New Layout

[meathdane]

Hi everyone,

 

Im Planning to start a small 5ftx1ft layout to display my engines/stow them in the house during the winter due to a lack of insulation where the Main layout is being constructed (for the moment). It is representing a near derelict station with most of the tracwork removed with only the bare bones trackwork remaining, and a now defunct goods shed converted to preserve/store engines, I want to keep it simple, so it can be done quick enough and take minimal maintenance, and use for a test bed for scenic techniques. It will all be done using Code 100 track and electrofrog points.

 

The layout is as yet unnamed, but below is a rough sketch of my plans. Anyone have any additions to the layout? I may add an engine hoist behind the shed as of yet. I need to get the track and lay it out to see how it sizes up. Keep in mind, its not designed for freight/passenger operations, so the lack of a runaround is of no concern to me, it is in essence there to display my loco collection. 

Blue and red dots represent power feeders, yellow is Point motors. I haven't committed to a double slip, i may use two points in its place, hence the lack of droppers at that point. I also Swap the water tower and inspection pit positions

 

Thanks all!

Kind Regards,

Dane

[murphaph]

Is there a reason for the code 100 track or do you just have some spare? I'm no expert but I would have thought on a small branch terminus you'd be looking at code 75 max. Maybe one of our experts can chime in.

[jhb171achill]

Very nice little set-up indeed, with plenty of visual variety for a space like that. One small suggestion might be that the old loco shed is actually (originally) an old goods shed, as there's a platform beside it - and with the inspection pit on the adjacent line you could pretend that that's where a loco shed USED to be....

[meathdane]

 

5 hours ago, murphaph said:

Is there a reason for the code 100 track or do you just have some spare? I'm no expert but I would have thought on a small branch terminus you'd be looking at code 75 max. Maybe one of our experts can chime in.

Just have some spare and that's what I'm geared up for. I could go to 75, most definitely, it'll open up the option for a electrofrog double slip, I've been toying with that idea, but it's also a case of if I buy an older loco with deep flanges (highly unlikely but you never know) it won't cause problems with movements. I'm not completely set, I'll lay it out with code 100, and consider my options at that point

 

4 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

Very nice little set-up indeed, with plenty of visual variety for a space like that. One small suggestion might be that the old loco shed is actually (originally) an old goods shed, as there's a platform beside it - and with the inspection pit on the adjacent line you could pretend that that's where a loco shed USED to be....

Yes JHB, sorry! That's the plan, I did this during my lunch at work and was pressed for time to finish it up and get back to earning money to do this! I must have gotten mixed up and forgot to add the tag for the converted goods shed. Sorry about the confusion!

 

But that is essentially the plan, there's a few other bits not listed, including, light posts, ground signals, fencing possibly an engine hoist, old rails and sleepers, disconnected point work and the imprint of removed trackwork. This is the rough outline to keep me "on track" so to speak!

 

I have great plans to detail this as highly as possible, just a matter of seeing if my skills line up with my imagination!

[David Holman]

Code 75 definitely worthwhile. Hard enough to hide 5'3 in 16.5mm gauge, but recent projects show that finer track, carefully weathered and ballasted can be very effective. 

[meathdane]

9 hours ago, David Holman said:

Code 75 definitely worthwhile. Hard enough to hide 5'3 in 16.5mm gauge, but recent projects show that finer track, carefully weathered and ballasted can be very effective. 

Definitely worth looking into, I'm by no means a prototypical modeller, I go by the saying, "if it looks good, good enough". 

 

That being said, I do want to make this somewhat plausible looking, so I may just go with the code 75 and leave the code 100 to the main layout. It does open up more options for pointwork too!

[meathdane]

Quick update.

Found a pine shelf in Woodies that was nearly perfect in dimensions a bit over 5ft in length and a hair under 1ft in width, little bit of trimming and that's my baseboard ready!

 

I've decided on code 75, going with 2 long radius lefts and a long radius Y, all electrofrog. The track, the joiners and insulated fishplates can all be got easy enough, however nowhere seems to have this selection of points in stock, so if anyone could point me in the direction of some in stock, I'd be forever grateful!

 

Thanks all!

 

 

[meathdane]

Hi All

So, Its been a hot minute, and after a lot of thought and consideration, I've decided against my original idea, I want operations involved, so i decided on the following design, its a modular shelf layout, it can be put together a number of different ways. There are 4 baseboards, including the 'main' board, a bend, a large fiddle yard and a shorter headshunt/fiddle yard.

The main board is a sugar factory, which has the ability to store 7 wagons in the loop, and the same in the long siding. It can also double up as an inglenook puzzle. Small shunter shed with a fueling point gives me the option of running a tank wagon in the scene as well as housing a shunter on scene. Plenty of operational interest involved with it, and the possibility of up to 3 locos on scene at any one time, while leaving enough space for all of my engines to uncouple without fouling any points in a standalone setting with the exception of my Mogul which would foul one point, however there's plenty of other places for it to wait.

