This isn't just good budget rail modelling, it's showcasing some ingenious concepts for a layout of any size!

The redbrick buildings and grey forefront make for such a realistic scene...

Highly atmospheric! Entertaining [if shaky] shots and commentary. I like these small projects because of their relative completeness. Some people watch fish in a tank, I relax by watching videos like this. Lots of inpiration. Thanks.

Just watched this video then up came sams trains review and it’s the Hornby J15 he speaks very highly of this locomotive and it’s one of the very few that is all di cast and will pull anything so having a Hornby J15 is obviously a good little steam locomotives to have in any one’s collection 👍. Paul

I love the Hand of God florist wire! 😁😅

I truly believe that for any beginner to the hobby and I include myself ! This little shunting layout is the best way to start yes you will make mistakes along the way and it most certainly won’t be perfect but you will also learn and with it will come the confidence to try and do something that bit bigger , and this is what the hobby is all about , having a go and simply enjoying it ☺️. Paul

Just bought that exact J15 model for a bargain, it’s an absolute beauty. Looks great on small layouts!

Like the tall buildings,, realistic..

How eerie about the 0 gauge, I just posted a comment on Instagram a few hours ago about it! Perhaps you could just add a bit of cardboard under the overhanging factory so it doesn´t look like it may fall of at any second. I remember when you started that railbus, time does fly! Looking forward to the running session, lets hope we get one.

Those red gear train is lovely

simply wonderful....just really looks and works great....we are in g scale mode again now....got ten a penny in pieces again,for yet another change too....keeps me sane from you know where !! I yr,10 months,26 days left !!!!!..

I love the building that has replaced the school. Makes all the difference. Great video!

Love the (potentially) invisible hand of 'god' brilliant, great idea👍

Just to add. Thanks for the florists wire tip. I have been using piano wire inside plastic drinking straws. However I have been bending a 90 degree angle in the piano wire and trying to push the last 2mm bent end of the wire centrally through the base of the movement in the centre of the tracks and from the underneath. Result: the small bent end of the wire occasionally drops down and out ....... and is difficult to twist upwards and put back into position. Your own method of attaching the end of the wire to the outside of the track movement AND GLUING IT IN PLACE is far far better. You have set me a task. Fortunately I only have half a dozen sets of points to tackle so just a couple of hours fettling needed. Thanks again. Looking forward to Part 4.

Excellent deal on the loco from Kernow. A great slow runner too. I like the the look of the track disappearing between the warehouses. Regards..... Steve 👍

That railbus is a really excellent example of just how much money can be saved by a bit of thought and application, and is ideal for this sort of layout. Pleased to see you're giving O-16.5 a go 👍

J15 ftw - great video as ever 👍

Brilliant Layout and video as usual, also that Hornby 0-6-0 with the short funnel is a Midland Railway 4F. Keep up the good work!

i would like to tell you that for me this layout has atmosphere by the bucket load, as i,m a townie i was really taken by your fences and townscape terraced houses and the colour of the textured brick background of streets and houses etc. i like the improoved the points operation which i am going to use too, the J15 for me is my favourite loco second only to the 4-4 2T Adams Radial of the Lyme Regis branch. But in short your layout is so inspirational and has the most important element atmosphere, atmosphere, atmosphere. Many thanks.

Enjoyed that one the new steam loco looks good and it is nice you got it at a good price too.

very nice layout. Just love the point control, will look in to doing that on my layout the entrance much better than the school Thanks good job

Glad you picked up a J15. For the price it is point for pound the best loco I have. Runs remarkably and sets the standard for me.

A great video. Thank you, thank you very much. Like you I have a variety of wagons with different couplings. I have decided to stick with the "plastic humps" and I put together my rakes with a suitable wagon at the point where I want to split the rake. That way I can mix and match wagons from the 1960s through to 2021. For example, like you, I have the Bestwood wagon, so I place that next to my loco knowing that it will couple and uncouple on the plastic hump. At the other end of my Bestwood wagon I join anything I like, just so long as I am not going to want to couple and uncouple the rake of wagons at that joint on the plastic hump. And so on and so on. Just placing a wagon that I am confident will couple and uncouple at a place in the rake where I want that to happen. The added advantage is that when I compile the rake in this way I do not risk getting any accidental uncouplings because I know which wagons will not release when they go over the plastic hump. I suppose it simply adds another dimension to the traditional shunting puzzle game. Keep safe and well.... and in the meantime, if you have the inclination, please retrieve your little plastic hump and give this idea a try, perhaps with a mention in Part 4?

Love the point rodding very good, saves damage to the layout and all the hard work. I'm an O gauger and have to use three link couplers and have a long handled hook and torch. Thanks for the idea of using a tall building to hide the entrance that's something I've been pondering. The 4431 Loco is a L.M.S Fowler 4F and All entered British Railways stock in 1948, I'd love to get my grubby little mits on a O gauge 4F loco kit.

