End of the Line - Micro Layout based on a preserved railway.

[NGaugeTom]

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.

[aac]

I like the baseboard concept. What is the track plan going to be?

 

aac

[NGaugeTom]

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.

[NGaugeTom]

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.

 

[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.