Baseboards built and the Easterner arrives

The excitement was palpable this week when I received the email notification from Hornby that my preordered Easterner set had arrived in the warehouse and was awaiting despatch. It only ratcheted up a notch when I then got the DPD notification Saturday morning that it was out for delivery.

It would've been nice to have had the set at Christmas but this actually worked out better in a way.

First impressions of TT:120 are very good - the size is "just right", and the detail Hornby have achieved is excellent. Definitely on a par with the best N and OO models as we'd expect.

However, the first stumbling block that I ran into is with the included controller - the R7229 and P9000 transformer.

Why Hornby chose to include this with their new sets instead of bumping the price slightly and including the HM 6000 or something is beyond me. 

Upon first connecting it, I wondered whether it was broken as there's no indication of power being fed to the track until you turn the wheel about 30%. Then you're met with an extremely annoying and worrying buzzing sound from the locomotive. From reading online, the controller is the culprit as the same complaints have been made about the Scotsman set.

So not much playing with trains so far, as I gave up and ordered the HM6000 and P9100 transformer instead.

Whilst HM 7000 DCC is very exciting and probably what I'll eventually buy; 1) it isn't available yet and 2) remains to be tested thoroughly. The HM6000 and HM DC app have been well regarding since launch (with some claiming it matches Gaugemaster controls) and my layout plan is relatively simple making DC control a better solution to begin with at least. 

In addition, the P9100 transformer can be later used with HM 7000 DCC when I do upgrade.

So what else have I done?

I built the baseboards and put up the shelf brackets to hold it when not in use:

 

 The desk below will become my craft area for building scenery items and whatnot. I'm really impressed with the sturdyness of the ScaleModelScenery baseboard kits now it's fully assembled and glued. For someone with not a lot of space like me, they're ideal.

I then positioned the Easterner rolling stock to get an idea of things:

When in use with the full loop connected this gives an idea of what it look like with a stopping train at the halt, as unlikely as it is for an A4 to have visited Vulcan!

The bracket holding the back boards together will be covered by a custom BR style station sign in due course.

Width is definitely going to be an issue for the layout, so I'll need to be creative with the scenery in order to create a sense of depth in a small space.

I'm thinking of bringing down the road bridge in real life that crosses the line north of Vulcan to hide the transition out of the left side of the layout. The right side will need to be covered by a tree or two unfortunately.

That's it so far for now.