cloggydog

I'm (finally) dipping a toe into Irish railway modelling and following the various threads on here with interest. I have a plan for a small micro/cameo layout set circa 1980 with a fairly small (ha!) stock requirement and kitbashing/scratchbuilding is a most enjoyable part of the hobby for me. Now, I have made 5'3" gauge pointwork and plain track in the past, albeit for Australian broad gauge and in H0 scale, for a friend's sizeable VR exhibition layout - this used 18.2mm EM standards and gauges (giving 5'2½", which is close enough) but certainly ran fine and looked the part. I'm also one of those slight weirdos who models British H0 (amongst many other scales, gauges, countries and prototypes), so my Irish layout will be 3.5mm/ft scale on 18.2mm track - this satisfies my dislike of the narrow-gauge appearance of using 16.5mm track in either 3.5mm or 4mm scales for Irish outline (but I fully get the reasons why many others are fine with it). I've had a play in Templot to arrive at 3.5mm scale 5'3" track adapting EM standards. I'll be using code 75 Bh rail for the most part, but might also build some soldered FB track (as I have copperclad H0 sleepers and FB rail left over from the Aussie track build). Thinking about 3D printed track - there is now a supplier here who can Templot-design and print pointwork bases in various forms, including 'CARROT' track, filing jigs, laser-cut bases, etc., at quite reasonable prices - 3D Track | Kosmik (no connection, but have heard good things from elsewhere and will make enquiries for my own track needs should my own basic 3D printer prove not up to the job). I've seen their stand at a couple of UK shows and was impressed with what I saw.

This might prove useful: https://www.brmna.org/xrefs.shtml