Making a Start in N Gauge Railway Modelling E-Book

Richard Bardsley

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

N gauge is the most rapidly expanding of all the model railway formats and if you want to take advantage of its huge potential, then this is the book for you. The author explains exactly what N gauge is, its history, its advantages and some of its possible disadvantages. He begins with a train set and progresses through choosing a prototype and designing a layout, to a practical demonstration of how to build a baseboard, to designs for open-topped baseboards and fiddle yards. Tells you all you need to know about the different track products that are available and the differences between sectional and flexible track. Provides detailed, yet easily understandable, descriptions of how to lay track, cut it to size, join it, and connect it between baseboards. Explains the terminology of turnouts and the different ways to operate them. Explores the differences between DC and DCC control, and how to get power to the track. Considers wiring for turnouts and isolation sections. Discusses all the types of ballasting and presents comprehensive advice on how to apply and fix loose ballast. Examines ready-to-run rolling stock available in N gauge as well as kit building and conversion of locomotives to DCC. Provides guidance on couplers, from the traditional types to the latest designs such as knuckle couplers and close coupling mechanisms. Covers modelling the railway infrastructure, such as platforms and signal boxes, how to make realistic rural and urban scenery, and how to bring your layout to life by adding details such as people, road vehicles and signs. Lavishly illustrated with 285 colour photographs and 20 diagrams.

Leseprobe

MAKING A START IN

N GAUGE

RAILWAY MODELLING

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‘Burnham-on-Sea’ by Alistair Knox represents a bustling seaside resort in the pre-war days of the LMS. There are lots of fascinating little details that bring this scene to life such as people, street lamps, road vehicles and a telephone box.

MAKING A START IN

N GAUGE

RAILWAY MODELLING

Richard Bardsley

First published in 2013 by The Crowood Press Ltd Ramsbury, Marlborough Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2013

© Richard Bardsley 2013

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 84797 650 5

Acknowledgements

Writing this second book was as much fun as the first. Once again, I could not have done it without the help of family and friends. I’d like to thank: my wife Sharon Bardsley for further encouragement; my father Stuart Bardsley for more proofing; my mother Margaret Bardsley for buying me my first ever N gauge locomotive; Colin Whalley for lending me items to photograph. For their superb photos, I thank Fred Hempsall (Lincoln and District Model Railway Club) and Grahame Hedges. For letting me photograph their layouts, I thank: Ray Slack; the Northants & Cambs Area Group of the N Gauge Society; John Spence; the Leamington & Warwick Model Railway Society; the Warrington Model Railway Club; Mike Le Marie; the Wyre Forest Model Railway Club; Pete Latham. Finally, thanks are due to the manufacturers large and small for supporting N gauge.

Disclaimer

The author and the publisher do not accept any responsibility in any manner whatsoever for any error or omission, or any loss, damage, injury, adverse outcome, or liability of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any of the information contained in this book, or reliance upon it.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE: WHAT IS N GAUGE?

CHAPTER TWO: DESIGNING AN N GAUGE LAYOUT

CHAPTER THREE: BASEBOARDS

CHAPTER FOUR: TRACK LAYING

CHAPTER FIVE: CONTROLLERS AND WIRING

CHAPTER SIX: BALLASTING

CHAPTER SEVEN: ROLLING STOCK

CHAPTER EIGHT: COUPLERS

CHAPTER NINE: RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE

CHAPTER TEN: SCENERY AND BUILDINGS

CHAPTER ELEVEN: BRING YOUR LAYOUT TO LIFE

USEFUL CONTACTS

INDEX

‘Melton Mowbray (North)’ is an exhibition layout by John Spence and Steve Weston that faithfully represents a real place. The additional space that is available in N gauge gives this scene more depth than would be possible in the same space in a larger scale thus enhancing its realism.

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INTRODUCTION

If you had a train set when you were young, or perhaps your children had a train set, it’s almost certain that it was in OO gauge, which has been the most popular commercial scale. It’s equally likely that when you put the basic oval of track together, it did not fit on the dining-room table, and you probably ended up on the floor. Despite having fun, how often did you say to yourself, ‘I wish it was a bit smaller’? In this book, you will see that the trains are a bit smaller, that they will fit on to the dining table and that you have discovered the marvellous world of N gauge.

