rodshaw

Depending on how much scenery or building space you want, there seems to be scope for extending the narrow gauge part into the space to the right of where it is now. Or possibly moving the standard gauge siding/station area over to the left and giving you more room for narrow gauge in the middle.

If your baseboard is only 2ft wide, then even with flextrack bent to a 12in radius (i.e. outer radius, including sleepers) ) you're going to have track right at the very edges and trains are liable to be easily knocked off. Even if you're thinking of overhanging the track a bit beyond the baseboard edges, seems to me it's still a very, very tight fit.

Here's hoping your wife takes to HO better than N.

When I re-discovered my TT Jinty about 40 years after last seeing it, it too ran perfectly. I'd unglue the ashtray though if I were you, it looks a bit over scale!

You could always put it on top of a brick wall...just a length of Wills' brick sheeting or similar. That could be overgrown too. It doesn't have to be elaborate - I have this disused building on my backscene, just plastic brick sheeting with thin foamboard behind, and cardboard for the boarded-up windows.windows.

Why not make your own low-relief buildings from card or plastic, or maybe just a retaining wall? I take it you've looked at the downloadable prints from Scalescenes or modelrailwayscenery.com?

Naples Street will also be appearing at the Risex show, Princes Risborough, on 22 Feb 2020. So that's three shows coming up in the next ten months - must get on with that 8-inch extension to the layout. It's been stalled somewhat by the lack of space to work in at present. Still, the garage conversion is under way and soon I'll have a nice stretch of dedicated wall space - should be able to grab a couple of metres somewhere in the couple of rooms that are going to be created out of this...who knows, maybe more?

Here's all you ever wanted to know about ties (and lots of things you didn't): https://www.rta.org/faqs

Just the two. I sold my HO layout and most of my locos and stock a couple of years ago, but held on to these Bachmann Sound Value locos. Who knows, I may never get rid of them!

Heavy blasting...now that would certainly disguise the track!

Given Long Island Jack's results with code 75 on his layout, why not go with what you have, unless you really can't live with knowing it's not strictly prototypical? Many good modellers use track that's slightly 'off', and the number of people who will a) know and b) comment on it is negligible to non-existent, and if it looks fine to you, it won't matter anyway.

Nice looking transfers. So do you have a white ink?

Another booking for Naples Street after Olney - Letchworth MRS, 30 November.

There'll always be something you don't like. On my first switching layout I made one of the switching leads too short and had to make an extension. On my second layout, I did exactly the same thing and am once again making an extension. As Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling said, I have learned from my mistakes and I'm confident I can repeat them all exactly.

A bit more work on the eight-inch switching extension to Naples Street. At the moment it looks like exactly what it is - an afterthought. I need to fill in or hide that gap in the backscene. And the tank green matchpot I'd used to paint the front of the baseboard ran out so I tried mixing my own and got it too dark, so the whole length will need re-doing. With the extension in place the layout looked unbalanced so I decided to move CFH Engineering a few inches left and extend its track as well. This also meant moving the smoking chimney and drilling another hole for the wires. The original hole is shown in the second photo; let's hope Twyla doesn't push her bloke down it before I've filled it in. The space towards the back of the extension looks just the place for a rusty old car and a bit of rubbish...

I think the reason this has flummoxed people is that the 'Content items only' option doesn't do what it says. In fact it's not clear what it means at all. I'd never have thought to try it before reading this thread, but I'm glad I did.

Good idea, I'll maybe have another go. I reminded them of an article they carried a couple of years back about the demise of American TT, and thought I might be able to grab their attention.

I sent them details of Naples Street some months ago but I really don't think they're interested in TT, especially when it's all made in Europe. But they do seem to be featuring more small layouts these days.

Interesting project and a timely one for me as I've just recently moved out of York after 41 years. So this will give me a few reminders.

Nice modelling. You could fit a smoke unit inside the chimney...

Are you going to have a fiddle yard at both ends?

Also...I bought this TT scale dummy Lionel GP9 for the huge sum of 11 US dollars (er - plus postage and duty). It's intended as a display model really, but people motorize them so I've decided to have a go and ordered some parts. The body shell is diecast metal, very sturdy. Handrails somewhat let it down, but that can be another project. Maybe.

I've decided I need a longer switching lead at the left-hand end, so I'm adding a whole 8 inches. The layout will then be a massive 48 inches long - just still qualifying as a micro I will probably only lengthen the track nearest to the edge. Not sure yet what to do with the space behind - maybe a generally overgrown, run-down area with a rusty car or two. Or I may extend the cream building in the picture. Any more ideas?

Just when I cancelled my subscription too. D'oh! Still, I've seen it for real a few times and very nice it is too.

One problem with Peco electrofrog is that they rely on contact between the switchblade and the stock rail for electrical continuity. I modified mine by cutting the rails to make a dead frog, and bonding each switchblade to its adjacent stock rail. Effectively, I converted them to unifrog design and achieved the polarity switch with under-baseboard microswitches manually actuated by the point rod. As regards frog juicers, I only have six turnouts, one operator and one loco in operation at a time, and I'd rather have a short to cope with than a derailment if I forget to change the points. All I do if I get a short is set the points correctly and press a button on my DCC controller to reset it. But I can see how on a large layout, with more than one loco on the go and several operators, you don't want a short if you forget to change the points, as everything would stop and confusion would reign - so a frog juicer would come into its own there.