NGaugeTom

With an afternoon off I've managed to finish the main baseboards for the layout and assemble them together for the first time. I may be biased but I'm really liking how this is starting to look. I've also drilled out the slots for the point operating rod and the uncoupling units. Next up is laying the Cork.

Work is progressing nicely on the fiddle yard, I'm hoping to have the baseboard ready for track laying by the end of the Easter holidays. In the meantime I've added the first few layers of paint to the Terrier crew and re-attached the body after adding as much brass to the inside of it as I could. Hopefully this extra weight will aid tractive power and the crew members have been cut down so they fit in either side of the cab, as a way of hiding the DCC decoder and stay alive unit. The Terrier and the 4MT tank (pictured below - mentioned in the first post) will be the only locomotives to start with, with a small amount of passenger and freight traffic.

The trackplan is going to be really simple, there will be two lines coming from the fiddle yard through a station (right side of picture), reducing to a single line/head shunt for the run-around loop (left side of picture). And then a single line for a goods siding (front right of the layout in the image). Nothing exciting or new, but I needed something portable to move around at home and something to learn the Merg electronics with.

Hello all, I've embarked on a journey to build a micro N-gauge Finescale layout depicting the end of a preserved steam railway. The initial baseboards are built, featuring a scenic area of around 2 foot 8 inches by 8 inches and a cantilevered lighting pelmet so the layout can be view on three sides. The picture shows the final baseboard with the floating lighting rig. The blue masking tape shows the track bed, which features the end of a run around loop. I'm planning on modelling the end of a station, long enough for two coaches and a tender locomotive. The plan is to have a single point and on the left hand side of the picture, whereby the head shunt will be elevated over a road bridge for modelling interest. I'm hoping this will make for a nice photo plank where I can take it outside and use mother nature as the backscene on occasion. There will also be a small freight siding (which can be seen on the right hand side of the image), which will either appear from a goods shed or next to one, undecided on that at the moment. The plan is to hide the transition through the backscene with a footbridge over the platforms and to model the station slightly beyond the backscene so when viewing the layout, the transition to the fiddle yard is more hidden. The layout is going to take a lot of inspiration from Corfe Castle on the Swanage railway as it is one of my favourite places to visit and watch trains go by with a cuppa. The fiddle yard is progressing nicely, as the picture below shows; This will feature a turntable so trains can be turned and re-enter the layout quickly. It will feature three tracks so enough for two passenger trains and one goods I think. I'm hoping to have it permanently wired so I can run my DCC locos without having to interrupt any power for them...we'll see how that goes. The track is all going to be British Finescale Finetrax and control is going to be via my DCC controller and I will be delving into the world of Merg for the control of the point and signals. I have the crazy idea to make (or attempt to make) working ground signals for the layout. I'll see how far I get with that one! In terms of rolling stock I've finished converting and weathering up a Farish 4MT tank. The second steam locomotive I've been rebuilding and converting to DCC for the layout is a Dapol Terrier No 734. Conversion is complete, with a few programming tweaks needed, but it works the way I want it, perfect for some slow running and shunting on the layout. This is my second attempt at converting a Terrier, learning from my (many) mistakes from the first one. The loco features a Tramfrabriek motor, the Zimo MN170F decoder, stay-alive and I've managed to squeeze three 470uf capacitors into it. I've taken inspiration from Ian Morgan and his Terriers on his layout Freshwater and added small brass scrapes which ride along the rails aiding pick-up. I have to say this makes a huge difference in the operation. I've just got the DG couplings to add, then I'll be onto adding the body back on and the weathering. So far it's taken me about 18 months to get to this stage, but I'm hoping by Christmas 24 I'll have the layout up and running with working electronics....hopefully! I'm not the biggest fan of the woodwork side of layout builds, but it's so nice to see a layout get to the point where I can actually start modelling.

Thank you Nigel and Chris for your replies. Nigel I will send you an email, your Fairburn looks superb and by the sounds of it your kit is exactly what I'm after 😁 Tom

Thanks Bob. I had missed there was a 2mm section so have asked again in there. Thanks for your help!

Hello all, I'm looking to convert a Farish 4MT tank, but I'm not sure where to start with the valve gear. Am I right in thinking the valve gear would be the same dimensions as the Fairburn tank? And if so, I was struggling to work out which parts I would need to complete the valve gear from shop 3, has anyone converted one before and know? Any help would be much appreciated. Tom

Hello all, I'm looking for some advice on converting a Farish 4MT tank to 2mm finescale. Am I right in thinking the 4MT tank dimensions would be the same as the Fairburn tank? If not can you re-use the N gauge valve gear on replacement 2mm wheels and crank pins? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Tom

With a free Sunday afternoon thanks to the rather stormy weather I've managed to build the main skeleton of the baseboard. I've still got the backscene structure to add but the main track bed is down and the supporting structure around the road bridge installed. The main structure is made from 12mm ply, with the road surface being 5mm ply, screwed and glued together. Next on the list will be fitting the baseboard joining dowels, curved backscenes and thinking about legs. I've yet to decide on what legs to use, I may go down the route of making trestles with this layout as they seem better for using on multiple layouts long term.

