irishthump Posted March 30, 2015 Posted March 30, 2015 Been working quietly on the new layout the last few weeks and finally have something to show for it! Progress has been slow but the baseboards are finished and I'll be starting to lay the track hopefully this weekend. I decided to make this layout at a more comfortable height to work on (the old layout was barely 3ft high and it was a nightmare to access wiring under the baseboards). These baseboards are about 4.5 feet high, roughly chest height. I'm also hoping to add another level above this in the future. Here's a few pics... This section is about 15ft long and I plan to put a fair sized passenger terminus and freight yard here. Off to the right; there will be a double track loop about 8ft square. Possibly an engine shed and refuelling point along this side. The opposite side to the planned terminus. This will be another station with a run around so I can turn trains and send them back onto the mainline. And back around to where we started. This section will be removable as it's right over the attic door. Quote
Garfield Posted March 30, 2015 Posted March 30, 2015 Huge potential there... looking forward to seeing the layout develop. Quote
irishthump Posted March 30, 2015 Author Posted March 30, 2015 Huge potential there... looking forward to seeing the layout develop. Thanks Garfield! Although it looks quite cramped from the photos it's possible to walk around most of the layout and there's headroom enough to stand while operating. The track plan is all in my head at the moment but I'll try to sketch something out so that I can post it here. Quote
201bhoy Posted March 30, 2015 Posted March 30, 2015 Looks very promising! Have you a plan you could show us? Quote
Warbonnet Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Nice! Should have plenty of room to run some American freight Quote
Noel Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Best of luck with such an exciting and interesting project. The space opens up many possibilities. Really looking forward to watching your layout evolve and progress. Quote
irishthump Posted March 31, 2015 Author Posted March 31, 2015 Thanks for the words of encouragement lads! Here's a rough trackplan (subject to change of course, but hopefully you'll get the idea.) Quote
irishthump Posted March 31, 2015 Author Posted March 31, 2015 Nice! Should have plenty of room to run some American freight That's what the upper level will be for! Quote
scahalane Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Great start, looks like you've plenty of space there with a lot of potential. Quote
burnthebox Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Well done so far, looking great, hopefully you have the height right just in case you have to reach into the back if a loco stops, or derails, but you seem to have everything covered, including the " Cadburys Dairy Milk" in case you get locked in up there Quote
Hunslet 102 Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Nice big area and a good uncramped track plan gives the makings for a good and interesting layout Quote
enniscorthyman Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 great job.you are reminding me to get back to work in my own attic. Quote
DiveController Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Thanks for the words of encouragement lads! Here's a rough trackplan (subject to change of course, but hopefully you'll get the idea.) [ATTACH=CONFIG]18564[/ATTACH] Hi IT, If you were to have trains running in opposite directions on the main circuits, the clockwise circuit would not be able to directly access the station terminus and vice versa for the anti-c to the station. I realize the plan may be to go from one to the other via the main circuits and then run the loco round if not top'n'tailed Quote
irishthump Posted March 31, 2015 Author Posted March 31, 2015 Hi IT,If you were to have trains running in opposite directions on the main circuits, the clockwise circuit would not be able to directly access the station terminus and vice versa for the anti-c to the station. I realize the plan may be to go from one to the other via the main circuits and then run the loco round if not top'n'tailed Thanks for the comments, Divecontroller. Yes that's the idea, trains will run from either station, do a couple of laps of the main circuit then head into the other station. In the case of the larger terminus after arrival a station pilot will shunt release the loco from the train and it can head to the loco shed for service/refuelling. The smaller station has a runaround loop as you describe. The same with freight trains. This sort of operation was something I couldn't do with my last layout and it was the first thing I wanted to put right! Quote
irishthump Posted April 8, 2015 Author Posted April 8, 2015 A little more progress..... I've spent the last few days hand painting lengths of flex track and most of the points. I decided to hand paint the rails before laying the track as I didn't fancy spraying all the track with my airbrush in the confined space of the attic with no ventilation! With the track plan pretty much finalised I went ahead and fixed down the trackbed. I used Woodlands Scenic foam trackbed partly because it seems very easy to work with and it also worked out cheaper than cork. I fixed it down with "No Nail" adhesive. Here's what will eventually be the main terminus: The two tracks on the left will be the terminus platforms and will be mostly covered by the station building. (I'm going to have to figure how to deal with that ugly wooden beam on the left! I'll have to either hide it or make a feature of it.....) The longest train that can be accommodated is 5 markIII's with a 201. That's shorter than I would like but I can live with it. The two tracks to the right are for freight and coach storage. I've placed a point to show where I'll be putting a loop which will allow an engine to run around it's train and will provide access to the freight/container yard. Here's another pic looking towards the entrance to the station yard: You can see how the track on the far right leads out of the station yard and around to the right which will allow access to the engine shed or to link with the main double track loop. Here's the mail line and on the left is where the engine shed will be placed, pretty much where that Peco shed is standing. There's no underlay here, I plan to lay the engine shed tracks directly onto the baseboards to have a little height difference from the main. Here's a shot of the removable section: Hopefully I'll get some of the main line laid before the weekend..... Quote
Kirley Posted April 8, 2015 Posted April 8, 2015 Progressing well, keep the pictures coming please. Quote
Mike 84C Posted April 8, 2015 Posted April 8, 2015 Rapid progress, I like the Woodland scenics foam underlay, wish I had used it! Keep the pictures coming. Quote
Geoff Johnston Posted April 10, 2015 Posted April 10, 2015 This is looking great ..I always love to see the bear boards,and then the progress as things go from strength to strength.... Quote
irishthump Posted April 15, 2015 Author Posted April 15, 2015 Got the track for the main loop laid over the last week. It's all Peco flex track with Peco streamline points (won't touch Hornby ones again!) I fixed the track down with No Nails (clear variety) and I'd highly recommend for laying track. It holds the track down without the need for any pins, even on curves. By the way the points are all insulfrog, I used them on my last layout and never had any stalling issues with them at all. Anyway here's a short video of me testing out the loop..... Quote
The Derry Road Posted April 15, 2015 Posted April 15, 2015 Looking really good thus far, keep the pics and videos coming. we'll done sir Quote
Noel Posted April 15, 2015 Posted April 15, 2015 Fast work laying that amount of track. Nice job. Will enjoy watching your new layout evolve. Quote
irishthump Posted April 22, 2015 Author Posted April 22, 2015 A little more progress.... Got most of the station trackwork completed. Here's a short video of a rake of MK3's snaking it's way over the pointwork into what will eventually one of the station platforms. Quote
ttc0169 Posted April 23, 2015 Posted April 23, 2015 Very realistic running over those points Irishthump....keep up the good work. Quote
BosKonay Posted April 23, 2015 Posted April 23, 2015 Some amount of trackage already!! Looking great - watching with interest! Quote
burnthebox Posted April 23, 2015 Posted April 23, 2015 IT mind telling me what size is your layout, ft & ins. please as otherwise it's complicated, great work in such a short time, well done Quote
irishthump Posted April 27, 2015 Author Posted April 27, 2015 IT mind telling me what size is your layout, ft & ins. please as otherwise it's complicated, great work in such a short time, well done The track diagram is out of scale but the main loop is about 8 feet square. The terminus section at the top is about 17ft long while the station at the bottom is about 15ft in total. Quote
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