ESNG on the road #2

Today we’ll look at the small scale models at the Gaugemaster show.

First off is the N gauge layout Kayreuth. A regular on the exhibition circuit, Kayreuth is a modern image German layout set in western Germany. There are multiple tracks and circuits (a peek behind at the fiddle yard is rather interesting), but the layout is also full of little cameos, like the road accident and the river traffic below.

My personal favourite – so much so that I invited them back to next year’s ESNG show – is Kuritu, an N gauge Japanese interurban layout. A small, portable layout, either built on or the size of a half door, it is double sided, with a dividing backscene down the middle.

One side has a congested Japanese street scene, giving way to rural fields and cherry blossom…..

On the other side, paddy fields and a temple are adjoined by the railways service depot….

The street scene can’t be much more than 6″ deep, but the buildings have ‘depth’ to them…

In the front marquee, Rusbury Basin is a four track, ‘watch the train go by’ layout. There are two double track circuits passing through rural England. Much the same idea as our ESNG modular circuit. Better and more consistent scenery, but no Japanese bullet trains!

Next to us, along with Kuritu, was Lincoln, a tiny bit of the Milwaukee Road in Z gauge. I loved the USAF air base in the foreground, but the occasional jet sound affects lost their novelty after a while – just like the real thing? There were also realistic sound effects from the locomotives, but these were provided by a speaker under the layout. This is a good scheme for any small layout, as the bass sounds are not directional, so the lack of moving sound is not obvious. I guess Z is pretty impressive, but they haven’t managed to get a speaker in that tiny loco – yet.

The trains ran impeccably, and there is lots of detail even at this tiny size. It shows what can be done in Z to build a realistic layout.