1910 Mini-Layout

[Nearholmer]

"Paltry Gardens" is another possibility, in that it links to what was a very famous music hall song "The Cockney's Garden" ....... Chorus "Wiv a ladder and some glasses; you could see to 'Ackney Marshes; if it wasn't for the 'ouses in between!".

 

K

Edited February 10, 2016 by Nearholmer

[Zomboid]

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....

Yeah, I was thinking of another gate in the old city walls.

 

Another distinctly London suffix could give Paltry Circus. And hence an excuse to run that elephant on a flatcar that you've always wanted to (Oxford, Piccadilly, Finsbury circuses (circi? Circodes?) all spring to mind).

Edited February 11, 2016 by Zomboid

[Nearholmer]

Zomboid

 

That is absolutely brilliant, and may well be the one that makes it onto the running-in board!

 

Aside from the humour, one great advantage of it is that it isn't too City, East or West London specific, which fits nicely with the indeterminate or flexible location, and the ability to run LBSCR, LSWR, Met, GER, LNER, GWR, NLR/LNWR etc according to whim and the availability of guest stock.

 

The station can be festooned with tattered posters, advertising paltry circuses, especially flea circuses, of which I am very fond.

 

Kevin

Edited February 11, 2016 by Nearholmer

[Nearholmer]

Five minutes over a sandwich .......

 

BTW, there seem to be getting on for twenty places called "Circus" in London, "Percy Circus" being the nearest to what we've come up with here.

 

K

[shortliner]

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

 

If I may I'll offer one that appeared in Carls Small Layout Scrapbook #59a as a possibility for your space - Maldon Market Hill -

 

HERE’S A CRAMPED STATION WITH LOTS OF OPERATION

 

Maldon Market Hill station is built in very cramped quarters behind Maldon High Streeet, between the shops and the industrial buildings whose shipments keep the road in the black. Andrew Smith, who built the line, says that the engine shed and maintenance works for loco and stock is farther along the line (offstage), towards the junction where the line to the Quay diverges to the River Blackwater. All of this occurs in East Essex, in England.

 

Both goods (freight) and passenger trains call at the little station, and Andrew has provided some insight to those operations. Movements like these are typical of operating with two locomotives (a road engine and a station pilot) and explain why this type of two-switch track arrangement is a “tried and true” design.

 

 

Goods trains (freight trains) consist of an 0-4-0 loco, two wagons or vans (freight cars), and a brake van (caboose). The station pilot is waiting in the bay platform when the train arrives at the main platform.

◾The pilot removes the brake van from the rear of the train and takes it to the bay platform.

◾The goods loco shoves the wagons into the industry yard. Any loaded wagons ready to ship are pulled out and shunted into the fiddle yard.

◾The goods loco then places the new wagons at the industry loading facility, returns to the fiddle yard for the outgoing wagons, and returns with them to the main platform road.

◾The pilot loco then removes the outgoing wagons from the loco and shunts them into the bay platform road, coupling to the brake van.

◾The pilot moves to the crane track.

◾The goods loco moves out, couples to the outgoing train, and leaves town.

◾The pilot returns to the bay road to await the next train.

Passenger trains consist of a loco and two four-wheeled coaches. In this case, the pilot waits at the water crane as the passenger train pulls into the main platform road.

◾After passengers are offloaded, the pilot couples to the rear of the train and pulls the coaches into the industry track.

◾The road loco moves to the bay platform.

◾Pilot loco returns the coaches to the main platform and retires back to the water crane track.

◾Passenger loco returns to the main platform, couples to the coaches, and leaves town.

◾Station pilot returns to the bay platform, ready for the next train.

Variations can be played with both goods and passenger consists. Two livestock vans can arrive on market day as a separate train, and must be shunted to the stock platform in the bay road. If the passenger loco is an 0-6-0, there won’t be room for the pilot to couple on from the crane road, so it will have to wait in the bay road and pull the coaches out to the fiddle yard to release the passenger loco. And so it goes, at a busy little station with minimal facilities!

 

The OP also contains a couple of photos

Edited February 12, 2016 by shortliner

[Nearholmer]

Shortliner

 

Interesting idea, and if I was truly cramped for space, its one I'd seriously think about stealing. I'm pretty sure I've sent it before, because I was an adherent of Mr Ahrendt's thinking until his sad passing. If you know where to look, there are a few things contributed by me on the site.

