This is a project under development.

Layout Size (including operating space): 26ft x 10ft

Our second foray into American ON30 is small-town, rather than grand mountain scenery, based. We wanted to get trains running through a town, between buildings.

We realised at a very early stage that we would have to pay much more attention to detail this time – with Purgatory Peak we used a more broad-brush approach, relying on the grandeur of the scenery to make the effect.

The layout is based in a small (hick) town somewhere in the middle of nowhere. The time is the 1950’s but in reality time has stood still here since the 1930’s – at least!. There is still a preponderance of wooded buildings, interspersed with the odd brick (more prestigious) one. It does, however, have a saloon which will have piano music issuing forth and next to the tracks will be the inevitable 1950’s diner – based on a railway carriage. Somehow a small lakeside fishing dock has crept into the design.

We have gone for an oval design, utilisingthe Common Fiddle Yard.

On the technical side, track-work is by “Micro Engineering” – much more fine scale (and more difficult to work with!!) than “Peco” and points are moved using small servos controlled by “Mega Controllers” electronics. Points over the whole layout will be switchable from both ends and employ route switching in the fiddle yard again using “Megapoint Controllers” features.

Unlike Purgatory Peak, this layout has been designed from the start for the track to be powered by DCC only and so e.g. multiple power droppers on to buzz bars are being used and dead sections before points are planned to prevent short circuits when points are approached against the set road.

During lockdowns, many of the buildings were completed and they are being “bedded down” into position and the scenery around them developed. Paul in particular has been working on a set of excelent vehicles  to enhance the layout.