Barrack Street Yard

[Dempsey]

After coming across this plan some time ago on this forum and after much thought I thought I'd try my hand at an exhibition layout of the yard. 

While the image below is an original plan I will be aiming to model the yard in the last year or months before it finally closed. 

Your thoughts, feedback or information in regards to the yard are as always greatly appreciated. 

Chris 

[Niles]

Always thought this would make an intriguing compact little layout, plenty of potential for single 121s running bonnet first etc.

[Dempsey]

4 minutes ago, Niles said:

Always thought this would make an intriguing compact little layout, plenty of potential for single 121s running bonnet first etc.

I've found a video on YouTube of movements in the yard around when I plan to set it. 121s bonnet first among them

[Rob]

It certainly looks like it would have great potential to model-  l like the sound of it being based on the time before it closed!

Look forward to seeing it develop for sure

[popeye]

Should make a nice project.

It's hard to tell from the plan what all of the buildings are.

[Dempsey]

Below is a rough initial track plan based on the above plan and with stills taken from videos on YouTube of workings in the yard itself before its closure. 

The blue line simulates a scenic break between the layout and the storage area. In front of that in black is a road bridge over the line and the following road.

The section in red will be isolated and unpowered scenic track which would have lead toward Greenore and some long since removed trackage at this point. Also the end that overhangs off the baseboard will be cut flush and not as shown here. 

The two orange lines represent the rails for the gantry crane. Yet undecided whether or not this will be motorized in some way or just stationary.

This is just a rough track plan which is subject to revising and is by no means the finished plan.

As always your thoughts are greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

Chris.

[jhb171achill]

9 minutes ago, Dempsey said:

Below is a rough initial track plan based on the above plan and with stills taken from videos on YouTube of workings in the yard itself before its closure. 

The blue line simulates a scenic break between the layout and the storage area. In front of that in black is a road bridge over the line and the following road.

The section in red will be isolated and unpowered scenic track which would have lead toward Greenore and some long since removed trackage at this point. Also the end that overhangs off the baseboard will be cut flush and not as shown here. 

The two orange lines represent the rails for the gantry crane. Yet undecided whether or not this will be motorized in some way or just stationary.

This is just a rough track plan which is subject to revising and is by no means the finished plan.

As always your thoughts are greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

Chris.

Looks good - a good representation, as the real thing to scale on a layout would be enormous.

 

[Dempsey]

The overall dimensions is 6 foot by 2 foot for the display part. With two storage tracks to the rear. 

[Rob]

Do you have a link to the You Tube video that was referenced, or any photos of the yard?   Would be good to see it to get an idea

[Dempsey]

 

8 hours ago, Rob said:

Do you have a link to the You Tube video that was referenced, or any photos of the yard?   Would be good to see it to get an idea

There you go @Rob

[David Holman]

Looks like a scene that is meant to be modelled, as all the key elements are there - loop, view blockers, enough siding space to be interesting, etc.

 Definitely worth doing.

[Rob]

Great video- lots to see from a very interesting area.   

Very good reference point to for the layout too, more importantly!

[Dempsey]

Each time I watch it I catch some details I missed on the track plan

[Galteemore]

The perils and delights of trying to model a real place ! 

[skinner75]

At around the 12.30 mark, the points appear to be set the wrong way for the loco - are they a kind of spring loaded point that the loco can drive through, without the need for the points to be manually set, then set again after the loco passes? For shunting purposes I guess?

[murphaph]

1 hour ago, skinner75 said:

At around the 12.30 mark, the points appear to be set the wrong way for the loco - are they a kind of spring loaded point that the loco can drive through, without the need for the points to be manually set, then set again after the loco passes? For shunting purposes I guess?

Yeah looks like sprung points to speed up running around. I think Heuston yard had at least one set as well.

[Dempsey]

4 hours ago, murphaph said:

Yeah looks like sprung points to speed up running around. I think Heuston yard had at least one set as well.

Didn't even know they were a thing 

[Galteemore]

Yes, wouldn’t find them in a location where passengers would cross them. As @murphaphremarks, sometimes to be found in yards where the route switching is essentially predictable and the turnout will only ever operate in a certain sequence.IIRC Shane’s Castle 3’ line had a similar set up to allow quicker run round.

[Dempsey]

After watching through the above video I posted and closing looking at various pictures of the yard online I have adjusted and revised the track plan.

Furthermore I will be taking the dive into DCC for this layout including sound installed A class, class 121 and 141s. 

As always I look forward to hearing your feedback.

[Sean]

Really love this concept and that video is a SUPER interesting and a great piece of reference material, great how it actually all ties together to form a little narrative of whats going on and it has loads of little details i have been seeking out myself such as signage. from watching it a couple of times a couple of questions arise.