There are more reasons for choosing N gauge than just being short of space. While the height and width in N gauge are half the size of OO gauge, the actual area is one-quarter of that required for OO gauge. So if you want to build a layout with sweeping viaducts crossing huge valleys, you will get a much greater visual impact in N gauge. In the real world, the landscape came before the railway; without room to let the scenery breathe, it can simply look like an afterthought. Even the urban environment looks better in N gauge, as you can develop streets, shops and factories. It’s all about setting the scene and then setting the railway into the scene. There are many railway modellers with significant areas of space available who still choose N gauge for this reason.

N gauge offers the chance for stunning scenic vistas, while also allowing real places to be modelled, virtually to scale, such as this view of Bodmin in Great Western Railway days as modelled by Ray Slack and Ian Hibbert.

Do not think that by choosing N gauge you have in some way compromised your desire to build a realistic model railway by choosing a smaller scale. The opposite is true – you have made a deliberate decision to choose a modelling scale that best suits what you want to achieve. Many modellers in larger scales have to compromise in terms of the length of their trains. A full-length, main-line express train will often be ten coaches; the larger the scale, the more of those carriages you have to surrender to fit it on to your layout. In a modest-sized room for your layout, N gauge will let you have the whole train without any compromises.

It is now possible to achieve a stunning level of realism when modelling in N gauge thanks to the quality of the models available and the space to let them become part of a landscape. This fact is superbly illustrated on Horseley Fields by the Northants & Cambs Area Group of the N Gauge Society.

If you are new to the model railway hobby, or just to N gauge itself, you may not know where to begin. There are lots of questions, and without easily understood answers, you may be unsure about how to get going. Building a rewarding N gauge model railway is just a series of bite-sized steps performed in a logical manner. The starting point is a bit of design – where will you put your model railway, what type of layout will you build and which prototype will you choose? When you know what you want, you can draw a track plan that is a blueprint for the layout you are going to build. Construction itself starts with the foundation of baseboards. Then the excitement really starts as you are ready to lay and ballast the track. Once this is done, you can add wiring and controls, and you can actually play trains.

To run some trains you will need rolling stock, and with this you will need to choose a coupling system for the way in which you will operate the layout. Once everything is working, you can construct the layout’s scenic setting, starting with the immediate railway infrastructure, such as stations, and then the wider scenery of fields and hills or houses and factories. Finally, you can add the many little details that really bring a layout to life.

There has never been a better time to make a model railway layout in N gauge and it just keeps getting better. The last ten years have seen not just a resurgence in its popularity, but an explosion of new products and an astonishing improvement in standards. Super-detailed, powerful models of even the smallest prototype locomotives are now taken for granted; just a decade ago, no one would have dreamt that they would be possible. There are many reasons for this, such as improvements in manufacturing technology, and cheaper and greater production capability by using factories in the Far East. Above all, manufacturers need to see a demand before they invest millions of pounds – that demand is there, and their faith in the increasing N gauge market has been rewarded.

The increased interest in N gauge is in respect of models of the railways of Britain. Models of Continental and American prototypes in N gauge were, for so many years, far more advanced than most of what British manufacturers could offer. The benchmark for a superb model was referred to as matching the ‘Continental standard’. That British N gauge models have equalled, and in some cases exceeded, the Continental standard in little more than a decade is a sign of just how far British N gauge modelling has come.

The hobby of model railways is a brilliant one, and many thousands of people enjoy what it has to offer every day. More and more of those modellers are becoming N gauge modellers. Whether you are new to the model railway hobby or an established railway modeller looking to change to N gauge, this book will tell you everything you need to know about how to make a start in N gauge.

CHAPTER ONE

WHAT IS N GAUGE?

If you are new to the model railway hobby, even if you’ve already been interested for a while, the phrases and terminology can be a little confusing at first. Every walk of life has its jargon, a secret language that can be perceived by the outsider as only understandable to the insider. Model railways has its fair share of terms; however, every term has an explanation, so this chapter looks at everything you need to know to understand N gauge before you get started.

