Naples sTreeT
A
North American model railroad in
1:120 scale
Either side of Naples Street, a handful of small industries on an industrial park are busy at work by the railroad tracks. They receive and send out goods in short trains which are delivered and collected by small diesel locomotives.
A
locomotive pulls a
boxcar away from the team
track. Next day a short train
trundles past
the
defunct glass factory.
This
model
is in the scale of
1:120, otherwise known as TT. It
is an unusual scale, being in
between
the more popular scales of HO
(1:87) and N (1:160). Some would
say not
too big,
not too small. To give you an idea
of size, the blue locomotive in
the
picture above is just over 4
inches long, or about 11 cm, and
the whole
layout is exactly four feet long,
or 122 cm.
There
is
an extra area, the fiddle yard, to
the right of the model
where trains are assembled for
bringing on to the main scenic
area. The
open freight cars have removable
loads which are inserted or
removed
with a magnet on a short stick.
The
larger
buildings were made from scratch
out of cardboard, paper and
plastic. The locomotives, freight
cars, road vehicles and figures
are
all from companies in Europe or
the USA.
There
are
six industries that receive and
ship goods by rail.
1. Can-Freeze Food Company: The name says it all - it produces canned and frozen foods. The railroad delivers fresh food, cardboard packaging and empty cans.
2.
Will's Print Shop: Does
small
print runs of brochures and
magazines. It receives ink, paper
and
chemicals
by rail, and sends out printed
matter.
3.
Sorrento Engineering: Produces
machinery
parts. Receives steel sheet and
rods by rail and sends out
finished products. The chimney can
be made to smoke by pressing
a button on the front of the
layout.
4.
Napoli Distribution: A
general distributor of consumer
goods and dry goods received by
rail.
On cold days the workers like to
keep warm by gathering round a
glowing
brazier in the
yard.
5.
Team Track: A general
area where
customers can collect rail
deliveries in road vehicles for
onward
distribution. Receives a variety
of
goods by rail, including corn
syrup, chemicals, white goods,
sand and
gravel, for
collection by trucks and tankers.
6.
Big Baddy Scrap: Sends
out
scrap, mostly metal, by
train. But where does it all come
from?
Keeping
warm at Napoli Distribution
oblivious
of the trains.
Meanwhile
Clara's diner
attracts a lot of non-railway
customers because the food is so
good.
More
activity at the
team track, and another
train clatters across Naples
Street. Looks like the car driver
had a
close
shave.
'Get
off the line!'
If you have insomnia, click for the anorak version or the videos: video 1 video 2
See also Yorkford, PA
Rod Shaw, 2020