Designs for small industrial layouts in 4mm

[Ruston]

Evening all,

 

Since I started doing 4mm again I have built two small layouts and have been working on one that was started a few years ago but was put into storage. I have been planning other layouts, which may never become anything more than plans so I thought I'd share them and, hopefully others will comment and perhaps add their own designs to inspire more industrial railway modelling. Perhaps someone may even build one of the designs. The first one was going to be an entry for the Cameo Layouts Challenge but was withdrawn before any wood was cut.

 

Pyramid Works

Pyramid Works is a heavy engineering works, or foundry. There would be no backscene as such as the buildings would cover every side to give a quite claustrophobic look with large "Black Sheds" and gantry cranes.

 

The fiddle yard is on the right and two tracks are into the buildings with the central one passing between buildings but under a joining walkway or pipe bridge. There would be plenty of scope for shunting and as wagons are moved into the buildings (fiddle yard) for loading and unloading, there is no "hand of god" to be seen.

 

Size: 5ft. x 15 ins.

Time period: anywhere from 1890s to 1980s

Motive Power: Just about anything small and 4-wheeled - Hornby Peckett, Judith Edge Ruston 88DS etc. depending on period.

 

Tank Farm

An oil depot or chemical works. Fiddle yard (probably a traverser) on the left.  Lots of circular storage tanks and pipework. No need to worry about loads as tank wagons look the same whether they are supposed to be loaded or not.

 

Size:5ft. x 15 ins.

Time period: 1950s.

Motive Power: again almost anything small within the period.

 

Moorend Iron Ore Company

Set somewhere in the area south of Middlesborough, this layout is the complete opposite of the first design, being out on a moorland ridge. Trains enter from the hidden fiddleyard and reverse to the foot of an incline of around 1 in 8, although I never decided exactly how to make this work). This incline is rope-worked. At the top of the incline another locomotive works the upper section to the mine and workshops (possibly an engine shed).

 

At the mine, wagons would actually be loaded with mineral to give purpose to the shunting moves.

 

This layout could easily be modified to other regions and minerals.

 

Size: 5ft. x 15 ins.

Time period: 1920s

Motive Power: Black Hawthorn 0-4-0ST, Hudswell Clarke 0-4-0ST (both High Level kits)

Edited September 4, 2017 by Ruston

[2mmMark]

I like the Moorend design.  With some adjustment at the lower level, you might be able to reduce the 1 in 8 to 1 in 16(ish), which would then be loco-worked. Hopton Incline on the C&HP was 1 in 14.

 

Years ago, the Tamar group built a very similar layout Hemlock Byte which was in MRJ no.17 or can be found in this publication

http://www.gauge0guild.com/small_layouts_1-02.pdf

[Gordon A]

Or the incline could be worked by an industrial Beyer Garratt.

 

Gordon A

[Zunnan]

A rope worked incline is doable, you can use a dedicated translator wagon between the rope and the load being conveyed. Its quite prototypical, see the following link with particular attention towards Clee Hill No.3.

 

http://www.photobydjnorton.com/CleeHillIncline.html

 

I get the feeling that the wagon attached to the rope is shunted to the lower end of the raft to prevent runaways with the rope trailing under the whole train, as evidenced by the fairly heavy duty low slung metalwork on No.3. When I had the opportunity for a site visit some years ago, I noted the rope would have passed into a channel which would have been between the rails and passing underneath into the remains of the winding house. This was confirmed when I later found the D J Norton photographs, as per the link.

[Ruston]

One idea I had for the incline was a chain creeper made of Delrin chain. It would have a couple of fixed projections coming from it that would connect with one axle of a wagon in a train to take it up but I rejected the idea as being too modern for the layout; it being more like something you'd find at a 1950s/60 power station, or in narrow gauge form at a colliery. It would also mean the creeper having to end before the turnout at the top of the incline, so the loco would have to be at the end of the headshunt to recieve the train. That would mean it would be on the wrong end of the train for the rest of the track plan to work.

 

The idea of a runner wagon would work but it would have to be connected above the wagons to be hauled up.

[Ruston]

I like the Moorend design.  With some adjustment at the lower level, you might be able to reduce the 1 in 8 to 1 in 16(ish), which would then be loco-worked. Hopton Incline on the C&HP was 1 in 14.

 

Years ago, the Tamar group built a very similar layout Hemlock Byte which was in MRJ no.17 or can be found in this publication

http://www.gauge0guild.com/small_layouts_1-02.pdf

Thinking about it, if the track coming from the hidden sidings is already on a rising gradient from when it appears until the 3-way point, around 1cm in height can be gained and another 2 to the next point and by the time the line crosses the bridge it could be at 4cm or more above. With locos of a low height, as the planned motive power is, and with the stock all being open mineral wagons, adhesion working is probably feasible.

Edited September 5, 2017 by Ruston

[brack]

The colliery line to Brandon pit house was 1 in 18 in parts - max load up for an austerity was 9 empty hoppers. Gradients can also help reduce the train length a bit (best not to mention the runaways).

[Zunnan]

The idea of a runner wagon would work but it would have to be connected above the wagons to be hauled up.

 

That was my thinking too. Shunting it to the fore is easy enough if the arrangement as per Clee Hill was used where the ropes pass through an underpass. The runner can be parked partially down the incline (exactly as in the image taken at Clee Hill) and the train fly shunted behind it; I'd be thinking along the lines of Kadee delayed to propel into the runner, which is packed with enough lead to draw its train over the top. The bottom of the incline is a different matter as the train would have to be crossed over the rope/chain. However, if the bottom of the incline is off scene, that removes the issue and the wagons could be drawn back on scene by a locomotive at the lower level.

Edited September 5, 2017 by Zunnan

[5050]

Chris Hewitt's EM 'Angel Bank' layout - a cameo style layout itself - has a working incline based on Clee Hill.  It is inspired by of one of Iain Rice's designs.  However, only the bottom is modelled but the attachment of the 'runner' truck etc. is as the prototype - or as near as can be in 4mm scale.  It is still on the exhibition circuit so you may get another chance to see it.

 

On the prototype, the wire hauser ran under the runner truck and attached to the rear of the vehicle. It was always at the lower end of a train. I made a drawing of the runner truck based on photographs which was published in 'Modelling Railways Illustrated' back in the 90's.

 

EDIt - BTW Dave, your Moorend design is very similar to the US based 'Gumstump and Snowshoe' layout which ,over the years, has spawned many versions.  I've often thought it would make a very operatable industrial British layout. See here -

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=gumstump+and+snowshoe&client=firefox-b&dcr=0&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi9yIOalJXWAhUMDsAKHc8QAd8QsAQILQ&biw=1381&bih=767

Edited September 8, 2017 by 5050

[Rivercider]

As a possible source of inspiration how about Bartlett's Sidings just south of Bideford, which are parallel to the Bideford - Torrington route?

They are mentioned, with a map, in 'Branch Lines to Torrington', and were in use from 1915-1965.

There was timber traffic for Bartlett and also Kynoch Ltd who had a 0-4-0ST for shunting.,

From 1925 Devon County Council received road materials, there was also traffic for Bideford Gas and Coke, BP and Shell-Mex.

 

This (if it works) is part of the 1932 map from the National Library of Scotland site.

http://maps.nls.uk/view/105998531 

 

It could truly be a shunting plank and would suit a space with plenty of room lengthwise, but little width.

Only 6 points are used, and later maps show the layout was reduced even further before closure,

however I suspect even with selective compression it would still need at least 9' in 00

(from the map the sidings look to be 2000' in overall length).

 

cheers

Edited September 12, 2017 by Rivercider