Johnson Street IEMD

[Johnson Street IEMD]

Hello, I'm Kat, I have lived alongside the railway network all my life and it has left a stamp on me for which I cannot remove, I have decided, instead of trying to deny it, to just get on with it. I am fascinated with AC traction and my favourite locomotive without doubt is the Class 90. I grew up watching the Consett to Sunderland line being lifted and its remains became my playground and subsequently lived alongside the line at different points before a move a long way south finds me now living on the edge of a busy junction of the WCML on the south side of Stafford. I get to see my favourite loco several times a day if I play my cards right.

 

I am in the process of having a DCC operated end to end model railway built by my local model shop. The theme is an Electric Maintenance Depot, like Crewe EMD but on a much smaller scale. It is an eight foot by two foot layout, with backscenes hiding the fiddle yard and there is an elevated road which runs across the layout and gives an element of scene scaping with the depot entrance.

 

It is set somewhere along the west coast, to support DB Cargo's AC traction objectives whilst also serving some other AC traction operators from time to time as well. The mainstay at the depot will be DB's Class 90 fleet for which ongoing maintenance of the Class will happen. There will also be additional DB Class members such as the 92, 66, an 08 shunter, the occasional 60 and in the not so distant future, a pair of Class 86s will be re-joining DB reliveried appropriately, obviously with the increase of electrification across the network, the increase in the provision of electric traction only increases the scope for such a satellite EMD such as Johnson Street. 

 

I have half a dozen DB 90s already and did have more, but have been working to cull my current Hornby 90 fleet in readiness for the completion of the layout alongside my plans to acquire Bachmann 90s from late next year, Heljan 86s and DJ Models 92s as well. I envisage the only Hornby locos on the layout in time will be the Class 60 which will be a future acquisition.

 

It will feature WCML style catenary gantries combining the PECO catenary single masts and their wires along with the multi-track gantries I recently found on ebay.

 

I have attached a recent track plan image, there are several amendments to this since this was taken.

[MatthewEWS]

Hi Kat, 

 

Looks like a good start. I am following with interest. 

 

Matt

[Johnson Street IEMD]

I have just started a blog today, with the first post on there today, having been to see my fledgling layout in its early stages of construction.

[Johnson Street IEMD]

Saturday 21st October 2017

 

Saturday gone, the model shop guru, my partner and I went for a meeting to nail down the final agreed track plans for Johnson Street IEMD. The track plans have always been 95% the same from day one, but today was a chance to explore what actual space was on the layout for additional scenic space, the layout wasn't created with any fancy track planning software as such, it was created by the power of my Jedi mind power and the brilliant work of the model shop guru, so I wasn't actually sure what real space we actually had for landscaping etc. 

 

Further discussions with the guru allowed for ideas around how the depot is accessed, whether from the road deck which crossed the layout or from beyond the boundaries of the actual layout, allowing for creative interpretation. The latter was agreed upon, but further more a proposal to have a covered fiddle yard which holds a town centre theme on it is on the table here and now, this will allow for a variety of shops, pubs and zebra crossings with lighting in this as well as a T-Junction with traffic lights on a rolling rotation of light sequences. There will be a lighting rig under the base to accommodate this as well as planned traffic light sequencer down on the layout for the access to Shed 2 (which will be controlled by a single road access either side of the roadbridge), the railway signals on the layout where two or three signals are planned (and are already purchased) and also the proposed lighting for the inspection tunnels, the depot lighting and other associated lighting for office buildings etc.

 

I also got to have a look at some other completed club standard layouts for inspiration as well.

 

The attached images below show the depot images as of here and now, and the planned location of the town scene as well.

 

[Johnson Street IEMD]

Picture One shows the proposed catenary masts, which are going to take the form of the original WCML style gantries, alongside a mix of Peco and scratchbuilt single track masts as well as gantries to take the 25kv wires at the ends of single and multi-track sections of electrified track. I have managed to find inspiration for these in the form of different pieces of masts already available out there to modellers and shouldnt be too hard to replicate.

 

Picture Two shows the area which will have a town scape scene going on above retained wall-arching features

 

Picture Three shows the main depot area where mostly AC traction locos will arrive and depart and be maintained, there is a yard shunter in the form of a DB 08 and there is going to be at least one, maybe two DB sheds also. Yes, 66s. I am not a shed person, but i do love the whole variety of liveries in the DB loco portfolio especially the subtle differences between this or that loco and they will be there to be seen.