The change of building looks great, I love my j15 too its a amazing little loco along with my the j50. Well worth the prices they're at atm. Great video as always

Very nice, thank-you. Love the remote points trick!

Great video, thanks for sharing. Looks great. I would consider a bridge between the two parts of the factory at the left end of the layout. I like the use of florist wire to move the turnout points. I would paint the wire black to hide it. I seem to remember a similar method that used a kink in the wire to provide a spring, so which ever way it was set, there be pressure .Cheers and stay safe!

It’s a great looking layout and I love the j15. Thanks for another great video👍🏻

Great idea for changing the points, mine are all by hand so I'll give that a go, thank you.

another great video. the florist wire for the points is a fantastic idea, thank you

That J15 looks stunning 🤩, I’ve got one in a LNER livery. Great vid!!

Coming along very nicely, I really like the little scenes dotted around. That J15 looks very tempting! I am an LMS man, but I would seriously consider getting the LNER version.

I just think that the switch pulls are great. I gotta switch that will be get one this week.🚂🚃🇨🇦

Hi,I have seeing these on KZfaq and now I've subbed,Im a N gauge fan but like OO as well,this is a brilliant layout and it works very well.

Inspirational video again Mike, all the best

I have a similar strategy on my small n gauge shelf layout for the points uses a roll of brass wire held in place as I didn't want to mess about with point motors 😊

I'm not particularly interested in the idea of a shunting layout but I do really enjoy thr small layout videos. They give some really good ideas for small layouts in general and you always offer a good balance of footage. Thank you for all your hard work on the vlogs.

Well done mate, Crackin! Will give the Florist wire a go, cos I still CBA to install the points motors i got for ones I can’t reach! 🎥🚂👍🏻

Enjoyed the video very much.Hope there more to come.Take care.

brilliant as all ways its really come along great little layout well done boys

Looks great, and I'm very interested to see how the O-16.5 turns out. I personally prefer your small layouts like this one - guess because you progress them rather quickly and gives me ideas of things for my smaller layouts.

Very clever idea your exit between two tall buildings. In an urban setting, it is more original than the usual overpass. For my own, I'm planning to do an exit that pass below a canal bridge, this one with a narrowboat on it. Your 44331 is a Fowler 4F, the freight bulldog of the LMS. Your J15 was, in her time, the LNER queen of the branchlines : the small engine that goes everywhere to pull erveything, fine for any kind of small station. and the Hornby model is one of their best. I'm short of three Peco ST-241 to start my own like yours, I have some shopping to do. Have a nice day !

The J15 is a cracking model, I love my one. It's my 2nd favourite behind my D16 (I'd recommend one of them if you can pick them up for a decent price). I think a lot of the reliability of the J15's is down to having all wheel pickups, including tender wheels; I can definitely see the difference between those sorts of locos & older ones that don't have all wheel/ tender pickups

Great videos lads. I'm new to the scene and learning a lot from you, 👍

Nice simple reliable remote point control.....brilliant. Very interested to see how the O-16.5 test shot turns out.

That J15 is one of the nicest models available. Although i model the 60,s US scene i was gpoing to purchase one of these but my leaky garage roof had to come first so as to stop everything from getting wet!! skint now but living in hope!!

i got the loco from kernow, its realy great. thanks for the heads up

Great video. Definitely like the florist wire idea. Sorry but I’m going to have to pinch that for use on my layout.

Love the florist wire, I visited my fishing tackle shop and bought some plastic tube which I ran my wire through, meant I could hide the wire under scenery.

Love the video guys :) Layout looks brilliant. I also own a J15 and it is a fantastic loco.

Beautiful new loco.. Nice looking vehicles.

Yikes! I hope your finger is feeling better!! Thanks again for another lovely video!! :-)

I like everything about this video

Very good video, and I have a Mainline BR black N2 and is a great runner too .

If you add a length of finished 1x4 (stained or painted) to the front of the layout it will finish it off nicely and the factory will no longer be hanging over. Its looking great.

A shame to hear you've not had much success with the plastic strips for uncoupling. I did a video on exactly the same thing for my own shunting layout last year. It took a little bit of fiddling to get the height/length just right but once I found the sweet spot it's worked flawlessly with a wide range of locos and rolling stock ever since. The J15 is fantastic though! I've got one too and it's easily my best runner so you picked a good one there! Thanks for another great video, as always. 👍

Looks good and no real space. As you say Hornby points the hand of God to nudge it along. Well done shows what any one can build, large like loft or small like shunter line 👍

In the UK houses are generally built in miniature compared to other countries..i.e. America/ Australia, Space and cost saving should be a must for people here I'd of thunk!

