Omagh GNRi station

[GNRi1959]

Thanks Noel, here's the start of my track plan using your old favourite 'Railmodeller Pro' - great piece of software for the Mac. I am tracing out the parts onto an engineers drawing of Omagh and then making the changes to make it workable in the space I have.

 

Edited December 10, 2017 by TonyMcGartland

[jhb171achill]

A thought, Tony - you had mentioned doing an "end-to-end" layout - possibly you might be able to put in a lift-up flap bit across the doorway to make a continuous run? N gauge will be just right for that shed.

[JasonB]

Nice work on the baseboards' Tony, plenty of storage space there also.It must be a great feeling to finally have them completed and get cracking on laying some track.

[GNRi1959]

23 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

A thought, Tony - you had mentioned doing an "end-to-end" layout - possibly you might be able to put in a lift-up flap bit across the doorway to make a continuous run? N gauge will be just right for that shed.

Jhb, I have the option of running a board across to do a continuous run however I want to work with the plans and available space to see what works best. I am hoping to build in 00 gauge, however N gauge may be an option. At the top end of the baseboards I have yet to place two small triangular sections it to ease ease the track around the curves. I won't do that until I organise securing the baseboards to the frames below and start some serious layout design.

Edited December 11, 2017 by TonyMcGartland

[GNRi1959]

The almost complete station using Railmodeller Pro. 

 

[GNRi1959]

I printed the full size 00 gauge plan from RailwayModeller Pro tonight and it took ages. If I were to glue all the pages together and lay them out on the floor I may be able to redesign to run it around the walls, however its an enormous plan.

[GNRi1959]

Finally got the baseboards complete, as can be seen by the pictures below. I have build all the baseboard frames in modular sections of 750mm x 350mm. This was deliberate, they are all the same length, more or less and the opening that will become a hinged board to complete the circuit is also 750mm. The last piece I was working on today was the section to the right that will feature the turntable. I just have to add little triangular fillers to smooth the curves out at the top baseboard inner corners. Lots of nice 9mm birch ply.

 

 

 

Edited December 19, 2017 by TonyMcGartland

[heirflick]

Excellent work - looking forward to this build!!

[Noel]

Very neat carpentry Tony. Looks great and looking forward to seeing this layout evolve now that you've settled on Peco code 75. 

[GNRi1959]

38 minutes ago, Noel said:

Very neat carpentry Tony. Looks great and looking forward to seeing this layout evolve now that you've settled on Peco code 75. 

Once I fine tune the track plan and transfer it to the plywood, I can start cutting the track bed and raising it around 50mm to allow for the 'Low Bridge Warning' just below the South Cabin. It will be a 'flavour' of Omagh and not necessarily a replica. 

[Noel]

9 minutes ago, TonyMcGartland said:

. . . It will be a 'flavour' of Omagh and not necessarily a replica. 

That's the best approach for most layouts 

[GNRi1959]

Working my way through sketches and transferring them to Railmodeller Pro. Still long way to go. Any obvious 'No No's' so far............. ?

(The trackworkwork on the left is incomplete)

 

Edited December 19, 2017 by TonyMcGartland

[PaulC]

Tony, if your woodwork is anything to go by this is going to be one cracking layout.  Can't help you on the track plan, I've always been in the dark on this art. All I can say is I followed the plan for Ballymena as much as I could to the space available and tried to envisage trains running on the lines in all directions to make sense of positioning crossovers correctly. 

Look forward to more. 

Paul

[GNRi1959]

7 minutes ago, PaulC said:

Tony, if your woodwork is anything to go by this is going to be one cracking layout.  Can't help you on the track plan, I've always been in the dark on this art. All I can say is I followed the plan for Ballymena as much as I could to the space available and tried to envisage trains running on the lines in all directions to make sense of positioning crossovers correctly. 

Look forward to more. 

Paul

Thanks Paul, I have a confession to make - I am a Carpentry Instructor at our local College.

[GNRi1959]

A little more progress, but will rest and leave until tomorrow......

 

 

[PaulC]

14 minutes ago, TonyMcGartland said:

Thanks Paul, I have a confession to make - I am a Carpentry Instructor at our local College.

 Makes sense. In that case I have no idea how your layout will turn out! 

Paul

[PJR]

Looks good so far, your  making good use of the space available. looking forward to more.

[Glenderg]

Tony, 

On the loop on the far left there are two crossovers going from the outer track to the inner. Is this intentional as a weird holding loop, or can they be condensed into on, save a few bob? 

Other than that, it looks superb, and the joinery is tidy beyond belief. R. 