Yes I had seen Blueball Summit in the magazine and probably like most had to double take that it is N gauge. Another fantastic layout and again, I really like the use of space. Lots of inspiration there most definitely and if I can get anywhere near that detail on mine, I would be a very happy chap! I have begun cutting the plywood for the baseboards today whilst the weather wasn't too terrible. Once I've got the core structure together I will get some snaps

Thanks Andy for the suggestion and thank you Nick for the picture and details of Moors View. It looks like a fantastic layout and completely up my street! I really like the snow scene too, something that is not often modelled. I imagine the depth of the board isn't huge? And as you say the railway looks totally right in the landscape, exactly what I was thinking of trying to achieve with my idea. Also very much liking the western with the mk 1's and I can imagine any time period of stock looking great flying over that viaduct. Seriously impressed

Hi Andy, thanks for taking the time to comment and thank you for your observations, they are good questions and ones I thought of too. I've always struggled with the 3x length of train rule, in that if I want to model modern traction and make it look realistic I'd need near on 20 wagons headed by a 66, which would be a scale 10 feet(ish). So for the 3x rule to be effective then you'd need 30 feet plus the fiddle yards. Add into that the cost of 20 wagons, then multiply that for multiple trains, and it's something that is beyond my means. Even if you just went for 10 wagons, it's still a considerable space needed. So my thought process was the opposite, I started with the space I wanted to model, this being 4 feet. So rather than having longer trains and more wagons, I only need a Class 66 with five or six wagons to make this effective. If I can't see the end of the train as the front disappears then the illusion should be that the train could be longer. The track plan is very simple, and the main reason for this is that I want to concentrate on the detail of the model whilst being able to just sit back and watch the trains go by. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but the majority of pictures I look at are of locos pulling their trains through the countryside so its something I'm keen to recreate in miniature. In terms of operation I'll be installing four aspect signals on both lines so there will be static and moving trains at various speeds, whilst also being able use the scene for photographing my models. I'm undecided on fiddle yards as yet, but yes, I've thought a minimum of 10 storage tracks would keep things interesting. I'm not planning on any automation to start with, but who knows!

Hello all! I find myself wanting to build another layout and thought it would be good to document the progress and share the idea on the forum. My previous layout, Meldon West, still exists and there are still some things to finish off but having received one of the Kato Class 800's in GWR green last year, my current 2ft 6 inch quarry layout just isn't big enough. This therefore gives me an excellent excuse to go full steam into a layout suitable for it. As much as I have been increasing my collection of stone wagons for Meldon West, I have been slowly building up my passenger stock so it's also a good excuse to be able to get this running! I've been throwing ideas and plans around in my head for approximately two years, trying to decide on what to build next. I've found it difficult to settle on an idea because I tend to model in the BR Blue and sectorisation years, but I also like the modern traction and have a growing collection of post-2000 models. I'm one of those modellers who really likes the Class 66 and the fleet is growing! Having studied endless photographs and throwing away many a scribbled plan I have finally landed on a very simple design. As you can see from the plan below, it's simply a two track electrified mainline cutting through the British countryside. Plan: It's not modelled on any specific location, but the idea is to create a slice of the English countryside where I can watch trains moving through. The layout has to tick some boxes for me and those are: I don't want it to be too date specific, a layout where either a class 33 in BR blue with MK1's or a Class 800 looks at home. I don't want the layout to be location specific, so although inspiration has come from seeing the Class 800 hurtling along the Great Western Mainline, I equally want to run my LNER Class 43 (And who knows a Class 91 one day when someone makes one!) Needs to be a small enough project so that I can achieve reasonable progress around non-modelling life. Needs to lend itself to modelling areas I've not modelled before. Needs to include a small bridge. The tracks need to be elevated on an embankment to assist with photographing models as I enjoy photographing them. A slightly deeper board to include more scenery and a bigger scene and help loose the railway into the surrounding scenery. A canal and lock if possible if it doesn't look out of place in the landscape. To model farmers fields, I'm thinking just after harvest (this would be a whole new thing to me and at the moment I have no idea how to do that) To include scratch built working LED signals. Catenary with wires (non-working). I'm not entirely sure about this as this will come down to scale size of wire versus look. But I like the idea of trying. Sweeping elevated track curves. Not a hugely exhaustive list but important none-the-less and even though it's a simple layout, they'll be a lot of firsts in there for me with my modelling. Track-wise I'll be opting for the British Finescale range again, after using it on Meldon West I can't see myself ever going back to Peco for the modelled sections of my layout. I'm still undecided on fiddle yards and whether I'll have two traversers at either end or turn it into an oval but I will decide later with this. For now the wood has been purchased to begin building the modelled section, which will be 4 foot long and 14 inches wide. I'm opting for an open plan baseboard with a curved backscene and may try and incorporate a slight curve into the front of the layout. That's it for now, I've got some wood to mark up and start cutting

Another angle showing the single track shed and fuel / stabling point.

