what we do Peter is rescale the room or shed the layout is in to give the impression that the layout is built to 'O' or 'H0' or '00' & etc. It's an illusionary trick, but it does mean that the models on the layout can remain at 'Trainz scale' instead of having to re-scale everything.

I think 2X was well before my time with Trainz, but it certainly does sound like an interesting experiment. Does any of it survive I wonder?
 
I've looked at this in the past and I am not sure you will get what you want. I agree that enlarging the scenery can fool the eye but I found it was not enough. There was no 'feeling' of looking at a model. A 2X model 'looks' heavier and there is no reason why 2X couldn't be 4X.

Just my thoughts, I will be interested to see the results.

Peter

Another memory. Twice TtrainZ scale means the model has 8 times the mass and that perceived 'heaviness' also has an effect.
 
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Having operated 'O' gauge layouts I must agree about the increased mass over smaller scales which certainly makes a difference with the running of trains. This is all a bit of an experiment Peter so I don't know where it will go eventually, but I think it's worth exploring.
 
I've just discovered that the TS2004 'O' gauge switches/points by jjslll54 don't work in TS2012. They use Andi06's scripts to control the point blade movement and I guess that particular version doesn't work in TS2012.

The tinplate track itself is fine, but it doesn't like being bent into tight curves.
 
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