[GNRi1959]

Rich, I've removed the cross-overs, they were there to hold the double track parallel as I formed the curves on that corner. It has been replaced with a Y-junction which was at the South Cabin in Omagh. The Portadown line is reduced to a dead-end and will be masked by a stationary wagon in the back scene. The turntable is now in place as it was but I've lost space for the double engine shed next to the turntable. Later I can look at this when its printed and sitting on my baseboards. I'm sure I'll be able to get it in.

Just a thought-the Portadown and Enniskillen lines both left Omagh from double to single line track. As I leave the station area (top left) I could reduce to a single line and fit the shed in, though I'd need another point (top right) to get my double line back again.

 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2017 by TonyMcGartland

[PaulC]

I'm reading and re reading some of your posts and I'm getting confused. Are you modelling in N or OO - someone mentioned code 75 and someone else is mentioning n gauge. Secondly, have you settled on a complete loop plan and not an end to end?

As I've said previously I am no track designer but in my eyes you seem to have a lot crammed in to the space available. You've already said the engine shed is compromised due to the turntable and you are trying to squeeze double lines out of the station. The bottom section of the layout also looks very busy - is there scope for scenics along side this?

Can I ask a couple of questions?  Is it your desire to have a double line running the full loop of the shed to allow trains to run?  You've said about removing some sections of boards to allow for relief such as a bridge, but do you intend to include a fiddle storage yard?  If not where will you store your trains when not involved in movements?  Is there scope for a low level storage area to accommodate this? 

I'm only asking these questions because of the drawing you produced overlayed on the engineers plan. If the layout was end to end it could perhaps depict it much better than squeezing in to a roundy roundy. A spur that disappears beneath the boards could be a convenient exit point for that Enniskillen line. Could it re-enter elsewhere as part of the mainline thus giving you that continuos loop?

Tony, all just musings but thought I'd throw something in to the mix. 

Paul

[GNRi1959]

PaulC, so glad you posted.I'm sorry you are confused and I guess I am even more confused. I totally agree with your comments and in particular the fact that there is a lot going on - I didn't realise that until I actually looked at the drawing, looked at some 00 gauge track and looked at my available space. Yes, it certainly has too much happening.

Furthermore, when I think back to my youth and recall the railway that passed the back of my house, it was a single line on a raised embankment and nothing but grass and landscape either side. My approach, as you rightly pointed out, there is little scope for scenics.

Well PaulC, thank you kindly for stopping me in my tracks - I honestly do appreciate it.

Edited December 20, 2017 by TonyMcGartland

[Junctionmad]

hi Tony , I hope you never try and build that design exercise , RailModeller ( express or Pro ) is quite crap at laying  down proper flexitrack curves and you end up with the nonsense  it generates as you can see , There are radiii on your track plan that look as small as 1 foot, or less,  Its quite terrible design program for flexitrack , often you couldnt build what it designs 

Edited December 20, 2017 by Junctionmad

[Noel]

20 minutes ago, Junctionmad said:

hi Tony , I hope you never try and build that design exercise , RailModeller ( express or Pro ) is quite crap at laying  down proper flexitrack curves and you end up with the nonsense  it generates as you can see , There are radiii on your track plan that look as small as 1 foot, or less,  Its quite terrible design program for flexitrack , often you couldnt build what it designs 

Apologies but I have to disagree.  I have found Rail Modeller Pro (mac) very good for flexitrack layout design, but you have to learn its techniques for advanced flexitrack manipulation. I don't read manuals so had to learn by bashing the user interface and once I discovered how it 'thought', I was flying and found it very quick and easy to manipulate flexitrack.

[GNRi1959]

37 minutes ago, Junctionmad said:

hi Tony , I hope you never try and build that design exercise , RailModeller ( express or Pro ) is quite crap at laying  down proper flexitrack curves and you end up with the nonsense  it generates as you can see , There are radiii on your track plan that look as small as 1 foot, or less,  Its quite terrible design program for flexitrack , often you couldnt build what it designs 

Junctionmad, if you say so..............

 

 

Would make a great title for a book, or a film........

"The Railway that never Was"

 

Edited December 20, 2017 by TonyMcGartland

[PaulC]

Tony, I hope my comments aren't disheartening, I was only making them on what I observed.

Paul

[jhb171achill]

If in any shape or form you end up with a continuous run round, it would be better to have it right round the walls of the shed instead of crossing from one side to the other in the middle, I would have thought. Again, entirely intended as completely constructive criticism.

