UK Slate Sizes

In British practice the length of the slate is typically twice the width, each of the most popular sizes having a traditional name. Thus Imperial slate sizes range from 12″ length by 6″ width (Small Doubles) and 14″ by 7″ (Narrow Ladies) up to 24″ by 12″ (Duchesses) and 24″ by 14″ (Princesses). Popular sizes are:


Duchesses: 24″ x 12″

Small Duchesses: 22″ x 12″

Wide Countesses: 20″ x 12″

Countesses: 20″ x 10″

Wide Viscountesses: 18″ x 10″

Viscountesses: 18″ x 9″

Wide Ladies: 16″ x 10″

Ladies: 16″ x 8″

Clearly when modelling it is necessary to assess the type of slates used on the building in question and allow for the overlap which takes up a lot of the length.

The N Gauge table is:

Size	Length (inches)	Width  (inches)	N Gauge  Length (mm)	N Gauge  Width (mm)
Duchesses	24	12	4.1	2.1
Small Duchesses	22	12	3.8	2.1
Wide Countesses	20	12	3.4	2.1
Countesses	20	10	3.4	1.7
Wide Viscountesses	18	10	3.1	1.7
Viscountesses	18	9	3.1	1.5
Wide Ladies	16	10	2.7	1.7
Ladies	16	8	2.7	1.4

Information from John Williams Roofing.

UK Brick Sizes

When constructing model buildings, the thickness of walls can often be guided by thickness of the construction material (often card) when it should actually be a result of the size of the bricks used in the wall being modelled. Here are some typical UK brick sizes that may help has a guide to wall (and therefore construction material) thicknesses. All dimensions are in millimeters, first full size then scaled down to British N Gauge.

Actual sizes taken from: Hints and Things

	Length of brick (excluding joint) mm	Width of brick (excluding joint) mm	Height of brick (excluding joint) mm	Typical Joint mm
Metric	215.0	102.5	50	10
Metric	215.0	102.5	65	10
Imperial	225.0	107.5	68	10
Imperial	230.0	110	70	10
Imperial	230.0	110	73	10
Imperial	230.0	110	76	10
Imperial	230.0	110	80	10

In N Gauge:

	Length of brick (excluding joint) mm	Width of brick (excluding joint) mm	Height of brick (excluding joint) mm	Typical Joint mm
Metric	1.5	0.7	0.3	0.1
Metric	1.5	0.7	0.4	0.1
Imperial	1.5	0.7	0.5	0.1
Imperial	1.6	0.7	0.5	0.1
Imperial	1.6	0.7	0.5	0.1
Imperial	1.6	0.7	0.5	0.1
Imperial	1.6	0.7	0.5	0.1

Point control

The wire in tube point control now complete. The double slip was already done. The other points are now completed with holes front and back to allow control from either side. The controls can be swapped from front to back by undoing a single screw on each one. I just need knobs for the protruding wires now.

This does reveal that I have not connected up the rear 5 pin DIN socket yet. I can only use it from the front in its current location though so this is not a priority.

Progress at last - cab control

At last I can report some progress. After coming back from holiday ready to get going again in early September, a lengthy virus and a couple of exhibitions (n-gauge and Peterborough) blocked out too many weekends. For a while I never got going.

The cab control is however now complete. Four sections, each one of which can be controlled by one of two controllers.

I had for some time considered reviving my minimal carpentry skills to make a control box. After a few days working out a design in my head, considering nice wood veneer, a laminated track diagram and a removable access panel, I stopped and asked myself why? All I need is a lightweight, robust box that I can drill holes in! I had a couple of suitable plastic boxes in a cupboard. So out came a storage box with a semi transparent lid through which an internally mounted track diagram could be viewed. A bit of drilling and soldering, a diagram with Photoshop and some 3M tape and I had this:

I only need four section switches as I intend to use the trusty Gaugemaster integrated controller. Power from the controller comes in via two phono sockets to the left. Power to the layout comes out from a 5 pin DIN socket at the back to a matching 5 pin DIN socket at the front or back of the layout. The track diagram is taped to the inside of the lid. Point control will be wire in tube at the front/back of the layout so no point switches to worry about in the control box.

I can store emergency spares in the box and it has a convenient carrying handle. To my surprise it worked first time. I wish I could say the same of all my efforts.

Chiltern Green 2013

Chiltern Green, originally built by The Model Railway Club is now on display at the Devon Railway Centre. Featured widely in RM in the 80s it was one of the best model railways of its time. Here are some up to date photos:

Summer and other things

Summer is not conducive to layout building especially when job things intervene. Progress has therefore stalled for some time. Summer can however result in visits to interesting places. This little gem, in need of some TLC, came to my attention during my holiday. Anyone who has a copy of RM April 1975 might recognize it.

Track layed

After a little hiatus for various events I have managed to make some progress this week. The track has been laid, secured firmly with white woodworking adhesive. I went for the water-proof variety so that is does not lift when I start adding ballast with PVA/Water/Washing up liquid mix.

The photographs never lie and always reveal problems I did not spot. Some of the dummy sleepers need more careful alignment, but this will not be too taxing.

With the track in place I then turned to wiring. Yellow is the common return, the other wires are colour coded according to the plan in the Electrics post.

I have also done the wire-in-tube operation for the double slip and attached the polarity switches. I have been hatching plans in my head for the way I would do the wire in tube for some time but was pleased to see an article in the latest Hornby magazine covering the subject. It described an approach very similar to the one I had been considering using chocolate box connectors to join the wire. I also use them to hold the tubes in place rather than the cable tidies as in the article. The fact that someone else had done it first and made it work was a great confidence builder so I went ahead with the implementation. It works beautifully. Thanks to Phil Parker for the article.

