Lockdown Liguria - Italian N

[9FEd]

Introducing 'Lockdown Liguria', a small slice of (hopefully) typically Ligurian coastline where part of the Nice-Ventimiglia-Genoa line clings to the cliffs and all manner of services compete for train paths on a single track section of this cross-border international mainline. 

 

Like most of us, real life typically prevents me from making substantive progress on modelling projects but now with more time I was able to realistically aim at actually finishing a project of manageable size... 

 

Family summer holidays on the Ligurian coast, accessed by train from Nice, have meant that I have long held an ambition to model an aspect of this route and I have gladly slowly acquired a small collection of Italian rolling stock in N. However, if you think that British outline electric modellers are poorly catered for then motive power in Italian outline N is even worse! For a long time ancient Lima toolings from eBay were the only source of traction until earlier this year Hornby-Arnold announced in N the iconic articulated E656 'Caimano' Bo-Bo-Bo loco (https://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/arnold-n-1-160-fs-electric-locomotive-class-e-656-xmpr-cargo-livery-model-of-the-2nd-series-period-v-vi-with-dcc-decoder.html). 

 

As soon as I came across the announcement I put my pre-order in and went into the loft to find some baseboard materials, I was on the brink of ending a 15 year wait! This thread will document my progress, I've allowed myself to progress to a point where the base scenics are complete (as below) and I will document the main stages of construction in subsequent posts until I catch myself up! 

 

 

 

[9FEd]

Major outstanding tasks include: 

 

1. the retaining walls 

2. additional foliage, trees (and Ligurian palm trees...) 

3. the sea 

4. sourcing and installing catenary 

[9FEd]

First, a  short "tour" of Lockdown Liguria at its current stage of construction... 

 

The railway emerges from a tunnel portal onto a ledge at the base of the cliffs (retaining walls in bound - terracotta painted foam board for now). Perhaps a model railway cliche, but also very common on the Ligurian coast! 

 

The scene is overlooked by terraces and  cliffs and, naturally (we are in Italy after all), serried ranks of vines plus the odd fruit tree (thank you Noch): 

 

 

Finally, the tracks enter into another short tunnel section that becomes a rock shelter (mock up only in place pending delivery of stone sheets)  before heading 'east' under the cliff again:

 

The aim is to create a slice of Italy that I can parade my Italian stock through and simply 'watch trains go by'. The reverse is non-scenic (for now) with a passing loop (to hold a single eastbound and westbound train in each direction) and one other siding for placing/removing stock and/or an additional westbound train. 

[9FEd]

For the sake of completeness, here is the reverse side that may (one day) become a scenic 'fiddleyard'  based on a simple through station such as Manarola on the Cinque Terra (an ideal prototype for a spectacular station on a shelf if there ever was one). 

 

 

In the loop you can see a short rake of XMPR livery Eurofirma coaches (headed by a DB218, my first ever N gauge loco, traction until the Caimano(s) arrive) and some of my piggyback wagons loaded with Italian logistics semitrailers

 

In the additional westbound siding there is a steel train consisting of 3x FS Shimms wagons, 2x Mercitalia rail tarpaulin  wagons. and 3x FS Eaos open bogies wagons, perhaps to carry scrap steel.   

 

In the far distance, clearly on holiday, is my Farish WD 2-8-0 with ICI hoppers...   

 

[swisspeat]

Looks nice! A good reminder of Rail journies I made last year....

 

will watch your progress.

 

pryr

[Revolution Ben]

Hi there,

 

I love the galleried tunnel - very Italian! - and the big stones used as sea breaks.

 

Any thoughts on catenary yet?

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[Settebello]

Good afternoon everyone, please forgive the nervousness of my first post!. Delighted to see a diorama of “my neck of the woods” having transferred to Liguria fourteen years ago. I hope to contribute further posts from Italy, but just to say that an  Italian based supplier of N Scale catenary ( palificazione) are “accessori ferroviari “ www.msaccessoriferroviari.it

They exhibited at the Novegro (Milan) model show for the first time in 2018, and a glance at their website seems to have examples of the classic ‘M’ type classic tubular catenary masts, long associated with the FS, in N scale.

Hope this helps! – Keep up the good work

[9FEd]

5 hours ago, swisspeat said:

Looks nice! A good reminder of Rail journies I made last year....

 

will watch your progress.

 

pryr

 

Much appreciated, thank you. Where did you travel through in Italy?  

[9FEd]

4 hours ago, Ben A said:

Hi there,

 

I love the galleried tunnel - very Italian! - and the big stones used as sea breaks.

 

Any thoughts on catenary yet?

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

 

Hi Ben, 

 

Thank you very much! The Italians do love a good galleried tunnel, it also usefully hides the one really aggressive curve on the front of the layout - so not just an aesthetic item!   

 

Re: catenary: to be perfectly honest, the pragmatist in me was entirely prepared to settle for a pack of ten Dapol catenary masts for six quid but @Settebello may have just alerted me to a more appropriate solution! 

