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Gaugemaster G Scale Day

16th July 2016

PAT PETTETT tells us what there was to see at our G Scale show.

On the 16th of July we held another of our G scale open days – these are normally held over the summer holiday months, but the date changes each year as we have to work around local attractions, and hopefully get a day with good weather. We certainly had plenty of sun!

With our local G scale society unable to attend this year, we had as much space as we wanted for our lawn layout – setup started at 8am.

The station area is kept the same each year, as this means we do not have to reprogram the Roco Z21 system we use with a new track diagram, and the point decoders and motors never need disconnecting. Both inner and outer ovals have a passing loop, and a long siding for storage. At this stage we had two simple ovals in mind... already it was drawing interest from the general public!

Some time later, and we have our track up and running – the outer oval has by this stage grown somewhat longer, with a more visually interesting route around the lawn. Buildings have been placed, and a small oval for children to play with has been given pride of place by our front door!

The double oval allows us to keep something running when one staff member is busy chatting with customers. An aerial view shows that the gazebo wasn’t exactly providing us with much shelter this early in the morning...

People are often surprised by how well G Scale copes with undulations in the ground – here the tilt that results from laying track directly onto the grass is obvious from the angle of the train on the left.

Despite this, the line ran faultlessly all day! We had one derailment, and this was due to forgetting which way a point was set...

It was also a chance to carry out some loco maintenance, and talk customers through what can be involved - here Matt Lovell is fitting a DCC Concepts Zen Buddha decoder to his LGB Porter locomotive.

Star attraction in locomotive terms was the Piko DCC Sound Mogul – this was drawing attention all day...

We even had a lady who was waiting in her car at the level crossing getting out and taking videos on her phone, following the locomotive around – when the gates finally went up she promptly hopped back in and drove off! (Ed's Note - If you're out there, send us your videos please!)

Moving inside, we had spent the preceding week filling the shop with as much G Scale as possible- Locomotives and rolling stock from Piko and LGB, Piko and Pola buildings, figures, spares...

Our guest layouts show that G Scale is not just a train set in the garden, it is also a viable scale for indoors as well! Local G Scale Society members Sid Bunker and Charlie Fox-Wilson brought along a selection of models from the well known Broke Brick Mountain, a layout that won “Best in Show” at our biannual Open Weekend in 2014.

Maggie Pettett brought along her latest G scale exercise – this measures 8' x 2' and was only started the month before the show!

The teepees were originally Preiser models – however they have been extended, reworked and repainted. The rear line runs on a shuttle and needs no attention at all. G Scale track is certainly durable – the track used on this layout had been sat in my garden in all weather for at least 12 months. A quick clean with a track rubber and it is as good as new!

G Scale does not just mean 45mm gauge – Brian Taylor of Old Barn Model Craftsmen showed off his new work in progress.

This uses Peco 32mm track, but the locomotive and coach seen here started out as standard LGB 45mm gauge models – both have been extensively reworked and regauged.

With O gauge increasing in popularity again, we also set up a small board with Dapol and Heljan motive power, and using the Atlas sectional track for people to have a go with. The next “G Scale Day” may well morph into “Large Scale Day” for next year...

Our next event is our massive biannual Open Weekend on the 3rd and 4th of September – we hope to see you there!

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