I had a similar problem in 1990, when my parents died suddenly and I had to return. I've told this story before on the forum, but briefly:

My passport had expired. I got emergency travel document from British Consulate here. Got to Heathrow, where they let me in but took it.

Did all the funeral stuff in NE England. Needed new passport to get back here. Trip back to London by bus to get new passport. One week, sir.

Trip back to NE. Trip back to London, running short of time. Got passport. Then off to Australia house to get re-entry visa. Sorry sir, you'll have to prove you live and work there.

Thankfully a student of mine had won a competition by BHP Coal that year, and I had a huge poster of the two of us at Cordeaux colliery in NSW! That worked.

Nevertheless, it was a stressful three weeks, tempered by a week on South Molle Island when I got back - prize the student won in the BHP competition!

I have both N and G (and some HO too). N allows more realistic track plans and the construction of scenery. G stands for grand as well as garden! I especially love watching the valve gear in motion on my ten-wheeler steam locomotive (see below).

The two gauges have quite different appeals. One is inside and the other can be installed outside so they needn't compete with one another for space or interest. If my wife would let me (but she won't), I'd have a G railway right round the back yard and still maintain a full N scale setup.

Scott, I'd go for both, honestly.

Webbo

Quote from: Bealman on January 17, 2026, 04:46:53 AMAll this talk about passports prompted me to look at mine. It expired on the 7th January! It's a UK one and it is a pain getting a new one. As I am not an Aussie citizen (permanent resident) I have to get a re-entry visa which is a hassle and expensive.

I became an Aussie citizen, when my job at the time required security clearance for a particular project, that coupled with the government at the time threatening non-citizens they would have to pay the full price for university, and my eldest about to embark on that journey.

Ironically, I still travelled for a few years on my British passport with the permanent residents visa, until one day, just after returning home for a trip, I was asked to go on another overseas business trip, only to find my visa would expire before I was due to return.

So off I went to the government office to renew said visa, only to be eventually told I could only get an emergency permanent residents return visa at an exorbitant cost as I was expected to have an Aussie passport. The emergency visa was some $500 and a single use, where the new passport was something like $250 at the time.

Next morning into passport office, and the following morning return for Aussie passport pick up.

So after almost 20yrs with no UK passport, I now have to get one so I can go and see the family.

I did explore the other options and found this youtube video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbWd0jKsiXA
explaining it, and from this you can see why the UK passport is the best option for me.

As you head towards 60 O and G scale trains are a lot easier to see.

The downside is that you can't sneak one in when the wife isn't looking quite so easily

I know a retired ambulance officer who started in N (and introduced me to the local N gauge club back in the nineties), but he switched to G and has never gone back to N. In fact he has a G gauge layout which he takes to many exhibitions!

To me, they're just big shiny plastic toys, I'm afraid.

There is a number of people on here who have both N and G - one for the summer, one for the winter, as it were.

Maybe reframe your thoughts around what you actually want from each, rather than what you hope for, alongside what you can realistically achieve.

Each item of G might be more expensive than N, but the chances are that you won't need as many.

I'm not sure we can really help. The two are polar opposites, so it depends what you want.

Grandchildren and N needn't be incompatible. My son's had his own N since he was 3. I wouldn't let that dictate your choice. Crashing or abusing G scale locos is more expensive, after all.

My dad has an extensive G scale set up in the garden and it's fun from a novelty perspective, but it'd never be my only model set up.

I was very surprised some years after it came out to discover it was actually a translation and there was an original set of German lyrics

If all you want is to run trains round your garden then G is better for you

Is the N Scale dream just wishful thinking or is it what you really hanker after?

N will give you much more scope for creating a realistic model of a railway if that is what you want. Perhaps re-imagining memories from your younger years or days gone by.

G Scale, on the other hand, is grander but more expensive I dare say and perhaps more difficult but the idea of trains running around the garden has a certain appeal.

I'm not so sure about N not being compatible with grand children.
When they are tiny I agree but get to, say eight or nine, and they begin to appreciate the delights of the smaller scale.

In the end you must decide what is best for you.