General Standards for Gn15 Section:
Theme: Generally based on Arthur Haywood ‘Estate railway’ practice.
Though members can model whatever they wish
Track
PECO 0-16.5 ‘crazy track
PECO Code 100 rail
Continuous running track – in line with centre of right hand dowel as you
looking at the end of the board.
Inner track – Positive
Outer Track – Negative
Boards
Size: 600mm x 400mm
Male engineer dowel – Right as you look at the board
Over reach clips – as you look at board hook on right mechanism on left
Back scene, 350mm, fitted with flush brackets
Stock loading gauge
55mm wide
110mm high
Minimum 6mm clearance above track
Board loading gauge Tunnels 70mm wide/120mm high.
Minimum 30mm lineside stock clearance,
especially on bends
Electrics
Phono Plugs/Sockets Centre – positive
Outer – negative
Red Plug Track power from controller
Yellow Plug 12dc for accessories
White Plug 16-20v AC points etc.
Alan’s Update
The Group is progressing well managing to produce two ovals to exhibit at the Annual Exhibition the main sections were built by Bram, John, Colin, Pat and Alan and were well received by visitors.
Not only have the baseboards been constructed but John Bint has again excelled by producing resin casting for freelance coaches, wagons and a diesel loco, with others on the way. With the layouts being designed and built mainly for indoor operation it opens up a great deal of other sources of models and kits, mainly intended for the 1:24th Dolls house market.
After exhibiting at our exhibition, we have been asked by the Event Manager to put a display together for G Rail, Interest is not only coming from our own Group, I have been asked by others if a Special Interest Group can be setup nationally? This is being actively at present. It seems that something to model through the winter months that can utilise components from the garden has struck a cord. There is no collective Society or Group at present for the Scale, so we are looking to fill a void.
The Scale goes back a good few years and was championed by the late Steve Warrington and others, as minimum space modelling using A3 and a shoe boxes as footprints to build a small operational railway. For those that are still not sure how it works all the scale is 1:22.5 G Scale but instead of track representing metre gauge or three foo in my case, Gn15 represents fifteen-inch gauge as championed by Sir Arthur Haywood back in the 40’s.
There were some very impressive moving diorama’s produced. Whilst we are not trying to build minimum space models par say? But the resulting models are small in comparison to the garden.
The next step from my point of view is to integrate the Gn15 with the Garden as a feeder line to the DVR, plans are very sketchy at the moment, and the possibly running without track power is especially challenging, any ideas would be gratefully received.
New member Andi Nethercoat has been developing his own Gn15 layout, but representing a track gauge of 18 inches (Gn18?) and at a scale of 1:25.
My intention was to try and build an operable working micro-layout without spending a large sum of money on materials but by re-using, recycling and upcyling readily available items. Total build cost has been very minimal. The only things I’ve had to purchase are glue and paint from my local Pound shop and a few electrical items from ebay. Trackwork is re-used OO points and rail salvaged from donated second hand Peco code 100 flexitrack soldered to some copperclad sleeper strip cut from some offcuts of PCB that I’ve had for years. Buildings are made from a core of corrugated cardboard stuck together with a hot glue gun and covered in papier mache to strengthen it, while the ‘Stonework’ is individually cut pieces from various cereal packets and the ‘wriggly tin’ on the roofs is from tomato puree tubes cut into suitably sized sheets and ‘crinkled’. Doors and gates are made from coffee stirrers and the toolbox and bench in the shed are made from scraps of wood and firework sticks, other items are made from bits and bobs found in the scrap box. All the track ballasting is with various grades of tea-leaves and coffee grounds and the ground cover is home made from various materials and leftover paints A lot of fun has been had in the building of this layout and an extension is already being planned.
Pizza Layouts
This a an article writtn by ALan Eccles that was published in the June 2020 edition of “Garden Rail Magazine”
Do you have some G scale models but no space for a layout?
Alan Eccles suggests you try Gn15.
I was looking to find something to model through the winter when access to the garden was limited, my thoughts went back to shows, where minimum space working dioramas were exhibited. Most, as I remember were Gn15, which fitted well with the rest of my models.
The question was, how small is minimum space?
Experiments with Peco 0-16.5 track showed that a circle could be laid on a 12 inch circular base, so construction started. An off-cut of 6mm MDF was marked at 2, 10 and 12 inches, the 2″ hole was to allow it to be used on the (full size) garden table with the brolly through the centre.
A new length of 0-16.5 track was tacked loosely, then cut to length. Connectors were fitted and soldered for security, fixing track npower at the same time. Three legs fitted to the underside, lifting the base 2 inches off the table,
Rolling stock is from numerous kits available on the Internet, running on Hornby “Smokey Joe” chassis or the Tenshodo SPUD (Self Propelled Underfloor Device) chassis.
Track power was initially provided by a basic analogue controller, but recently this has been replaced by a 9v PP3 battery and miniature radio control system, making the layout as portable as possible
The skirt is 1mm styrene and can be wrapped with a birthday cake frill. If used away from the garden the centre hole has a couple of “plugs”, one picnic table, the other a Christmas tree with lights.
The Pizza always creates interest and helped in the formation of the West Midlands Group of the G Scale Society Gn15 Section.