New Guy, 1st Post, British Steam Question

This is my first post here. I hope I can learn and contribute some as well! My last railroad layout was when I was in junior high. My parents let me use a small extra bedroom to set it up. Wish I still had it. Once girlfriends came into the picture, all hobbies ended! haha

My son and I completed a 1:400 scale airport a few of summers ago. I've attached a few photos of it here. I now want to start a project in my own extra room!

I'm planning to create a layout set in England during WWII. Probably the English countryside, a military airfield, factory and a medium size town. I have been researching the trains of that location and era and have found some good information. What I cannot seem to find is an N Scale version of steam locomotives that would have been in England at that time. Some retailers show British locomotives but almost all are "out of stock, back ordered or pre-order".

Also, any British WWII planes in 1:160 (1:44 if I must) out there? I have ordered two in 1:144 from eBay made by F-Toys of Japan. Pricy little suckers! haha They are molded plastic. I would prefer diecast.

I appreciate any help and direction for this project. I plan this to be a DCC layout and will be incorporating computer control as much as possible. Photos will come as I go along.

 

Thanks Russell! Yes, I saw those as well. I was trying to find items from US retailers. The time and expense of shipping everything from Europe may be more than I want to do. Also, "British N Gauge" doesn't really get me to what I'm looking for. It's more stores, posts and videos of N Gauge layouts in England, rather than N Gauge British trains themselves---if that makes sense.

BTW, I'm in Houston as well.

 

Remember that British N Gauge is 1:148, not 1:160, so 1:144 aircraft are ok to use with it. Manufacturers include Graham Farish(Bachmann), Dapol, and Peco for the majority of the rolling stock. In the time period you are looking at you want stock from the 'big four' railway companies (GWR, LMS, LNER, SR), not British Railways(BR). If you are thinking of Southern England, consider a Southern Railways Q1 (by Dapol) as a freight loco.

Oxford makes some diecast vehicles in the right scale, although very few from the right period.

For scenic items and kits look at Hornby (Liddle End buildings), Langley Miniatures, Parkside Dundas.

You will likely have to order most of the stock from the UK.

If you have more detailed questions, just ask.

Adrian

 

Thanks for the reply! I'm still planning it all out. I want to be as accurate as possible but I'm not replicating an actual scene. I just want to be as close as possible. And it's just for me and the family to have fun and enjoy!

Will British N Gauge roll on Kato N Gauge Unitrack?

 

Here's a fellow who's running his British N gauge on unitrak:

http://youtu.be/iR2tQW1h8xs

 

Hi Steve, Welcome to TB.

Your airport looks fanatic, I'm very impressed. As other have said there is a lot available but most will probably come form the UK. I live in the UK and my friend has a LHS near to me, http://www.platformmodelsltd.co.uk/index.php, which does a lot of N gauge stuff, they will send international but I am happy to collect and forward stuff on at the cheapest rate if you want?

-James

 

Thanks James! When I put together a full list of items, I may have you do that. If it's not too much trouble!

 

Hi Steve;

Just to be different, I am a Brit, living in the UK and planning to model a US line in N scale!
As for your intended layout, normal UK rail practice applies, with a couple of minor caveats:
All locos were repainted in dull black when new or outshopped after an overhaul; some were even repainted 'in service' but that was rare. The bright liveries of the pre-war trains were too bright to be allowed in wartime blackout conditions - and black paint was cheaper, too! The regular cleaning of trains was the first thing to be reduced as civilian staff were pressed into military service, so all stock, locomotives and rolling stock, was basically filthy; it looked pretty black even if it wasn't painted that way!
The country was blacked out at night; street lighting switched off, station lighting off, yard lighting reduced to almost non-existent. Train lamps were masked, to the point of looking like an anemic firefly - and they weren't that bright in the first place!
All carriages (passenger cars) would have been blacked out simply by not switching the lights on, so NO night-time lights inside the trains. Most locomotives with open cabs had canvas sidesheets and back covers to mask the glow of the fire - and half-suffocate the crew!
Signal lamps were masked, too; again, being oil lamps in many cases, they weren't too bright anyway, but electric lamps were a lot brighter, so were either masked or had lower power bulbs fitted.
Any streamlined casings - as fitted to the LMS 'Coronation' Pacifics - were removed; Gresleys A4 Pacifics couldn't be de-streamlined in the same fashion, but the side panels covering the motion was removed, and never replaced after the war. The streamlined trains themselves suffered too. Some were stored, along with the Royal Trains; others had the streamlining removed.
Rail traffic was heavy! Goods (freight) trains were longer, and filled every available path, often 'block-on-block' - as one train left a signalled block, the next one was entering it! Freight comprised anything you can think of, but coal, iron ore, and limestone made up a lot of the bulk trains. Plenty of oil tankers, and naturally a lot of trains of military equipment. Rarely were goods wagons anything other than 20-ton four-wheelers, usually unbraked, too! There were bogie (two-truck) wagons, but usually only for heavy, large loads like naval guns, boilers and similar. Even light tanks were carried on four wheel flats.
Passenger trains went from 8 or 9 coaches in an express to 13 or 14, while local stoppers would often comprise 5 and 6 coaches instead of the peacetime 2 or 3!

As for using British stock on Kato Unitrak, there's no reason why not. 9mm is 9mm no matter what stock you roll on it. A purist might argue that the spacing of the sleepers (ties) would be wrong, but the difference is almost unnoticeable in N. If you want the closest to 'true' N-scale for British track, then go for Peco Streamline, but I really don't think it's that critical.

Hope this helps.

Barry

 

SteveHookEm, check your Private Messages.

 

Wow, great info Barry! Thanks! I may not be quite that accurate. But it's great to know. I may take one line and really make it rough looking. I imagined---even before you confirmed---that trains during that time would have been stretched to the limit and "no frills"!

 

I get my British stuff from a UK dealer, it only takes a week or so (once as liitle as five days) to come airmail from there to Australia so shipping to the U.S. should be even faster.

Several club members have British trains that we run on the Unitrack of our T-TRAK modules with no problems, most equipment made in the few years has fine scale wheels and should run ok on C55 track.

If you are going DCC most current British N scale locomotives are more DCC friendly than U.S. ones as they come with standard six pin sockets to plug in decoders such as the DZ125IN.

If you don't mind ordering from Japan (no different from ordering from the UK or me ordering from the US) Japanese manufacturer Sankei has a 1/144 line of laser cut aviation structures. http://www.1999.co.jp/search_e.asp?Typ1_c=104&scope=0&scope2=0&itkey=Sankei+aviation