THE “N” GAUGE LAYOUT

N Gauge Layout

The layout was given to the club by a gentleman affectionately known as “Bournemouth Barry” which is where he originally came from and eventually retired back to.  As he was unable to take his layout with him, he kindly donated his n gauge layout to the club.

This was a single track 2ft 6 by 6ft layout.

It was decided to take the layout apart, make it double tracked and in the process extend it by 2ft 6 giving us a layout with the size of 8ft 6 x 2ft 6.

Work to extend the layout was undertaken in due course and a basic double track layout was laid down - I then took a break for a couple of years to complete my degree.

During this time the layout was covered in cork, the track re-laid and, 2 very nice panels were made.

Once I was back up at the club on a regular basis the point work was commenced as was the wiring into the panel.

Around this time it was decided to cut the layout in half to enable it to be taken out of the cottages as a potential exhibition layout.  However once this was done it became obvious that the baseboards were not sufficiently stable enough to continue working on the layout as it was.  

Therefore a new set of baseboards were purchased and new supports put together for the new layout (this was last September (2014)). The new layout now measures now 9ft by 3ft which has given us more to room to play with.

The sidings, station and roundhouse area have now been redesigned allowing greater scope of movement of stock.  

Photo of layout taken in March 2015

All the point motors are now in place and once the panel drawing has been completed to everyone’s satisfaction wiring of the panel can be recommenced.

The layout is currently being wired for both DCC and Analogue running.   

 

Views of the new signal box and a visiting American “Big Boy”. Taken July 2019.