Model Railway Forum

Good morning
About 25 years ago I built a layout for my son (OO, Hornby). It had two tracks. He left home and the set was left with an acquaintance who, in the end, didn't use it and it was stored amongst furniture etc.
I now have a grandson and I am trying to resurrect the set. It needs a lot of work (the foam track underlay has disintegrated and many bits and pieces need replacing).
To get to the point, the controllers are missing. My son remembers them as two grey boxes with speed controllers and direction switch etc. In addition the set has 6 electric points switches in place.
Could you please recommend replacement controllers? And I guess the points need to take their power from the controllers too? The connecting wires (which are all that's left where the controllers were!) consist of two double wires (presumably to the tracks) and two single wires which are for the points I think.
Is there a recommended store for these things?
Finally (not electrical I appreciate) do people think those underlay foam strips are a 'good thing'?
Very grateful.

Hi
Firstly, welcome to the forum.

I suspect your track will have steel rail (test with a magnet - Fridge magnet will do!) If the magnet is attracted its steel rail if it's not, then the rail is modern Nickel Silver type. The problem with steel rail is it rusts and the rail joiners (Fishplates) may also be corroded internally. All this can easily cause poor running! IMO modern Nickel Silver track is far superior in both look and running and I would sell or bin the old steel rail track!

DC controllers.... I would avoid the Hornby standard train set controllers as these are underpowered and frequently trip out when a load is applied. Consider the Hornby HM2000 twin controller as the best offering from Hornby or far better are controllers from Gaugemaster or Morley, but they are not cheap! They both sell twin track dual controllers. Gaugemaster DC kit comes with a lifetime warranty. Morley, I believe offers a five year warranty.

Power feeding from the controller to the rails should whenever possible allow power to flow into the single end of points and then be switched by the position of the point blades. The unset route being electrically dead. The power connection place can be anywhere that is convenient following whenever possible the power feeding rule above.

Foam underlay is still sold but modern foam may not fit the sleeper spacing of older steel rail track. Consider instead, if underlay is needed, 2 or 3mm thick cork strips. I personally don't use any underlay and prefer to lay my track directly onto the flat surface of the layout baseboard. Then once all is wired and all tracks tested for correct running, I ballast the track.

I would recommend that you get The Newcomers Guide to Model Railways By Brian Lambert. There is a newer version now but mine is the older one. Expect the newer one is even better. I found it very useful when I was building my layout. Covers just about everything you can think of. I got mine from Amazon.

Thanks very much. I'll get the book.

The good news is the track is not magnetic! Would "Guagemaster twin track power cased controller model D" fit the bill? £112.

Thanks again

That controller is excellent, I never had any trouble with it. Even if you buy a second hand one the warranty is still valid as long as you don’t open the case.

I use one of those which is 20 years old and it is a lovely controller.

Agreed

I much prefer the older Gaugemaster controllers which were more boxy and had larger knobs and were overall larger being double the size. They were nicer to use for those of us with larger hands.
Mind you, smaller controllers are useful for small portable layouts, but they are nice units.

I can recommend the Gaugemaster model D as it a nice controller. Have you looked at Moorley controllers?

Best way of explaining what is out there is...

Hornby budget controllers used in their train sets:
They work but are a bit weak and "Meh!" Operating them reminds me of trying to open child proof containers every time one wants to change direction!

H&M 2000 (By Hornby):
Now you are taking a step up into the kinda "Nice" direction. While not exactly "Quality", it does feel nice and works ok. A little on the weak side for some, but is nevertheless a decent step up from "Basic".

Gaugemaster:
Has a range from close to basic (The Combi (The Combi is slightly weak in my oppinion but those who have them say they are fine)) to almost exotic with bells attached...! They do sell a controller for almost everyones DC tastes. The newer ones do tend to be a bit small and compact compared to those lovely large "Man-sized" ones they once made, but they really are nice controllers.
Now this is my own personal taste and thinking. I tried a few but I enjoyed using the handheld controllers the best because I could follow my trains so if a loco stalled while shunting, or if I was uncoupling, I could be right next to the loco or stock I was working with at the time. I glued velcro on the back of them so I could stick them to the side of the layout and soldered 5 pin plugs (Only 4 pins are used) and sockets so I could plug in where needed. A separate cased transformer is required for either the handheld or the panel mounted controllers.
Panel mounted controllers are built to mount into ones control panel to give a professional look.
Regarding twin controllers or controllers with inertia etc. I have to admit I prefer using two separate single controllers to using a twin, triplet or a quadriple controller and here is why. Even with the older model UD that was twice the size as new versions of UD and had much larger control knobs, I found that two people got in each others way when using them. Fine for one operator but pretty limiting if two or more people want to control trains, BUT do not let me say the model D is too limiting because it is fine and is a good controller. Just me being extra fussy and needing my own space if another person arrives and I tend to need my space! (Look at controller reviews on Youtube to see what others think. Operational wize, as in the running of trains, they are good which is what Gaugemaster controllers are noted for).

Moorley:
And now we have something really good. Maybe a bit overkill but I will let you decide! Only once used one of these and it worked fine. It is the flexibility of its extra hand controllers that are attractive if one has more than one person using it that I like,,and is a quality built kit. Very nice indeed!

There was in the past a very wide range of makes and models and types of DC controllers availble and the emergence of DCC has killed off a fair few past names in quality DC control, but one does need to make sure they are safe to use if going down this route paying special attention to rubber grommets are present and are in good condition and cables are good... Get them checked for safety if buying secondhand even if the seller has already had them tested as is better to be doubly checked and safe than sorry.
The advantage is though that one can buy the best of the best and even after paying out to get them additionally tested, they can be good value if one knows what to go for. But get them checked and beware of buying from abroad such as America where theirs were designed to run on different voltages so do some research first as some well known past controllers from the UK also made versions for abroad so one needs to know the details before buying.

If unsure, just buy one of the new controllers as suggested above... And one can't go too far wrong than the Gaugemaster model D as what that is to model trains, Scania is to lorries and Ford is to cars where every other lorry is a Scania and every other car is a Ford and in the same way every other model railway has a Gaugemaster and there is good reason for that. Because they are reliable, last years, have an excellent warrantee and they just work! There may be better out there, but one can't really go wrong with a Gaugemaster.