coombe junction - moorswater

yay!!! Im sure I mentioned somewhere ages ago that you really should get the incline in there somewhere - think it may even been back on old RMweb - To me, and obviously greater minds than mine It really is the signature of the branch..then again I may well have spent way too long lurking round there over the years...

 

The plan looks great and bang into proportion to my eyes...but then again your plans always do look that way.

 

Im far far more famillar with this bit of the line than the other end so if I can be of any use you know where I am

This still looks workable and the vertical height difference in the landscape and deep woodland will really add to the character of the branch Lovely stuff.

I look forward to seeing a card mock up!

I do like the idea of Coombe Junction as a later add-on , I suppose if desired , you could then use boards 3,4 and 5 to exhibit "just" the Coombe Junction section (leaving Moorswater behind) , so if you went to the same exhibition twice , in effect you'd see two different layouts , even though they were part of the same thing.

Mickey - Thanks - Yep...spot on...you first suggested it in my old thread on RMWeb 3 and it was seconded by Ramblin Rich too

 

I originally set myself 3 boards as a set of constraints to work to, so as to try and build something achievable, and it was either:

 

1 - Include the inclines and coombe junction station with lamellion bridge being the scenic break to a second fiddleyard or

2 - Omit the incline, include coombe junction station, moorswater viaduct and moorswater dries

 

I still stand by the decision that 3 years ago, option 2 gave me a viable solution and something a little bit different so I could get a mix of 'chocolate box' rural and 'gritty' industrial in one project, however, as the 3 boards are gradually coming together, I can start to think about possible future extensions. Thanks also for the offer of more information...I shall definitely be in contact

 

James - Thanks also - Now you have done it mentioning a card mock up...expect one this side of crimble ....I have to keep focused on the 3 main boards though, as I know what I am like and I don't want to have 5 unfinished boards on the go

 

Supaned - Thank you - Great idea - had only ever considered doing it with the other end, by just having Moorswater and an 'add on' fiddleyard but I can see the possibilities...I am trying not to even think of how I would have to get 5 instead of 3 boards from Barcelona to the UK

Pete, I continue to admire your vision and visual delivery of your plans, with all expectation that the reality will match the idea... however, I hope that that doesn't follow for the last question you scribbled. Keeping this modular should minimise the impact on family intrusion that would be unaviodable if constructed in the normal one or two modules likely to be used for this size of layout. I think that your box-file planning and your considerations for transportation via air will certainly help in this respect... but I would suggest careful treading and maybe flowers and chocolates to offer whenever more of the boards start to emerge. Good luck

On the detals of the plan... I do not feel worthy to comment. I will continue to watch with admiration.

Jon

Jon - Many thanks - Well spotted...I was going to crop it when I uploaded the sketch but I chose to leave it in as I guess it is a fact of life these days and something never far from our minds. That said, all is well and in general my wife is pretty 'tolerant' of my modelling but I guess we all know when we are 'chancing our arm' on things...this is exactly why these plans will definitely be for the future and my 7mm dabblings have not even made it to 'IKEA shelf status' yet...flowers are a regular though as chocolates don't float her boat

Interesting....

 

<Strokes chin and nods aprrovingly>

 

I always enjoy watching projects evolve, on the scenic side, the extensions are a great idea. The split levels will really add to the varied landscape of the layout.

 

Have you considered a larger fiddle yard? Turn the far right board into an 'L' shape and have a row of siding/traverser full of stock ready to go?

 

I say this from an operational point of view. With such a long single line branch, movement of stock will be at a premium, it would be quicker / safer / less work for the operator to have trains ready formed to bring back on scene. I realise this is easier said then done, but operating cassettes for any length of time usually drives me up the wall

Hey Bryn - Thanks too - Fair comment about the cassettes and their use - I guess we have all lost a train off of one at some point in time.

 

I must admit, I am one of those architects who likes the long thin linear stuff...curves and chamfers normally make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up in the design world but I do see the sense in what you are saying - I guess it could always be a 'clip on' fiddleyard at 90° depending upon how the layout is exhibited...but then it won't be linear anymore and it will resemble a hockey stick in plan

Designer Vs. Engineer

 

I can fully grasp where you're coming from Pete, it would be a shame to lose the overall visual aspect of the layout. How about "Board 6" and reuse your original cassette yard? This will also allow the use of the digital photo frame as previously implemented.

 

I have to say, the fiddle yard under the hillside concept is playing havoc with my neck hairs. Trying to re-rail a tiny train in a restricted, dark area? Stephen Harris originally used that idea on Yn..... Yny.....Yum... Yin..... "That Layout"...... and had terrible problems with access issues.