Some aspects have more than one name for the same thing, such as scale and gauge; not surprisingly, British modellers define things slightly differently to everyone else. This is for historical reasons, so it’s worth looking at a little bit of history to see how N gauge evolved to become what it is today. Broadly speaking, ‘N gauge’ is simply a label that defines the size of the model; that size has many advantages and a few disadvantages when compared to other sizes of models, and it is important to look at the pros and cons in relation to what you want to do with a model railway.

SCALE AND GAUGE EXPLAINED

There are two key things that define the size of any model railway and they are its scale and its gauge. All models are defined by a scale, not just model railways. If you are modelling planes, trains or automobiles, they are also made to scale in just the same way. Sometimes the scale of an aeroplane or ship model is virtually the same as N gauge, which is helpful if you want to model a port or an airport. Gauge as a definition of the model is something that is unique to model railways.

If there were always strict and consistent rules of miniaturization, then the relationship between scale and gauge would always be the same and the one would always relate exactly to the other. In reality, it’s not quite that simple, which is the fault of history. With hindsight, if you were to define N gauge from scratch today, it’s certain that it would be a little different from what it actually is.

SCALE

The scale of a model is simply how many times smaller it is than the real prototype that it represents. It is written as a ratio. If you were to model something as half the size that it actually is, then the scale would be 1:2 (if you were to read this out loud, you would say ‘one to two’). Sometimes, when writing the scale, the colon is replaced with a forward slash, so 1:2 might be written 1/2, which is actually a fraction (the model is half the size of the real thing).

Writing a scale as 1:2 is a very clear and simple definition of how small your model is; you can think of it as saying that every one unit of measure on the model is equivalent to two units of measure on the real thing. N gauge is a ratio of 1:148, therefore N gauge model trains are 148 times smaller than they are in real life. So 148 real inches (that’s just over 12ft or 3,657mm) requires just 1 inch (25mm) in N gauge.

If you find the concepts of scale a little hard to get to grips with, a Peco ‘British N Scale’ ruler will help. It has the two main scale definitions printed on it (the ratio of 1:148 and the scale of 2mm to the foot) and some useful information for Peco’s own products, such as track centres. Its main advantage is that the ruler’s units are in ‘scale feet’. The real shock-absorbing open wagons had a wheelbase (distance between wheel centres) of 10ft and you can see on the model that this has been correctly scaled down to N gauge.

When scale is written as a ratio like this, it’s nice and simple and really easy to visualize. Its simplicity lies in the fact that the units of measure are the same – one unit of measure on the model equates to 148 units of measure on the real thing. So the next definition of N gauge might seem a little odd, since it mixes different units of measure. You will often see N gauge defined as 2mm:1ft, which is read out loud as ‘two millimetres to the foot’. So every 2mm on the model represents 1ft on the real thing. As long as you measure the model in metric measurements and the prototype in imperial measurements, you will be all right. It’s a useful definition of scale because, rather than dividing all real dimensions by 148 to get the model dimension, all you have to do is multiply both sides of the ratio by the same factor. For example, 20mm in N Gauge is 10ft in real life.

Those of you who are comfortable with maths and have followed the example above with a calculator will notice that the sums do not quite add up. If you divide 10ft by 148 you get th of an inch, which is 20.6mm and not 20mm. You will often see N gauge referred to in books and magazines as 2mm:1ft but that’s not quite correct. It is actually 2.0625mm:1ft, more commonly written as 2mm:1ft or ‘two and one-sixteenth millimetres to one foot’. N gauge is a modelling scale that is unique to Britain for historical reasons (and not just because the British like to be different to the rest of the world).

GAUGE

Having defined N gauge in terms of scale, how do we define it in terms of gauge? A dictionary definition of gauge is ‘the distance between pairs of rails or between opposite wheels’. It’s as simple as that, and reveals what the ‘N’ of N gauge stands for – it is an abbreviation of ‘nine’ and the unit of measure is metric. N gauge actually means ‘nine-millimetre gauge’. The standard gauge of real railways is 4ft 8½in; however, dividing this by 148 and converting from imperial to metric is not 9mm but instead equals 9.65mm. Once again, historical reasons make British models slightly different.

