My layout part 2
 

Hi guys,

It's been a while since I was last here. I've been busy putting the finishing touches to another book and starting another 2.

A couple of weeks ago when I had some spare time. What's that I hear you ask. :) I took apart my N Gauge layout and started on anotrher one. This time it is going to be bigger and, hopefully, better.

It now goes all the way around the inside of my shed, 8x6. Ok, so it's actually 7ft 6" by 5ft 8". The sides are 18 inches wide and the ends are two feet wide. That gives me enough room in the middle for my slender frame. :) It is also 4 feet above the floor, so it's at a better level to view it.

The outer six inches as 2 inch higher than the rest and will carry a double track. At one end will be a small station and a small goods yard. See 1st photo. The siding at the top right will be a carriage shed. There will be a lot more scratch building on this layout. As witnessed by my home made bridge.

I've been laying cork for the trackboard today and hope to paint it tomorrow. I'll try and keep regular updates.

Alex

Thanks for the update, it is beginning to take shape I see. I envy your skill with N Gauge - it's too small and fiddley for me but it is amazing how detailed it can be. I really must get round to removing most of the new ballast on my layout and replacing it with more authentic "dirty" looking stuff. Maybe something for Christmas!

Looks promising with some interesting stock. Look forward to further updates.

Best wishes,

John H-T.

Hi guys,

Thanks for your comments. I'm basically just building it as I go along. I have a rough idea what I want but it will change slightly as it is built. Once the upper trackwork has been completed I'll make a start to the lower section.

The station/yard area is mounted on quarter ply so it will be easier to drill the holes for the point motors and station/yard lights.

My passenger train is a temporary one until I can get the carriages that I want. I want 3-4 of the old style 4 wheel carriages. I've seen a number of them on E-bay but they tend to go for funny money. I tried to scratchbuild on but it didn't turn out very good.

I noticed this morning that a leak has developed in the roof of the shed. So I'll have to strip back the felt and repair the damage.

For those that get the N Gauge Society Journal there were some photos of my previous layout in the Sept/Oct issue.

Alex

Hi guys,

A short update tonight. Not much due to the glue and paint taking days to dry. I started laying out the front of Kenmore village, with the station and goods yard on the outskirts.

A general view of the back of the layout and of the street that leads to the station. I'll add the scatter and the footpath at the weekend. I'm still waiting for my 2nd radius curves so I can finish the upper level track work. The inner circle works a dream and my trains can travel really slowly around the track and over the points.

Alex

Look forward to further updates.............................

Hi,

Another short update. The upper twin track is now down and pinned. It is till powered by the one controller but I hope to get another controller soon. The village street is almost complete. Just some minor details, which can get added at a later date. The paving slabs have all been cut out and stuck down individually. It's an improvement on my previous attempt at pavements by using strips of balsa wood painted grey. They were painted light grey and a wash of black fills in the joins so they stand out. The same method was used in some of the driveways for the houses.

My next task is to wire up the 7 points in the station/yard area and do the lights for the station platform.

Alex

It's developing into a nice looking scene Alex. Please keep the progress reports coming.

Looking good so far Alex.

Hi guys,

Thanks for your comments.

I have finally found some of the four wheel coaches I was looking for. They are brass etched and come from a company called Etched Pixels. The three attached images show the first under construction. I have added an interior and I'll also add clear acetate windows and some passengers. To get it to this stage has taken about an hour. They fit on a Peco 15ft Brake van, not included with the kit.


Alex

Looks great. Look forward to see the completed coach.

Best wishes for 2010.

John H-T.

Coming along well buddy.......:)

Hi,

My first carriage is almost complete. Just got to fit the windows and roof. 2 pics attached. The second carriage is also under cinstruction. I've ordered another carriage plus a bagage carriage to complete my passenger train.

This carriage has six passengers, 5 seated and 1 standing. I've no more seated passengers. Have to see whats on E-Bay.

Not much done to the layout. It's too cold up here just now.

Alex

Looking good Alex. Thanks for the photos.

Best wishes for 2010.

John H-T.

Hi guys,

Another short update.

My first carriage is now completed, with a 2nd almost ready. First photo shows a close up of the carriage with some of the passengers visible. Next one shows it hooked up to my latest engine, a 4F from Santa, plus the carriage sheds.

I've also been able to wire up the station lights as shown in pic 3. Extra power leads have also been added to the track at the opposite end as traction was a little slow.

Alex

You've made a good job of the coach Alex.

Best wishes,

John H-T.

Hi John,

Thanks for the comment. I've almost finished the second carriage. I must say these etched kits are rather good. I may get some more at a later date. They are very straight forward to build, although I used superglue instead of solder to fix them together.

