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Gardian

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I seriously doubt it will be passed on. I went to the Model engineering exhibition at Aly Paly on Friday and I was the 2nd to youngest person there. I have to say it was the worst exhibition in my memory and considering the great days when it moved to Wembley this really was a poor show. Mind you steam is so last century, the guys who built the jet engines were great to talk to but Elf and safety wouldn't let them power one up at the show but they do allow boiling water, fire, steam etc which is far more dangerous. 

Apparently it's difficult to teach engineering in school because of the risk assessments for using sharp things and having to regulate everything down to protect the dumbest from hurting themselves, whereas in other countries their engineering prowess and knowledge is surpassing the UK except for the best Uni's so Britain will become the worlds burger flippers whilst we hand our pedigree for inventiveness to everyone else. 

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/business/business-news/mcdonalds-to-hire-2-500-more-staff-1-5343029

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HSD ................

Thank you for that link - a nice website and a nice A3!!

I've had a lifelong interest in railways and model engineering, though I've never built a layout worth its keep. I regularly tell Mrs G that when she's turned up her toes, I'm going to build an '0' gauge outdoor layout. Plenty of space and an ideal thing to keep me amused.

On our annual visit back to the UK, I always buy 'Railway Modeller' and the hobby seems to be more vibrant than ever. The problem is that (for years) people have been asking for improved quality and detail. The industry has responded and the range of ready-to-run and kits available is extensive: the problem is the cost. A locomotive will set you back £120 or so in '00' gauge and you're looking at 3x or 4x that in '0'.

Now ............... tell me that there's anything better than running a few trains around an outdoor railway on a warm evening with a glass of red wine in your hand. 

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I agree with your comment. When my son was at school the "career's master" asked him what he wanted to do when he left. He replied that he waned to go to sea as an engineer.The master said to him "what do you want to do that for? You will always have dirty hands" My son did go to sea and spent 20 years as an engineer before he came ashore with an excellent job in engineering.
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[quote user="Gardian"]

I've had a lifelong interest in railways and model engineering, though I've never built a layout worth its keep. I regularly tell Mrs G that when she's turned up her toes, I'm going to build an '0' gauge outdoor layout. Plenty of space and an ideal thing to keep me amused.

[/quote]

I don't know about amused but it will keep you busy if your not using self powered locomotives.

I built two different LGB layouts here in my garden and I guess spent about €10k in all (a loco can cost a grand plus easy) and the biggest problem is keeping the track clean even though I had a special track cleaning loco (It's the only loco they produce that is not 'stand off' scale). It does not matter what type of rails you buy, even stainless ones have to be cleaned.

Yes they are great fun but spending an hour or even two cleaning before you run the layout takes a bit of the spontaneousness out of the fun.

In the end it all became too much and I sold the lot.

I just stick to my RC stuff now.

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Oh man, I have a ton of HO/OO scale stuff in UK that I really don't know what to do with.

My grandfather built a layout in his loft for his kids, which expanded and expanded over the years, and as my father and one of his brothers got right into it, was expanded to cover the entire loft.

I got right into it as a teenager, upgrading and expanding the layout whenever I had the time to visit. I then discovered the joys of girls, drinking and cars, so the layout went unused. Grandad went through a sudden spree of changing from British stock to American stuff, then it was abandoned again. When he died last year I inherited the lot. I wasnt there to dismantle it, so my dad removed it all from the loft. There must be over a hundred locos, ranging from old Triang stuff through Hornby, Rivarossi etc and the modern US stuff is Bachmann and Kato etc. Countless numbers of rolling stock, and he lifted most of the track, points, crossings etc.

Its all in boxes in UK.....I might bring it down next time I am over with a vehicle big enough, but am loathe to commit to building a layout when I genuinely dont know how long I will be staying here.

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They used to have an annual model railway exhibition in Westminster Hall, I think that's the name of the place, every year. I saw a model layout there in a violin case, smaller then N gauge but I can't remember the name.

You should have a look on Ebay or even look at some of the old catalogs from specialist sales because old models in original box's can go for a lot of money.

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