The use of the term ‘N gauge’ is a peculiarly British thing. The rest of the world refers to ‘N scale’. Their term is actually a slight misnomer, since it suggests ‘9mm scale’ when it is clearly nowhere near a scale ratio of 9mm to anything. N scale really means ‘a scale using 9mm gauge track’ or ‘9mm gauge track scale’. It’s a curious development of what was the established naming convention.

At one time, O scale (or O gauge in Britain) was the dominant scale (a scale ratio of 1:48, or 7mm:1ft). The next logical development was models that were half the size of O scale and indeed it became HO scale (‘Half O scale’, which is a scale ratio of 1:87 or 3.5mm:1ft). N scale might have become HHO (Half HO) but a scale of 1.75mm:1ft might well have pushed the limits of miniaturization at the time. So instead, there was a break with tradition and N scale it became. The British use of ‘N gauge’ as a label is perhaps a more accurate one than ‘N scale’. Many modellers just refer to working in ‘N’ without feeling the need to add ‘gauge’ or ‘scale’. When something can be referred to by just a single letter and yet everyone understands what it is, that’s a very strong brand association indeed.

BRITAIN VERSUS THE REST OF THE WORLD

Although it may be confusing for Britain to refer to ‘N gauge’ and the rest of the world to refer to ‘N scale’, it’s more than a case of the British being obstinately different; there is actually a subtle difference between N gauge and N scale. British N gauge is a scale ratio of 1:148, but most of the rest of the world works to a scale ratio of 1:160. This results in models that are fractionally smaller than their British counterparts.

N gauge and N scale are actually different, even though they are often used by modellers interchangeably. On the left is a North American GP7, while on the right is a British Class 26. Both are small-size, four-axle mixed traffic locomotives, yet the GP7 looks noticeably larger than it’s British cousin; however, the American model is actually smaller than the British one because the former is to a scale of 1:160 (N scale), while the latter is to a scale of 1:148 (N gauge).

To the casual observer, this difference between the scale ratio of N gauge and N scale will be hard to detect. Only if you were to place two models (one made to N gauge and the other made to N scale) of the same prototype side by side would you really be able to spot the difference. In some cases it’s impossible to tell a difference, but it depends what you are looking at. Buildings are a good example, since they come in all shapes and sizes; how would you tell if a window frame was N gauge or N scale? Model people are also interchangeable between N gauge and N scale since in real life, people come in all shapes and sizes so a subtle difference will not be detectable.

Some international wagons travel from Britain to the Continent and vice versa. Mixing models from N gauge and N scale in the same train to represent this (either side of the Channel) may still work. The difference only tends to become noticeable on the longer wagons, but as wagons, like people, come in all shapes and sizes, you would probably need to have a very keen eye for the prototype to detect the discrepancy.

One area where the difference in scale tends to be noticeable is with road vehicles. If you place an N gauge lorry next to its Continental counterpart in N scale, even if they represent different lorries, the chances are that you will notice the disparity. However, if you use N scale road vehicles on an N gauge layout, it is likely that you will not notice a difference, even though they are actually slightly small for N gauge. The key concept here is to be consistent with where you source your road vehicles from, or to keep them obviously separated on the layout.

N scale, with its scale ratio of 1:160, is the de facto standard across the Continent and America. There, as in Britain, it is the second most popular model railway scale (after HO, or OO gauge in Britain). The one country where N scale is the most popular commercial scale is Japan. This fact is possibly explained by Japan being a country where the scarcity of living space means that a smaller scale is the only practical one for most people. Just to be different once again, the Japanese model to a scale ratio of 1:150, which is barely distinguish from the British 1:148. This means that British and Japanese models are fully interchangeable without any worries about slight scale discrepancies. The huge range of Japanese collectible road vehicles is immensely popular with British modellers, not least because the Japanese also drive on the left.

