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I use a trammel - https://www.wonkeedonkeetools.co.uk/trammel-heads/what-are-trammel-heads/ Picked mine up for £2 at a car boot years ago - looking on ebay they are an horrendous price now, but I'm sure Lidl or someone did a cheap plastic version - I may even have one of this version somewhere too.. In my case I transfer the resulting curve onto a piece blue foam, cut that out 2 inches wide and use that to mark the track out . For Transition curves, I'm sure someone did a downloadable leaflet about how to lay them out - EM gauge society ?

You know, reading this is tempting me again. When I get home next week I'm going to root out what I have left of the things I bought when I was going to build a light railway system. Sold quite a bit off a few years ago as I was trying to model on to many scales and gauges, but I think I've still got a fair bit left . Certainly enough to make a small point to point layout. One thing I need to decide though - I originally started my light railway project 30 or 40 years ago using relatively course scale stock(original Triang/Hornby), but later bought a lot of kit built stuff with fine scale wheels. One problem I had was getting these two lots to work happily together . So do I just throw together a quick layout using the older course scale stuff, which would be easy and fun to operate, ot do I rewheel all the older stuff I want to keep and work to more modern standards ? Or can I work out some sort of compromise .....

This the track plan for my line. US prototype. HO Bottom level Middle level Top level Operating isles not shown, but basically where the track isn't ! Entry is on bottom edge near right end. red H's are vertical supports for center peninsula. Black track is fiddle yard not sceneniced Spot heights are in inches Is what is technically called a "nolicix" - gradually gains height as it weaves round the room. Steepest gradient is 1 in 40- I designed it to have 1 in 50 but it ended up a little steeper in real life Now I'm not suggesting you copy this, but although it makes the baseboard construction much more complicated, having multiple decks is a great way of fitting more into your existing space.

Yes, I'd avoid duckunders if possible, My layout is 10ft 6 x 18ft 6 but I use multiple decks to get a similar sort of of system layout to your's in that space. The greater width lets me get a central peninsular in too. Operating well is U shape down both sides of the peninsular. Access to it is by a removable section on the lower deck and a nod under - the track is about 5ft 6 off the floor - on the higher level. My boards are a bit narrower that I would prefer in places, as usual I tried to squeeze a bit to much in, but I have about a 250 ft run terminus to terminus with five intermediate passing loops and two branchlines. it's scenicly pure - only one line passes through every visible scene and, except for the line to the fiddle yard, it's possible to walk alongside and follow your train as it progresses around the layout. However old age/ill health still managed to catch me out. I got a frozen shoulder(diabetes complication) which meant I could not reach in the limited space between decks for almost two years. Layout progress stalled and has never really recovered, though I am still working on the line.

Wouldn't Naphtha at that time have been made from the coal tar byproduct of town gas production ? You have a reason for having two gas works now !

Maybe something like this would fit

Playing catch up on this thread I'm afraid. You might like to know that Derek Naylor of Aire Valley fame, did drawings of all rolling stock - oddly enough apart from the still existing horse box, which he'd forgotten all about. A few years before his death I helped him scan these so we could share them with the world . This is sheet with the dropsided wagon on it - it's modeled after a wagon on one of the smaller Irish 3ft gauge lines, I forget which. Full set can be downloaded in PDF form here http://tbmod.com/rm/Aire%20Valley%20rly%20Stock%20drawings.pdf Complete set of AVR articles http://tbmod.com/rm/Aire%20Valley%20complete.pdf I once upon a time started building a line very much like yours myself, although I've sold some of the stock off I still have a fair amount and may try to do it again someday. I also have a system layout, much the same size, in my garage, though it american HO and uses a different principal to get a long point to point run in the space. Unfortunately I'm currently the other side of the world from it ! Tom

I used HO curved tram type masts on my Manx Electric 009 layout many years ago.

My main influences have been the Madder valley, Derek Naylor's Aire Valley and John Allen's Gorre and Daphetid. - I do seem to like big layouts! One other line which I found fascinating was a freelance TT scale pre-grouping line - the North Caledonian ? there was couple of articles on it in a late MRN and one of the early Model Railways mag called closely watched trains and More closely watched trains respectively. I have lost these now and if anyone has them, I would dearly like to find them again. There was a slate quarry line I saw at EXPONG 30 odd years ago, with lovely fine running scatch built locos. I seem to remember it was 4mm scale 7mm gauge? any remember this ? Another line I liked was a model of Uganda Railway is something like 10mm scale on 32mm track . Have some photos of this I took an early digital camera. Tom

