Felixstowe Area “N” Gauge Group
DECEMBER 2020 NEWSLETTER



MEMBER’S ROUNDUP
Peter - The Facebook page continues to attract more and more views and likes, the total for which now stands at over 450, so the group is still getting publicity, which should stand us in good stead when we are able to hold events again.


MEMBER’S LAYOUTS
by John
The inspiration for the layout came from an article in an old British Railways Illustrated magazine. The line featured in the article was the ex. Great Central, from Doncaster to Grimsby via Scunthorpe, at the station of Gunness and Burringham on the river Trent. Next to the station on the Trent is a wharf called Gunhouse.



The area is at the base of an incline up to Scunthorpe steel works where heavy freight trains, of coal and steel, needed to be banked. There are substantial sidings at the station area for storage of freight trains waiting for a banker. I have, somewhere, photos. of Robinson 2-8-0s pulling up the bank to Scunthorpe.





My layout does in no way depict the Gunness area except that there is a station and sidings. There is no viaduct on the G.C. line and my layout has no river. If you know Lincolnshire you will know that it is fairly flat in this part of the county.





The layout is large, in a shed measuring 20' x 10', built in my belt and braces method, it does not move.
The fiddle yard has 10 roads in each direction. Despite the fact that I was inspired by Lincolnshire I have stock from all the regions of B.R., as well as German and American, and it all gets a turn on the layout. As with most layouts it never quite got finished and now needs revamping. One day perhaps.











By Iain
Here is my layout," The Assington Branch" and what happened when Union Pacific turned right instead of left at Chicago.



By Alan
Two locos I bought from Kelvin. They’ve fitted in well and seem happy in their new surroundings.



By Mike
I’ve finished wiring in all the street & crossing lights on “Weston”.







I’ve also painted, sooted-up and fitted almost 100 chimney pots!



“Weston” is now finished and ready to go on the exhibition circuit, but of course there are no shows.


A TWIN LAYOUT BEGINS
By Chris
As some of you may know, Kevin’s new layout framework has been completed. On the lower level we have also been able to lay the track and power, so the points all work and trains can now run.



It’s been nice to finally get some trains running at home, since taking down the old layout we have just had a short test line. As you can see the Kato track is full of trains and the station is long enough to easily hold ten coach trains, and we have even had a twelve car ICE4.



The lights are four foot long LED tube lights, one in each half of the layout, and mounted in the frame nearest the front so that even the front lines are lit without blinding the operator.
To aid this; the underside of the top layout is painted white to bounce as much light down as possible, while the sides on the lower layout are a light blue for a basic sky colour until backgrounds can be made.



The top layout is as yet un-laid, and is being used as a light storage area for the materials to complete it. This will be lit in a similar way using 2 Four foot LED tube lights.
We hope to show more progress soon.