2mm FINE SCALE

Given that British N gauge has ended up as a series of compromises, it’s not surprising that some modellers seek to sort out what they perceive to be a bit of a mess of standards and inaccuracies. Modellers using 2mm fine scale, model to a scale ratio of exactly 2mm:1ft rather than N gauge’s 2mm:1ft. They also seek to get the track gauge right and work to a gauge of 9.42mm.

To model in 2mm fine scale, as opposed to N gauge, requires a greater level of modelling skill. Track tends to be hand-built rather than commercially produced. There is a lot of scratch building and conversion of N gauge models, such as replacing chassis and wheels for ones with finer standards and greater levels of detail.

In the past, when the commercial output for N gauge could look a little toy-like, a layout built to 2mm fine-scale standards really looked superb and stood out from the crowd. Now that ready-to-run products have improved so much, they have closed what was once a huge gap in fidelity. Models in 2mm fine scale still have the edge, so it’s still worth checking out if you’re striving for one hundred per cent accuracy and realism.

COMPARING N GAUGE WITH OTHER SCALES

The three main commercial scales in Britain are O gauge, OO gauge and N gauge. This also holds true across the world (O scale, HO scale and N scale). There are plenty of other scales, though you will probably find that you need more experienced modelling skills to exploit them, as they offer few, if any, ready-to-run models. Each of the three main scales has something going for it, yet each will have its drawbacks.

The three main commercial scales are shown here for comparison; from left to right are models in O gauge, OO gauge and N gauge of the same wagon – a British Railways Grampus ballast wagon.

The most popular commercial scale is still OO gauge, a scale of 4mm:1ft. This puts it in the middle of the commercially popular scales in terms of size. There is a big range of ready-to-run rolling stock and supporting scenic items available. The latest ready-to-run locos have the fidelity and detail previously only seen in O gauge, yet the scale takes up half the space. You still need a room-sized space if you want even a modest oval-shaped layout.

The largest of the commercial scales is O gauge, which is a scale of 7mm:1ft. Although ready-to-run models are becoming increasingly available, it is still largely a kit-builder’s scale, and significantly more expensive. Compared to N gauge, O gauge is huge, which limits you to very small layouts at home.

As a rule of thumb, N gauge requires half the length that you would need in OO gauge. This is an important consideration if you want a layout that will run long trains. N gauge also requires only one-quarter of the surface area when compared to OO gauge.

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY

N gauge is the second most popular railway modelling scale in the world. It may still have a way to go to challenge the dominance of OO gauge, but the improvements in N gauge models over the last decade have seen it advance far more than at any time previous to that. This was not always the case; indeed, there was a time when N gauge did not even exist.

Times and fashions change in the model railway hobby, as they do in anything. The only constant has been a greater public demand for commercially produced models than modellers were prepared to make for themselves. The potential popularity of a new scale attracts the interest of the entrepreneurial manufacturers; this results in the commercialization of a scale but does not guarantee its success. The only consistent trend has been to make the models smaller and smaller.

In the beginning, gauge 1 (1:32 or 10mm:1ft) was dominant. It’s a massive scale for model railways, bordering on being miniature railway engineering. Popularity then passed to O gauge; that seems big to us now, but it must have seemed small to those for whom gauge 1 was the norm. O gauge remained the new dominant scale until the ability to commercially manufacture even smaller models (in OO gauge) virtually wiped out interest in O gauge (though it has since seen a healthy resurgence in popularity). N gauge has similarly challenged OO gauge over the last fifty years. It has never come close to becoming the dominant scale until now, where its market position gets ever closer to being a serious rival.

At a diminutive scale ratio of 1.4mm:1ft, Z gauge was the smallest commercial scale (though the models are usually of North American or Continental prototypes), until the recent introduction of the positively microscopic T scale (a scale ratio of 1:450). These scales have enough interest to make them commercial, but perhaps they are just too small to become really popular. It is possible that N gauge is about as small as most people are practically prepared to go.

