Page 124: September 2017

September 11, 2017 by Gert

Finally a nice Scrapbook update again! Lots of thanks to all contributors and I hope you will be inspired!

I also have some news: I have set up a Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/carendt_com
If you are willing to become a Patron of Carendt.com, I will be able to create more new/original content to enjoy.

N gauge micro – by Ian Glover

It has been made in two gift boxes attached together. Overall it measures around 60cm long by 18cm deep, with the box height only 9 cm. The baseboard is made from an old artists canvas frame as was already the right length. This was then cut down to fit the depth of the box, and a layer of mdf attached on top.

The track layout is based on a self contained 322 Inglenook shunting puzzle, with wire in tube point control. This allows for some basic operational movements. The overall concept for the layout is a set of sidings serving a warehouse. As the line is in its last days of service, everything has a semi run down look and feel.

To keep the construction costs down, all the buildings are made from card models that have been downloaded online and printed.

American Micro Layout – by Chris Jenks

I have built and operated 3 micro layouts, all in oo gauge and using smp track recovered from a garage layout my dad and I started building back in 1972ish!

The first one is a single track set up with 4 foot fiddle yards at each end. I called it ‘The Railway Fields’ and based it on my childhood, seeing all sorts of trains running along the branchline into my home down. Trains were sometimes diverted from the mainline and I saw all manner of freight and passenger/parcels trains clanking past! It is based in the 1978-1982 period of British Rail and kept me amused for quite a while. I could sit up in the loft and run trains as I remembered from my early youth (and indeed in some cases had been building since then!). Here are some pictures!

This is my second micro layout based on American H0 stock. Made of plywood measuring 25×76 and H0 gauge. It is a small US grain and powdered cement handling terminal and used to be in my kids playroom, high up! I could do some switching whilst helping in Sunday roast lunch prep and the dear wife was nice the wiser!

Tribute to the Nigorigo Tramway – by Steve Grist

This layout is my tribute to the Nigorigo Tramway which is a 0-16.5 mm narrow gauge line. After working with N gauge models for many years I needed something in a larger scale to help with my podgy fingers and failing eyesight which didn’t take up to much space . I turned for inspiration to a book called ” O scale industrial narrow gauge modelling ” by Nobuo Koizumi . For somebody working in this scale for the first time the book is invaluable with full plans and details of how to build the layout . However what you see in the photos is double the plan given in the book as I have taken the original and extended it to the right hand side in order to join the top and bottom layers of track together .This gives a total layout size of 1680mm x 600mm.

The rolling stock are all kit built models by ” ARU” Japan and have a maximum wheel base of 26 mm which copes with small radius curves and the one in seventeen incline without any difficulty. Buildings are made from balsa strip and some Wilkos oak wood dye followed by soft pastel weathering. Hand operated points keep things simple as does the Peco track work. Trees are Seafoam and scatter.

As to what happens in this imaginary land I have never been too certain. People move barrels from A to B , some sort of mining for minerals seems to go on and engines are maintained in the company’s own facilities. All I know is that I have a lot of fun playing trains and rule one applies , That is to say its my railway and I can do what ever I want. A Gauge Master dual controller is all the power needed and away we go.

Short Street Sidings – A 00 Gauge interactive shunting puzzle – by Andrew Cockburn

Short Street Sidings is my latest “micro” OO creation, the name being derived from the fact that the layout is rather diminutive, i.e. it measures just 30” x 9”, or 42” x 9” (including the removable fiddle yard cartridge), is completely ficticious following my favourite theme of industrial shunting, and is designed to be interactive, thus allowing for public participation at exhibitions, should they wish to try their hands at “playing trains”/a spot of shunting. As such, I’ve tried to make the layout as “user-friendly” as possible with a fairly simple track plan, but one which still allows a fair degree of operational interest, i.e. with goods & coal/factory sidings branching off a main “reception” siding, the idea being that wagons are moved between the different locations, with slight variations each time. The layout’s baseboard is a 2” x 1” framework with a plywood top, while for storage/transportation I’ve gone for a slightly unconventional method, i.e. an aluminium flight case, purchased from my local branch of Maplin Electronics. Trackwork is Peco code 75, points are operated using the wire-in-tube method, while train control is achieved via a Modelex hand-held controller. The various structures are a mixture of scratch/kit-built and are all (except the loading dock) removable in order to assist with storage/transportation. In fact, the factory and industrial unit are both low-relief, and fixed to backscenes formed from artists card/Gaugemaster backscene papers, while both also incorporate an LED, which allows them to be “illuminated”. Ballast, grass, shrubs etc are from the Woodlands Scenics range of materials, while small details such as figures etc. are from contemporary manufacturers such as Bachmann and Knightwing. As far as actual operation goes, I tend to fluctuate between the BR green/blue periods, using 08/04 shunters and wagons from the Bachmann/Hornby ranges. Short Street Sidings took roughly six months to complete, and in spite of it’s rather small/simple nature, will hopefully serve as an example of what can be achieved in a limited space.

That’s it for now. I hope you enjoyed. There is more to come, but please keep sending in your updates!!