Do you know the year of the video? I notice there are IE era liveries here but also there is a brake van being used. i thought they had all gone by the time the IE era came about. how come there is overlap here?

 

Whats the story with the bonnet forward 121? is it shunting or actually travelling like that? Im always interested in the bonnet forward movements of the later ones as i thought the practice had been largely done away with by that point? I also think they look quite smart driving bonnet forward so im always looking for excuses to be able to run mine that way 

 

How long is the greenore line lifted? In an alternate universe where the line stayed open perhaps that line could be extended in along the base board to an area where it could leave the layout on to a casette? just an idea that may give you a little more running interest

 

Sean

 

 

[murphaph]

Barrack Street was perhaps the only place left at that stage where 121s ran bonnet forward. It wasn't shunting, they actually ran like that down into the yard. I think there was no turntable so they had to run bonnet first one way in single operation. I guess the relatively slow speeds allowed for a deviation from the normal rules.

[jhb171achill]

The DNGR was closed in 1951 and lifted by degrees over the following few years, though a Dundalk - Greenore liner train is a great idea for a small freight layout!

[Dempsey]

5 hours ago, Sean said:

Really love this concept and that video is a SUPER interesting and a great piece of reference material, great how it actually all ties together to form a little narrative of whats going on and it has loads of little details i have been seeking out myself such as signage. from watching it a couple of times a couple of questions arise.

Do you know the year of the video? I notice there are IE era liveries here but also there is a brake van being used. i thought they had all gone by the time the IE era came about. how come there is overlap here?

 

Whats the story with the bonnet forward 121? is it shunting or actually travelling like that? Im always interested in the bonnet forward movements of the later ones as i thought the practice had been largely done away with by that point? I also think they look quite smart driving bonnet forward so im always looking for excuses to be able to run mine that way 

 

How long is the greenore line lifted? In an alternate universe where the line stayed open perhaps that line could be extended in along the base board to an area where it could leave the layout on to a casette? just an idea that may give you a little more running interest

 

Sean

 

 

The only thing I can say with any degree of certainty is that the 121 running bonnet first would be dependent on whether it had come south bound over north bound off the main line just south of dundalk station. 

[Rob]

On 11/6/2022 at 2:09 PM, Dempsey said:

After watching through the above video I posted and closing looking at various pictures of the yard online I have adjusted and revised the track plan.

Furthermore I will be taking the dive into DCC for this layout including sound installed A class, class 121 and 141s. 

As always I look forward to hearing your feedback.

Looks good- plenty of possibilities there and a good era to model l think!!  

[Dempsey]

18 hours ago, Rob said:

Looks good- plenty of possibilities there and a good era to model l think!!  

Thanks @Rob. Once the test layout is sold work will begin. 

[Dempsey]

With some time off work the baseboard for barracks street layout has been completed. 

[murphaph]

I'm looking forward to this

[meathdane]

Can't wait to see it! Love the design!

[Dempsey]

Track plan printed out to use as a template 

[ttc0169]

29 minutes ago, Dempsey said:

Track plan printed out to use as a template 

I would suggest using PECO points as they are far more reliable than the Hornby rubbish.

Edited July 7, 2022 by ttc0169

[Dempsey]

7 minutes ago, ttc0169 said:

I would suggest using PECO points as they are far more reliable than the Hornby rubbish.

I had originally set out with a view to using peco but my limited selection of their points on Any Rail didn't allow for the track plan within the available board space. 

[ttc0169]

2 minutes ago, Dempsey said:

I had originally set out with a view to using peco but my limited selection of their points on Any Rail didn't allow for the track plan within the available board space. 

Ok, you may encounter derailments with the 001 class locomotives as I have found when traversing Hornby points.

[Dempsey]

10 minutes ago, ttc0169 said:

Ok, you may encounter derailments with the 001 class locomotives as I have found when traversing Hornby points.

Unfortunately it was a compromise I had to make with the space. Thank you though for your suggestion. 

[irishmail]

8 minutes ago, Dempsey said:

Unfortunately it was a compromise I had to make with the space. Thank you though for your suggestion. 

If you are using set-track then the Peco track geometry is the same as Hornby. As previously mentioned, Peco much better quality track than Hornby.

[Sean]

The larger express type points are far more reliable than hornbys little points, they also plumb into set track geometry without issues. you cant do this with any of the larger peco points from what i have found however for smaller points peco ones are very reliable and hornby ones are the devil. 

 

I think the peco curved point may be the same as the hornby one but im not 100% sure, peco have a template you can print on their site. 

railmodeller express will allow you to plan the layout in peco.