Hi everybody and welcome to this Blog covering the construction of 'Heworth Sidings', a modular exhibition layout being built by several members of the Yorkshire Area Group of the N Gauge Society.

The initial concept for this layout was put together towards the end of September 2011 as our group had 3 modular 4' by 21" boards available. We started putting some initial thoughts together and it was decided that we would put together a British Outline scene having a main line (up/down) with passing loops and some industry sidings which would be used to receive and despatch wagon rakes for an assumed off-scene industry. With the main line passing through the scenic boards and the Industry being off-scene our thoughts were that the layout could cover anything from the 80s to the current day and also support a number of industries.

An intial track plan was put together, but based on prototypical train sizes, it was quickly decided that a larger layout was required and a decision was made to extend the layout using a further two 4' modules. As our discussions continued the track plan was refined until finally, we had a plan that lived up to our expectations for the layout and this can be seen below.

The layout will be DCC controlled and we are currently looking towards automatic signalling, block detection and possible automation. Hopefully as the Blog continues we'll be able to share some of our findings of these subjects and hopefully get some of your feedback about them.

Cheers.