Nice one Mike looks great now! Those cheap and nasty figures from China i repaint them,and if you live by the three foot rule they look ok.I like your point control,nice simple and cheap,i actually prefer to see items like this on a layout rather than expensive point motors.

I'll bet you could loose hours working this layout, so many options and it looks great. I have just built a Dapol Railbus and, thanks to your information, fitted the body to a Lima HO class 33 chassis. As you said, it fits perfectly and looks good. I liked the kit so much I ordered another one to build as a bogie trailer using some Hornby clip fit bogies. 😊👍

Looks like I'll have to put a J15 on my shopping list !! Love the layout, especially the old iron fencing . . . where did you get that from please ? You've got me hooked on shunting now. Keep it up and thanks.

nice layout keep up the vids

Hi mate, must say the replacement of the school with the warehouse was a good move. Properly frames the exit point 😃 💡 That J15 is a fabulous model and an engine that could historically be seen down my neck of the woods as Stratford J15s would often bring freights into the Southend-on-Sea environs 😎 BTW, not certain but I think the LMS 060 is a 4F 👍 Great update, though I’d keep an eye on that thumb wound 😦 Have a great week mate 😜🍻

The building frames the scene in and directs attention to the center of the action, much like the proscenium arch in a theater which after all is what we're trying to accomplish with our modeling. To paraphrase Shakespeare "The layout is indeed the stage and the trains are players making their entrances and exits". Well done. Here in the States, we dumped coal from a ramp or a trestle into the coal dealer's yard. How would the coal get from the wagon to the staithe on your side? Side dump wagons or shoveled out?

Excellent update the point idea is so simple but so effective on this sort of layout. Does the wire run free on top of the baseboard or is it in some sort of tubing at all? As always the details really make the layout come alive. The little scenes you create make all the difference.

Good ideas for me to build a little O27 gauge shunting layout.

I've always wanted to start modelling in O-16.5...

I love your layouts. BMR is such an inspiration. I was going to ballast, but have decided to ballast mat, due to by decreasing dexterity... and lack of patience. After all, I am not going with scale model realism, as all I really want to do is run trains. I was going to do an all LNER themed layout, but, what the heck. It's my laout and I can run what I like :) I think I have accumulated enough stuff now, on a low budget, to get started. Keep up the great work.

I bought a J15 a few months ago, and it was a great runner. However, the next day it was dead. It kept shorting out the controller as well. I returned it and got a replacement and it was the same thing. I guess I just got unlucky with my two.

You should show us how to do those wire point switches and you should do a garden railway

Looking really great. So much detail. Didn't you put a Dapol railbus on a Lima class 33 chassis some time ago? Is it still running? The 33's bo-bo chassis makes it freelance but it looks good and would probably cope better with points as you could have pick-ups both ends. Love the trick with the points. I'm definitely going to try that.

My CR Pug is insane, abs pocket rocket and goes from standstill to flying down the track on just one notch of power O.o My Lima HO 33 is pretty urgent along the tracks, that was a NOS I picked up thanks to the hint I think on one of your vids to keep an eye out for. My 37 is far more realistic, can thunder along but gets there from a crawl to a reasonable speed then all full ahead both and very predictable, my 86 is also very predictable and strong puller too. I rebuilt my Pannier and that with new brushes sounds like a playing card in a bikes spokes but its getting quieter as the brushes bed in.

What is the length of your shunting night out plus the windows are could you let me know please

Noice

Don’t worry about it running in reverse No85 Merlin does it all the time

I note the AGW controller what's your opinion of them perhaps this is a Tuesday tutorial (Various controller comparisons) they seem to have quite a good reputation

Connect all the small ones together

It is strange that a Mainline loco which are berated as being poor runners and unreliable is one of the better runners on this shunting layout . I have a couple of mainline locos but they came with Bachman chassis fitted , I like the level of detail on them and while not being the very latest tech run well enough for me .Some of todays offerings from the main manufacturers appear to have very poor reliability !

How difficult would it be to modify or replace the couplings so that the automatic de-coupler would work consistently?

...I think your railcar can do with a bit of glue (01:09) - Props for trying but one can only 'budget' so much ;)

7:03

Looking at building my first diorama on an old floating shelf like a goods yard and utilising my 1.76 brs and British rail trucks just wondering if you have any pointers for me

Hi guys I just joined this site an i looks wonderful an helpful I was wondering if i can ask a quick question Regarding a dapol locomotive if i may ?

Those cheap Chinese figures differ a lot in detail (between poor and quite good) depending on the shape used. While most have some casting defects, these usually are out of sight. Just remember that you pay a premium price for having them painted on the late shift by the world's worst motivated employee they could find.

Try to hold and set up camera properly. I am an ex pro film maker. Watchers get dizzy when the camera is waved about

:

This isn't just good budget rail modelling, it's showcasing some ingenious concepts for a layout of any size!