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Norfolk N


AndyR
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So, where do I start with this one..?

My father-in-law arrived recently with a present for my 5 year old. An N gauge layout he had found in his loft. In years gone by I had stayed with 00 as I felt the detailing was better as N was too small and my 00 collection was pretty sizable. It appears that N today is vastly improved all round compared to when I was13!

Not one to knock a gift horse and all that, I now have layout to play with. I don't expect I'll be spending too much on this as I still want to concentrate on the Hazelnut Railway outside, but is a package just arrived with a controller and some more bits that I am waiting to open when my son gets in from school.

I'm not familiar with Minitrix but any tips would be welcome! No idea if that Class 27 works yet but may find out over the weekend. So here's a few pics for a start, and given the awful weather outside this may be a winter passion :)

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Hi Andy, I was just looking at your new winter project, there is a lot of potential there and most of the hard work has been done already. It's now ready for the good bits, choosing the buildings and all the other good scenic stuff, creating small "cameo" scenes etc. It looks big enough as well to be interesting to operate yet not too big as it takes over the room.

I too am building an "N" gauge American layout for my 7yr old son, I have been on with it for a couple of years now. I must admit though I don't particularly enjoy it as I have more than enough on with the "HO" layout, but our Sam insists he wants it done and he informed me the other day that I "owe"? him a new "switcher"!! :?

We are going to the model railway exhibtion at Wakefield at the weekend so he might get lucky :roll: !

I would be interested to know your thoughts on the minitrix stock as they do do some U.S stuff I think. Regards Nige.

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Hi Nige,

Well my son opened the package and there are some nice surprises in there! A Jinty in BR Black livery, two mark 1 coaches, some wagons and an odd looking steam loco. I say odd as it is not British so I haven't a clue :lol:

I'll get some photos on here soon and hopefully get a few pointers as to what the mystery loco is!

And yes, under pressure from my son for some progress..

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That's sufficient to keep you and your son busy over the winter months. A small indoor layout is a good alternative for when the weather outdoors isn't suitable and I have to agree that the quality of recent N gauge products is far superior to those we saw only a few years back. Not only that but the range of products available is also close to equalling that in OO gauge! Who'd have thought just a few years ago that there would be a top quality N gauge Blue Pullman among other things!

I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with this one and how it develops so do keep us informed.

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Looking at this is making me think that I should dig out the N gauge layout that is presently sitting in the caravan in front of the wardrobe. This was originally going to be my daughters layout but now its going to be my grandsons Leons layout. Being nearly 2 he is still too young yet to appreciate it but it does give me an excuse to get it out of storage, check that what has been done is working okay and repair as necessary and run some trains on the layout as it has been ballasted on the scenics side already.

Ian

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Mick wrote :

Quote

Who'd have thought just a few years ago that there would be a top quality N gauge Blue Pullman among other things!

My Dad took delivery of his N gauge Blue Pullman yesterday - there was no way you were going to stop me from going around there last night :lol: - just to help run it in , of course ;)

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I managed to get some time playing with the layout over the weekend, and after a bit of time with my trusty track rubber it worked! I focused on the outer track as I only had one controller to hand. I need to sort out the wiring, the current input to from the controller is not really compatible. I am using a basic hornby controller. As I had never had an N layout before, i was unsure if it would be the correct voltage but a quick google seemed to show it shouldn't be a problem (I guess I should have asked you guys!). Nothing went bang, so all good.

I was rather impressed with the Class 27. My eldest son commented that it had working lights, I initially disbelieved him until I saw it did. Nice surprise that, prompting some lights off running. The Jinty also runs a treat. The mystery loco, which appears to be a Santa Fe 0-6-0 does not however run.

Should I be giving these an oil..? I have some light model oil I use on my 00 stock, but would this be appropriate for these locos?

A few poor quality pics, but shows this is a true table top layout being on my dining table.

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It all works? That's great news (other than the Santa-Fe of course).

What's the overall size of the layout and do you have a place where it can be stored and easily accessed? Storage is usually the main concern - it's okay setting up on the dining table for the odd occasion but I imagine 'they' tend to get a bit disgruntled once it becomes a regular occurrence. Perhaps you could sort out some legs or trestles.

What's the plan for the future? Do you see yourself dabbling in N gauge too - perhaps making some additions to the scenics?

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It's around 5 foot by 2 and a half. Yes, storage is a bit of an issue. My wife suggested keeping it in the games room (really a large summer house at the end of the garden) but I'd prefer to keep that for the beer fridge, pool table and darts board! At the moment I am keeping it in the garage between running sessions, but not ideal as the spiders tend to make a home pretty quickly. It's fairly heavy, so not easy to carry in to the house. But for the time being that will have to be it's home. My wife enjoyed playing with it along with the kids, so as long it's away before dinner time, not an issue.

The conservatory has too many leaks! I wanted to put in the loft, but the hatch isn't big enough.

As for scenics, it needs a bit of tidying up. I left the buildings off this time. The platforms are in a poor state so will look to get some new ones. Definitely will be dabbling in N now, rather hooked!

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  • 4 weeks later...

With both tracks now operational I thought I should show off the handy work. Not that it was too difficult :D

The incline for the flyover is a bit of a challenge for the Jinty, does mean it is running at hyperspeed on the rest of the layout. Just need a brake van for the freight now and tidy up the scenery. The kids love it, and I have decided it will live in the games room after all. Propped up in the cover doesn't take up too much room.

 

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Looks good Andy, in fact it looks in excellent condition and a lot of fun! There's scope for some scenic touches and I'm sure with a little work that gradient could be reduced if desired. Good decision to keep it in the games room.

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It seems that N gauge is getting more popular than ever everywhere. Have you seen the number of products that have been released in that scale recently? Unfortunately, though I've nothing against it myself, it's a bit on the small side for me. If I were going to make a change it would have to be to something larger than OO - something that I could see with my failing eyes!

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I have to agree Mick, there is a huge choice in N and growing all the time. It's fair to say that I would never have taken the plunge unless this had landed in my lap though! Now it's here I will continue to dabble, but my focus will still be 00. I hope 2013 will be more financially favorable for me, if so I will get to open my wallet on a few items :D

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Interesting to note that in the last 24 hours Hornby have announced that they will be making the Brighton Belle EMU in N gauge. It will be packaged as an Arnold product.

Going even smaller, has anyone considered T-Gauge for an indoor layout? Definitely too small for the garden!

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  • 1 month later...

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