Scale / Gauge	7mm Scale, On2+On3 Gauge
Location / Era	British Columbia
Owner	Bob Harpur

My latest North American narrow gauge layout has returned to the 3ft gauge of my original layout, Cascade Yard.

For the past 15 years or so, I had moved on to modelling the Maine 2footers, with my layouts Franklin, Megantic, and New Sharon, but the lure of operating the magnificent 0N3 rolling stock has always impelled me to go back to 0N3 for my final narrow gauge layout.

However, the 0N2 has not been completely forgotten, as Nicola Landing is in fact mixed gauge, though the 0N2 is relatively small compared to the 3ft trackage.

My scene is however now set in British Columbia at the western end of the 3ft gauge Columbia & Western Railway, and the Canadian Pacific branch line to the coal mines at Nicola has been replaced by a 2ft line bringing the coal down to Nicola Landing.

Here it is trans-shipped into 3ft gauge hoppers for onward delivery.

As Nicola is in reality near the shore of the Nicola Lake, my layout also features a lakeside meet with barge and paddle steamers to other settlements along the shore, like the many steamer routes on the Arrow Lakes and others in the Okenagan area.

Careful design has meant that the fiddle yard originally built to serve Cascade Yard, and then adapted to also serve Franklin, has been used yet again, though this time serving both gauges.

The 2ft gauge line from the mines comes in at the back of the layout, with an elevated trestle leading to shutes that dump the coal into the 3ft vehicles, together with a trans-shipment shed with 2ft and 3ft tracks for transfer of ordinary freight.

Shortage of space means that the run round loop is actually shared with the 3 ft track layout, using mixed gauge track and pointwork, but look out for the two “pointless” points where the 2 different gauges converge and diverge.

A common passenger platform is on this section, but the majority of the 3 ft track is at the front of the layout, with a turntable just long enough to turn a K27 loco, and several tracks serving the waterfront quays, where the lake steamers tie up.