Fictional Joint LMS/GWR layout set in the 1930s. N Gauge.

I started this layout about 4 years ago in our box room that I converted into my own personal man-cave.It had to fulfill the following criteria:
*Allow for my two favourite companies to run on their own main lines with a joint station at "Hyde".(LMS & GWR)

*Have SHMD ,Manchester & Stockport trams running throughout.

*Have a canal running through it all.

The GWR was to have baseboard level,with the LMS running over the top and around roughly the same area.The trams and the canal had to be squeezed in where they would fit.There would also be stations at Gee Cross(GWR) and Denton(LMS)….Denton being remarkably close in appearance to Dent on the Settle & Carlisle.
   Following a couple of years of relative neglect,the bug has bitten again and I have resumed work on the layout.










 




  




The above photos show the initial double track that I laid roundy-roundy which I used for a while as a test track.More pointwork and the beginnings of two stations have since appeared and I will update in the coming weeks.Also a track plan will appear,but as anyone who knows me will tell you,my plans often change!!!

Cheers,John.B. :roll:




 

This is a recent video taken on my Iphone.Apologies for the poor quality,but it gives an overall view of the layout thus far and also showcases my newest acquisition.Nunney Castle,the first N gauge loco designed to run with sound on BOTH Dc and DCC systems.Graham Farish strike again.This is the hottest,most innovative N gauge loco since Peco/Rivarossi's epic Jubilee raised the bar way back in the 60's!!!
 Enjoy!



Cheers,John.B. :thumbs

Hello John, lovely to hear from you.
Good to see a layout in progress, you've got a decent bit of space there!

As for Nunny Castle…:mrgreen: I want one!

Are you running DCC and if so, what?

Cheers

Marty

Hi Marty,
   No,I'm NOT running DCC.That's the beauty of it.Nunney Castle's sound functions work on analogue layouts!You switch on the power and after a few seconds you hear a hiss of steam,the whistle blows,and she's off!!! Can't stop playing with it! The sounds available on analogue are only a few random sound functions….on a DCC layout,you get a detailed menu choice of 28 different sounds,including chat between the driver and fireman!
   I've just come down from the layout room where I'm currently wrestling with a Ratio viaduct kit for my next level LMS line that will run alongside and over the GWR one currently laid out on the baseboard,and inbetween those,I've part laid my SHMD tramline that will feature(prototypically) SHMD,Stockport &Manchester trams.(yet to be scratchbuilt Dick Kerr trams to fit over Kato chassis.)

Hi Ken,
   No,the only coma I've been in is a modelling one!More of a hibernation really,but now I've retired,the juices are flowing again and most importantly I have the TIME to do things.I'm actually enjoying just running trains even though the layout is a long way off being finished,but I am enjoying the journey again now I have my man-cave and the time to spend in it!

Cheers,John.B. ;-)

Ooooo…. well…. there goes my self imposed ban on purchasing further locos then!
great to see the man cave and looking forward to joining you on the journey.

I've managed to get a little bit done on NE over the weekend 'cause it was too cold here to do anything else…

cheers

Marty

I'm seriously thinking of tarting up my old Farish"Castles",selling them on Ebay and buying another newbie with the proceeds!!

[user=34]Ken[/user] wrote:

You seem to have had a blackout John! ;-)   Anyway, it's great to see you back posting again and I look forward to more updates etc.

Ken.

Hi Ken,
            That was literally straight from the box,filmed while running her in.My controller is an old Gaugemaster one,nothing else needed,although if you DO have a DCC controller,there are 28 different sound effects that you can call up.On old anologue layouts like mine,the sound effects are much fewer and random.

            I wondered what you meant by "blackout".I must admit,I had a nightmare trying to post the video,it took hours to transfer it onto Youtube.

Cheers,John.B. ;-)

I think they'd struggle with smaller locos to be honest Ken.The speaker is roughly the size of a sugar cube and is squeezed into the tender of the Castle.Bigger diesels & electric locos would be easy enough.