Alex

Hi well done with the coaches. I build etched stock myself and no how difficult it is. Anyone know of seated passengers that don't cost a fortune but are good quality?

Hi Jack,

The company has varying levels of dificulty with their kits but most should be within reach of your average modeller.

I'd like to find a good supplier of seated passengers as well. The ones I used came from a set, can't remember the company, but they had a set A and a set B. One of the sets had 5 seated passengers.

I have a number of figures that I bought from E-Bay and came from China. They are not very good quality but as they will be inside my carriages they should be ok as you won't be able to see much anyway.

I know you can buy ready painted sets from the likes of Priesler and Bachman but they are rather expensive for the number you get.

Have you tried Fleetline? They do white metal figures. I bought some coalmen a while ago and they paint up rather well. I see they also do 6 seated passengers for £1.70, which is not too bad. I may order some myself.

Alex

Hi Alex,

Thanks I will try Fleetline can't say I have heard of them I assume they have a website?

Jack

Hi Jack,

Don't know if they have a website. I did a general search for 'N gauge Fleetline' on Google and it threw up a number of stores that sell Fleetline. A similar search on E-Bay will find a number of items as well.

Alex

Hi,

I was looking at the various Oxford vehicles I have for my layout and noticed they were missing a vital ingredient. Occupants. They are simply held together by a single screw under the chassis. On the inside of the vehicle body there is a clear plastic lug that the screw goes into. As it is in between the two front seats I cut it out. I found some 'volunteers' and chopped them in half and glued them to the front seats. The vehicle was reassembled and as I could no longer screw it together a small drop of superglue was added under the chassis to keep the parts together.

I also have a number of the Morris vans, so I may open up the rear doors on 1-2. The plastic is quite brittle so I may just cut away the doors and replace them with plastic sheet cut to size. Buses would also look good with passengers but I noticed they appear to be riveted together. I may need to get the drill out. :D:D

Alex

Hi,

Well I got the drill out and opened up one of my busses. It now has several passengers. I've also added a occupants to a number of my Oxford cars as well.

I also opened up the rear doors on my BRS Parcels van. I drilled about six holes in the doors and with a sharp scalpel I carefully cut out the doors. A rear bulkhead was fitted behind the drivers seat and a floor was also added. I boxed in the rear wheels. New doors were made from plastic sheet and windows cut out. Remember I work in N gauge and the doors are 3mm x 6mm, with 2mm square windows. Just need to mix some paint to match the BRS green. Once it has a few parcels in the back it should look ok.

Alex

Alex

You must have the patience of a saint! Some excellent photos of your work, thanks for posting them. I can't believe that this is N gauge, I can't even manage very well with 00! Er, will you be doing commissions (in 00!)?

Hi Ted,

Basically I had too much free time over the Xmas holidays. It was too cold to work in the shed and the paint and glue was taking days to dry.

I haven't even thought about doing stuff for other people. I'm not sure my work would stand the close scrutiny in the larger scales. But I'm alway's willing to give it a go.

I finally finished my second set of lights at the weekend and what a pain they were as well. I just don't know what the problem was but they were wired the same way as the first set. It took me a good 6 hours to get them working. It was only four lights wired in series. I'm now working on a way to fit working headlights to some of my vehicles via fibre optic cable. Glutton for punishment or what.

My brass etch coaches should be finished by the weekend so I'll try and post more photos.

Alex

Hi guys,

As promised a progress report.

My carriages are now finished. First pic shows the luggage van, then the whole train being hauled by my Prairie tank just as it has crossed the bridge. The rocky cutting, or half cutting is still very much a work in progress.

Next a piccy of my complete BRS Parcel van being loaded up by the driver and his mate. The station is now being populated and the final piccy shows a guy waiting on the arrival of his train.

I'm slowly painting up my figures. I do a basic grey undercoat, then block colour in the main details. A light dry brush of light grey then brings up any raiased detail on the figure. A final light black wash goes into any crevices and brings up further detail and tones down the paintwork.

Further scenery is being worked on, but now I'm back at work the only time I can get out to do anything is at the weekend, if I have any time.

Alex

That looks great Alex well done.

ccmmick.

Hi guys,

Finally did some more work on the layout during the weekend. The rocky cutting is now finished and look not too bad. A couple of photos show the pasenger train overtaking the slow goods and a close up of my LNER engine.

I am now planning out the lower level track. One of the main features will be an engineering works. It still has a bit of work to done. The buildings are from Kestrel and the rest has been scratchbuilt using balsa and various pieces of plastic strip/rod. The gantry crane was built out of Evergreen H beam. I still have to work out the winch system yet. As you can see one loading bay is for the wagons and the other for the flatbed/container trucks. There is another siding which goes to the rear of the building so smaller items can be offloaded straight into stores.

