New loco

Its time we had a new loco, and here it is! The Class 22 has always been a type i have liked (though i've never seen a real one - none exist now!) even back in the Hornby OO days of my childhood. Now i finally have one, in Dapol N gauge.

Scenery progress

New Knell Lane (as it will be called from now on) is progressing nicely. Most of the track is fixed down (just waiting for a replacement point before i fix down the last 2 sidings as the one in situ is a bit dodgy) and new platforms for the station have arrived. I've also made a start on the scenery. I'm not using the ballast mat as the base anymore though will be using it for roads. I'm using grass mats again but with "proper" ballast. So far looks pretty good.

Test run

Most of the track has been fixed down now... so why get the stock on there and start testing?!

NSE30

It is 30 years since the creation of Network South East, so i thought i would give my OO gauge NSE coaches an airing. One day maybe my OO stock can have a new layout to run on, but not just yet. I need a bigger room, and a bigger house!

Its a right old fix

In the past i've always nailed track down with little pins, this goes back to my old OO days which is simply how it was done (apparently). Nailing track down is a lot harder with N gauge though not impossible. The issue is always getting the track back up at a later stage without damaging it, which quite frankly i suck at.

With New Knell Lane i'm trying something different. I'm using PVA glue to fix the track down. A trial a few weeks ago seemed to work pretty well so hopefully this will work on the new layout. But if it doesn't work and i'll can just go back to nailing it down... but fingers crossed.

The best laid plans

Its funny no matter how many simulations and plans you might dream up using railway modelling software when you get your blank canvas for real (a.k.a. a new board) and start laying down the track things change. To be honest the new layout isn't going to be dual gauge anymore, it just seems too small for HOe. I have decided therefore to create the new layout for N gauge only - though the main loop will retain sufficient clearance to allow for running by the HOe fleet.

The smaller new board does mean there is now a fair bit more space in the room the layout is situated in, in fact i think a separate HOe end-to-end layout is now completely viable and we may look into that in 2017.

Until then we will concentrate on the new N gauge layout, New Knell Lane. Holes have been drilled for the electrics which have also been done (very simple anyway). We might start fixing the track down pretty soon. There will be some changes there as to how i've done things in the past - well maybe - but that's a story for another day.

A day for destroying things

So the old layout is gone, destroyed forever. Well all the stock, buildings, track, even the trees have survived of course and now the building of New Eskalon/Knell Lane has begun! Its noticeable how much smoother the new layout runs even with the track unfixed, which just shows you what a bad job i made of the board the first time around!

The new layout is shallower but wider as i said though it will again have a loop with various sidings in the middle, maybe planned out a bit better this time. See an early test run below (the station sidings have changed since this was made). I am concentrating on HOe at the moment as that is harder to get the clearances right though the CEP has also had a test run and ran really nicely.

The future begins here

The Eskalon/Knell Lane layout has come to the end, i have decided that its best to start afresh with a new board - hopefully learning from the mistakes i made 3 years ago! The new board is different to the old one, using MDF instead of chipboard. So it should be flatter. The frame is also a lot more extensive than the last one. Well its taking shape anyway, not finished yet!

The new layout will be wider than the old one but also shallower. So begins Project New Eskalon/Knell Lane!