Progress delayed

Progress is delayed by a friends major birthday (Saga time!) and the bank holiday weekend. Friends can be very unreasonable; expecting you to eat good food with them and share good wine when you could be sitting in a room on your own making models.

Electrics

Control is to be simple DC. A number of reasons for this including:

• I want to be able to use older locos that may be more difficult to convert to DCC
• I would like to use small locos that are not DCC compatible
• The layout is quite simple so does not justify the expense
• DC is easily converted to DCC at a later date

The sections plan is simple:

The four sections are:

• Blue - goods area
• Black - platform 1
• Red - platform 2
• Green - engine shed

I will also use the Y point in the goods section to isolate the headshunt/secondary goods area.

Laying track

Busy laying track. After a couple of experiments I have decided to glue it down with PVA. I tried Copydex as recommended by a number of people on the web but PVA works better for me glueing to the foam board layer.

I started with a quick mock-up to test the look of the main components in the plan.

The buildings are ones I have had lying around for some time. I plan to build new ones for the layout. They are however useful for mocking up purposes. Given that my plan is for a GWR branch, i.e. pre-nationalization, there is a futuristic visitor sitting in front of the station building! It is there as an example of a long loco to verify the position of the point.

The image below shows most of the track components sitting in place but not yet fixed. Some are turned up to show the droppers soldered in position.

Below shows all the track in its intended position but still not fixed.

Finally all of the track fixed with a few test wagons in evidence. A quick test has also been done with a couple of locos, some wire and a couple of crocodile clips. I have left the overhang to the right for now until I start work on the fiddle yard. It gives me options but is likely to be chopped off.

Track plan

The proposed model is not based on a prototype. I have a lot of admiration for modellers who create accurate representations of real locations and often find them the most interesting layouts at exhibitions. Part of the enjoyment for me though is to decide what I want and where I want to put it. I do however want to create something that is at least credible; allowing for space compression.

I have spent much time studying other layout plans, internet resources and experimentating with Peco PDF Track Templates. The aims of the track plan are to put the most interest centre stage, to avoid aligning the track with the baseboard edges and to not overfill the space, which is difficult given the small area.

The final plan I arrived at is like an inverted, compressed Ashburton. I am not entirely happy about this as many more skilled than myself have already done an excellent job on Ashburton.  My intention however is not to create another Ashburton. The scenics and buildings will be different. I am just using it as inspiration for the track plan.

The advantages of the plan for me are:

• It puts the main interest in the middle of the scene
• It allows me to accommodate large radius points but have enough operational interest

I am using a Y point but consider that to be acceptable in my large radius scheme. I am also using a double slip to allow me to fit the plan in to the available space. Back to back points would be better but there is not enough space. Two tracks disappear off scene to the right to an assumed further point joining them to the single track branch line.

The final track plan created using the excellent SCARM is shown below. The plan includes a station building, good shed and engine shed. The engine shed will obscure the view of the exit to the right which will be under a low relief road bridge. A cattle dock may also feature but that is not yet decided.

SCARM can even show a 3D mock up, although the roofs look huge:

There is no time like the present so track has been bought from Cheltenham Model Centre. I am ready to go.

Baseboards

5mm ply was selected for the baseboards. If offers enough rigidity for a micro layout but is also very light. The small layout size means that a shallow edge frame suffices to provide the necessary rigidity. Having made these decisions the ply wood was bought along with a new circular saw to cut it. The images show the boards upside down showing how the edge frames are attached.

No scenic sections are planned to be lower than the track so the baseboard covers the entire area. The baseboard for the fiddle yard uses exactly the same approach.

Construction is simple. The frame is glued to the baseboard around the edges using Evo-Stick Weatherproof Wood Adhesive. Strengthening is provided by a beading around the inside.

The boards sit square with no rocking motion on the flat shelf surface below. There is no movement in them.

The scenic baseboard was finished off with a layer of foamboard to reduce engine noise from vibration. It was glued on using the same weatherproof PVA, held down until dry with large heavy books.

Standards & intentions

A short list of standards I want to try to adhere to for the layout:

• Diorama presentation controlling the viewing angle
• Continuous backscene with curved corners
• Effective hidden lighting
• Lightweight rigid ply wood baseboard
• Analogue control - too many N Gauge models of the type in which I am interested cannot accommodate a chip
• Peco code 55 track
• Mechanical remote point operation
• Only large radius points
• An effective fiddle yard to allow switching between trains of the length accommodated by the platforms & sidings

Large radius points are an unusual choice for a micro layout. The normal recommendation is to save space by using the shortest possible radius points. I however do not like them. They are good when modelling industrial railways where they are typical of the prototypes but that is not my aim. The track plan will therefore have to be considered carefully to meet this requirement.

The fiddle yard will need to be cassette, traverser or a combination of the two. There is just not enough space to accommodate the points even if I made a compromise on radius off scene.

This post may get modified as more standards are introduced; or I compromise somewhere!

The Project

This blog will cover the development of a very small diorama type N gauge model railway. The subject matter is to be the ubiquitous Great Western branch line terminus. It was chosen due to space restrictions, some existing stock from a previous layout years ago and the wealth of information available on the subject.

It is a pilot scheme. If time allows, all goes well and my re-kindled interest from childhood actually results in a finished working layout then I may progress to something more ambitious.

The available space is on top of two IKEA shelf units, one 80cm x 28cm and one 60cm x 28cm. IKEA no longer sells the 60cm unit. The 80cm unit will house the scenic area, the 60cm a small fiddle yard.