Napier in action

No models yet I'm sorry, still unpacking from the big move last weekend. In the meantime, here's a great film of the Port of Napier (no trains sadly):

Light weights

Strong enough to hold a DJ.
In 1:64 scale.

In the latest NZ Model Railway Journal, there's an interesting article on building light-weight baseboards using MDF and plywood blocks. After doing a bit of digging around on the internet, I found this website which describes putting together such baseboards.

I'm thinking I might remove the heavy pine framing I'm currently using to hold up my depot module and replace it with MDF framing. Seems to be a much better option.

SCARM!

Actual station names may vary.

No that's not scram spelled wrong... I'm moving house on Friday (it has a much larger garage which I very quickly claimed) so all of the trains are packed up.

In the mean time I've been playing with a piece of software called SCARM (Simple Computer Aided Railway Modeller). I've used a few other pieces of CAD software before for layouts, but nothing has come close to the simplicity and intuitive interface of SCARM. It's not a huge download, and easily translates your track plans into 3D (see screenshot above).

The best part is its huge track database, which includes PECO, the brand of track I'm using. You can also print off your designs to ease the construction of the layout. Simple and straightforward - just as software should be.