The bend is purely scenic to bridge the gap and allow the layout to wrap around any wall if needed, I'll likely include a signal and farmland surrounding the track work.

The larger Fiddle yard can act as a double through baseboard accessible from either end of the board and plenty of loco/wagon storage as well and display of my locomotives when not in use, I'll likely use Peco insulfrogs for this section 

The smaller headshunt is for space constraints if needed and to allow trains to exit on the right and run around when operating everything together.

 

Keep in mind this is not to scale, this is a rough sketch to see if i have missed anything and imagine how it works, as well as mapping out how many points I'll need and of what kind. Primarily going to make use of Peco Mid radius points for the main board and small fiddle yard, and short radius for the larger fiddle yard for storage, just for running characteristics of the Mogul and its dislike of short radius points. with the exception of the larger fiddleyard, all points will be live frog and motorised.

 

Thanks all,

Dane

 

[Robert Shrives]

Dane,

Interesting ideas, my mind jumped to Westport shed if you wanted to create a diorama sort of board.  However your second plan  indicates a desire to expand.     Having some linked dioramas could be the way to go if space tight.   Many find having the loco stabling point ideal for showcasing locos  and then have a set of sidings as a almost static terminal or perhaps a ingle nook shunting layout    Perhaps a Waterford/ Sallypark  with the viewer standing in the river might offer a possibility.  with trains in passenger station and sallypark for standing wagons and the odd loco - stabled and shunting. The large overbridge being both the senic break and the linking feature - made to disguise the 90% bend.

Robert     

[meathdane]

On 1/3/2022 at 3:02 PM, Robert Shrives said:

Dane,

Interesting ideas, my mind jumped to Westport shed if you wanted to create a diorama sort of board.  However your second plan  indicates a desire to expand.     Having some linked dioramas could be the way to go if space tight.   Many find having the loco stabling point ideal for showcasing locos  and then have a set of sidings as a almost static terminal or perhaps a ingle nook shunting layout    Perhaps a Waterford/ Sallypark  with the viewer standing in the river might offer a possibility.  with trains in passenger station and sallypark for standing wagons and the odd loco - stabled and shunting. The large overbridge being both the senic break and the linking feature - made to disguise the 90% bend.

Robert     

Hi Robert, 

Some fantastic points there, and yes there is a desire to expand, but also theres a possibility of moving coming up in the future and I'm not sure of the space I'll have, so it's a case of having it all as a modular setup, disconnecting the wiring with plug type block connectors for ease of transport. It also means I can change around the running characteristics of the layout so I never get bored, the other thing I'm trying to keep in mind is to keep as many boards as possible self contained to a degree that in the case where I have only enough space for one board, that I can still run trains without needed a full setup, even if it is less than ideal.

A station board is something that has crossed my mind, with a small goods shed and a passing loop, however I'm mainly thinking in freight terms at the moment, but it's a thought process I'm going through, to possibly have a second 'main board' that can be connected to the factory module to give a nearly 11 foot run in ideal circumstances with plenty of operation.

I had given thought to a stabling area, but I do need to keep the wagons in mind, I want to try and minimise the amount of stock and locos I need to put on and take off the layout, so storage space comes before scenery in that case, but I have put thoughts into it

 As for the bend, I do have a plan to create a scenic break to disguise it, along the lines of what you were suggesting. I'm still very much in the planning phase, and have plenty of ideas in mind. The factory board is having track laid at the moment because I'm happy with the design of it, the rest is a case of more tinkering and thinking.

Thanks for your input, some really good points there

Dane

 

 

[meathdane]

It's been a modelling marathon this week! 

 

First board down, tracks laid and testing underway, pleased to report no issues! On to point motors, uncoupling magnets for Kadees and then scenics! 

Decided to forgo laying cork, the shelf seems to absorb the running noise, possibly due to the thickness of the material. But past that, I'm very happy with how everything has proceeded so far!

[Noel]

Looking good. Very neat trackwork. Will enjoy watching this evolve. What point motors do you plan to use?

[meathdane]

7 hours ago, Noel said:

Looking good. Very neat trackwork. Will enjoy watching this evolve. What point motors do you plan to use?

Thanks Noel!

I have a heap of Seep PM-10s I was gonna use for the main layout, but I'm going a different direction so I'll probably just repurpose them for this project to save some money and time considering I already have the motors and point switches

[meathdane]

Back with an update at last, lots going on, including completed reworking of track number 1 million, however I finally settled with a track plan and have progressed onwards in my model railway journey!

