Eric’s added to the English N scale train layouts on the blog.
But one or two comments on the previous posts pointed out that while Eric’s lighting and scenery was top notch, there were no trains running in his last post.
Well, that was my fault. Eric supplied a few vids. Here’s one with his trains running and more from Eric too:
“Thank you for the comments folks. The layout has taken a lot of time and patience, wiring, I was in the electric trade for 33 years and so it’s natural but definitely fiddly work and even that takes planning with colour coded wires so I use the right voltage or controller, but some of those lighting wires are so thin and a pain to link up.
Plan all you like but it never goes to plan as you will all know so just make it so it looks right, with all the lift off panels and trying to hide all the joins you can, takes ages too.
Persevere and you will succeed.
There are 6 board panels including the centre park which is my access hatch to the centre of it all and are all independently wired so I can get to all the layout as the station lifts too.
Now being retired gives me the time I need to wire and alter things.
The part I enjoy most however is the actual track work and designing the layout, I have ideas and then try them out until I get a workable layout of tracks before starting putting it all together, but I must admit this is my favourite to date.
As you may notice I am not good at videoing it all, we leave all the excellent videos for Dangerous Dave.
I’m glad you all enjoyed it and a big thanks to Al who provides a brilliant service to all we modelers,young and old.
Eric”
English N scale train layouts:
A big thank to Eric for adding to the English n scale train layouts.
I loved his lighting pics, especially the street lights – it reminded me of this post:
That’s all for today folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if today is the day you get started on your layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.
Best
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
PPS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.
Al, I just want to say how I enjoy looking at the different train layouts from your emails. Keep them coming.
John R
what more can I say, one doesn’t know it isn’t real, detail ,wow, marlin
I would like to congratulate you on a very nice job,a lot attention to small details. Great job.
I’ve been watching your emails with great interest for a couple of years now, and find a lot of the ‘postings’ of photos, videos and little tit-bits of info. really fascinating. I retire in just over two months and one ambition is to build my own model layout, (first one since I was 12 years old), and I can’t wait !!.
So, thanks to you and all your club members,……Jolly well done! Den
AMAZINGLY WELL DONE….VERY PRO IN APPEARANCE…..NICE!
Hi Al
Eric’s layout is brilliant, I loved the new build houses and being a retired bricklayer felt I wanted to jump up on the scaffold and help them do some bricklaying. I haven’t got a layout but have been following you for quite sometime and I think it might be the next item on the agenda.
Keep up the good work on all the tips , problem solving and every thing else to do with trains
How do you fix anything on the opposite side of the layout ? Reach is far.
Beautiful layout. I like to see a lot of train action and this layout definitely shows that. Well done.
I have a suggestion to all who submit videos. Please zoom out once or twice to show the entire layout.
One question for Eric- How do you access the tunnels if you have a derailment?
Doug
Eric,
Superb model railroad well done in every detail.
best
regards,
Tom
Fantastic. The openness was easy to watch and the detail was excellent. Thank you for sharing.
Fabulous. I also wonder how to reach some of the far areas of the layout. There must be hatches, but you cannot see them. Great work.Very neat and tidy area of the country. Thank you for posting–Tom
I love the layout and attention to detail, but WHY does everyone like to see trains running at fast speed, scale speed is all that is required. I run O scale Lionel trains with a Legacy controller and never have the running at fast speed always at scale speed, far more enjoyment. This is in noway a criticism, as i like all the modelling tips and train runs.
Thanks for sharing
your layout is very nice.
I would like to see a track plan for this layout. The trains are similar and almost appear to be on a hidden reversing loop inside one of the tunnels as so much of this layout is in tunnels.
Those class 37s you have on the passenger trains are superb locos, they worked round here for fifty-odd years, very capable despite being only 1750hp, they were mostly for heavy freight but that didn’t stop Canton depot trying them out in pairs on the Red Dragon to London, and they did very well, but length was an issue on arrival I think. We had some of the train-heat fitted ones working rush-hour commuter trains from Rhymney as recently as the ‘noughties. Mostly saw them in pairs on the local coal trains to Aberthaw power station, but for a time they used sets of three on the 3,000 ton iron ore trains to Llanwern. Certainly had our money’s worth out of them, a great product by English Electric of Newton-le-willows, Lancashire.
Rod
That’s one beautifull layout. Keeping track and wheels clean for me is a problem. First I have the brass rails, the engins are cast while the cars are plastic. My sets are over 50 years old. Would the new nickle track be easyer to maintain?
Nice. A well thought out plan with great attention to details. Your modeling skills are first rate. Thanks for sharing.
Jim AZ
Love the environment. Wish I could produce a layout like that.
Great layout! Looks to me like your having a fun build.
I agree with Ernie S…. I think you would get more enjoyment, certainly more longevity if you ran your units and consists at scale speed. Takes longer to make a full run, and is more enjoyable to watch for some. However….some just love to crank it up and let them fly;. In either case….first rate modeling and detail. BRAVO.
Nice layout. I would be interest in the track layout. I have a young man that is getting interested in trains and I have given him some of my N scale engines and cars. He would like to build his own layout but he need a starter. This looks fun to build and would get me involved with him. Could the track layout be sent to me.
Thanks
Kalispell, Montana
Lots of tunnels and double decker busses. I m finishing up city building construction. After that comes the hard part figuring out how I want the city to look. After that. drill holes lay wiring for street light and buildings. I’m using the Woodland scenics just plug system. Found a guy on ebay who makes lights that work with it for noticably cheaper as well as plug ends so i can use cheaper street lights with a resistor on them
Well done looks as good in daylight as it does when lit at night. Only one tiny comment, I think your trains are running too fast to look realistic. A bit slower would make such a difference.
Pretty Kool.!!!
Eric- Great layout, I love the details! I especially like the interior walls of the houses under construction. That’s a detail that is rarely modelled. Thanks for sharing.
You have a nice layout; Please slow down on your camera panning so we could see more of your craftsmanship.
For those who have noted “train speed too fast”, I think modelers run at fast speed because slower speeds can result in trains stopping due to track/wheel dirt issues. At fast speeds, the trains can “glide” across a dirty part of track without losing electrical contact. I have found that out on my layout. A train will stop every time at the same place due to a dirty spot on the track, but if I crank up the speed, the train will “glide” over the dirt spot and keep running.
very nice. lots of good work.
Eric: A very well done N scale layout. I especially like the integration of tunnels and landscape. British trains are special and have character, you do them justice. Thanks for sharing. John from Long island, New York