1910 Mini-Layout

[Nearholmer]

Hello

 

Not sure how big/small is allowed in this area, so I will declare my dimensions first, and await feedback, in case I've blundered in to the wrong place.

 

0 scale, 8ft x 14in.

 

Some of the 00 items here would scale up to that, so I hope I'm OK. I'm moving this here, because it is getting in the way in my main layout thread.

 

Scenario: urban scene, probably very cramped little terminus, somewhere in the inner-suburbs of London.

 

Inspiration: two Gauge 1 shop window display layout made in 1910 by Bassett-Lowke in Gauge 1, both of which were about 8ft x 2ft.

 

Format: coarse scale 0.

 

Progress: baseboards knocked together; fiddling about with track-plan ideas.

 

Picture of one of the 1910 layouts, and one of how far things have got are below.

 

Kevin

[ColinK]

I would say 8 feet long is small for 0 gauge. I'm interested to see what you do as I have an O gauge diesel shunter but nothing at home to run it on.

[JohnR]

Looking forward to seeing this. I take it you will be making use of the Dapol Terrier?

[Nearholmer]

No, John, not Dapol in this case.

 

I'm into Coarse Scale (sometimes, slightly erroneously, called tinplate), so the Terrier you see in the picture is one made by ETS on Prague - very good locos, all metal construction, with a clutch drive mechanism. http://www.ets-trains.com/en/locomotives/steam-locomotives/terrier-boxhill.html

 

If you have a look at my main layout thread, you will get a flavour.

 

Kevin

Edited February 5, 2016 by Nearholmer

[Edwardian]

Having seen your excellent sketches for this project, I shall eagerly await developments.

[Northroader]

I'm interested to see how tinplate trains (whoops! not being derogatory, honest, to me "coarse" sounds worse!) shape the mini- layout theme. Then there's the 'town' setting, rather than the 'country'. And a Y point design, too. There's a lot of fascinating stuff to come, I'm sure.

[Stubby47]

Kevin, your layout fits perfectly into this sub-forum. Liking what you're doing as well.

 

Stu

[Nearholmer]

This is by way of a very-little-progress report, which can serve as a warning to others .......

 

My small amount of modelling time over the weekend was devoted to getting the two baseboards to nestle-up against one another with barely any gap at the baseboard surface - surprising amount of wood planed off the end of the wonky one to get a half-decent (it still isn't wholly decent) joint.

 

All because, I built each base board complete, separately. What I should have remembered is that the "crime against joinery" trick is to build one, and the frame of the next, then clamp the frame of the second to the first, THEN, pin the top surface of the second one down. My only excuse is that the apprentices (ages 4, 4 and 8) were in full-on "helpful" mode at the time.

 

Still procrastinating about track arrangement (which is quite an achievement with three points and barely any space!).

 

Kevin

 

PS: why when I type a figure eight, do I get a picture of a rude-boy emoticon?!

 

PPS: Northroader, I tend to think of it as Coarse Railwaying, in the same way as Coarse Fishing. In fact I've just invented an interesting genre crossover cartoon-strip called "Mr Crabtree Plays Trains", where it becomes apparent that Mr Crabtree is, in fact that pipe-smoking Dad from the Hornby Dublo adverts,mand only took up fishing because his Mother in Law came for a protracted visit. The deeper plot, of course, is that both of them are really Tony Benn, and the boy is Hilary, but that only comes out much later in the series.

Edited February 8, 2016 by Nearholmer

[Stubby47]

8 +  closing bracket = 8)

 

8 + space + closing bracket = 8 )

[peter220950]

Looking forward to seeing this develop, there's something about coarse scale that I find fascinating, and it's not a nostalgia thing, as

I never had it as a child. 8ft may be on the tight side, but that's what makes layouts like this so interesting.

 

Keep the updates coming!

 

Peter

[Northroader]

I'm practising the "art of coarse railwaying" (it's got a nice ring to it), in finescale.

[Nearholmer]

By "borrowing" two LH points from the main layout, another set of possibilities emerge, which I rather like.

 

An island platform, with bay on one side, and runaround on the other, and even a coal siding!

 

It is mega-tight, and probably needs a piece c35mm wide to be added along the front of the baseboard for safety, but it works for trains of two bogie coaches (as in the picture) or three six-wheelers, with decent sized tank-engines able to run round. It actually looks better in reality than in this very fore-shortened picture.

 

Thoughts?

 

K

Edited February 8, 2016 by Nearholmer

[AdamsRadial]

Instead of having a 35mm addition to the front of the baseboard, you could do a brick retaining wall so that the whole station is in a trough, rather like the Minories design.