 

New trackplan is a small branch terminus in the Meath area, coming to the end of its life, incorporating a runaround loop big enough for loco + 2 coaches, goods shed with the ability to store 4 two axle wagons, a siding able to accommodate a further 4 and a headshunt with a capacity of 5, plenty of operations without overloading the board with trackwork

 

Hard standing made, dried, cut and weathered to resemble concrete, using Vallejo black and burnt umber both heavily watered down for washes and undiluted for certain parts, as well as weathering powders. Thankfully all locomotives are behaving over the hard standing! So there's a win!

Goods shed acquired and detailing has begun, yet to add interior decor and lighting.

Sides of all rails painted brown

Made a start at the ballasting, using a mix of woodland scenics light grey medium and dark grey fine

Platform built and has a layer of polyfiller applied, as well as bascoated to see the highpoints in order to smooth away. 

 

thanks all!

Dane

[2996 Victor]

Looking good, Dane, excellent track layout and nice progress. Great work on the concrete which notoriously difficult to make convincing.

The shed also looks fantastic, the windows are particularly effective. Have you got any details on the build?

Looking forward to seeing your next instalment

Cheers,

Mark

[Sean]

with smalller boards like this, it really does seem like a process whereby you design an overly complex track plan and then over time as you begin to play with stuff you come to realise that less is more without nessesarily sacrificing on operability whilst increasing realism of operations. 

[Rob]

Nice progress, Dane-  good to see it.

What era roughly is it based in?

[meathdane]

1 hour ago, 2996 Victor said:

Looking good, Dane, excellent track layout and nice progress. Great work on the concrete which notoriously difficult to make convincing.

The shed also looks fantastic, the windows are particularly effective. Have you got any details on the build?

Looking forward to seeing your next instalment

Cheers,

Mark

Hi Mark, 

Kind words are most appreciated! 

I wish I could take credit for the goodshed, however it's a run of the mill Hornby Skaledale Granite goods shed I got for twenty quid basically brand new! Adding to this makes more sense than scratchbuilding as I wasn't basing this off anywhere in particular, so I could get away with it, though I may come back in the future when my skills allow me to building something more Irish looking! 

Thanks again!

52 minutes ago, Sean said:

with smalller boards like this, it really does seem like a process whereby you design an overly complex track plan and then over time as you begin to play with stuff you come to realise that less is more without nessesarily sacrificing on operability whilst increasing realism of operations. 

Absolutely Sean,

Kind of a Goldilocks situation, that's why it changed so many times! I stood back from V1.0 after test laying and realised I wouldn't get very much enjoyment from it, hence the industrial 2.0 attempt, but I didn't give myself enough room for scenics, it was a sea of trackwork, operationally it was great, but would have been a visual eyesore, as well as limiting me to goods only operations.

This one has hit the right middle ground for me, I can run passenger only, goods only, mixed traffic, I can conceivably fit two trains on scene with an outbound goods waiting for an inbound passenger before departure, without fouling the branch line. The only thing I am missing is a cattledock, which I could fit opposite the goods shed, and store the loaded vans in the siding for cattle specials, still very much a work in progress as I build, but I don't want to crowd the scene either.

48 minutes ago, Rob said:

Nice progress, Dane-  good to see it.

What era roughly is it based in?

Thanks Rob, much appreciated, I'm trying for a 50s-60s style layout, all of my A's and my 121s are BnT/Green/Grey, I do have more modern stock, but I prefer the unfitted goods and older coaching stock myself, but who's to say a 141 with some Mk3s won't make an appearance for a GAA special

[2996 Victor]

11 hours ago, meathdane said:

I wish I could take credit for the goodshed, however it's a run of the mill Hornby Skaledale Granite goods shed I got for twenty quid basically brand new! Adding to this makes more sense than scratchbuilding as I wasn't basing this off anywhere in particular, so I could get away with it, though I may come back in the future when my skills allow me to building something more Irish looking!

Well it certainly looks the part, so why not? In fact, I'm tempted to see if I can find one for my project MGWR layout when it gets started - I think with a bit of tinkering it might fit in nicely!

Great stuff - looking forward to seeing more.

Cheers,
Mark

Edited May 23, 2022 by 2996 Victor

[jhb171achill]

Love the withdrawn steam loco….. very much a thing to be seen at certain locations in the early 1960s. Very realistically “weathered”….

[meathdane]

3 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

Love the withdrawn steam loco….. very much a thing to be seen at certain locations in the early 1960s. Very realistically “weathered”….

Thanks JHB, it's my little nod to the changing of the guard in time period I'm aiming for. I have to admit I'm quite proud of that weathering job, did my best to hide the English-ness of the loco and make it halfway passable at a glance

[jhb171achill]

1 hour ago, meathdane said:

Thanks JHB, it's my little nod to the changing of the guard in time period I'm aiming for. I have to admit I'm quite proud of that weathering job, did my best to hide the English-ness of the loco and make it halfway passable at a glance

It’s actually an outstandingly great job!

