Hector Lawn

I’m very shocked to hear about the impending demise of Hattons. I used them for almost all my N gauge purchases after I moved to Australia. They were a boon to an expat wanting to model British outline. Their service was excellent and international postage for a loco was initially about £5 - a lot less than the VAT that I didn’t have to pay for! However, after they fell out with Bachmann and stopped stocking Graham Farish items I had no choice but to switch my allegiance to other online retailers and unfortunately I have spent very little in recent years with Hattons. Thank you Hattons for enabling me to continue modelling UK outline after I emigrated. Sorry to see you go. Hector

Nothing for me this season - I’m still waiting for a re-run of Black 5’s and mk1 maroon coaches (as are a lot of others it seems). Are Bachmann actually listening to what their customers are asking for, which will also encourage them to open their wallets by the way? Hector

Once again I am thoroughly amazed at the breadth and depth of knowledge of the people on this forum! Thanks to everyone that replied and especially for the links to the N-gauge kits that are available and the books should I wish to research this topic further. regards Hector

Hi all, I’ve just finished reading my copy of John Palmers ‘The Great Central Railway: What Really Happened’. In the final chapters it mentions that the 1960’s Starlight Express overnight sleeper service from Scotland to Marylebone consisted of covered car carrier wagons with end doors to transport passengers cars to/from their destination. Up until now I’d assumed the sleeper service consisted of mk1 passenger coaches only. As I’m going to be replicating this service on my Charwelton in N layout does anyone know what these covered car carrier wagons would have been (and how many would have been required)? I can’t find any reference to such wagons online or in any other books on the GCR that I’ve read so far. Thanks in advance to anyone who contributes answers regards Hector

Someone on the N-gauge forum had a similar problem and has built their own version of the Nelevator using Arduino, stepper motors, and the whole thing is counterbalanced as per Harlequin's suggestion above. How good are your engineering and electronic skills? I'm sure if you asked them they'd only be too willing to share their construction plans. https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=57217.0 Hector

Hi Jack, It’s your railway so you should be able to do what you like! You can only fit it in the space you have available. However, if you’re worried what others will think I suppose you’ve got to ask yourself if someone was to view your railway as you plan to build it are they still likely to recognise it as the prototype? I’ve had to compress my N-gauge model of Charwelton. I’ve had to compress the distance between the southern end of Catesby tunnel up to bridge 489 by 1/3, however, the layout still has all the essential elements that make it instantly recognisable to anyone who knows the station and it’s setting. I hope this helps somewhat. Regards Hector

Nice to see another N-gauge layout. I agree, very nice looking and well built layout. Not easy to get such great close up shots that look that good in this small scale. I particularly like your night-time shots, the lighting at the ticket machine and inside the telephone kiosks looks spot on! I commend you on your high standard of work!! Keep the great pics coming. Hector

Check to make sure they are not grounding on the points. Some Farish 47’s had covers over the driving cogs which would make contact with the point crossing. I had two like this - the answer was to remove the covers and file away some of the excess. I did this to mine and experienced no more stalling. See this thread: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/15157-farish-47-grounding-on-points/ I’m not sure if the latest batch still have this problem but worth checking. Hector

Hi Ch4lkst3r, I've only just discovered this layout thread. Great looking layout so far and I'm impressed by your modelling prowess! Love your work on the canal - it all looks very natural and flows well. Also love your Scalescenes buildings, very well constructed and very neat - not easy in this small scale. Keep up the excellent work! I'll be following this thread with interest. Hector

My first DCC sound fitted loco's arrived recently - the recently released class 31 in green and the 8F late crest. I'm blown away by the addition of sound even though I'm only running them on DC on a test loop of track. Both loco's are silky smooth at slow running straight out of the box. However, I've noticed that my 8F is behaving like it has 2 and a 1/2 cylinders and I'm getting 5 beats per revolution and so it sounds like it's running faster than it actually is. I'm not complaining, just an observation, and it doesn't worry me as I plan on running them on DCC to get the full benefit of sound anyway. I assume they're all fitted with the same sound file so has anyone else noticed this? Regards Hector

I’ve just been out for my first cycle ride for 2021 on New Years Day. My ride takes me along the Booralong Road which runs virtually parallel to the Great Northern Rail line for the first 8 miles or so north of Armidale. First stop was at the rail crossing at Waraine Road 7.5miles out of Armidale, looking East back to Armidale: Not much to see here as the line is so overgrown but you may just be able to make out the tops of the rails. Then looking west toward Black Mountain and Guyra: You can just make out the cutting between the line of trees. A mile further up the road and the line passes under the Booralong Road. Being careful on the lookout for snakes in the knee and sometimes waist high grass while walking in my cycle shorts and ankle length socks I walked to my vantage point under the old wooden bridge that used to take the road over the line: . . . which has now been superseded by the concrete and tarmac structure behind it. From here the line heads north towards, what I assume, is the next stop at Black Mountain and so this is where my cycle ride and the Great Northern Rail line part ways. Hector

Hi Laurence, Thanks for sharing your video of the abandoned Great Northern Rail line. I actually live in Armidale, the last open station on the the line, but often pass many of these locations when cycling (Dumaresq Station being very local on my regular cycling route) or when journeying North to Queensland. I always look at the line with sadness when I think of its abandonment but in reality I think it would need too much of an upgrade to be a realistic option of reopening the line - the whole line of track and every bridge would need to be replaced and I’m not sure that the traffic is sufficient to consider the cost of this. It would help if the line was express rated, but as your video states, it already takes 8 hours to get from Armidale to Sydney! If more people from the northern end of this line were to use it trains would need to be significantly faster. However, it would be great if there was an option to get from Armidale to Queensland via this route rather than expensive air services. Thanks for sharing! Hector

What a lovely looking layout! This is the first time I’ve come across it, don’t know why I haven’t seen it before now? Great work on the scenery and especially the Loch. It looks very interesting to operate too. regards Hector

Hi JimSan, Nice video explaining your plans. While it will be nice seeing your trains run through a nice country setting will it not be operationally limiting doing away with the fiddle/storage sidings? Just wondering how many trains you intend to run on it? Regards Hector P.S. Jeez, you’re putting that poor little loco through its paces - can you slow it down a bit?

Hi Michael, What a great idea for a layout! Love your work on the tunnels, bridge and viaduct. Some very neat looking work there. What plans do you have for the station end? Regards Hector