One final extra detail is a parcel wagon that has had it's door cut open and an internal load of parcels installed. You can see they are about to be unloaded at the main goods depot.

Alex

Hi guys,

Not much has happened since my last installment. My engineering works is almost complete. I have added the rest of the railings. I've also added three fibre optic spotlights. The LED that provides the light is powered by a 9v battery and will, eventually, be controlled by a switch on my control panel.

Alex

Hi,

It's been a quiet month on the layout front. I picked up a number of N Gauge Society kits at the Model Rail show in Glasgow. All are GWR wagons. Four are finished, see below. A Mogo, ply side, Iron Mink and Iron Mink gunpowder van. The decals on the Mink and GPV are home made.

It wasn't my intention to run GWR wagons but I have a GWR Prairie so I thought what the heck, I'll get a rake of wagons.

I'm currently working on 2 Mica B's, an iron cattle van and a stretched Iron Mink tool van.

Alex

Hi,

My Iron Cattle Van is now complete, although I still need to make some decals for it. So far its not been a great success.

Only one of these wagons was built for GWR and it survived into the mid 1930's. I still need to try and drill out the various holes that went in the sides. I tried one side but couldn't get them in a straight line so filled them in again. I need to try and make some sort of template for drilling the holes.

Alex

Hi Alex congratulations you work fast, my projects take ages

Hi Belmont,

Although I work long hours I try to do some modelling most nights. Even if its only 30 mins or adding a coat or two of paint. It all adds up. Most of my conversions are relativley straight forward and only take about 5-6 hours in total, although this can stretch over a couple of weeks.

It's the same with my layout. If I can go out and add some scatter or lay a hedge it all adds to the progress.

Alex

Hi,

Although it's been a while since my last post progress continues on the layout.

Some piccies below.

The lower level is being detailed and my country siding is almost complete. It has a cattle dock, coal depot and small platform for the local farm, which is just to the right of the platform.

My engineering works has been moved to the bottom of the layout and this is what you see when you open the shed door. The wagons on the end of the J94 are all scratch built and are mounted of Peco 9ft chassis.

Finally some pics of my latest purchases. I won 2 North British gunpowder vans from Ebay and they have been suitably weathered. Next is a County Rolling Stock limited edition GWR gunpowder van. And finally a N Gauge Society gunpowder van. Decals are home made.

Alex

Very nice Alex, I enjoy these pictures are the locos kits?

Hi Blmont,

Thanks for the kind words.

The engines are both from Grafar. The green one is a 0-6-0 general purpose tank and the brown one is a J94 Austerity. Both were bought from E-bay. The J94 was originally green and called something like 'Sir Robert'. It has received a brown paintjob to look like an Austerity from the Wemyss Private Railway (WPR). Still to find suitable decals.

I have another of the green engines that is undergoing major surgery to turn it into a Barcaly 0-6-0T that was also used by the WPR. I started it in January but it has been put to one side at the moment. Not enough hours to do what I want to do.

I'd like to do a couple of engines as used by the North British Railway but I'm not sure if any are available as either kits or ready built. I have seen one that I may be able to convert from the Grafar 0-6-0 GP tank. So that may be next on my to do list.

Alex

this sounds and looks like it is going to be a good layout.
when it is finished i hope to see it at some exhibitions

Hi,

Sorry, it won't be at any exhibitions. It's a permament fixture in an 8x6 shed. There are some photos of the layout in my gallery.

My next plan, for next year, is to fit another narrow (6-8inch wide) layout above the backscene. This will be for a couple of American trains. My layout is 4ft off the ground so the new one will be about 4ft 8". At this height all of the 4ft layout will still be seen as will the upper one.

I've started collecting rolling stock and one train will be Burlington Northern and the other will be Baltimore and Ohio. The plan is to have narrow passes, tunnels and split levels, plus the trains will travel in opposite directions and cross each other via tunnels and bridges.

Piccies of the Baltimore and Ohio coaches below. At the moment they are being pulled by my Black 5 but I have a B&O engine on order. I picked them up at a train show at the weekend for a fiver each. They consist of a luggage, Pullman, Resturant and an Observation coach.

Alex

Hi,

A couple of conversions I'm working on. One is an Oxford Anglia with the bonnet open and a scratchbuilt engine bay. The other is a coal truck with a hopper body. They were quite common during the mid 80's around our way. They used to deliver coal to ex-miners.

Alex

Like the coaches, missed them first time around. The Anglia looks fantastic - you nust have good eyesight!

Best wishes,

John H-T.