 

Cheers

 

Ed 

[9FEd]

2 hours ago, Settebello said:

Good afternoon everyone, please forgive the nervousness of my first post!. Delighted to see a diorama of “my neck of the woods” having transferred to Liguria fourteen years ago. I hope to contribute further posts from Italy, but just to say that an  Italian based supplier of N Scale catenary ( palificazione) are “accessori ferroviari “ www.msaccessoriferroviari.it

They exhibited at the Novegro (Milan) model show for the first time in 2018, and a glance at their website seems to have examples of the classic ‘M’ type classic tubular catenary masts, long associated with the FS, in N scale.

Hope this helps! – Keep up the good work

 

Ciao @Settebello and welcome,  I am flattered to be the subject of your first post. As it happens, I am part Italian and my family originally comes from Emilia-Romagna. 

 

Thank you very much for the tip about the catenary, I since have also browsed that website although, as I suspect that your Italian is rather better than mine, could you post a link of the actual catenary masts in N so I can be sure I have got the correct product?  

 

Thanks again, 

 

Ed

 

 

[fezza]

Looking very nice.

 

Back in January I walked on the footpath next to the stretch of line that runs from Mentone across the border to the Hanbury Estate. I couldn't help thinking it looked like a model railway - amazing scenery with fantastic bridges and tunnels. 

 

Sadly a lot of the Ligurian line has been taken inland into tunnels to increase track capacity. The old closed stations on the abandoned sections are interesting to explore. I have often thought the harbourisde San Remo station would make a great model scenically and operationally - it was single track and very busy.  The old Imperia station is also very compact and suitable for modelling - some of the disused track was still there on my last visit. 

 

If only there was more Italian stock in N gauge! 

Edited May 27, 2020 by fezza

[9FEd]

9 minutes ago, fezza said:

Looking very nice.

 

Back in January I walked on the footpath next to the stretch of line that runs from Mentone across the border to the Hanbury Estate. I couldn't help thinking it looked like a model railway - amazing scenery with fantastic bridges and tunnels. 

 

Sadly a lot of the Ligurian line has been taken inland into tunnels to increase track capacity. The old closed stations on the abandoned sections are interesting to explore. I have often thought the harbourisde San Remo station would make a great model scenically and operationally - it was single track and very busy.  The old Imperia station is also very compact and suitable for modelling - some of the disused track was still there on my last visit. 

 

If only there was more Italian stock in N gauge! 

 

Thank you very much and appreciate the comments, hoping I can finish the whole job to a decent enough standard. 

 

Indeed it has  - I very nearly missed my stop at Sanremo once because I wasn't expecting the new station in the tunnel! We actually used to holiday in Sanremo very regularly and it is the journeys to there that specifically inspired this layout. Totally agree re: old Sanremo station, I recall the line was double track into the old station (which itself is triple) before it reduces down to single through Sanremo itself. I have good memories of watching the trains pick their way through the single track in town whilst floating in the sea! 

 

I have found that the rolling stock situation isn't actually too bad, the Germans (Fleischmann, Roco) have often incorporated item of FS stock in their ranges in N and a lot of modern freight is mostly covered and available (Eaos gondolas, steel Shimms wagons, various intermodal and piggyback) plus Habills vans (Arnold and Fleischmmann) and chemical tankers (Arnold). Equally at least the Eurofirma coaches in Bandiera, Orange and XMPR are out there.  It really has been Italian traction in N that has been an (admittedly major) hole but if I could have asked for anything an E656 Caimano would have been it so  kudos to Hornby for making it! 

 

 

[Settebello]

Hi Ed,

Link below for the N gauge pge posted with pleasure:

https://www.msaccessoriferroviari.it/index.php/shoponline/palificazione-in-n

As mentioned earlier, this " Artigiano" producer is a relative newcomer on the scene. Unfortunately I didnt manage to travel to the Novegro exhibition last year, but I remember that, on my 2018, they actually had products to sell ( rather than producing "exhibition prototypes" ) that sometimes never appear.

 

Again, hope this helps. If you need any follow up, please don't hesitate to Pm me, and I can contact them on your behalf.

 

saluti!

[9FEd]

1 hour ago, Settebello said:

Hi Ed,

Link below for the N gauge pge posted with pleasure:

https://www.msaccessoriferroviari.it/index.php/shoponline/palificazione-in-n

As mentioned earlier, this " Artigiano" producer is a relative newcomer on the scene. Unfortunately I didnt manage to travel to the Novegro exhibition last year, but I remember that, on my 2018, they actually had products to sell ( rather than producing "exhibition prototypes" ) that sometimes never appear.

 

Again, hope this helps. If you need any follow up, please don't hesitate to Pm me, and I can contact them on your behalf.

 

saluti!

 Grazie mille! Thank you, much appreciated 

[Re6/6]

I do like your rock construction. I shall be following this with interest.

[9FEd]

Just now, Re6/6 said:

I do like your rock construction. I shall be following this with interest.

 Thank you - post on rock construction to come! 

[PaulRhB]

You’ve gotta have a soundtrack of the sea although my operators on a previous layout swore the river sound made them need the loo!