Cheers,John.B. :thumbs

I had already decided that "Denton"station was to be as close to Dent on the Settle & Carlisle line as I could make it.That thought had been mulling and stewing for 3 or 4 years in my noddle.I knew I wanted "Gee Cross"station to be archetypically GWR,but had no particular location in mind to imitate.Similarly,I had only the vaguest idea of how I wanted "Hyde"station to look,only that it would be joint GWR/LMS on 2 levels.
   In a rare moment of clarity for me,I realised in the extremely early hours of this morning that I wanted to model an actual GWR building,and racked my brain to think of a suitable candidate that just shouted "GWR".The building I have chosen is Arley on the Severn Valley Railway.The actual platform layout will be different,because Gee Cross is on a curve while Arley is on a straight section.I am hoping to build in as many features of Arley as I can so people will "recognise" it as GWR even if they don't recognise it,if that make's sense.
   It was just a short leap for my imagination from there to solve the Hyde conundrum.I would make those buildings as similar in structure to those at Hyde Central and Hyde North(or Hyde Junction),as possible.There will be GWR and LMS furniture as and where appropriate to whichever level their trains run.

So,first things first.The next job,before I go any further with laying more tramlines or the upper level of trackwork for the LMS,is to develop,to a finished state the corner that houses the fictional Gee Cross station,that will hopefully have the spirit of real-life Arley or the equally fictional "Hatley"from "Oh Dr.Beeching!"

Cheers,John.B. :thumbs

Wow.Three years since my last update…Covid lockdown and retirement has meant I have had much more time to work on the layout so several nettles have been grasped!  The wiring of point motors has begun in earnest, the upper level has begun to be laid and several bridges built/being built to cross over the lower level GWR tracks.
 The tramway that runs under/over/between the two is being more fully realised and is looking achievable.The first WORKING tram is yet to be scratch built,but that is now looking imminent…There are several dummy trams to be placed about the place, and a canal has begun to take shape.
 There are now 2 Nunney Castles with sound,but one will be re-named/re-numbered Pendennis Castle,and possibly the other one Isambard Kingdom Brunel.Some of my old Farish Castles will probably become"Stars",which should be quite simple to do, change of cab and removal of curved steam pipe, add appropriate names and numbers and smaller tenders…Bob's your uncle!
  Photos to follow soon.

Cheers,John.B.:thumbs

 

John! Great to see you back posting, what a lovely locomotive, very 'playoffalus'…even if the clank when cut back to drift [if I'm hearing it right] sounds a bit more S.R. than G.W.R!

Best wishes,

Douglas

Cheers my mate.just taking a brief break between soldering my tram tracks underneath to allow that damn new-fangled elecktrickery to work! As a large portion of the tramway will be hidden sub-baseboard,and other parts in hard to reach places,I'm adopting a"better safe than sorry" policy with my wiring…I've been bitten too many times…
Cheers,John.B.:thumbs

The only building currently fixed down permanently on the layout yet is the Canal Wharf building with the 3 vehicles parked outside.The 3 barges and the row of cottages perched opposite are Scalescenes,The track work running between them is part of the SHMD tramway that has yet to be "filled-in"with a cobbled roadway.
 The area to the rear of the cottages will be a small area of goods sidings, the other side of which is Hyde Station.As you can see in the distance, the curved railway arches will lead into the upper level of Hyde Station(yet to be built).

Great layout coming on there John the fact your able to build it it home has obviously made a massive difference to the time you have been able to spend on it and of course now retired certainly helps.

I assume you gave up on the Perranporth layout that you were building at Mums.

Brian

The White Bridge above is an amalgam of two white bridges that I am familiar with; one that exists locally to me at Dukinfield,and the one at Towyn,nr.Rhyl that evokes childhood memories of open-topped bus rides taken on childhood holidays when I had to be surgically removed from the miniature railway engines at Marine Lake. It also serves to take my SHMD trams over the GWR and its sharp bend takes them behind the station underneath the higher level LMS line.

Are we missing some descriptive text John ?  It's looking very good but I for one, would like to know what's what ……