RBE

Clearly you have won the pools with the amount of stock you have! Great weathering though, really linking this thread a lot. Cav

A better copy of the plan as promised. Cav

Thanks Andy, yes I was looking at a smaller layout but in the end I couldn't fit in what I wanted so went for the design that I have. 5ft is very small!! Cav

Thanks Hugh, The 56 on hoppers sounds good but I would be thinking more like HEA's taking nottinghamshire coal over towards the west rather than HAA's on an mgr. I would certainly like to see that on the layout though. The 47 on Tankers sounds good too. I'm gonna need about 20 roads in the fiddle at this rate!! Yes Joseph I'm planning on using easitrac concrete for the main with copperclad pointwork. Waynes fiNetrax does look really good though and may well have a crack at that in the yard. Cav

Blue Pullman? Im considering an HST service maybe. Cav

Yes its the Wiggley Tin. I will post a better pic when I boot the computer up. What is a B... P...... am I missing something? Cav

Well Alex I am still open a little to time period, a 60 may be doable. Maybe throughout the day have a year clock that ticks on from 1985 to 1990 showing how the traction changes. I would need a fair bit of stock then though. haha. Ian do not tempt me with the OHLE. I cannot possibly justify electrification of the line from Manchester to Derby in the 80s!! Cav

Thanks for the positive comments. You are right the squares are 1ft, the layout will be approx 12ft x 4ft. Im not putting it on my dining table but in my dining room. I will simply erect it for working on it and playing trains and then pack it away when Im done. Cav

Yes Jim they do do a reprofiling service. It is something I will have to weigh up regarding cost really as if I go 2mm I also have to then build all of my fiddle yard track as well. May end up cheaper that way though tbh. Hi Peter as I said I will be sad to see Outon go but things have to move on. Im very much looking forward to this project and as you say a peak rumbling through none stop on some Mk1s would look good. Cav

Im actually much more tempted to go 2mm finescale on this than P4 in OO. Its the cost of rewheeling everything that puts me off but it is still very much an option Jim. No worries Ash. I was quick on the reply. Jon I love the big landscape feel you can get in N. Cav

No stock yet. Im looking for something cheap at the mo. I wanna handbuild my track so need to be getting modern N gauge stuff with RP25 wheels. Cav

Thanks Ash, mid to late 80 Im thinking. I half fancy going mid 80s running Railfreight grey Buxton 37s on stone with maybe some passenger diagrams being class 45 hauled but I also feel maybe it would be nice to run those new fangled 60s. Im not sure yet. Cav

So I thought I would start a new topic on what I have decided will be my next project. Outon Road was a very rewarding layout in many ways however I could never set it up and play at home. My next layout needs to address this. With that I have duely decided to take a step back to my N gauge roots. N gauge will give me the room to play with mainline traffic and yet still pop it up in the dining room. The missus pleaded that this time I take the opportunity to do some 'nice' scenery rather than urban squallor. My first thoughts turned to the scottish highlands but being such an iconic line I saw little room for fantasy locations on there, the only real places being covered many many times. It was on a drive out into the peak soon after that I looked at Millers Dale, a prominant point on the cross country route from Derby to Buxton and Manchester. The only problem, the line was closed way back at the end of steam. If only the line still existed. Well we live in a fantasy world where whole towns are fabricated, so why could the line over the peak not have survived as the major route of rail traffic across the middle of the country. Hence the premise of Millers Dale in the 80s. The plan is to run cross country freight from manchester to the east, cross country passenger services, direct rail links from London via the midland mainline to manchester with the Buxton connecting service still being run. All of peak forests stone traffic also routed via the line rather than the route over to Sheffield. I have even taken the premise that a privately owned distribution yard exists behind the station providing feed, livestock provisions and fuel for local farming. Im not sure what freight I could get away with but Im sure someone on here will let me know. Below is a first draft plan based on photos I have taken on site and google maps for scaling. Strangely the whole thing fits the plan at full scale. Cav

I see your point, pardon the pun, it was just a thought really, I'm not at all scared to build my own stuff but Waynes points really look the biz. Can we have some 9mm gauge FB concrete track and FB points as well please Wayne? Cav

I must say this system looks very good. I will need a fair bit of concrete FB for my upcoming project so will need to use the easitrac for the majority of plain track however I do wonder if I could use Waynes points rather than building them myself on copperclad. I know his are BH but will the difference be so noticeable at this scale? Out of interest is the point above a B6? I may be able to tweak my plan to use ifiNetrax points universally on the scenic side. Do we have any firm dates as to when the first points will be available to buy? What is the chance of being able to purchase the cast frogs as a seperate item? They would make building your own track a lot easier. Cav