Despite being a globally recognized and popular railway modelling scale, the roots of N gauge and N scale can be traced back to Britain. The commercial beginnings started in the 1950s with non-motorized diecast locomotives and rolling stock produced by Lone Star. As these were smaller than OO gauge, the fledgling scale was marketed as treble O (sometimes written as OOO). The Lone Star products had to be pushed along preformed sections of cast track of approximately 9mm gauge. In 1959, motorized products (branded as Treble-O-Lectric) became available, running on track with plastic sleepers to electrically isolate the two running rails.

The lead now switched to Germany, with Arnold Rapido producing an electric train system similar to the Lone Star product and also using 9mm gauge track. Initially, a scale of 1:152 was used until the more accurate 1:160 was adopted. The Arnold products were followed by ones from Minitrix, Fleischmann and Rivarossi. Some of these companies made British prototype models in N gauge, though they were just minor sidelines to their main production of Continental and American models.

It is at this point, and possibly because of a lack of real focus from the Continental manufacturers, that the curious discrepancies of N gauge occurred with its unique scale ratio of 1:148. It was all down to the size of the real railways and another use for the word ‘gauge’. All railways, both real and model, have a defined track gauge, but real railways have a further set of definitions, which are also referred to as the ‘loading gauge’. These dimensions are basically the maximum height and width permissible for rolling stock to ensure that it does not foul lineside structures, such as bridges and platforms. It also ensures that anything loaded into an open wagon does not collide with a bridge (hence ‘loading’ gauge). Rolling stock that is within these dimensions is said to be ‘within gauge’.

The problem was that the loading gauge in Britain was significantly less generous than that in the Continent and America. Locomotives abroad tended to be physically bigger. The smallest electric motors available for models during the 1960s were small enough to fit into models of Continental and American prototypes at a scale of 1:160. Prototype British locomotives were physically smaller and the electric motors would not fit. The manufacturers’ answer was to make the British models slightly bigger until the electric motors would fit. A scale of 1:148 did the job and it has become the standard scale for N gauge ever since. Unfortunately, these manufacturers retained their 1:160 scale track with its 9mm gauge. The result is that British models run on track that is actually slightly narrower than it would be if it had been scaled down at exactly 1:148.

This is a model by Minitrix (branded as Hornby Minitrix) of an Ivatt 2-6-0 locomotive. At first glance, it looks like the prototype, especially the distinctive tender; however, the locomotive chassis is from a German prototype, most obviously around the cylinders. The cab, firebox and boiler have also been compromised to accommodate the motor. Despite this, these models were always popular, not least because of the superb reliability and haulage power of the chassis manufactured in the Continent.

The Italian manufacturer Lima produced a small range of N gauge items in the early 1970s. Some of these were actually quite good models but they were let down by being noticeably under scale (at 1:160) and sometimes running on a very basic chassis. The wheels that Lima used were particularly over-scale in terms of flanges and treads (the Italian origins perhaps giving rise to them being described as ‘pizza cutters’).

The Italian manufacturer Lima produced a number of good-quality N gauge models during the 1970s, such as this GWR inside-framed Siphon G milk-churn carrying wagon. However, at Continental 1:160 scale, it appears a little under scale when used with 1:148 models, while the bogies and wheels are a little rudimentary.

The German company Minitrix (sold in the UK as Hornby Minitrix) produced a series of British steam and diesel locomotives, though somewhat adjusted in order to use existing chassis that were actually designed for Continental locomotives. Some of these models had only a passing resemblance to what they were supposed to represent, but their Continental chassis gave them superb haulage power and reliability. Their performance has meant that these models have remained popular with modellers until only recently, with the introduction of new and improved models. One area where Minitrix were famously ahead of their time was with the production of a model Merry-Go-Round (MGR) hopper wagon. Until the recent introduction of newer models by both Peco and Graham Farish by Bachmann, the Minitrix MGR wagons were able to maintain exorbitant second-hand prices.

It’s hard to tell that over thirty years separate these two models of MGR hopper wagons. The Minitrix model on the right looks just as good as the recently introduced Peco model on the left. Only the slightly finer moulding of the chassis detail gives the modern Peco model the edge.

