Fidley. N Gauge BR(W) in a violin case.

[Simon Hargraves]

I bought the old wooden, straight-sided violin case 20-odd years ago with the intention of one day putting a layout in it.
The good looks and superb running qualities of modern Ngauge plus some foam-core provided the impetus to finally build something.
The period of the layout is intended to represent the mid-70s....blue diesels will predominate, there's still some unfited stock around as well as vacuum-fitted and there may be the odd air-braked wagon.
The layout is a truncated survivor of an old branchline somewhere in the Midlands, kept open by traffic from the local quarry, an occasional DMU passenger service, and a small amount of traffic to and from a local engineering works.
Although the line has clung on this long the impending closure of the quarry looks like spelling the end for this little-known byway pretty soon.........
Obviously the layout is at a fairly early in stage in its development so there may be variations in the industries etc, but I think the core objective will remain; to try to avoid building something too twee......

[MartinWales]

That's a nice piece of work-I had to look twice before I realized it was 2mm!

[Steve]

It would be good to show an overview of the whole case, Simon, as the way it fits inside is very neat.

At a meeting of BANG (Bexhill Area Narrow Gauge) last night we were discussing ways to present the layout. While it is removable from the case there were suggestions that a folding backscene might slot in around the edge while still in situ. Anyway, its a great little project!

[Simon Hargraves]

Thanks for your kind words both, just got back from playing trains at Chailey, and I realise from this experience that the next item to address is to GET RID OF THE HORRIBLE N-GAUGE COUPLINGS!!
Martin, the improvement in appearance of N over the last few years has been drastic....particularly the finer scale track from PECO and the improved finish and detail on the new GF (and also now Dapol) r-t-r stuff and of course many kits......
There's nothing special about the layout, just a bit of paint on the track and careful ballasting.
I will post more photos later on once my backside has recovered from the manky road surfaces around here (the MZs knackered suspension has NOTHING to do with it )
Another acronym already.......
RaCooNS Rye and Camber 00Nine Society
BalooNS Buzzard and Locality 00nine Society
BANG Bexhill Area Narrow Gauge........Yes,I like!

[Simon Hargraves]

Having realised that I've posted nothing on this layout for about 18 months, I suppose a bit of an update would be a good idea!
For various reasons, the layouts location has moved slightly; it was originally going to be set "somewhere in the midlands", it's now moved a bit south and west and into WR territory.
This is partly because I finally got around to buying a Dapol Hymek which is a lovely model and a good "signature" loco; as it's in the early blue with white window surrounds and half yellow ends, this also means a move back in time to the late '60s.......cunningly allowing me to (just about) get away with a GF class 14!
Another motivation for the ownership change was the recent purchase of several books, most notably Chris Leighs "The Western Before Beeching"; this covers the period before, during and shortly after "the axe" and is full of inspiration for the modeller.
The old Bradford Barton album "GW Steam in the Cotswolds" has inspired too; especially some of the photos of the Fairford branch, for the infrastructure and general"feel" I was looking for.
I've been invited to bring a layout to the Wealden Railway Group exhibition at Arundel in March; it has already been there as a very early work in progress (this sort of thing is encouraged at the show) so I thought it would be nice to get it somewhere closer to completion.
I will post some photos, both old (as they have vanished) and more recent to show progress.
At least the layout now has a name (even if it's an awful pun).
Oh, and I STILL haven't done anything about those b****y couplings!

[Simon Hargraves]

The first few photos are as the layout was in august '09, these all vanished, hopefully it will make a bit more sense of the first few posts!

[Simon Hargraves]

The Hymek in all its glory.......not the best of photos, but then I'm not the best of photographers!
I think it captures the bulky look of the model though.
The backdrop is placed temporarily; it was a freebie with ModelRail magazine some time ago.

[Simon Hargraves]

I needed some sort of scenic break to hide the exit to the fiddle yard.....I reckoned a fairly modern-looking (wartime perhaps) road bridge would do the job. It's not based on anything in particular, really just bodged to fit the site. The brickwork is Ratio, while the girder is plastruct. I filled in the sides with polystyrene packaging, which has no been covered in with card.......leaving a hole to operate the point switch.
The signal box was an earlier effort; a Peco kit with the windows boarded up.....it won't be used for this layout.

[Simon Hargraves]

The platform needed a station building; I'd bought a Ratio kit some years ago but it was far too big for the layout, so I got hacking; the chimney, in particular, caused a fair few swear words when I realised that it prevented the fiddle case lid from closing...... Several modifications later the result has no pots, however I've seen photos that show similar chimneys (eg: Wallingford).
The building was too wide, so it's been cut at an angle and a suitable piece of plasticard is now the rear wall.
In practice, less than two-thirds of the kit has been used, ahh well.....all the more bits for the spares box!

[Simon Hargraves]

Having built a (non-working) signal from a Ratio kit, I needed a signal box.
A look through Paul Karau's "GW Branch Line Termini" turned up the example at Lambourn, complete with drawings. Ratio make a rather nice signal box interior kit, which includes etched GW pattern windows. I think these are to British N (1:148) rather than 2mm scale, so the model was built around the window sizes rather than exactly to scale. I've modded it a bit; the entrance door is different and no doubt there will be other odd detail differences as construction progresses. I used Evergreen clapboard for the sides; floor and uprights are cut from plasticard. Hopefully the photos make all clear as mud!
I drew up a signalling diagram as I needed to determine the number and colours of levers for the frame; a lot of them are "spare" as the layout represents a small through station on a line that has been truncated. I will need to build some ground signals, but not just yet........

[Simon Hargraves]

These photos are pretty much up to date; I'm gradually filling in the gaps in the scenery, adding things like stop blocks, the platform is painted, and I've put in a bit of timber shoring behind where the PW hut will go. A (very) slow train journey into London Vic' on sunday gave the opportunity to look at the lineside; the real thing is actually pretty irregular, with odd bits of wall, embankment, cutting etc., in no particular pattern.
There are quite a few bits that will need covering with greenery......

[Raphael]

Remarkable! If you had a violin bow you could use that to prod locos into life. Biggest problem may be how do you avoid looking dodgy in a 30s gangster style way walking around with this under your arm! I had a pool que box off the dump [when no one was looking] a while ago and considered making it into the most minimum scale portable layout. I'd love to see the faces of the X-ray blokes if you took this on a plane.