Designer Vs. Engineer

 

I have to say, the fiddle yard under the hillside concept is playing havoc with my neck hairs.

Thanks for the tip off re the hidden storage...am guessing that comes from your direct experiences of it.

 

Board 6..and I thought I was chancing it with 5 Boards ...that one might have to be the subject of a planning appeal after instant rejection...

 

I can still keep the screen as it will be in that panel far right just above the track which is diving into the trees.

 

I was thinking more that the hidden shelves are let in to a space below the base of the scenery, which would allow the occasional scale length train of a class 37 and 22 clay hoods...

No matter how many bunches of flowers / box of chocolates / trips to the spa (not Spar!) / World Cruises it'll cost you to get the revised plans through the domestic approvals authority, it will certainly be worth it! I really enjoy watching your progress with CJ and want to see more, so please keep the pictures coming – of both the progress and the design rationales…

 

 

 

…it may even give me the plausible excuses / justification for the ‘future’ expansion of Smokey Bacon.

 

 

Thanks for your kind words Steve.

 

I like the way you float your intentions at the foot of the note...after all, you never know who might be reading this!

I agree that the inclusion of the junction will definitely be a big bonus! After all it is one of the unique features of the branch. In operational terms for those who don't know the prototype it will make a lot more sense to see a DMU come off one line, reverse and then head down the other line, otherwise it can look like an odd terminus in the middle of nowhere! I'm not sure whether this ever happend in the modern era but you could also have a DMU waiting at the signals from Looe whilst a freight runs down the line from Liskeard and straight onto Moorswater - similar (and odder) operating practices certainally occured in GWR times. Regarding cassettes I think the idea may well work. On my Trevone Junction I'm using a single cassette fed from a single line and it seems to work quite welll. I have built for cassettes which at home are stored on a shelf above the layout. I can't imagine I'll ever exhibit but if I did I'd just use a table or some flat surface behind the layout. This would seem to be much simpler than storing them under the layout. Its even allowed me to build slightly longer cassettes which will hold a 37 and 6 CDA's - they don't seem to mind overhanging the end of the baseboard a couple of inches.

 

This has got me thinking of possible extensions - when I've barely started the first phase, glad I'm not the only one!

Tom, hi and thanks,

 

and...after all, my layout is called coombe junction...and actually I only have half the junction at present!

 

Agreed that it will be odd to have a DMU shuffling between the fiddle yard and the station, its something that has always troubled me, but the extra boards will remedy that. Not sure (and am happy to be corrected) that a DMU would ever get held at the home signal up from Looe though - surely they would run it into the station and then the freight could proceed to moorswater? I only say that as JV confirmed that pass always took priority over freight and also I have a number of photos of a 37 poking its nose under lamellion bridge, waiting for the DMU to clear, before it restarted for Liskeard.

 

This extension business is highly contagious...

I would be tempted to put a bend in the track under the trees to bring the train to Looe into the fiddle area. Doing this would mean that it is totally off scene. I say this as I don't think that the trees would / could be thick enough to hide the unit from sight which may spool the illusion you are trying to create.

 

If you keep up with this extension malarky then the next one you're going to need will be on your house.

Kris - Good point - it still bothers me greatly (and probably was a big factor in deciding not to go with option 1 above) that trying to conceal a DMU in amongst a bunch of trees...may just look like that...A DMU stuck in the trees.

 

The other option is to treat it as I have done at the mo, with the fiddleyard full width incorporating the digital screen and have the line diving in to a small hole after entering a densely wooded area - might be a more honest way of dealing with it and at least it keeps the stock in one place out of harms reach. As I think about it, I like this more and more.

 

If you keep up with this extension malarky then the next one you're going to need will be on your house.

 

we are in a first floor apartment so that will be an interesting challenge

 

we are in a first floor apartment so that will be an interesting challenge

 

Nah, just a little bit of bracing, a few stilts and some form of futuristic hover engine, Can't see any problems with that

Passenger always preference over freight...Class 2 train rather than a Class (whatever the clay was??)

 

Though as JV points out it is acceptable to have a 37 poking out under the bridge and a DMU at the station.....That can be quite a shock to come down the branch from Liskeard and straight into CJ and see a loco stood a few feet away on the same track....

 

Been & seen that one!!

Mickey - Thanks to clarify.

 

I set the bait...and you took my cue to jump in......a coombe junction double act some might say

Always ready to take some tasty bait

Hi

 

Preumably the sections of the layout can be stored on a shelf when not assembled into the complete layout?