[50002Superb]

This looks like it promises to be a lovely little layout

 

Look forward to seeing it’s progress.

[Johnson Street IEMD]

My loco fleet as of 2/11 currently stands @

 

EWS 

66135 (Bachmann) DCC fitted and weathered

86261, (Hornby) DCC fitted

90017, 90023 and 90035 (all DCC fitted)

92017 (Lima) DCC fitted and weathered

 

DB Schenker

08907 (Bachmann DCC fitted)

90018 and 90029 (DCC fitted) 90018 is weathered also.

 

Its my intention to move towards Bachmann (08, 66 and 90), Heljan (86), Dapol (88) - ''here's hoping'' and DJ Models (92) brands only, with the exception of a Class 60 in one of the more recent Hornby efforts.

 

 

 

2018 is going to see the arrival of the Bachmann Class 90, a loco for which I personally cant wait to get my hands on, although my first one(s) will definitely be off to the paint shop as Bachmann's first trio of liveries doesn't meet my own layout plans as such. In time, I would like to have a healthy stable of 90s on my layout and loving liveries, as I do, I have, in recent time had 90017 (EWS), 90018 (DBS), 90019 (FSR), 90020 (EWS), 90023 (EWS), 90029 (DBS), 90034 (post DRS DBC), 90035 (EWS) and 90036 (DBS) in Hornby form.

 

Ideally, I would like to showcase the varieties of DB livery the 90 wears to date, so EWS, Post EWS DB, First Scotrail, Post DRS DB, DB Cargo red, and not forgetting Malcolm Logistics.

Edited November 2, 2017 by DBC90024

[Johnson Street IEMD]

Following further discussions with the layout building guru, we have settled on a format for the town-scene to the right hand side of the layout which houses the fiddle yard. In keeping with the very modern theme of the layout, the junction of Johnson Street enters into a one way street and entrance on to a Street un-named here and now, but one which is the entrance into an Out-of-Town retail development which will feature several blue chip retailers with out of town store frontages which will be lit up, on the other side of the one way street, will be some car parking with street lighting, again, which will allow for some late night operations both retail and railway.

 

We have looked at several OOT (Out of Town) retail frontages from, Wills' i think ... and its likely that I will look for some fairly common place brands like Halford's, Boots, Sports Direct (possibly), although being a Newcastle fan, I dare say, i should probably opt out of such a brand on my ''Destination Retail'' location.

 

I have also acquired some catenary droppers in the form of Sommerfeldt to go on my after-market catenary masts which I found on ebay - from Ebay user torri_laser.  I really like the dropper style catenary masts which you can see just outside Crewe.  The various gantries and the different styles of droppers, the things which take the wires - is something I am interested in, in terms of exploring the styles of gantries seen on the WCML and having travelled across most of the WCML and even watched videos of cab rides of several AC locos across the electric network, i have found lots of inspiration out there for the catenary for Johnson Street IEMD, which will help deliver the ''juice'' for future mainly DB Cargo AC locos.

Edited November 20, 2017 by DBC90024

[Scott]

We have looked at several OOT (Out of Town) retail frontages from, Wills' i think ... and its likely that I will look for some fairly common place brands like Halford's, Boots, Sports Direct (possibly), although being a Newcastle fan, I dare say, i should probably opt out of such a brand on my ''Destination Retail'' location.

 

 

As a Rangers fan I certainly wouldn't be putting the name of Spivs Direct on my layout

[Spikeyorks]

This looks like it is going to be an interesting layout. Thanks for sharing.

I was wondering. What make is the 3 road shed in "picture one" of the thread?

Is it a scratchbuilt model?

If not are the entrances high enough to take catenary and pantographs through?

Just asking as I would like to have an emu shed that is full height.

[Johnson Street IEMD]

This looks like it is going to be an interesting layout. Thanks for sharing.

I was wondering. What make is the 3 road shed in "picture one" of the thread?

Is it a scratchbuilt model?

If not are the entrances high enough to take catenary and pantographs through?

Just asking as I would like to have an emu shed that is full height.

The three track is a scratchbuilt one I found on ebay sometime ago. The shed will be high enough for the catenary one way or another lol. There will also be inspection pits and LCD lighting in there also.