Mustermark

The sound is amazing. Speakers in the tender and under the chimney. The chuff-chuff seems to work well with speed without the wheel sensors. Decoder was from DC Kits and plugs right in. My A4 already was wired through the tender coupling. Didn’t have to drill anything out. I did buy speakers the right size from RailMasterHobbies.com 8 ohm 22x58x9.3mm ‘DLG-8’ fitted the tender snugly. Lots of spare space in the boiler and the twin fits easily.

My A4 seems to go nicely with the body off, but there is a loud, resonating hum when the motor runs with the body on! Any ideas what I can do to fix the noise?

I e-mailed Brian a few weeks ago to ask for a price for a bunch of nameplates and he e-mailed that he was away... then I sent a reminder a week or two later. He e-mailed back with a Paypal link. The parcel should be on its way to the US now. So, Shawplan is definitely still trading, but I think being away, being busy and having more to do is causing the slow responses these days. I agree Brian has been quicker in the past, but I love the nameplate quality and am not in any big hurry. I also agree that a modern internet shopfront would speed up ordering and paying - but In any case someone has to be around to pack and ship!

N gauge? Blimey jonas, that's very nice indeed. Good job. Happy Christmas!

This idea came to me in the car on the way home today... How about TARMAC sheet for roads like the one that exists, but with EDITABLE road markings in white??? Otherwise, how am I going to write BUS STOP and GIVE WAY neatly enough!?

Holy cow! That is unfeasible! I think awesomeness is a good enough word to be invented specially for it. That makes my little effort to build Readign station look like nothing... Thanks for posting the link. Anyone else got links to their insprations?

If I was allowed to have a fourth it would be Tetley's Mills by Dave Shakespeare. Superb layout. I can't believe it is going to get taken apart! At least it's recorded in Model Rail a couple of times, issue 142 had great pics. Tetley's Mills Thread 2007

If anyone has links to their inspirations - it would be great to see some online if possible. Strictly speaking my main inspiration was Reading Station in real life, which is what I am modelling, but being a new N-gauger and short on experience of what can really be achieved at this scale, I definitely benefitted from seeing other people's layouts. My three are: Kinlet Wharf Ring Road David Shepherd's layout I saw Kinlet Wharf at the 2009 N Gauge Show and was definitely inspired. I had in mind that I wanted a long run through countryside on an elevated section, and I also wanted to model a river or canal. This super layout showed me just how good it could look and helped galvanize my ideas and my track plan. It is by Wakefield RMS. http://www.wakefieldrms.org/Exhibition2002/Exhibition2002J.html The other layout that captured my imagination was Ring Road by David Lund, also in N gauge. It is a modern image elevated section running through a town and this inspired me to see what a unique layout can be created by scratchbuilding the modern buildings, and made me think seriously about recreating some of Reading town's 1970s concrete. It was shown in Model Rail 145 (July 2010) and will be at Trainwest in April 2011. http://www.n-gauge.org/ I also loved the article on David Shepherd's TT-gauge layout in Model Rail 132 (July 2009). The scenery is exquisite and I really like the idea of balancing trains and landscape - having the trains fit into the landscape. That is really inspirational modelling.

I would love to see a Station Hotel. I would also really appreciate some kind of modern or 1970s office block. Maybe modular to add on floors to the desired height and with options for window designs and choice of concrete or brick. The green A roads directions signs in editable form idea would be fantastic.