 

It, however, is a true "micro", and you'll notice that I've titled this "mini". I did think about, and even mock-up, a Piano Lines, before I got to where I am now, but that becomes a tad clumsy in 0, because it can't sensibly be fitted onto a single baseboard, and the "up stage centre" track entry get all tangled-up with the baseboard joint. So, since I can accommodate length, if not much width, along the top of the bookshelves, I'm going to stick with "a long think plank".

 

Kevin

 

Edit: There is an interesting compact, although not micro, layout, called "Grosvenor Lane", in RM for March. Makes very good use of length by having a "kickback" fiddle yard.

Edited February 12, 2016 by Nearholmer

[shortliner]

Yes - I just thought that, if upscaled to O, it might fit your space

[Nearholmer]

Fiddle yard thoughts, mainly for the benefit of my Metropolitan colleague, and because personal email currently refuses to accept attachments.

 

K

[BG John]

Inspired by a post on the Pencarrow Bridge layout topic, I bought a length of square gutter to try for cassettes. It's ready assembled, and just needs cutting to length and some sort of connector made. Getting a 4 metre length home from the builders merchant is simple if you have a house on wheels with rear doors, but I had to get it into the workshop through a window as it wouldn't bend to go through the doorway! It's about the same price on eBay with delivery as I paid locally, so someone else could worry about the transport!

[Zomboid]

I haven't tried it myself, but if the gutter is more flexible than the track, the adhesive will only have a fixed lifespan due to the constant movement/ bending as you handle it.

[BG John]

I haven't tried it myself, but if the gutter is more flexible than the track, the adhesive will only have a fixed lifespan due to the constant movement/ bending as you handle it.

Neither have I yet, but if it's simple and it works, does it matter if it needs to be re-glued occasionally? It doesn't seem like a big job. Maybe bolting the track down might make it more rigid.

[Metropolitan H]

K,

 

I note the aluminium suggestion and will consider, In the meantime I was thinking 6mm ply deck and sides - cut by the supplier into good square and regular strips - with good quality strip-wood handles. Sides will be deep enough to prevent vehicles diving off a cassette, but low enough to not impede railing / coupling access. I'll do sketches over the w/e.

 

Regards

Chris H

[Nearholmer]

BGJ

 

That is an inspired idea!

 

Is it sufficiently rigid to all a c4ft length to be lifted, with train in-situ, without if going "all wivvery", to use the Sussex term, or sagging in the middle?

 

I would envisage fixing the track in-situ using 8BA CSK screws (don't want glue on expensive sleepers!), so glue failure not an issue.

 

K

 

PS: 4" extruded aluminium channel might be an option too, and by the time the savings on fastenings, and the time saved is factored-in, it's not as expensive as I thought it might be - it works out at c£13 per cassette, including cutting to length and delivery - would need to check that internal clearance is sufficient though

 

http://www.aluminiumwarehouse.co.uk/Aluminium-Channel/c120_125/p2847/4_in_x_2_in_x__1/8__in_x__1/8__in_:_Aluminium_Channel/product_info.html

Edited February 19, 2016 by Nearholmer

[shortliner]

Possibly a wood strip screwed underneath, (3 x 1) or similar, might stiffen it up, and cure "wivveryness"

Edited February 19, 2016 by shortliner

[BG John]

BGJ

 

That is an inspired idea!

 

Is it sufficiently rigid to all a c4ft length to be lifted, with train in-situ, without if going "all wivvery", to use the Sussex term, or sagging in the middle?

 

I would envisage fixing the track in-situ using 8BA CSK screws (don't want glue on expensive sleepers!), so glue failure not an issue.

It's still in a 4m length, and while nowhere near rigid enough over that length, doesn't seem too wivvery. I suppose I'd better use that term as it's for my K&ESR layout! It's heavy duty guttering for high rainfall areas, and could be fixed with quite widely spaced brackets, so needs to be pretty rigid. I bought it with the aim of having a 3ft fiddle yard, with separate cassettes for locos, so the longest length would be under 2ft 6in, but I think I'm having a change of plan, and need 4ft including the loco cassette. The idea is partly to minimise handling locos, so I could slide the cassettes around rather than always lifting them.

 

I'm thinking that having a strip of wood or plastic between the rails might be good, as it would strengthen it, and could help with putting the stock on the track. It could be assembled with countersunk screws and nuts, or maybe woodscrews into a wood strip, or screws into tapped holes in plastic.