So with the house move complete, Meldon West is now fully up and running in its new home. It's survived being in storage for a couple of months and with the space now available I've been able to attach the second board again. I'd built this a couple of years ago but due to a lack of space in the previous home it's been stored in a garage ever since, fortunately though it has survived! Looking back through the posts I realise I documented some of this section being built (okay there's a huge gap from where it was to where it is now) and I'm very glad that after a dust and a track clean that it all works as it should. There's still a little bit of work to do in terms of detailing but I may get distracted a little as I'm about to embark on another layout....but I'll start a new thread for that Here are a couple of pics showing the Class 33 completing the test run on the second board and a view of the overall set up

Thanks Polybear. I am planning to keep the rolling stock in the house, as this is the most valuable. I have outbuildings / shed insurance within my home insurance which happily covers the layout. Thanks for the suggestions regarding home security, luckily the shed area is well hidden and not overlooked (we live at the bottom of a cul-de-sac). Having said that I am looking at some IR CCTV cameras that will link to my phone, similar to the ring doorbell technology. I've also bought a dehumidifier as well and that's made a huge improvement in the last few days, just running it for 6 hours a day has dropped the humidity by 10% as well as adding a little warmth. I just have to balance the length of time it's running against the cost with this silly rise of energy bills we're currently seeing. All great suggestions, thank you!

Not as yet, but that sounds interesting, thank you

Thank you for the replies everyone. That is all really useful and helpful. After reading I'm pretty confident the shed in it's current format is up to the job. Just needs a little TLC to make it more comfortable. Thanks again!

Hello all, I've recently moved into a new property and one of the nice features is that it comes with a 19 x 11 ft workshop/shed in the garden. It's built from 18mm marine ply mainly, two layers of which with roughly 2 inches of insulation sandwiched between each layer, so it appears very well built. It has a decent (newish) roof and sits completely off the ground. I'm going to use it as my model railway room / workshop but I've never had my models outside in this way, so forgive me if these are silly questions and if they've been answered before but I'm looking to see what others have done / found when using a shed for their layouts. 1) My first question is do you heat your shed? If so how and with what kind of heaters? There is currently both a greenhouse 80watt tubular heater and a ceramic wall mounted heater, which I estimate to be around 1500watts. I currently have the tubular heater on all the time to see what effect that has, but the ceramic wall heater I will only use when I am in there. I'm thinking of a fan type heater to quickly bring it up to a comfortable working temperature when required. 2) Is there an optimum temperature that people try to maintain when using a shed for their railway? (When they are not in there themselves) 3) Do you leave your rolling stock outside in the shed or do you bring them into the house after an operating session? 4) Has anyone had any issue with the damp affecting the electronics in DCC locomotives? Or any issue with rusting on wheelsets / parts? 5) Does anyone use a dehumidifier to help remove the dampness from the shed? 6) Any other hints or tips anyone has for using a shed for the hobby? Any help is gratefully received Tom

Thanks Rich - I've just done that, good suggestion!

Thanks Robert! I have no plans to part with the layout at the moment, there are still a few things I would like to do with it. That's very kind of you to do that at TINGS, I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and I'm hoping to get the layout out to a few more shows next year (hopefully Covid doesn't scupper those plans). Sometimes I do wish it was 4mm, it would make some of the detailing and fitting of DCC that little bit easier on the eyes!!

Thank you Pete!

I cannot believe it's been two years since I posted on the forum...it's probably about time I updated the thread. Meldon West had it's first public outing at TINGS and as a result will be appearing in BRM in December (think it goes on sale on the 3rd) and will also appear in Model Rail in the not too distant future. Sadly the layout is currently in storage due to a house move but I am very much looking forward to getting it up and running again as soon as possible. I'll post some pictures soon, but in the meantime, it's nice to be back on the forum!

The CR signals lamp kits are now built and ready for painting, I was a little surprised at the size of the LED's - you can just about make one out above the £1 coin in the picture. After a few curses I've built up four lights, two double lights and a single light for the quarry, and then a single lamp with a ladder for the loco shed. Just hoping they survive the priming and painting stage now before they're installed

Thanks all I've just had a couple of lamp kits arrive from CR signals so there will be light in the quarry and shed soon!