Leicester Thumper

An enterprising modeller goes to the model shop. "Hello, I'd like a model of an LNER A3 please" "Certainly sir, which name would you like?" "I don't know actually, sorry I can't be more pacific..."

Hello, This might seem like a silly question, but I only ask to save my sanity over thinking the situation. Now, I'm researching this for later on, my layout is in a fledgling stage, and I'm nowhere near installing signals yet, but I already knowill only need a max of 4 for whati would like to do. This will either be 2x single arm starter signals and 1 x Junction home, or 2x Junction home starters. What wished to ask was, is it easy enough to do wire control for signals in N gauge? I know ratio do a system in OO, but is there comparatively a system for N gauge? Wire control would suit my economics and the ergonomics of my layout. Thanks.

This thread will hopefully provide the chronical that is my layout building effort. A short history is relevant before the meat and potatoes, as the concept which I envisioned this layout for has changed somewhat. I started constructing this layout about 9/10 years ago, where I made the start on the base board.... and then that was that. I was around 21 at the time, and had other pursuits on ones mind (not that they were successful!). Roll on about ten years, a change of house, job location, fortunes on finding my partner, and I felt ready with gusto to have a crack again to complete this layout! The Concept was relatively simple, at the time I didn't have a car, I didn't drive and I relied on public transport. This meant that I would need a form factor that was of a manageable size that could be boxed up and carted on something similar to a granny style shopping trolley. That would mean easy portability and stowage. As such, I needed a light material that was strong. I decided, therefore, the best option to use was Balsa wood.... yeah I know, I also question my own sanity sometimes. The layout would be small in width but three for in length As the years have gone on, needs have changed. I now drive and, in fairness, I don't have the time right now to display at exhibitions. In the present, I just need something to run trains on! I still don't have an N gauge layout, despite amassing nearly 100 locos. So, this is what I'm starting with, a 3foot x 9 inch board, with back and sides. The boars is also braced underneath and at the back. The cost of the layout could have been cheaper, had I not used Balsa. The woodwork won't win any awards, but still, it functions as it should. Don't ask me for measurements of individual pieces, I can't remember what was what but if it works it works. So that brings us to today. After a gap of 9 years of working on the board, I finally added the right hand end piece, as well as paint the back blue to start the backscene development process. My father did get stuck in too, to give me a guiding hand. I would be stuck without him. Whilst I go and do things my way, he does help provide pointers on giving a bit of finesse. Using a Balsa plank, I cut two 190mm long parts, sanded the edges to size where needed, and superglued them down. I then cut a 190mm long piece of I think, 6mm x 25mm Balsa strip as a Cross brace. A bit of shaving away a recess on the lower board for the up stanchion was necessary and this was completed with a scalpel. As I was using the forementioned scalpel, my ASD brain and coordination decided to just disappear and I managed to cut a 1cm long by 4mm deep gash on my thumb. "Oh dear, that really hurt, that scalpel is a bit of a devil" is the PG rated version of actually what happened. Anyway, with the up stanchion sorted and glued, along with the top edge, we ended up with something like this: That looks better! And it feels great to do something progressive! That wasn't all though, I decided to paint the blue sky base for my backscene on the back and side panels of the scenic area. Also sanded various edges and surfaces to just add some neatness to the woodwork. It was also handy to do some sanding as this removed the odd nick and potential to splinter, thus removing the risk of me coming a cropper whilst moving the layout. Dad then went "ooh" and went in the garage, he came out and produced some pine strip which was leftover (in our house we never throw wood away!!), and then cut apiece to go along the front edge of the board. It definitely looks neater with it on! This was glued with some PVA, and masking tape tightly applied to add pressure for the glue to set. Two coats of Wilko Moody Blue emulsion, from a test pot, some sanding and a strip of pine has brought us to this: That's a lot better! Next up will be finalising the track plan and cracking on with the back scene. Now, you might be thinking, ye gods, that's a lot of waffle for a baseboard! And yes, it is! However, this is the part about outlining what era and operations I wish to model. Now, as any well rounded enthusiast, I have a love and appreciation for multiple eras, areas, companies and locomotive designs. Therefore, I decided to make the layout as flexible as possible on the era it is set in. I did some rudimentary thinking in my head (dangerous, that), and came up with a period of 1950ish to about 1973ish. A wide period, agreed, but I have reasoned logic behind it. When British Railways settled on it's type face and styling, it was a pretty consistent thing, far and wide. Obviously, when the steam era came to an end, aesthetics started to change, but stations were not massively rapid at changing in some parts. In my mind, it's reasonable to assume that a station would in essence be in a similar condition in 1970 as it was in say 1953. With that sorted, a location is next on the list. This has given me great trouble, I'm a Midland man by work on the railways, an Eastern fan by heart, but I also have a strange attachment to the East London and North London Line. So I'm thinking the location will be somewhere Midland region, but it could be done in such a Fashion that it would be in place on London, or the bustling suburbs of Leicester. That's when it hit me, textile mills! Leicester was synonymous with producing textiles and foot ware, as were places like Northampton, Bradford, Nottingham etc. and a mill doesn't necessarily have to make textiles, buildings do get repurposed. So I've settled on a fictitious station which could find itself in numerous places, leaving it like an open ended novel. The story I have in mind is that Nine Mills station is on the end of a suburban/ industrious branch line. It doesn't serve the factories, but it provides workers trains, as well as regular services to the nearby city station. I will have a fiddleyard, but my track layout will play into the story that there is a branch line which supplies an industry. So trains that come in from BR will change locos in the station, and set off up the branch and vice versa. This means I could run coal, Iron Ore, Vans, Fuel tankers anything I choose. This provides variety as well as shunting oppertunities. In terms of inspirations for the above, I cite Minories OO gauge as one of them. There is another one, I saw it at the Loughborough show last week, however, I forgot the name of it so will edit in here in a bit. So that's where we are. Hope to do some more work to it soon. Thanks as always for reading.

