Entry posted by ifoulds
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This build has been a long time coming! I've made a couple of different 8ft x 4ft builds over the years that I was never really happy with once I started making progress on them, mainly as they just weren't what I was truly wanting to model. Space limitations and then a few different moves also didn't help. Now that I'm in a spot where we're likely to remain living for quite some time, I've been able to get down to some real planning and prep work for what I've really wanted to model all along - the East Coast Main Line (ECML) around Newcastle Central in the late 1980s.
Growing up around this time, I remember a fantastic mix of passenger and freight traffic. The Class 43 HSTs, the Intercity branding and adverts, and the dawn of the Class 91 (Intercity 225). Although I grew up in Durham, I went to college then lived and worked around Newcastle and Gateshead. Even as a child I was frequently through Newcastle station. As much as I would have liked to include my home town, Durham isn't a super exciting station in of itself, but the scenery around it would be quite something, to do it right - Wharton Park rising above the northbound platform, the hill dropping away on the southbound platform side to overlook the city, cathedral and castle, and then, of course, the viaduct! Durham warrants its own layout! Newcastle Central gives a lot more opportunity for passenger traffic, freight traffic to Tyne Yard, and I could still include something like the High Level Bridge. I did look at making a dual-level layout so I could model Durham on a lower level, but I didn't really want to spend so much time and money engineering helixes to get the trains up and down. I'd then have two huge focal points of the layout. I'm trying to stick to a mantra of not overdoing things and track to cram too much in the layout. I have considered a shelf layout of Durham in N gauge at some point.
So, here's the somewhat final design (minus the Tyne Yard - see below) in SCARM. It's not perfect as I don't have the patience to make it look just-right on the computer when I know it will ultimately end up being modified somewhat once I start laying track:
And a close up of Newcastle Central itself. Again, not perfect, and also not intended to be 100% faithful to the actual layout of the period. But, close enough for me:
Here's a 3D model of the track-work as you would see it looking from the Castle Keep on the north side of the station:
And from the south side as if one the King Edward Bridge:
I didn't add the actual building work in to SCARM as again, I don't have the patience or interest in modeling something to that detail when it's the track work I'm most concerned about it. I feel it's close enough to represent Newcastle Central, though I'm sure once I start laying track things may change a little. I'm taking liberties and applying a generous dose of artistic license.
I'm not 100% sure on how I'm going to model Tyne Yard, but some representation of a freight yard, TMD, passenger car stabling + cleaning, etc. will be included. I've tried a few different designs, but I'm still trying to find a good layout. It's not at all going to be full representation of the Tyne Yard (I've seen N gauge layouts dedicate the entire layout to the yard and only just about do it justice!). Including the Tyne Yard is more so that I have somewhere that allows freight operations, maintenance sheds, and stabling. I think adding the yard will give a great balance to the layout. You'll have Newcastle Central and all it's platforms and passenger trains on one side of the layout, and then freight trains, wagons, and maintenance on the other side. Newcastle Central will still, of course, be the focus 
The actual layout will be housed in a dedicated shed. When we moved in to our home there was a very well built, though somewhat odd, gazebo in the back yard. It's on a solid concrete base and then tiled, with shingle-covered roof and electrics throughout. It was, however, mostly useless for anything or worth as it had lattice sides, so completely exposed to the elements. I wrapped the whole thing in weather sheeting, hung plywood siding, and framed out two large doors on the front. Interior dimensions are just over 11ft x 11ft (136" x 137"). It's still a little bit of a compromise compared to having a completely clean slate (needing a much bigger wallet...), but now it's a solid structure for building a layout. I haven't insulated it, though I may. The winters in the Pacific Northwest aren't too terribly cold, and from research on insulating sheds and garages, they don't seem to do a great job without a heat source inside to begin with. I'll likely end up with a propane or electric heater when I'm working out there in the colder months, and at that point I guess it helps retain some more heat, but for how much it would cost to insulate the whole shed I decided to hold off and see what it's like during the winter. Here's a few photos of the train shed taking shape:
Newcastle Central itself is a rather iconic station, with it's curved mainlines and platforms, arched roofs, and grade I listed building as the primary station building itself. As my layout will run around the walls of the shed, I already hit my first compromise - I couldn't really model the building itself from Neville Street and highlight the brickwork. The building would be facing the shed wall, and you'd never really see it. But, the trade off is that I can spend more time focusing on the platforms and roof work. I'll still be modelling the station building, but won't need to spend hours obsessing over the exterior look.
I'm also going to have to compromise on the bridges. Newcastle and the Tyne River is famous for it's bridges, and from a train perspective, one could argue that the High Level bridge is the more important and historical. Which works out well, since with the curve of the station platforms and mainlines, I just won't have room to model the King Edward VII bridge. The King Edward bridge is actually the primary bridge carrying train traffic on the south side of the station. From a scale perspective, the throat of the station would need to literally be on the bridge, and then lines diverging on the other side would also be on the bridge. As I really wanted to be able to show the Tyne Bridge and more iconic quayside view, I'm going to model the High Level bridge out of the north side of the station. This is a narrow bridge anyway, and you could then accurately have the backdrop of the Tyne Bridge. So, the High Level bridge will run along the front of the train shed, where the doors would open, which I think will also look great from the outside. On one side I'll have a pop up section to allow you to step in to the shed and layout rather then crawl underneath. Again, I'm not 100% on how this will work, but the track design is pretty solid.
All this planning and prep work has covered at least the past 6 months, if not longer. There have been a lot of designs in SCARM, time scouring these forums, and hours getting inspiration from YouTube. The ideas for the layout and grand visions have been going on much longer! I'm excited to finally begin building this out.
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