All About the Model Railway Village Magazine

I came across this magazine under a different name originally, on the continent. The UK and ROI version - Your Model Railway Village - is published under the Hachette Partworks banner, and promises to deliver an interesting layout over a number of issues.

The exact number isn't mentioned on the official web site, however a number of review and fan sites, such as ModelRailwayLayoutAdvice.co.uk mention that it will run to over 100 issues! That puts the price somewhere around the 900 GBP mark; expensive by anyone's standards!

So, what do you get for your money?

Your Model Railway Village Magazine

The magazine that comes with the various bits and pieces that go to making the layout qualifies as 'light reading'. It also includes the instructions for building the layout, and is accompanied by 4 quarters of the track plan.

To give Hachette credit, they've done a reasonable job of reducing the complexity of the hobby into bite sized chunks of history and technique. It's thin on details, but this is a consumer magazine rather than a specialist publication so that is to be expected.

One thing that isn't included with the magazine is the actual train, or power for the rails or lights. These are part of the special reader offer that requires collection of tokens in the magazine, as well as a fairly substantial payment.

Part of that payment is to buy the locomotive, but I'm fairly sure we can do at last as well as the reader offer by buying elsewhere.

Your Model Railway Village Locomotive

Being set in the 1960s, Hachette have chosen to focus on British Rail Maroon Mk 1 carriages, pulled along by a 'Junty'. This is an 0-6-0 steam engine, and the one presented as part of the special reader offer (see below) comes from Bachmann.

Given the quality of the rolling stock, the Bachmann locomotive that they suggest is possibly overkill. 

A good alternative to the Bachmann locomotive would be the Hornby Railroad GWR Freight Pack, which comes with a GWR Jinty, and an open wagon, box van and brake. Okay, it's the wrong era, and in a jaunty green, but it's half the price of the Bachmann suggested.

Amazon has the Bachmann model listed at around 75 GBP, and Hachette are offering it for 69 GBP, so there's a slight saving to be had. But what of the other special offer items?

Your Model Railway Village Special Offers

The Special Offer comes in three parts:

• Bachmann Jinty 3F 0-6-0 Fowler Class locomotive (analogue) @ 69.99 GBP
• Electrical kit for track & lights @ 39.99
• Cork underlay @ 14.99 (or free to subscribers)

The engine, we've covered above. The electrical kit is a controller that can also supply accessory power, and comes with adequate cabling for connection to the track, and presumably lights, too.

Hornby manufacture controllers for around 20 GBP, which mounts to 35 GBP when you include the power supply. And Gaugemaster also do a combination for 39 GBP, which, at the same price point, represents better value for money. Gaugemaster kit is renowned for being solid and hard-wearing.

So, the special offers represent value, but for anyone who believes that the train, controller, and cork is an integral part of the magazine collection (which costs well over 900 GBP, don't forget) it's going to be a painful hit.

All in all, it's a good concept, and so far the execution represents value for money. In a future article, we'll look at the model buildings that will make up the 'village' in Your Model Railway Village.

How to Add Sound to a Model Rail Layout

A little bit of sound on a layout can add an extra dimension to the experience, albeit at a cost.

DCC Sound

The sound is provided by a speaker, connected to a special DCC decoder that can store sound files to be played back through the speaker.

The decoder can store several sounds, depending on what the locomotive is supposed to be doing:

• idling;
• starting;
• running;
• braking;
• etc.

The decoder and speaker are then mounted in the locomotive.

DCC Sound on Locos

This can be a delicate operation : as with fitting any decoder, it requires taking the locomotive apart, and fitting both the decoder and the speaker.

Larger diesels will have space between the bogies, steam locomotives ought to have space in the tender, or in the body itself.

Smaller locomotives, such as the Class 08 diesel or 0-4-0 steam engines will be fiddly, and where possible, pre-fitted DCC sound models should be bought in preference to trying to retro fit the sound kit.

DCC Sound on the Layout

There is, however, another way, and that is to use one decoder for all the locos, mounted on the baseboard.

This has some obvious advantages, such as sound quality, and some clear disadvantages, such as the sound not following the locomotive around the layout.

Of course, a big advantage is that the decoder and speaker do not need to be mounted in the loco, although they do still need to be DCC. This is because the decoder needs to decode the control signals, decide which loco it is destined for, and play the appropriate sound file.

So, in a nutshell, that's how DCC sound works. It's a complex topic, covered in some depth in the book DCC Projects & Applications: Digital Command Control for Your Model Railroad (Model Railroader). It covers all aspects of DCC, and provides information that can be applied immediately to those who want to add DCC to their layout, or extend an existing layout.