the construction of County Gate model
railway
Friday, June 7th 1935

County Gate was begun in the autumn of 2005.
County Gate has attended many exhibitions both in the UK and abroad.
County Gate has won many 'best in shows' which we are very proud of.
The model is kept in a converted farm
barn which is 38ft X 16ft. The building has a painted concrete floor which
could be a bit more level. The walls and ceilings are lined in drywall.
The barn is heated and has a de-humidifier. The more detailed modelling work
is conducted in my study where comfort is a whole lot
better.
The layout was intended to be portable from
the outset with exhibiting in mind. We were able to find a large trailer
on EBay, so from the outset, everything had to be fit inside it.
We had always wanted to build a railway in a
landscape, as for us, the scenery is just as important as the trains. For
this reason, we have chosen the scale of 009 (4mm/ft scale on 9mm track).
This had the advantage of small trains and scale. If we had been really accurate, we would have chosen a gauge of 8mm but
this would have made it a much longer project as we could not have used
any proprietary equipment.
009 scale has not always enjoyed the best
reputation for reliability and this has been a constant bugbear for us,
forcing us into new technology to keep trains running reliably. As the trains are
so small, wear has also been a problem to overcome, as on exhibition, huge
distances are run.
The move to complete automation has been as
satisfying as building the model and has actually taken more
time.
The build has been a most rewarding
adventure and we hope that you may enjoy sharing it with us. We have
compiled an extensive 'how to' section which may be of help to some of
you.


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