Somewhere in East Anglia - N gauge

[MyRule1]

I explained my variouswh issues in these posts 

the OO project is ongoing but this that is about my OO ambitions, which relate to N gauge.

 

To summarise over the years my main issues with n gauge have been:

 

• reliable track laying
• ballasting
• getting electric points to work

 

In addition, as with OO, I have built up a fair collection of rolling stock over the years. All the rolling stock relates to trips I have made over the years from Class 170 dmu's in recent years back to BR blue era from my student years. I also have some steam era stock which I can relate to thanks to the Severn Valley railway maintaining both LMS & LNER coaches in running order.

 

So the criteria for the layout are:

• using only running stock on which I have travelled, or in the case of freight seen.
• It has a lineside "view point" where you can just watch trains
• There is a small area for shunting or at least leaving wagons in an appropriate setting.
• It will have a near zero budget

 

Although the layout will cover a near fifty year time span, the core layout will reflect the fact that throughout that period most of my travelling has been in East Anglia. So despite the varying stock on the layout, there will be an East Anglian look to it. All the non-railway buildings for example will fit in.

 

Now to the initial solutions:

 

The zero budget has been achieved by selling off much of my excess 'OO' stock. I decided that the' OO' micro layout would not duplicate the n gauge one, thus all by blue/grey stock has been sold off. For some items inflation and the end of discounting has meant that in cash terms I got more than I originally paid for them. The income has been used to pay for the track and still have a reasonable balance.

 

The three main issues were solved through reading Phil Parker's account of his Billy Bookcase layout in the October BRM - use Kato track - although not cheap I did pick up enough track for the basic layout for a price that compares well with new Peco setrack and point motors. Some of the track is still on its way to me but once it has arrived the next post will be made.

 

Edited October 8, 2019 by MyRule1

[MyRule1]

The last of my Kato shopping has arrived and my parts list is

 

Straights:

 

S248 * 8

S64 * 6

S60l * 2

S60r * 2

S124c * 1

 

Curves

 

R248-15 * 8 (one circle)

R 481 15 * 3 (matches points)

 

Points

E481-15r * 2

E481-15l * 1

 

The Kato numbering system is logical in that the number against straights is length in mm

 

Design of the initial will be very simple, however what always intrigues me about rail travel are those single lines that snake away from the main running line, often to an unseen destination. In East Anglia we have/had such lines to:

 

preserved railway

sugar factory

grain store

branch line

scrap yard

small dock

freightliner depot

 

 

there are others but I hope the design of my layout (however simple) will allow me to recreate the concept of such a junction.