Newbie N Gauge questions - with apologies/please be kind!

Started by bwj, April 22, 2025, 05:03:04 PM

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crewearpley40

Railwayman
Involved in heritage Railways
N gauge modeller

ntpntpntp

@bwj  so the platform you wish to extend is/was a plastic kit?  Any branding on the underside? 

Graham Farish and Minitrix used to offer platform pieces in plastic.  Several European manufacturers also offer platforms as plastic kits but they tend to be a different style and lower than UK N.

More recently there have been platform segments in moulded resin.

Post a photo and someone may recognise your platform's origins and where you might find more?
Nick.   2021 celebrating the 25th anniversary of "Königshafen" exhibition layout!
https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=50050.0

Newportnobby

If you're modelling just for fun and not trying to be prototypically correct, I suggest you just run imaginary (or real) trains round your track plan to see if they do what you want them to do. This helps you locate points where they are meaningful rather than just for the heck of it. With tunnels, make sure they're long enough to hide your longest train (no nose and tails poking out here, doncha know). As for the corners, just use them to create scenic hills, perhaps with a ruined castle sat on top.
If you're running purely DCC it doesn't matter if you drive a train into a dead end siding as you can run a loco onto the other end and haul the train out. Not so easy with DC but it can be done.
Just have fun!

bwj

Thanks all for the quick and constructive suggestions; I love this forum  :claphappy:



The 35mm width platform I bought in an eBay job lot with many of the other buildings. There are no manufacturer markings or even initials on them. They appear to be complete items rather than a kit. I can always adapt to a standard available size, but shame to waste stuff and it fits very well with my layout!




Very rough layout of the cricket pitch illustrated and I thought it was roughly to scale at 6cm legnth of the square.

I was very wrong - a full size cricket square is 20.12m legnth, which at 1:160 scale is 12.6cm long or 13.6cm at 1:148 scale! I guess I could squeeze that down to 10cm and still make it seem realistic.

For info there is a useful scale calculator here: https://scale-calculator.com/

port perran

As for the corners.

Are you having a back board/side boards?

If so, the rear corners can be absorbed into a backscene eg, as @Newportnobby says, with hills rising up from track level.

The front corners could be eg a town park with stone walls, fencing or hedges separating the park from the tracks.

A warehouse, with its leading edge at the front of the base board would work ok in the other corner.

Just a few ideas.....the world is your oyster.

Have fun.

Cheers
Martin

ntpntpntp

@bwj    ok so definitely not Graham Farish platforms as the examples I have are branded underneath and the white lines are wider than yours.      I think yours are probably Hornby Minitrix - look at the photos in this old ebay listing (though sadly they don't show the underside)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/286751458388
Nick.   2021 celebrating the 25th anniversary of "Königshafen" exhibition layout!
https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=50050.0

bwj

Thanks ntpntpntp

After a bit of hunting I found that Gaugemaster Kestrel have these 35mm wide platforms. Perhaps not exactly the same as what I already have but I will paint the whole platform legnth anyway

https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/kestrel-gmkd16-straight-platforms.html

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