In the early 1970s, the British manufacturer Graham Farish spotted an opening in the N gauge market for models of British prototypes. The initial range proved to be popular and slowly expanded over the next thirty years to include many locomotives, coaches and wagons, all produced at the Poole factory in Dorset. Production transferred to China in 2000 when the company was sold to Bachmann Industries Europe Ltd. Models continue to be sold under the Graham Farish banner as ‘Graham Farish by Bachmann’ and are referred to by either or both of these company names (as well as just Farish, Grafar or GF).

The GWR 94xx pannier tank locomotive is probably synonymous with the early years of model production from Graham Farish. This well-used example is thirty years old and still going strong.

The purchase of the Graham Farish brand by Bachmann in 2000 saw production moved from Britain to China. There was a protracted delay in setting up the new production lines, but it was worth the wait, as some subtle upgrades were immediately made. The Chinese-produced 57xx 0-6-0PT on the left has had a chassis upgrade compared to the Poole factory-produced model on the right – the wheels are to a finer profile and blackened, as are the coupling rods.

Almost in parallel with Graham Farish, Peco (Pritchard Patent Products Ltd) developed a range of track, wagons and scenic accessories that have proven to be a firm foundation for British N gauge modellers. There was initially just one foray into producing a locomotive model (in conjunction with Rivarossi), which was the ‘Jubilee’, whose quality was to be unrivalled in N gauge for nearly thirty years. Peco track is sold around the world (being 9mm gauge, it is to a scale of 1:160 and thus perfectly suitable for Continental and American layouts). All Peco products are still made in Britain.

The testament to the quality and fidelity of Peco’s model of the LMS Jubilee 4-6-0 tender locomotive is the inflated second-hand prices that they were able to maintain for thirty years, until the recent introduction of a new model from Graham Farish by Bachmann. By placing the electric motor in the tender, the designers were able to model the locomotive’s boiler correctly, without having to compromise it to fit in a motor.

The next significant entrant to the British prototype scene was the arrival of Dapol in 2004 with a series of locomotives that showed a significant improvement in fidelity over anything that had been previously produced for the British market. They were initially manufactured in Britain before expanding to use the larger-scale production facilities offered in the Far East. Dapol are credited with introducing many of the innovations that we now take for granted in N gauge, such as bi-directional lighting on diesel locomotives.

The competitive race to improve manufacturing fidelity started in 2004 when Dapol released their first models in N gauge. This is a first-production run GWR 14xx 0-4-2T loco with matching auto-coach. The feature that gives it away as one of the first batch of models is that the locomotive’s wheel rims and coupling rods are shiny. All subsequent models featured blackened wheels and rods, which are more prototypical – an example of the constant improvement now seen from manufacturers.

Like Graham Farish over thirty years previously, Dapol spotted a gap in the market, and their entry into the market began the rapid improvement in production standards and fidelity that has enhanced N gauge over the last decade. This improvement has proceeded at a phenomenal rate and hardly a month passes without a new locomotive being released. Compare this to twenty years ago when N gauge modellers were lucky to get one new locomotive a year.

One locomotive above all others shows how far N gauge has now progressed. The model on the left is an original Graham Farish Class 08 0-6-0 diesel shunter from the early 1970s. The same locomotive on the right is a brand-new Graham Farish by Bachmann model, which now has the correct outside frame cranks, scale-blackened wheels, separate handrails, buffer beam detail (including coupling hooks), radiator filler pipes, cab glazing, sand boxes and sanding pipes.

THE ADVANTAGES OF N GAUGE

It goes without saying that the advantage of N gauge is that it takes up less space. It’s smaller than OO gauge so, of course, it needs a smaller amount of space. Do not just choose N gauge because it takes up less room, as there are a number of other good reasons to select N gauge, which are variations on a theme, in that they are space-related; but one or all of these reasons could be vital to what you want to achieve with your model railway.

MORE RAILWAY IN LESS SPACE

Most modellers will tell you that they’d like a bit more space for their model railway, even those with large lofts or rooms at their disposal. Railway modellers are like empire builders – they always want to expand. If you only have a limited space available, such as part of a room or a small garden shed, it’s obvious that a smaller scale will allow you to get more railway into that space.