Hello, I'm making a rake of Class A tanks in N gauge with the Revolution tankers. It won't be the longest rake, but I aim for 8 to 10 tankers. What I wish to know is the timeline of Esso liveries on these tankers in prototypical terms. I have 4 tanks coming in Esso Silver with the red solebar. What I wish to know is A) when did Esso start using Grey with red bar livery and would it be plausible for a mixture of Grey and Silver tanks to be running in the same consist? It's one of those silly questions, but I wish to know and if anyone would know it would be someone on the forum. Many thanks.

It definitely wasn't a one man project that's for sure! it seems may people have made contributions over the time it's been around. Nevertheless, it provides some good information, normally more than enough to facilitate planning a track walk, or helping to find resources to research the original routes.

Going forwards, it's going to be interesting to see how EFE rail performs in terms of products and sales. I find it somewhat confusing, though, how they have released (so far) some ex DJM products in N gauge under the EFE tag, yet they could have just as well kept them within the normal Graham Farish range. it did strike me at the time as odd for why they would go through the expense of setting up a sub brand for that purpose.

Tom, That is a fair point and something I hadn't considered, thank you for opening my mind to that point. I think in part, when so much was announced last time round and we got a fair amount of choice, it does feel underwhelming. But right you are about backlog, I hadn't really considered that point.

Well, I do apologise if my contribution has fallen under the bar, but last I checked, this is a public forum for discussion and AFAIK there is no rule saying I cannot make such a contribution.

Well, I watched the video. God that was underwhelming by a country mile. The last announcement was quite fruitful, an 8F, a sound fitted 31, The Thompsons.... stuff that was useful to a variety of modellers depending on period they model. But this?? God, that was disappointing. How many class 66's do we really need on this earth? Dapol already do a Flying Dustman, and now Farish are doing one? Why? it's not like we need the duplication. The only thing I can say I have a slight sniff of wanting is the LMS flat wagon, and that's because it's not BR! as a slight positive, I welcome the MK1 RU, useful for many formations to be honest, even if I don't typically model with Mk1 stock anymore.

