Chris M

I only own stock which is appropriate to the era and location of my layouts so I don’t run anything which is incorrect for the layout. Well except for a few visiting locos owned by others....

If I built a model of a preserved line I might set it a few years in the future. I could then legitimately run a class 22, an An Ivatt diesel, a GWR county, a Marsh Atlantic etc etc. Preserved railways are very much part of the UK railway scene and so I see them as a perfectly good thing to model. I drew up a track plan for an N gauge Bodmin and the old exchange sidings which I think would have been nice but it is not currently planned to be an actual project.

Back in the day I always thought the Trix commonwealth bogies were very nice. The alternative is to get yourself a Trix Western to pull them. Not a great model by today's standards but they were great at the time. They do seem to have a certain character that I like.

It's about what looks right to the builder. Various very different ways can work. In the photos below the first two are where a photo of the area was taken and printed and the scenery leading up to it was made to fit the photo. On the third photo the scenery was built and the backscence painted with a general non detailed look afterwards. Very different but both work for me. The important thing is to blend the actual back board and the scenery in front of it together.

Back in May (at the top of this page) I suggested September. I'm now feeling it might just be mid August. The word I heard was that the production run had been completed. Could just be a rumour though......

On my N gauge models I am very happy that the details come separately. Yes they are a fiddle to fit but it means that on locos that don't need to go backwards and forwards pulling trains you can have one reasonable looking end and one end with a dirty great coupling on it. Overall in these days of such excellent RTR models it is good to have a bit of work to do ourselves. I think everyone should fit the loose details to at least one end of their locos. And they should add a little bit of weathering to take away that plastic look at the same time.

At Swindon Museum exhibition. This layout is unusual in that it sits on its own framework. We once got the whole of this 16ft by 10ft layout into the back of one hatchback. And there was just about room for the driver as well! Stock had to be carried in a second car. Note the coding on the timbers so we know how it all goes together.

Some years earlier

In the GCR exhibition thread one poster wanted to see more exhibition set up and breakdown photos. So why not a thread where everyone can post snaps taken before and after the public come in? Here are a few to get started. All at the NEC last year The blank canvas Later that same day Get the big stuff in first How we transport big layouts.

The MG SV was a ridiculous flight of fantasy by Kevin Howe which wasted money MG Rover hadn't got. They bought an Italian company Qvale to use their basic design. This is the MG EXE -https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj6iaOPpfziAhVRBWMBHQiyAmEQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fhe.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FMG_EX-E&psig=AOvVaw0TM6U4gPYAdygvI8l4rQHq&ust=1561265429285322 A Rover 75 coupe was planned but that was near the end and there wasn't enough cash to do it.

I can say there will be 146 trade exhibitors, 58 modelling or railway societies, 13 railway preservation societies and 20 demonstrators as things stand today. I have heard there will be about 1,000 seats provided for visitors. Despite having all that information I have absolutely no idea how many food stands there will be .

It's free entrance for everyone!

Here's a chart showing the number of layouts in various scales. The label shows scale, number of layouts,percentage of total layouts. The total layouts, as currently planned, is 91.

Maybe I didn't search properly but I couldn't find mention of this year's NEC show on the forum.

I really liked my Montego Advantage in pearlescent red because it looked snazzy. There weren't many made so if there are any left I can see it might be a classic - loved the white alloys which were part of the original spec. Sunroof and rear spoiler as well so it all felt pretty good at the time.

I find a magnifying lamp is an essential for N.

I think the best compromise was the one that failed to make it mainstream - 3mm. Nearly as compact as N but still somehow keeps the same presence as 00. The size of N does mean you can run express trains in a smallish space which is useful. You can also build a viable layout (for running trains rather than just shunting) on just one board that can be moved around the house by one person - this can be important for some. It is good that you don’t need much space to store a lot of stock. I think storage space is likely to be a problem in 0 as your collection of locos grows. One further advantage of N is that it is much easier and cheaper to transport a main line N gauge exhibition layout than an 00 one. The big downside of N is the couplings which are huge and look orrible on the front of a loco.

My other N layout is 44in by 27in and provides plenty of operation as it is a branch line with two passing stations and a terminus. Ok I had to use R1 curves in places but it is really nice to run.

To a degree it is "horses for courses". Very few people can run trains in the country in 0 due to space and equally an MPD works better in O than N. Personally I think N is great and deserves to have a greater following. I have two N gauge layouts which I love running but my other railway is G. You can get some nice scenes in a small space in N . This layout is 7ft by 3ft 2in

Whats all this rumour about certain societies and maybe other stands being dropped after booking a space in favour of a large retailer/manufacturer? I was going to go but parking on that field after all this rain - I don't think so.

At Tower Station. This is a present short line. There are a couple of working F units in Santa Fe livery and there is a preserved short Zephyr train. There is no reason why a short line in the USA couldn't trial the original PPM so this scene is perfectly possible.

I’ve now got a gen10 civic because I like the styling. This has proper rear suspension and with the 1.5 petrol engine is very nice to drive. It is more Accord size than traditional Civic size though and so maybe not so “chuckable”. Nevertheless it could be a classic in 20 years time when we are all driving around in EVs.

I see it as a big loss to the hobby, especially for those of us involved in N gauge. Not so much DJ Models but Dave Jones, the designer, is a keen N gauge supporter. As I understand it, he played a significant part in the design of a number of excellent Dapol models. I hope he might end up being in a position to design more models in the future, but it is probably best if he does this working for someone else's business.

That spoiler was standard on the 180