[Nearholmer]

Very similar needs indeed then, because I'm looking at 1100mm (roughly 3ft 8in) cassettes, because I want to be able to turn a complete train (tank engine with two bogie coaches or three six-wheelers) as a piece, and/or to be able to exchange cassettes, with trains in-situ.

 

Are you sure you actually need the full 4ft? Clearly the answer will depend upon what locos and coaches you are using.

 

Anyway, I feel a trip to Wickes, in order to fondle guttering, coming on.

 

K

[BG John]

Are you sure you actually need the full 4ft? Clearly the answer will depend upon what locos and coaches you are using.

I need to recheck, but a Terrier, a couple of coaches and a few wagons is a fair length.

[Nearholmer]

Aha, if you are running mixed trains with two coaches, you will need more than I do - my "budget" is an M7 (c275mm) and two 48ft coaches (c800mm), or three six-wheelers (c750mm).

 

"Paltry Circus" isn't in mixed train territory, but if it was, the passengers would have to make do with a single brake-third.

 

K

[Nearholmer]

Chaps,

 

You just have to have a look at this http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/108208-tinories-a-gauge-1-terminus/

 

A true vintage mini-layout, not a "tribute" as I'm building.

 

K

[Northroader]

V. Interesting, the stuff that happens on this web that gets totally overlooked is amazing when you do cach up with it. What d'you think? Going over to 1 guage? I saw a very simple German branch line in this size at a show a while back, and the mass of the models in movement really grabbed you.

[Nearholmer]

Another Monday; another nearly-no-progress report.

 

The "nearly" is justified by the fact that I did get the alignment dowels and coach-bolts between the boards fitted on Friday evening.

 

Plain track should arrive today or tomorrow, because I made a "bargain" purchase of a box containing 10 yards in a NOS clear-out. Budget-planning a bit damaged in the process, but it was half the price that I was expecting to have to pay when I'd saved-up for it.

 

Kevin

[Nearholmer]

May as well file my slow progress report on Sunday, because I'm too whacked to get anything done for the rest of this evening, having spent the day keeping small daughter and her small cousin entertained, while SWMBO and son went to the Science Museum.

 

Small "widening strips" glued along the front of each baseboard; material to make FY baseboard bought together; NOS plain track arrived - a very good purchase, but I will need to add more sleepers, because those fitted are at 1930s. Hornby spacing, whereas I prefer closer spacing, based on 1930s Maerklin.

 

If you follow other threads on here, you will know that some people manage to build entire layouts in the time it takes me to drill a hole and fit a screw - my guess is that either they actually stay awake 24/7/365, or have slightly fewer work and family commitments.

 

Kevin

 

PS: I did manage to pick up a suitable bus for £2 in a charity shop. A Corgi model of a LGOC J Type, dating from 1911, which claims to be 1:43 scale, although I have my doubts. Perfect to stand on the bridge over the line.

Edited February 28, 2016 by Nearholmer

[choo1choo]

May as well file my slow progress report on Sunday, because I'm too whacked to get anything done for the rest of this evening, having spent the day keeping small daughter and her small cousin entertained, while SWMBO and son went to the Science Museum.

 

Small "widening strips" glued along the front of each baseboard; material to make FY baseboard bought together; NOS plain track arrived - a very good purchase, but I will need to add more sleepers, because those fitted are at 1930s. Hornby spacing, whereas I prefer closer spacing, based on 1930s Maerklin.

 

If you follow other threads on here, you will know that some people manage to build entire layouts in the time it takes me to drill a hole and fit a screw - my guess is that either they actually stay awake 24/7/365, or have slightly fewer work and family commitments.

 

Kevin

 

PS: I did manage to pick up a suitable bus for £2 in a charity shop. A Corgi model of a LGOC J Type, dating from 1911, which claims to be 1:43 scale, although I have my doubts. Perfect to stand on the bridge over the line.

Dear Kevin,

 

Very pleased to see that you are a devotee of Imperial Flea Circuses and not those dreadful foreign Metric Flea Circuses.

 

Just off for a glass of wine and half an hour with the track plan books.

 

Choo1Choo

[Nearholmer]

Hmmm ........ If the flea circus was French, and existed during the Second Empire, it could possibly be simultaneously Imperial and Metric. The same might be true of flea circuses originating from the European countries that had overseas empires pre-WW1, I think.

 

Anyway, enjoy the wine.

 

K

[rockershovel]

"East Essex" is a classic Americanism, isn't it?

 

Is this what our colonial cousins refer to as "hi-rail"?