The project I've started has had me scratching my head in planning stages for a very long time before it got started, on account of my own issues of severe lack of space. It's always the design which is initially so important, as once it's made, it's often more trouble than its worth to correct design flaws.

[GNRi1959]

jhb, I joined this forum one year ago exactly tomorrow. I need a break from it..........

[Glenderg]

Tony, 

Before you lose the plot and revert to the sherry cabinet, I'd do a simple exercise. Print off what you have as of now and if you've some track, even a few points or a bit of flexi, put it in by eyeballing it. If you've only one or two points, get out the stubby carpentry pencil and draw the outline on the boards. 

Even better, print of a few of these and use the scissors. https://www.peco-uk.com/page.asp?id=tempc100 - shift them around get it look like you "think" it should, just allow for all the signal cabins and such that your memory remembers. Use a pot plant for the turntable, a biscuit tin for the shed, but push and pull the thing over the Christmas.  "Rule 1" applies here - it's your world, you don't have to justify the design to anyone, run what you like. Call it "Skillenennis" if you must, but do not, ever, ever, depend on software to replace the job of a pencil and paper. A colleague once had a thing over his desk that said something to the effect that "Trying to design in CAD is akin to trying to win a Michelin Star with a microwave".

Use what you have as a jumping off point, not a finished article, and all will be well in the New Year. 

After all, you've the baseboards done and dusted, which puts you a million miles ahead of most. 

Positive waves, moriarity...

R. 

[Dhu Varren]

Totally 100% agree with Glenderg.

[Noel]

Tony

You've the two hardest bits already very successfully completed, the building and the baseboards. Most track arrangements were designed without CAD, often as Richie explained, by hand, trying unfixed bits of track, and/or using a pencil on baseboards until it felt right, and often guided more by imagination and faded memories than precise fact. Don't loose heart, judging by the quality of what you've done so far it will turn out more than very well.  

Perhaps delay ballasting and scenic work until the track is laid and you had a chance to run trains, and simulate movements. This will give you the option of making track adjustments with minimal reworking. Its also fun and gets some stock running early which allows you to pause layout work and enjoy other aspects like kits, resprays, buying stock, buildings, etc.  You can then switch between the two and over time the layout can evolve at a pace that is enjoyable to you, ensuring it never becomes a chore, nor a target, never time consuming, nor a source of self induced stress - remaining a pleasurable hobby of relaxation in your spare time when you feel like it.

Wishing you fun, joy and relaxation as your passion for railways and model railways is inspired by your imagination. 

Noel

Edited December 21, 2017 by Noel

[GNRi1959]

I was actually surprised at how much easier it is to visualise a layout by placing decorators lining paper on my baseboards and setting out curves and pointwork  using old points, steel rulers and trammel.

Edited December 23, 2017 by GNRi1959

[jhb171achill]

GNRi1959, that's exactly what I've always done, and in recent times did so again for my latest scheme which is a small country terminus. (Only, I used newspaper!).

On the Peco website you can print out actual-size copies of points, which helps.

Unless you're designing something vast and complicated, its WAY quicker, easier and (obviously!) cheaper than pocklin' about with track design programmes or apps.

Tony - your layout construction so far, in the shed, looks superb and very well built.

 

 

Edited December 23, 2017 by jhb171achill

[GNRi1959]

On 20/12/2017 at 10:05 PM, jhb171achill said:

If in any shape or form you end up with a continuous run round, it would be better to have it right round the walls of the shed instead of crossing from one side to the other in the middle.

The layout stops short of the right side by 750mm to allow for the door opening. I may go for turntable one end and fiddle yard to other instead of run around.

[GNRi1959]

I'm toying around with the idea of capturing the movement of grain from Omagh Station to Scotts Excelsior. Everyday Eddie McAleer drew lorry loads of grain from wagons next the 'cattle beach'  as it was known to the shunters at Omagh. Big Joe McGrew, now 88years old, was able to tell me the names given by shunters to the various sidings there. I've been in touch with various sources and am hoping to unearth some photographs of the traffic there. Hopefully, a small piece in the local press will bring up some material.

[GNRi1959]

Plans are now developing well with a fairly major change of approach. An end to end layout which features the turntable, kit by South East Finecast  http://www.sefinecast.co.uk/Turntables/Turntables.htm , and engine shed at one end of the layout and Omagh Market Branch at the other. This means more long runs of track and less points but with lots of shunting possibilities at each end. Cutting out the station entirely (done it before in 1989) and concentrating on movement outside the station.

Edited December 28, 2017 by GNRi1959