Among my earliest railway memories are of seeing a row of rusty wheel sets  on a weed-covered track where they had been breaking up locos….

[meathdane]

Please excuse the mess! Working clean has never been a strong point, but I'll clean up later! Right after I get to those dishes I left soaking a while ago....

Lots going on this week, 

Remainder of track has been ballasted, and weathering has begun

Barrow crossing laid and painted

Fields, embankment and goods yard have had a start made, just need the static grass applicator to arrive from fleabay and I can really get going there!

Walls made very simply from Das Clay, nothing special, but hopefully a lick of paint will bring them to life!

Decided on a position for the cattledock, little bit of ballast removal required but nothing major!

Started work on a yard office/ticket booth, recycled from an old Hornby 4 wheeler, need to build a little interior for it, as well as a gate and barriers 

 

Thanks all!

[jhb171achill]

1 hour ago, meathdane said:

Please excuse the mess! Working clean has never been a strong point, but I'll clean up later! Right after I get to those dishes I left soaking a while ago....

Lots going on this week, 

Remainder of track has been ballasted, and weathering has begun

Barrow crossing laid and painted

Fields, embankment and goods yard have had a start made, just need the static grass applicator to arrive from fleabay and I can really get going there!

Walls made very simply from Das Clay, nothing special, but hopefully a lick of paint will bring them to life!

Decided on a position for the cattledock, little bit of ballast removal required but nothing major!

Started work on a yard office/ticket booth, recycled from an old Hornby 4 wheeler, need to build a little interior for it, as well as a gate and barriers 

 

Thanks all!

An ingeniuous use for one of those things!

[meathdane]

So while theres paint and glue drying, I decided to do the only thing I haven't done so far, play trains! 

The branchline's tired surviving ex-NCC 'Y' class has been bought by a preservation group, saving her from the cutters torch.

A46 is assigned to pull the locomotive to her new home, along with a van packed with spares sourced from various places.

A local farmer along with his dog watch this unusual movement, thinking out loud to himself that the lines closure can't be too far away with the loss of the branch's only engine...

[meathdane]

The static grass applicator finally arrived and I've been putting it through its paces.

Embankment is more or less completed now, including power lines, hand made from plasticard, skewers and thread

Field has had the first layers of grass applied, more work required to vary the tones.

Track weathering has been finished off to the end of the board

Overall very pleased with how it's all come out, very excited to come home most evenings to continue the work! 

Thanks all!

Dane

[Sean]

That looks great

[2996 Victor]

Looking great! So many layouts seem to have verdant green grass, whereas it's usually much more yellowy. You've captured the look perfectly!

Cheers,

Mark

[meathdane]

Decided to take a quick photo, more progress and a new engine

A backdrop would help the atmosphere, hopefully should have one sorted very soon, within the next week or two.

Delighted with how much the little layout has come along in a month!

Thanks all!

Dane

[meathdane]

It's amazing the difference a backscene will make! Getting onto decorating the station and lighting next!

As well as gearing up to transition fully to true Irish rolling stock!

A15 with an outbound empty goods back to Navan Junction and B131 seen shunting wagons beside the cattle dock

[Sean]

An idea I have been toying with is taking a flat green screen and setting it up as a backscene for photographic shots. I might still do it as a "frontscene" that i can lift in and out of place as i please.

 

the reason i mention it here is that your low down POV shots are really good and would make great use of such a feature if set up as you would be able to add whatever backdrop you liked after a photo was taken instead of say your kitchen for example.  not sure if anybody has actually ever done that though.

Edited June 14, 2022 by Sean

[meathdane]

5 minutes ago, Sean said:

An idea I have been toying with is taking a flat green screen and setting it up as a backscene for photographic shots. I might still do it as a "frontscene" that i can lift in and out of place as i please.

 

the reason i mention it here is that your low down POV shots are really good and would make great use of such a feature if set up as you would be able to add whatever backdrop you liked after a photo was taken instead of say your kitchen for example.  not sure if anybody has actually ever done that though.

 

It's a great idea, it wouldnt be too hard to do, some editing software and some sheets of green paper glued to a piece of board/green sheet stapled to one, it wouldn't be too hard to achieve! And the advantage here is the backscene is attached to a separate board, so swapping out would be easy done 

If I was sensible I'd take it outside, but I prefer working at night, so I'll have to wait to get it lit up.

I'm sure everyone here is sick of seeing my kitchen!

Edited June 14, 2022 by meathdane
Spelling

[meathdane]

Late night work needs some beverages,

 

Working away to get the layout lit up! Some light bleed issues to sort but progress is moving along steadily!

 

Thanks,

Dane

[Galteemore]

Terrific work. You should be well pleased with what you’ve achieved so far! 

[JasonB]

Progressing nicely. The dreaded light bleed is a scourge for us all, but can always be fixed with a bit of work. Great modelling.