Yeah I get the meachanics of it. Its no different in the larger scales tbh. I think as I say I can get around it with coaching stock by setting the buffers back but the freight stock is the obvious concern. I think I need to run a simulation and see what I get. I may simply accept slightly bigger gaps between stock than I would normally like as a cost for making the layout I want and can run without issue. Cav

Im not a stranger to N as I was an N gauge modeller back in the 90s. In fact my last layout before Outon Road was N gauge. I just have finer standards that I can play with nowadays. Buffer locking will only be an issue if the buffers touch which I will avoid. Thats the same for any scale. My 4mm stuff couldnt avoid it as I was/am a 3 link man but in 2mm Im sure the couplers can take the strain. As you have said it depends on what I will accept with regards to coupling distances and that is where I need to focus I think. As for the layout design I can't design the propelling move out as the location is a real place and the yard entrance is where it is. Cav

I have no issue with building track Alan, Waynes stuff is rather nice though. Cav

I think that I may have to look at my plan a bit more and do some simulations to see what I'm up against coupling wise. As for the removable middle section thats a no no. There is too much going on scenery wise to allow for it. Cav

I would prefer to stay away from buffers messing with each other at all if i can get away it. Through experience in 4mm, if you want anything under 4.5ft radius (I guess 2.25ft in 2mm) then you dont want buffering to happen as there is always a chance of buffer lock when propelling. I don't intend to uncouple on the tight curves but will need to propel around them at one end. For coaching stock I would be happy to modify the buffers to be 'retracted' so that they are well back from the gangway faces that would mean that I could have the gangways closer without the buffer interfereing. Cav

I'm guessing that the couplers are the main issue with curves here. I want to make it clear that I don't want sharp curves on the scenic part of the layout just in the hidden areas where I'm basically building acres of empty board in order to get my trains turned through 180°. Seems a shame to eat into the visible stuff in order to do it. Cav

AM, If I used the 9.42mm gauges with N back to backs the flangways will be even larger and look totally rubbish!! haha. Code 40 is still about right for modern image. In 4mm scale code 83 is near as damn it correct so it follows at half the scale that half the height is correct. Code 55 would be a code 110 equivelent which is far too course, even courser than chunky peco code 100. Code 55 in 2mm scale works out at over 200mm in rail height. Uk main lines are approx 172mm, code 45 would be perfect if it existed!! My layout will be set in the transistion period of BR from 1985 to 1990 so buffered stock is certainly the order of the day. Only the newer dmus and HSTs would be bufferless. Mike, I intend to do just that I just wanted to test the water regarding the pros and cons and if I do decide that I want to go with 2mm wheel standards the plan will still work. Cav

I'm planning on using Easitrac on the plain and handbuilt turnouts to N gauge standards (if I can ever find a suitable N gauge roller gauge that will fit code 40 that is!). I'm planning on doing the off scene track in peco code 55 so ought not to cause too much trouble however if I decide to go the whole hog and adopt 2mm standards I'm not sure how tight easitrac will go. I'm pretty sure that diesel traction would cope down to 9", I used to do N gauge back in the early 90s and never had any issues with that radius, as you say its the close coupling that is the issue I guess. I would prefer not to have massive gaps between my coaches if I'm honest but to do the plan I have I need at least 9.5ft of visible track and overall has to get into a length no greater than 12ft. I could compress the design but it fits at full size as is and it would be a shame to compromise I feel. I take it there are no camming couplers available in 2mm then? I don't have any 2mm scale stock yet as the project is very early days so cant even play around. Cav

I assume this is the right place for this question judging by the title. On my new foray into N gauge/2mm scale I am hoping to use some rather tight curves off scene in order to minimise the space taken up by fiddle yards and the railways access to them. What is the minimum radius that diesel locos and associated stock can get around running on code 40 rail? I don't think I want to go full 2mm scale as the cost of replacing all of my stocks wheels is a daunting prospect (buying an £80 loco to then not be able to run it until I've shelled out an extra £30 for wheels is a bit of a down side really) so will for now be running standard RP25 wheel sets but I do want to build my track and use code 40 rail similar to how I chose fines scale rail but stuck with 16.5mm gauge on Outon Road in order to look the part. Cav

Not really a green diesel days modeller myself but this layout has a really nice feel about it. Looks like a fabulous warm day in Wales. I may well tick the follow box on this as a nice little get away now and again. The name of the layout does remind me a little of my grandad chuntering in the corner mind! Cav