This is an account of the building of my first Gn-15 layout. For those unfamiliar with the genre, I refer you to Emrys Hopkins' splendid website. I have long had an interest in narrow-gauge railways, with 32mm and HOe layouts in the garage and a dual gauge (32 & 45mm) in the garden. The idea of a G-scale layout small enough small enough to be carried in its entirety by two people was irresistible.
A look through the many examples in Carl Arendt's excellent site left me spoilt for choice. My preference is for layouts which combine out-and-back with round-and-round, so I can either drive the trains or let them do their own thing, as mood dictates. The hill climb layout then became a natural choice, and I was particularly taken by the spiral nature of the plan based on the Darjeeling line. The real thing uses numerous zig-zags (reverses) to gain height, and I was tempted to build something which closely modelled such a section of line. However accurate scenic modelling is not really my scene – I don't have the patience nor I suspect the skill. And I did really want to do a spiral, so I compromised with one hidden in the hillside and opening out to a tight climbing turn to the beginning of a zig-zag in a manner at least reminiscent of the DHR.
More on the construction here, on the locomotives here, and some photos of the layout in action are here.