Hi Chaps and Chapesses

This will be my BLOG for Newark Northgate, an exhibition layout of the ECML in the GNER era. It will be N gauge and DCC controlled from Traincotroller via Lenz 100 set. I have been planning this for years really and progress will be glacial like as I have an active family and a job with a lot of travelling.

I am also a hobby woodworker and build baseboards on occasion (I did some of Tim Easters Auchin thingy boards for him to match up to the previous boards) and I was an electronics engineer way back as well so love doing many of the things that some other modellers find boring ie woodwork and electrickery. The scenery stuff will be more of a challenge but I am determined to come up with something reasonable.

I have always been drawn to the ECML from the early stories of Mallard and the speed competition with the LMS in the past. However being a child of the 60's it was Diesel and Electric not Steam that appealed so the choice was Deltics or Electric. Farish were taken over by Bachmann and one of the first items to be re released was the GNER liveried HST which caught my eye, such a nice grown up livery I have always thought! So it was decided! A modern era of mid 90's to mid naughties was settled upon and stock acquisition started.

I will be trying to keep relatively honest to the period and region but as always reserve the right to a "Rule 1" train. Stock is mostly complete with 2 x 225 sets,2 x Eurostar (one GNER and one white), 2 x HST for the fast stuff. Central Trains 170'2, 158's will be joined by 153's and 156's when I get round to it. I am also looking forward to the Hull Trains 222 if it ever appears.

Freight will be much less well defined but dominated by container traffic, a few car transporters and lost coal trains. A smattering of infrastructure stuff is/will be built as the mood strikes, all to be hauled by 92's 86's (when available),a shed load of sheds and 67's. Guest apperances by my railhead train of 2 x Loadhaul 37's and scratch built wagons (yet to be done).

So thats the plan and progress is, as I mentioned before, very slow.

In forthcoming posts, a trackplan, fiddleyard, baseboard progress and a bit of tracklaying.

Thanks for your attention!

Gareth