N gauge is half the length of OO gauge and so it will take up one-quarter of the space. That means that you can have four times as much railway in the same space if you use N gauge instead of OO gauge. If you want an oval-type layout, so that you can just sit and watch the trains go by, you can even manage this on a single baseboard that will fit on the dining table.

John Spence and Steve Weston have built an amazing N gauge layout depicting Melton Mowbray (North). In order to model an actual location, they have used the space-saving capabilities of N gauge to avoid having to compromise. Using the same baseboard area in OO gauge, there would have been much less opportunity to model the area surrounding the station that gives the location its character.

Don’t just think in terms of cramming four times as much railway into the same space. Having that much more space by using N gauge means that you have the space to let the layout breathe. Instead of a cramped layout in OO gauge, consider exactly the same track plan in N gauge. Using OO gauge may mean having to have shorter sidings and platforms to get it all in. Using N gauge instead means that the sidings and platforms can be of a prototypical length. The extra space means that you will have to make fewer (if any) compromises in your track plan; this is especially important if you are trying to recreate an actual location. In addition, the extra space gives you more opportunity to set the layout in the landscape.

SCENERY – A LAYOUT IN THE LANDSCAPE

The model railway hobby means different things to different people. Thankfully, this variety of interest makes for a wonderfully diverse hobby. Some modellers focus on operation and don’t worry too much about the scenery beyond the railway boundary fence. Others like to place the railway into a panorama, a bit like creating a three-dimensional landscape painting. To do this you need space, even if you just want to thread a single railway line through the hills and valleys.

In the real world, the landscape came first; engineers surveyed it and drove a railway through it. As railway modellers, we tend to focus on the railway and then wrap the scenery around it, almost as an afterthought. Using N gauge means that you can consider the space for your layout as a landscape first and add the railway in afterwards. There are many classic locations, such as the Scottish Highlands or the Settle to Carlisle line, that really need enough space around the model railway to do justice to the impressive backdrop.

When viewed from a distance, real trains tend to get lost in the surrounding landscape. N gauge gives you the opportunity to build enough scenery on either side of the railway line to achieve this, as here with a view of Lincoln and District Model Railway Club’s layout Peakdale. Photo by Fred Hempsall

It’s not just rural landscapes that will benefit from having space to model them; the urban environment has lots of houses and factories that can be modelled to give an atmospheric setting for your trains. Choosing N gauge to model such scenic vistas will give you the chance to have the best of both worlds – brilliant scenery and scale-length trains.

Scenery does not have to be about trees and hills; the urban environment offers just as many scenic challenges. This astonishing townscape of terraced houses for the workers at the factory in the distance was created by the Leamington & Warwick Model Railway Society on their exhibition layout called Meacham.

VERY LONG TRAINS

If you are modelling a branch line in a rural backwater, you don’t need to worry too much about train length. If you want all the excitement of full-length express trains or heavy freights, then you need to consider how to cater for very long trains. Railways are long, thin things, and so are very long trains. N gauge takes up half the length of OO gauge, so that means that you can have trains that are twice as long in the same space.

Railway companies have always liked running long trains, just as much in the steam era as with today’s modern railway. Such trains are more efficient as they carry more passengers or freight for the same locomotive and staff. The limiting factors tend to be the length of some of the infrastructure, such as platforms and loops. Mainline express trains were often loaded to ten or twelve bogie coaches in the steam era; a High Speed Train (HST) has at least eight Mark 3 coaches, each 70ft (21.3m) long. Some steam-era coal trains would run to one hundred wagons, while a standard Merry-Go-Round (MGR) coal train consisted of thirty-six long-wheelbase hopper wagons. The latest so-called ‘block trains’ are even longer.

This is a block train working, 1950s style. The Class 24 hauled oil train has twenty wagons; this is probably shorter than the actual train ran in real life, but it still looks impressive. Using N gauge means that this very long train does not take over the surrounding landscape – everything looks to be in proportion. This outstanding scene depicting an actual train at an actual location was created by the Warrington Model Railway Club on their exhibition layout Glazebrook.