Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Gary Walker on March 1, 2008 at 11:10pm

Hi Allen, I am trying to do something similar. But I also want the layout to have quite a large proportion of fire dept stuff , you know ....fire station, related buildings, house on fire, lots of fire apparatus etc. Only problem was finding items approprate to my area. Needless to say it has been just too hard trying to adapt things, so I have decided what the hell! and I've gone for a european layout. This has opened up heaps of possibilities and I started off with a recent starter set put out by Marklin which happens to be a fire train. As a bonus it has the latest digital controller, and Marklin have also produced a set of fire dept buildings and vehicles to go with the starter set.
As you are probably aware, there are many european manufacturers of 1/87th scale fire apparatus for railway layouts and I already have quite a few in my model collection.
I know that a few make some very nice american fire apparatus too, so you should be able to adapt and modify some of them for your layout.
Good luck with your project and let me know if I can help you with some of the manufacturers of US apparatus I mentioned.
Regards
Gary

Permalink Reply by Allen Wahlstrom on March 2, 2008 at 10:17am

hey gary thanks! I am modeling, the late 70's to present era...kind of a stretch, but as the layout covers about 8 linear feet I can transition nicely.
There are a few HO specific trucks, and quite a few fire stations, however my layout goes from eastern Ohio to basically South Texas, another stretch, so I can fit them in. Each section with have a fire station and equipment. Not sure if I will have a fire diarama, but that is an interesting option and with DCC I could actually use lighting inside to produce the desired effect as well as sirens and fire ground sounds...a very interesting thought indeed! Thanks for putting that little nugget in my head...my wife will love you for it! OK so maybe not, might actually come and hunt you down...lol

Have a great weekend and keep me updated on your layout. I will be posting pics of mine on here as it develops.

Allen