Mike W3

The next crossing point of the Mersey, going further inland is Bank Foot roundabout next to Warrington town centre - good luck with the traffic there! You can go through Stockton Heath and up the A50 and come out by the edge of Warrington town centre or go through Orford/Padgate. Then I'm afraid it's the Thelwall viaduct on the M6 or further along to the Warburton bridge, go much further and you'll be in Manchester, whichever way you go across the Mersey it's a pain during the day. One advantage of having moved to rural Northumberland is the lack of traffic issues, except perhaps occasionally on the A1. thanks Mike

Just had a bit of a score at Hattons (hopefully). I bagged a Farish Mk I BCK for £13 and a BG for £16. thanks Mike

Thanks for the suggestions. My first layout can only handle a loco plus 2 coaches and the second layout will be designed for a loco plus 3 coaches. Earlier in the year I went to a local exhibition and picked up a couple of Lima Mk I's for £6 each, mainly to help with planning and as a starting point, they are a CK and full brake. They're in surprisingly good condition for the money, nothing broken, the paintwork is just a bit faded, if I can find a few more for that kind of money, I'll get a few and possibly then save up for the nice Farish Mk I's. thanks Mike

Would the consensus be that I should be Ok using my Gaugemaster controller, providing I don't use full power (not that I'll need to an small terminus station layouts!) then? I might contact Gaugemaster as well about it. thanks Mike

My layout no 1 is on a chipboard plank (it was £2 in the nearest DIY shop) and it is meant to be a permanently set up layout, albeit one that fits on a table top, shelf , ironing board etc and can fit in my car boot without folding the seats or anything. Given that it's less than 4ft sq and one set of points on the scenic section, I think that would be a micro layout. The second layout, will be on two 4 ft by 1ft baseboards, that can be set up and taken apart like an exhibition layout and given the extra scope of the layout compared to the first one, I'm considering it a small layout. So unless anyone objects, I'm thinking of starting a topic in the micro layout section, for my layout no 1 and when layout no 2 gets going, I'll post that in the normal layout section, do people think that's a reasonable way of doing it? thanks Mike

I'm asking the question as there is a layout section and a section for micro layouts on here, so I'd like to post mine in the correct place. Secondly, does it vary with the gauge you model in? For example, a 00 layout of 4ft in length, which is quite small, could be done in roughly half the size in N gauge. I would also consider an 8ft long 0 gauge layout to be small, but 8ft in N gauge could be considered a medium size layout relatively speaking. Here's what I'm planning/building right now in N guage. Layout 1 is 4ft by 8 1/2in with the main scenic section being 2ft, it will feature a small station, with an island platform with just one track either side of the platform and a single set of points in the whole scenic section, with the platform length being suitable for 2 coach loco hauled trains. Layout 2 will be 8ft by 1ft, with a 4ft scenic section. It will essentially be an expansion on the first layout with a 3 platform station, kickback siding for shunter stabling and platforms long enough to hold 3 coach loco hauled trains. I'm pretty sure layout 1 would class as a micro layout but I'm not sure about layout 2. thanks Mike

I phoned Dapol earlier and they said it's something to do with N gauge loco's only being 9v and 00 loco's are 12v. It's something I've not heard about before and Gaugemaster certainly advertise their controllers for both 00 and N. Anyway it's only a small layout, so it won't have the speed turned up much, so I can't see how that would hurt the locos. I've had a go and it seems to work fine so far! thanks Mike

Wire in tube would be a plan B if Plan A fails. I have some brass rod which would do the trick, if the cork bed is deep enough for it! I'll figure something out either way thanks Mike

The baseboard is a 4ft by 8 1/2in piece of chipboard that I got for a mere £2 and the trackbed is the usual cork. Given the layout is so small, I'm not making a frame, as the intention is that it rests on a table or shelf, that means I can't have anything under the board, so everything has to go on top of the board. I remembered the about point motor adaptor and was thinking that might be the easiest thing to do, the layout will be kept as simple as possible. This first layout is a prototype or first foray into N gauge, I'm planning a 2nd layout with more usual framed baseboards that will have wire in tube points. thanks Mike

I've just got my first N gauge loco - a Dapol class 27. It's instructions say to use a specific N Gauge controller but I though controllers for OO would be suitable. I have a Gaugemaster Combi, which does fine for a small layout and didn't really want to fork out more cash for a controller. thanks Mike

I'm starting a new N gauge layout (and have another slightly larger one in planning) and I'm trying to work out which MK I and Mk 2 (non aircons) to buy. I've not decided whether they will be West Highland or the far North Scottish lines as yet but they will set in the 1970's/80's using a mix of class 25/26/27/37 and 47's. They will be totally fictitious in their location and the formations will be 2 or 3 coaches. I'm sure I read somewhere that a Mk I SK/BSK was used but I've not found anything else as yet, so any help would be gratefully received! thanks Mike

As an N gauge (ex-OO modeller) newbie I have a quick question and may have more as I go along with N gauge modelling. I'm starting a mini N gauge layout (4ft by 8 1/2 ins) and I don't want to motorise the 1 point in the scenic section or use wire in tube. What I was hoping to do is use Peco point motor adaptor base and disguise it with some kind of lineside building (it's towards the back of the layout). The question is, does the Peco point adaptor base work for an N gauge (Peco) point? The idea is that i'll put some kind of knob on it and access it through a hole in the back scene, so no wiring will be necessary. thanks Mike