2018 part 1

009 uses buildings and scenery built to 1/76 scale (same as 4mm = 1ft) running on 9mm gauge track. N scale track is 9mm gauge. Hence 009 is OO "scale" models running on 9mm gauge track. It sounds complicated but it makes sourcing suitable mechanisms for locomotives, for example, considerably easier. 009 happens to be an accurate relationship for modelling the Talyllyn Railway in Wales which has an actual gauge of 2ft 3in. Only in railway modelling are we goofy enough to mix different units of measurement.

All the locomotives on Keswick are either scratch built, kit built, or 3D printed, the mechanisms being sourced from standard N gauge locomotives. 009 is enjoying a rise in popularity and is attracting more attention from the mainstream manufacturers like Bachmann.

The layout has a fictitious setting in the far north west of Scotland. In the late 1890’s there was a proposal to build a railway from Achnascheen on the standard gauge Highland Railway to Gairloch or nearby Loch Ewe. It would have run along the shores of Loch Maree. Early in the 20th century, and around the time of the First World War, the Royal Navy used some of the sea lochs in North West Scotland as anchorages for their warships. In the Second World War the area was also a convoy marshalling point for Russia. The line would have been about 30 miles long. Such a railway would require substantial locomotives and rolling stock. British builders constructed large locomotives for India and other former colonial territories. Therefore many of our model locos and rolling stock have a colonial influence, as well as some from Britain, and the rest of the world.