nharding99

We are making final preparations for our show on Saturday 8th April at White Waltham near Maidenhead. We will have 13 N Gauge layouts on display of various sizes and eras - from our large club modular layout with 4 track main line to a layout in a suitcase and plenty in between. There will be trade support, a Models for Heroes display, our N Gauge Society mini stand with lots of society information and, of course, refreshments too. You can find plenty of information at: https://bagladdies.weebly.com/2023-exhibition.html We'd love to see you there!

Some minor changes, 3 buildings have been added to the layout in an effort to extend and balance out the existing industries. In the lower yard a builder's merchant and saw mill have been added (both MMR kits). The signage (Cox and sons) is a tribute to my mother who is no longer with us, using her maiden name - I am one of those sons! In the upper level timber yard an additional timber store has been added (another MMR kit). Below are a few photos. The layout has been running well enough. It will appear at the N Gauge Society Berkshire Are Group exhibition near Maidenhead on April 8th if you're in the area and would like to see it in the flesh. All the Best Nigel H

Probably the last post in 2021. This year the layout has seen one or two refinements and improvements, some of which are shown below... A Hunslet seems to have sneaked into the goods yard with some coal wagons. You can see that the yard has recently been made more grimy with some darker patches of colour. I felt that the grey tone throughout much of the layout was previously a bit too uniform and similar. This class 122 needs to have it's destination blind updated. It is passing Trinity Road signal box which now has interior lighting. The 122 is perhaps not a typical south Manchester unit but when there are shortages anything can be pressed into service! Detailing the rolling stock has become something of a preoccupation. Here a bolster wagon has been loaded with some Finetrax lengths of rail tied down with chains as part of an engineers train that is still being developed. I can highly recommend Noel Leaver's book "Advanced Modelling in N gauge" which discusses this topic in some detail. And in a similar vein, here are some NGS kits that have been made up into freight stock. The tractors (from Osborn's Models) have since been chocked! That's all for now but rest assured that the improvements will continue in 2022. Happy Christmas everyone and thank you for reading!

It looks like the layout's latest outing was captured on video too (not by me I hasten to add).

I was in two minds as to whether to add working street lighting to the layout. I always think that less is more and lighting can be overdone. However, encouraged by my wife's predilection for the working yard lights I bought some street lights from Layouts4U at the G.E.T.S. last weekend and thought I would try them out. Removing the old metal posts did, of course, damage the pavements so they had to be recut and re-applied. I decided to carefully bend the arms to make a right angle at the top of the new posts, considering that this was a bit more in keeping with the style of 1960s Britain . I also painted them to tone down the shiny plastic. I then painted the LEDs yellow to tone down the very bright white light effect. Here is the original against my modified version. I did clean up the paint work later! In the end I'm quite happy with the result. See what you think...

The layout has been set up for a few days and I have performed a few maintenance tasks (as well as having lots of fun operating trains). I have experimented with creating a short video using my GoPro. This "on the tracks" view gives a slightly different perspective so here you can see a bit of shunting in the yard. There's nothing like double heading to make sure that you bridge any unintentional dead spots (which are thankfully rare and usually due to unclean track!). But if it's late at night and you can't be bothered to clean the track then it's the way to go! Thanks as ever for reading! Nigel H.

I'm not sure exactly whose sound recordings Farish use for their factory fitted sound DMUs, quite possibly their own sources or combination. It's not YouChoos as you have also concluded. Digitrains is close and I'm a happy user of that for my DMUs but clearly there are one or two differences. Maybe legomanbiffo/DC Kits but if you look at their functions list that differs from the Farish list of functions: https://www.dckits-devideos.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=221_251_229&product_id=1506. Of course functions can always be remapped to use whichever F key you like. I hope that helps a little Nigel H

Some very interesting ideas Paul. Moving away from signalling for the moment... at the top of the hill from Bradenham, in Walter's Ash, there is an RAF base. I'm sure you could use this to justify some traffic and perhaps depict travelling servicemen with kitbags on the station platform. Cheers Nigel H

Yes, I have to say it has exceeded my expectations. Of course I had a great example layout to follow What of the future? Well, I will continue to refine things over time. I've no desire as yet to replace it or build another layout. Maybe I could join a club as we fully ease out of lockdown and give the club layout experience a go. My wife wants to know what to do with the layout when I have gone. I've told her that it worries me when she talks about me in the past tense. Hopefully I have a few decades left yet

I have a few updates to report on, nothing major, just further refinement to try and improve things. Some of the fiddle yard extension track was laid quickly and roughly as you can see in this image! The original track was largely glued and then ballasted on the viewing side, I have addressed the untidy and potentially troublesome sections by drilling deeper holes to take a track pin without bending it. I have just about completed the factory on the upper level that was a replacement for a terraced section. It is listing slightly to the right so the pavement and foundations may be relayed to improve its appearance. The intention was to add a bit more height at the front of the layout. You can see it in this shot: In the following view of the goods yard you can see some Stanier coaches behind a class 25. I do need to get better at weathering and here is a case in point. The two maroon coaches are pristine and do look somewhat out of place. The custard and cream one has had a watery wash of weathered black acrylic paint (with the excess dabbed away afterwards). This does reduce the lustre and is going to be the way forward for some modest weathering. Weathering is one thing I need to improve upon, maybe one day I will get an airbrush and dabble with that but for now dulling down some of the colours and gloss does seem to improve things. That's all for now. Thanks Nigel H

The layout has been set up on a couple of occasions this year for operating sessions. There have been one or two scenic improvements... The paving at the station bus stop was really much too narrow so now a wider bus stop island has been created along with a Farish Scenecraft bus shelter. I was never quite satisfied with one of the buildings at the right hand side of the layout so that is in the process of being replaced by a Gaugemaster brewery building (posing as a factory). This still needs to be better dry brushed and weathered but it's taller than the old building and to my mind leads the eye in a bit better. And finally, a new loco, the Farish 8F looking very much at home with a coal working. Thanks Nigel H

Thanks Matt. I have a number of Western Region locos that are all itching to make an occasional appearance!

Thanks Steve. All the best to you too!

2020 has seen the addition of detail and hopefully more finesse to the layout. I'm now starting to experience that "layout is never complete" concept. I'll continue to improve things where I can. We are now in December and fifty years ago I'd be eagerly counting down the days to Christmas and be hoping I'd get a few Triang Hornby items; it must be around 50 years ago that I got an EM2 and AL1 (not at the same time!). It's pleasing to have 2 electric locos (2x AL6) on the current day layout. Here's a short image gallery with some comments to round off the year... It's all gone a bit Western Region on platform 1 as a visitor trundles through. Maybe it has been back to the factory at Gorton for some reason and has been pressed into service! This is an area that needs some more refinement. I have added Belisha beacons and a figure carrying an umbrella - this is south Manchester after all! - but I'm not happy about how that pedestrian crossing sits up. The road is too bumpy so I think that at some stage I will take steps to smooth it down. A BRCW type 3 passes through with an oil tank train, mostly made up of the excellent Revolution B Tanks. The control panel is illuminated and the fiddle yard is pretty busy. Increasing storage capacity with the additional long sidings has definitely made things easier. And finally, a class 04 on a short trip working. Thanks for reading! Nigel H.