Hello folks, Not sure how many of you are aware of this map, but thought it worth a share for for those of us interested in disused and historical railways. https://www.railmaponline.com/UKIEMap.php The map is quite simple to use. It comes with a toolbar along the top left which can add various layers including station locations, and industries. If you zoom in on the area you want, and click on the coloured lines on the map, a good number pop a little box up saying what line it is, and where possible, an internet resource is linked. However, this may not happen on some lines. I have found all of this very useful, as I moved house in 2019 and this has helped me discover the local railway history of Melton Mowbray and led me to buy some fantastic books to further my discovery.

Cheers Simon! many thanks chap!

Hello, Sorry to quote this picture up from 4 years ago, But on my internet travels, I have been looking for examples of this sort of coach in N gauge and how people have built them. I know they are BH enterprises kits and I have one in my possession, with two more on the way. I wish to ask what chassis that is underneath? I have been pointed to Fleischmann 3 Axle coaches, but none seem to be the same length as this example pictured. If anyone could help out with some advice it would be greatly appreciated. I would be happy for information to be messaged to me on the forum, to help keep the thread clean and on topic. Many thanks, LT

I'm totally with you, I'm the same, I don't want a 92, but good business call by Revolution, but at the same time it helps out those who've lost out on the DJM farce. OK, so they haven't got their money back yet (if ever, we shall see), but with some people just cutting their losses anyway, it's a good call cause people get the model they want. and TBH revolution and rapido do have a good track record.

Shots fired by Revolution, they have reopened their order books on the N gauge class 92 they are doing to allow more people to order the 92 following the recent news. although they didn't say the exact reason why, but we all know why...

Mate, It beats me looking at Reddit and watching Parliament live, god I felt like I'd had me poor brain ripped out following that stuff...

Well, It will probably be used as a discussion point, probably quoted and paraphrased instead of the whole thing published, but we shall see. I dare say only one or two of the mags will make a thing of it.

yes, but going on other explanations of the thread, anyone can make a model of any loco they like, providing they are not using the same drawings or intellectual property? Or have i missed a beat on this?

I shall indeed, I like me a bit of History! regards.

Alas, I feel the same. The real question is what chance do people have of getting their money back? surely there's a lot of legal obligations to refund the money? I could be wrong on that, But I feel that this isn't the last we will hear of the crowdfunding issue

I'm late to the party, as always (and I'm back once more) What in the actual is going on? I have read the announcement but my brain is still trying to digest it.... has the bloke lost the ruddy plot? I'm so glad I never preordered the baby deltic or the clayton in N, I probably would never see the money back. I really hope this doesn't start a literal IP war with other manufacturers.

Nice one mate will do! i'll try and get it measured up!

Hey folks, Got a little restoration project on my hands of a 3 rail N2. I already own two of these, luckily different numbers/details, so this third one will go into something, hopefully, a bit different. I have been toying with the idea of repainting the loco in GCR passenger green, however, I have hit a stumbling block with transfers. Fox transfers do the lining for the side tanks and bunkers, but i'm not well versed with transfers, so unfortunately i don't want risk making a mess of them. I know there are dedicated places to get Hornby Dublo transfers, but all of these seem to be original designs and not something different. I just wondered does anyone have any recommendations for people who print custom transfers? my idea being that instead of searching for the GC writing for years, I could get some made that i can get on in one go. Presfix I would like to use because apparently this is easier than waterslide and meths fix. Any help would be appreciated.

some awesome stuff on this thread, nice to see the following for 3 rail dublo is still very much alive and well. I have been doing some research into repaints and servicing. so sorry to hijack but seems this is a good place to ask. I have a standard 4 tank, which is complete, don't know if it runs (my stuff is packed away so can't test it) but it needa a complete repaint as the paint is had it and i'd like it to be serviced and rebuilt as such. anyone know someone who does that kind of work and would be willing to take on the job? really fancy having 80135 in BR green, will admit, the standard tanks look rather nice in Green! cheers in advance

I see. I might have to do some investigating. I had thought about trying an airfix 31 or a triang 31. the tender engines do seen rather easy in some cases, I am very tempted with a Hornby B12. thanks for the feedback, interesting about the traction comparisons as well.

good find! interesting little line that.