Welcome to my Web site. My name is Raymond Walley (N.B. NOT Ray!), I hope you find it interesting, thought provoking, contentious even.

By profession I am a psychometric analyst but don't let that put you off!  (However, if you would like to know more about psychometrics, go to Adams & Associates).

I have been a modeller, of one description or another, for as long as I can remember.

I got back into serious railway modelling in about 1994 and decided then to move from EM up 0 Gauge.  I find the physical size and mass of the models satisfying plus the fact that one can - indeed has to - put much greater levels of detail into each individual model.  You will see from these pages that I am a dyed in wool fan of Grub Water & Relief.

Most of the kits and bits & pieces you read about here have been reviewed and those reviews can be found on the Reviews page.

I am also a member of the of Epsom & Ewell MRC (whose layout "Horton Regis" won the Best In Show award at Guildex in 2003) and the East Sussex 0 Gauge Group.

I have dabbled in radio control but found it too limiting for the type of small tank engines I want mainly to run.  The control gear requires quite a lot of space as well as overhead in terms of battery power.  So then I tried infrared and found it better in that there was less control gear required and a much lower overhead of power requirement.  The GWR 517 class 0-4-2 I used for the experiment would run for about four hours on one charge.  Now though, I have decided to go for DCC using the ZTC equipment but this is still at an early stage of implementation.

Many of the models showcased here were painted and weathered by Ian Hopkins of the "railway in a clock fame", St George's Hill.  You can see more of his, mainly scratch-built, work on the page Ian's Photo Gallery.

TRACK.     My preference is for 31.2mm gauge track using a mixture of Exactoscale and C&L components.  This, to get soldered construction for the crossing Vees, check rails and switches while the rest is glued to wooden timbering.  Unfortunately Bernard died before he could produce the necessary jigs in 31mm gauge for me but I am hopeful that the new owners will produce them eventually (a hope that is very rapidly fading).  However, there is no possibility that I will be tempted to go S7, too much would need to be converted now and I have no wish to cut myself of from the mainstream.

The intention is to operate all turnouts using C&L point rodding components and link all this, plus signals, to a 29 lever, manual frame, which one day will be mechanically interlocked.  It is a one inch to the foot Steven's Lever Frame from Scale Signal Supply and has been reviewed.

KITS.     My preference is for etched brass and so far, most of my output has been in that medium.  However, some prototypes are not available in brass so other kits get built from time to time or scratch built for me.  I will however, go to great lengths to avoid white metal - filthy stuff in my view.

SCRATCH BUILDING.     Something I have moved into slowly (See GWR 28' Passenger Brake Van Diagram V5 and GWR Dreadnought Diagram E77 Composite) and have a few other projects that require a great deal of scratch building.  I shall keep a record of how I get on and put the results up on the Work in Progress page in due course.

Do drop me a line if you have any questions or comments, I will be happy to respond.

The workshop side of my old office, the new one will be the nice large room in the new house near the seaside in Sussex.

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