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A loft based N Gauge layout that never leaves home (some photos)

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Andy R. A.

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Hastings, East Sussex.
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Recreating Summertime canalside walks of the 1970s around the Linslade area. A Euston bound Express passes by.

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Northbound through Harrow.

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Approaching Watford from the north.3030.JPG
The Kings Cross to Tring Cement empties approach Harrow while the Stanmore branch DMU arrives.

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Looking north towards Harrow.
 
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D365

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Very nice, I didn't know you could do this much with N Gauge in the UK. How many years have you been working on this?

Didn't know that you could get Tube stock in N Gauge either!
 

83A

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That is a cracking layout a credit. Have you had it featured in a magazine? Its worthy of it.
 

Ash Bridge

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I can only echo the above posters. A truly marvellous looking layout you've created there from an era I remember well, obviously a massive amount of thought and work went into it, I'm sure our resident N gauge expert Mr Cowley on here will be blown away when he sees this :)
 

Andy R. A.

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Hastings, East Sussex.
Very nice, I didn't know you could do this much with N Gauge in the UK. How many years have you been working on this?

Didn't know that you could get Tube stock in N Gauge either!

This particular layout is about five years old now, it was three years in the planning stage waiting for the space to become available (even though I constructed a lot of buildings for it during this period). It then took about another seven years from getting the baseboards done to being complete (as much as you can say that a layout is ever truly complete :s)

You can get some Underground kits in N gauge, but all mine were scratchbuilt about 20 years ago and running on an Exhibition layout for a number of years.
 
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Andy R. A.

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Hastings, East Sussex.
That is a cracking layout a credit. Have you had it featured in a magazine? Its worthy of it.

Thank you,
It appeared in Model Rail (October 2017 no.240), Hornby Magazine (November 2018 No. 137), and recently as a two-parter in Traction Magazine (Sept/Oct 2019 no. 253, and Nov/Dec 2019 no.254).
 

Andy R. A.

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Location
Hastings, East Sussex.
I can only echo the above posters. A truly marvellous looking layout you've created there from an era I remember well, obviously a massive amount of thought and work went into it, I'm sure our resident N gauge expert Mr Cowley on here will be blown away when he sees this :)

I had always wanted to build a layout 'along these lines :smile:'. Had a bit of practice as one of the founder members of the Exhibition layout 'Kings Park', where a lot of the stock ran in its early years. So a lot of the experience from that went into what I have now built in my loft.
 

D365

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This particular layout is about five years old now, it was three years in the planning stage waiting for the space to become available (even though I constructed a lot of building for it during this period). It then took about another seven years from getting the baseboards done to being complete (as much as you can say that a layout is ever truly complete :s)

That sounds about right! And yes I guess that's both a beauty and a curse of model railways as a hobby.

You can get some Underground kits in N gauge, but all mine were scratchbuilt about 20 years ago and running on an Exhibition layout for a number of years.

Ah I see, now that makes sense! They certainly look the part, I especially like the silver + red doors combination on your last photo.
 

Cowley

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I can only echo the above posters. A truly marvellous looking layout you've created there from an era I remember well, obviously a massive amount of thought and work went into it, I'm sure our resident N gauge expert Mr Cowley on here will be blown away when he sees this :)
Eek don’t call me an expert! Not compared to what Andy’s created. :lol:
I bought the magazines to read about it, so impressive.
 

montyburns56

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Very nice. I love the 70s urban vibe. And a control panel that was possibly stolen from NASA? :lol:
 

PeterY

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I'm blown away. WOW you've put your heart and soul into this layout.
 

Peter C

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GWR land
Wow - amazing work! I've been working on an 00 gauge layout (in various forms) for years now and haven't got very far, and to imagine doing something in N gauge to that size and level of realism is amazing! Jolly good work sir! :D

-Peter
 

Andy R. A.

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25 Aug 2019
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Location
Hastings, East Sussex.
Many thanks for all those kind words. A few more pictures, despite the recent storms the loft remains unaffected, so the trains continue to run :D

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Approaching Harrow from the south. The Stanmore Branch 'Bubble car' has an extra Motor Coach added for the Peak hour services. A 37 heads north on some Petrol Tankers, and a 1972 Tube set rattles into the Harrow Stop on the DC Lines.

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At the north end of Watford. Changeover stock time on the St. Albans Abbey service in the foreground. A Dagenham to Halewood working has diesel power in place of the normal Electric Loco.

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Looking north through Watford. A Metropolitan Line A60 departs from Platform 3 with a Baker Street service via the Croxley Link. A southbound Express for Euston hurries through as Freight traffic passes on the Slow Lines.
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'Out in the sticks' at Linslade a northbound Express passes the Canal.
 

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Cowley

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One of the things that has struck me about your railway Andy is that you’ve built it up over a long period of time which means that you’ve had the time to add more and more detail over the years, and that really shows.
Even things like pylons (not often modelled).
It’s often the mundane everyday stuff that brings a model to life.
 

Andy R. A.

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Hastings, East Sussex.
Another batch of photos taken recently....

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An 86/0 approaches Watford on the Down Fast Line.

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Showing one of the advantages of modelling in N Gauge, full length trains. Express and EMU entering Watford heading north.

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The Stanmore Freight enters the Yard at Harrow as a Euston bound Express sweeps through.

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The northbound Manchester Pullman speeds through Harrow.
 

whoosh

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My first thought was, "I love the silver '72 tube stock with red doors". Then, "A60 stock - awesome!"

That control desk!!

Lots of old skool EMUs and DMUs in BR blue.

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing it with us.


Edit: Just re-read your comment that it had appeared in magazines. I did see it featured once - I thought it looked familiar. I remember that the article mentioned that you'd put in overhead wire masts, but left the wires to the imagination - much easier to model and probably makes the layout less cluttered with unhindered views of the trains.
I seldom buy railway modelling magazines, but bought that one because the layout looked interesting.
 
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VauxhallandI

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What an amazing layout, total awe. I’ve had a OO layout but as you say you can’t have full length trains on house sized boards.

It’s not often you see layouts in that era which is one of my favourites
 

Andy R. A.

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25 Aug 2019
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Location
Hastings, East Sussex.
Some more recent pictures from the layout...3150.JPG
Alongside the canal at Linslade.

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Passing the Sports Ground at Headstone Lane.
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The southbound Bullion Special passes a Freight at Linslade.
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North End at Watford.
 

Andy R. A.

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25 Aug 2019
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Location
Hastings, East Sussex.
A close up on the Control panels.....

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The Watford panel.

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The Harrow panel.

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The Up Fast/Up Slow Lines Yard panel.

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The Down Fast/Down Slow Lines yard panel.

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The small panel for Yard shunting at Harrow.
 
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