I remember something in Railway Modeler about 40 years ago. It was a railway made for filming a crash, which used a mixture of live plants and normal model scenery on an indoor layout. I've always fancied trying it myself, but am not sure if the plants would get enough sunlight inside to thrive. There might also be a problem with the amount of moisture a large number of plants would transpire. At least you tried it though, though I can see, after the Aire Valley, how a simple line would lack operating potential. Apart from that, if you had the space, do you think it would work? One of my all too many projects is a On16.5 loco motor block that is sealed like an LGB one for use outdoors - maybe that would be ideal for just such a line? Tom

I'm another great fan of the Aire Valley Railway, in fact I was one of the people who wrote to you when you where selling it. I was very tempted to buy it, but eventually decided not to. I'm glad at least some parts of it have survived - it's been an inspiration for many of us over the years. Tom

What Scale are you doing them in ? I took some pics of one of the GE shovel nose last year thinking of making a model of it, one thing I can't decide how to do is the grills, the are very see-through on the original. rest of album here - https://picasaweb.google.com/112594206815555128242/GEShovelNose?authuser=0&feat=directlink

I'm quite fascinated by this, waiting to see what comes next..... It's nice to see something different.

I'm in the middle of Brittany about 80km from Roscoff near Rostrenen. If you are in this neck of the woods I'd be happy to meet you and show you my half built American HO layout - and my rather less than half-rebuilt house - got to get you priorities right...... Only slight problem might be I'm due to go to Thailand somewhere round the end of the month if I can get everything sorted out by then. Tom

Now an explication for this that probably raises even more questions "serious design flaws" in the railway signaling equipment. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-07/29/c_131018337.htm

It does seem to be a very hard material to get decent photos of - I've been trying most of the day in different lights and have only got a few that are sort of OK. Here is one of OO9 wagons in detail(not ultradetail), main problem I have with it is the couplings are warped slightly upwards, but overall I'm very satisfied. It does have some surface texture you can see at high magnification though, but no worse than a resin kit.

I find myself greatly amused by Weed Card by Garfunkel and Oates - and I'm not even a smoker( of any sort), but then they do say small things amuse small minds..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRm1yqSmsGY

I have a rather diverse three 1 Edward Beal's West Midland Read one of his books on this when I was about 12 and it made a lasting impression. Even though it's a long way from current layout standards it's still one of my sources of inspiration. 2. John Allen's Gorrie & Daphetid Saw thing in a 1968 Railway Modeler and it started my life long fascination with US trains - hey I even lived with an American girl for five years! Although aspects of it are dated now I don't think it's ever been equaled for scenic grandeur, though it was strictly a model railroad and not an accurate depiction of the prototype but it does convey the atmosphere so well unlike today's more accurate but sterile depictions. 3. Derick Naylor's Aire Valley railway - this started my fascination with all things narrow gauge. I loved the fact it was a complete system and was totally different to other layouts in both buildings and rolling stock.

If you want to do some Nn3 wagons and coaches I've got some TTn3 stuff I'm hoping to launch fairly soon. It may be possible to adapt that to Nn3 with a little work as regards minimum thicknesses. At the moment it's body only, but I'm working on chassis for it. I'm currently waiting for my first sample to arrive, if your interested, let me know. And Hi Mitchell, glad to see you found this, sorry for not getting round to sending you the link ! Tom

I don't know if you've seen the posting on the Shapeways forum, but there is a Dutch guy, Mitchell Jetten, - http://www.shapeways.com/shops/spoorobjecten - who has been trying a different process. These shots of an N gauge train are the results Which I think is very impressive. Sadly he says this is 2 to 3 times more expensive than Shapways. Tom

Here's a couple of the former Reseau Breton. The first is the former trackbed now a long distance footpath/cycleway. The Second is heavily photoshoped picture of the former station at Gouarec, both about 5km's from my house. Copyright licence is CC-Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike.

Albion Band - hearts of coal, from Happy accident

Ex's are always strange, it's one of those unwritten rules.....

A group of 40 years old buddies discuss and discuss where they should meet for dinner. Finally it is agreed upon that they should meet at the La Croix D'or restaurant because the waitresses there have low cut blouses and nice breasts. 10 years later, at 50 years of age, the group meets again and once again they discuss and discuss where they should meet. Finally it is agreed that they should meet at the Le Croix D'or because the food there is very good and the wine selection is good also. 10 years later at 60 years of age, the group meets again and once again they discuss and discuss where they should meet. Finally it is agreed that they should meet at the Le Croix D'or because they can eat there in peace and quiet and the restaurant is smoke free. 10 years later, at 70 years of age, the group meets again and once again they discuss and discuss where they should meet. Finally it is agreed that they should meet at the Le Croix D'or because the restaurant is wheel chair accessible and they even have an elevator. 10 years later, at 80 years of age, the group meets again and once again they discuss and discuss where they should meet. Finally it is agreed that they should meet at the Le Croix D'or because that would be a great idea because they have never been there before.