[9FEd]

@PaulRhB I have actually just been exploring this! I know there are mixed opinions on using background sounds, although I think a non-specific ambient sound such as gentle waves breaking could be effective. 

 

At the end of the day, I've got a good bluetooth Bose speaker that can go underneath or behind in the non-scenic section so this will be fairly easy to experiment with. 

[9FEd]

Ok, as promised, I will seek to document and summarise the main stages of the build. First up is the foundations and I wanted this layout to be light, portable and low cost without compromising on the overall appearance.  

 

As a result, this is my first layout built with a foam (ok, expanded polystyrene) baseboard that has simply been bonded with PVA to heavy duty card, the latter procured free from the deluge of lockdown parcel deliveries (the card encased a picture frame  so was good size). The foam sheet was 1 from a pack of 4 I got in B&Q - a pack costs £20 and the sheets are 1.5ft by 4ft.

 

The foam sheets are just about big enough for loop in N gauge, although the width is on the limit for completing a continuous run loop. In addition, I really didn't want 'set track' curves on show. My compromise was to use a small stash of Fleischmann track, unused from a train set received over a decade ago. I used the broadest fourth radius to make the reverse curve at the front and then completed the loop with the aggressive 9 inch first radius Fleischmann curves that would subsequently be hidden in tunnels. Modern image bogie stock has no issue with this and all my current Italian stock runs through it fine, my assumption is that articulated E656 Caimano will too! 

 

Here we go, the moment Lockdown Liguria was born: 

 

 

I have formed my loop using the Fleischmann track as above and you can see that I have marked off the foam board I will remove to create the 'coast'. The extra parallel track is me working out how I can add a passing loop so I can alternate trains; I realised I needed to (and subsequently did on eBay) procure a pair of the Fleischmann first to second radius curved points that means I can maximise the loop length and hold a 5 passenger coach or 10 bogie freight wagon in either direction. 

 

Here all I have done is cut the coast and bonded the foam to the card base, the card excess has been turned into a backscene and that vertical piece is solidly in place using a hot glue gun and some triple thick corrugated card slabs that came in yet another parcel as supports -  even at this stage it is strong enough to allow me to pick the layout up using the backscene alone: 

 

 

Overall, foam/card baseboard has been something of a revelation - super cheap, very quick (an hour?) and no warping or any issues with flex. Being honest, for smaller projects I can't see myself ever using anything else again. 

 

Finally, having completed the above you can see that I am experimenting with foam offcut and foamboard to test locations and heights of retaining walls; nothing is permanently fixed at this stage in terms of track or the very initial 'landscape' beyond the backscene. 

[5944]

Another option for catenary is Linea Model. 

 

http://www.lineamodel.it/palificazione N.htm

 

They come as kits so a bit of soldering is required, but don't look too difficult. 

[9FEd]

Thank you @5944 - it seems I am almost spoilt for choice, even in N, when it comes to Italian catenary! Perhaps not unduly surprising given the  dominance of electrification in Italy. 

 

My soldering is very average, although admittedly this would be exactly the sort of project to learn on and improve it with. 

 

I'm not sure whether I interpret the pricing as 25e for a 5 masts (or 25e for a single mast with 5 parts?). The latter would seem steep! 

 

I may install the Dapol catenary as a generic option  for the sake of completeness and then build and install something more prototypical from either this kit or the other posted by @Settebello as a subsequent upgrade I think. 

[9FEd]

Retaining wall dilemmas... 

 

I have painted and installed a short section of wall on the west side of the layout using the obligatory Wills stone sheets (gaps and cap stones will be dealt with later): 

 

 

However, I also have some Vollmer embossed card - seen here towards the east side (I'm  experimenting with using the buttresses to distract from the repeating pattern... ): 

 

 

It might be sacrilege, or maybe I just haven't got the colour right on the Wills sheets, but I actually prefer the embossed card - direct comparison: 

 

 

All thoughts on this welcome before I pass a point of no return... 

[PaulRhB]

I think the Wills just needs a few more of the bolder brown adding to match it, what’s there so far is good just looks more muted than the card version  

I’d study photos to see how the rock and wall colours contrast on the real thing as your lower waterfront rock seems to be browner than the rock above too? It might just be the photos but it might need a bit of colour blending?

[9FEd]

On 03/06/2020 at 09:14, PaulRhB said:

I think the Wills just needs a few more of the bolder brown adding to match it, what’s there so far is good just looks more muted than the card version  

I’d study photos to see how the rock and wall colours contrast on the real thing as your lower waterfront rock seems to be browner than the rock above too? It might just be the photos but it might need a bit of colour blending?

  

Thank you and I think the  HDR mobile phone pic is perhaps being harsh but certainly  applying the appropriate colour palette  has its challenges, I've already repainted the base of the rock face to match the rock armour (the real rocks were, ironically, too realistic!). 

 

Reference pic attached from  'research trip' aka holiday to Sanremo... 

 

 

 

[9FEd]

Some more progress has been made since I took this pic, although the main event is the arrival of the Blue Pullman which means I've inaugurated some kind  of St. Pancras-Pisa service under Rule 1...