 

I think it's a great design. The real challenge is going to be getting the locos to run slowly and precisely enough to get in and out of the short lengths of track, but that's just a running issue.

 

Are your six-wheel coaches the type with a swivelling centre axle?

[Metropolitan H]

K

 

That looks even better as it brings in the "full-frontal" opportunity and makes room for a sector plate FY.

 

Question 1 - Why is the throat turnout quite so far from the FY end? - If it came a little further you might just get three bogie coaches in.

 

Question 2 - What will you do with the other Y turnout?

 

Question 3 - have you thought of a further RH turnout to give a siding - locos for the use of - alongside the release road?

 

Regards

Chris H

[Nearholmer]

AR

 

I will probably make the slight increase in width, and add a low brick wall, as a "crash barrier", because putting a retaining wall would mean that only the tops of the coaches would be visible, which would rather defeat the purpose, which is to show-off the nice shiny tinplate liveries. LSWR salmon pink, for instance, is rather spectacular.

 

The locos that I will be using are very controllable. Even the oldest tank engine that I have, which is an early 1950s one, is pretty good now, and I know that once I've serviced it, it will be even better.

 

And, yes, the six-wheelers have Cleminson articulation, so sliding cradle for central axle. They cope fine with reverse curves provided that any burrs are cleaned-up and a puff of graphite is applied.

 

Chris

 

1. That is a trick of the camera, It is actually barely long enough for a loco to run round w/o diving into the FY. I could squeeze to three coaches, but not with an island platform (which I like), and only by making the FY >50% the length of the scenic bit, which seems somehow wrong.

 

2. I will have to make a one point micro-layout, or use it in the FY, or add a strange,random siding on the main layout.

 

3. Yes, I need to, to make shunting of the front siding sensible, and, as you say, it could be used for loco stabling, or, I had thought, stabling a milk/parcels van for unloading.

 

BTW - apols for not returning message, I only just found one that you must have sent days ago.

 

Kevin

[Northroader]

Definitely go for having a coal siding, as you can have some goods wagons appearing, and vary your shunting.

[Nearholmer]

Sketch showing the proportions of this plan a bit better than the foreshortened photo does.

 

I'm not sure it would actually be possible to ram any more track onto this plank.

 

"Scenery" will be limited to a lot of blind arches, all the way round (see the BL layout in Post 1), plus "railway hardware", in the form of the platform awning, signals etc. the signal-box will either have to go above the track, or be one of those tiny little ones tucked into a corner. The coal merchant will have to operate in free space to unload his wagons!

 

Whether to continue the siding along the front of the FY will depend a lot on FY design, which needs more thought.

 

But, I can actually envisage playing trains with this. Three or four tank engines; a couple of rakes of coaches; and, a few wagons.

 

K

[BG John]

Could you take the siding into the fiddle yard, so you could swap loaded and empty wagons out of site? The coal merchant wouldn't need to wear a futuristic jet pack, or be suspended on cables from an overhead gantry arrangement, then!

[Nearholmer]

On the top deck of the 168, stuck in an interminable traffic jam ...... Thinking up potential names for a very tiny, inner-London terminus ........

[Metropolitan H]

K,

 

"Paltry" goes well. An alternative might be "Brick Lane" - in recognition of all the surrounding walls. Or you could go grand, either Spitalfields, Norton Folgate or Tobacco Dock, a small layout might deserve a large running in board!

 

Perhaps we might discuss the FY ideas and length of siding on Saturday at the local show.

 

Regards

CH

[Nearholmer]

Chris

 

The only rule is that it mustn't be the name of a real place - it has to be a sort of fugitive plank, the whereabouts of which is always in some doubt. Is it a branch from the ELL, or the WLER, or ???

 

Actually, I think "Paltry Square" might be better than plain "Paltry", which sounds vaguely Lincolnshire to me.

 

Good plan,provided that I'm not at an endless football tournament.

 

K

[Northroader]

OK, boss, staff suggestion coming up, what about "Castle Court"? It's City of London, although not recognisably so, and deserves recognition for escaping both the Luftwaffe and the developers. (I think I'd prefer to take my chance with the Jerries) And then there's the chop house, with all its history, and only a very rare treat for me these days. How does that sound?

[Edwardian]

I like "Paltry" - very much the sort of name that would appeal to me - but how about "Paltry Place" because, while this retains the nice self-deprecatory comment upon the size of the layout, "Square" your layout most certainly is not!

[Zomboid]

Paltrygate?

[Edwardian]

I suspect that in London, "gate" means "gate", as opposed to the North, where it means "street", so, logically Paltrygate would need to be set hard by the City's ancient walls. 

 

Unless, of course, the intention is to imply scandal....