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East Barnes Lane Depot - NSE in an APA Box


davidge
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I posted sometime ago in the micro layout threads about building a series of working ‘layouts’ in IKEA APA boxes…so I thought it about time I started to post up some progress. I stress that I am not a rivet-counter nor am I slavishly accurate about everything – to me it’s the enjoyment of modelling and running trains – but any suggestions/corrections would be appreciated. In other words there is going to be plenty of prototypical errors in all of this!

 

The overall vision is a series of three NSE scenes based in South London, a TM/carriage depot, a parcels/works depot and a station scene. I decided to locate these scenes around the Raynes Park area – because I used to live close by and I like the idea of modelling something loosely based on Raynes Park Station.

 

Because this is all fictional, I have decided to call the station Malden Park (a combination of New Malden – the next stop – and Raynes Park), with the TM/depot being East Barnes Lane Depot and the parcels/works depot being Malden Park Depot. I chose East Barnes Lane as a name because the actual road in Raynes Park where I ‘pretend’ the depot is located is West Barnes Lane. You may be starting to get my drift now!

 

Below is a map (based on the actual Raynes Park area) to set the scene:

 

DG_MP_area.jpg.3ab2487646d3209a831b820abf2b6cd1.jpg

 

Here is the track plan for East Barnes Lane Depot, the ‘scene’ I am (very slowly) working on  first:

 

DG_MP_EBL_plan01.gif.1605cf36edb6cb2d6275d6d9e6896513.gif

 

(Yellow squares are yard lights, red squares buffer lights.)

 

To the left is a traverser. The roads connecting the traverser to the ‘layout’ are each long enough to hold a long loco (Class 47) or a Mk1 carriage. This gives extra storage to avoid man-handling stock too much, and more importantly enables 3 carriages to stand in the carriage roads with only two and a half on show (thus giving the impression of a longer train than would fit in the length of an APA box) and locos to be poking out of the loco shed.

 

Scale is OO, PECO code 75 track with sleepers respaced using the PH Design tool, and DCC.

 

I’ll hopefully post some photos of the construction soon.

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Part 2...

 

Before I did anything and even bought an APA box, I mocked up some ideas using bits of card/track etc. Interestingly I reversed the layout in the plan from the mockup. I initially planned to have railway arches at the rear to represent tracks running on a viaduct as is common on south London, but felt I was trying to cram to much in so in the final plan settled on a low relief carriage shed.

 

DG_MP_EBL_mockup.jpg.164da089e36e68dba2056779cd20796a.jpg

 

The photos below show the APA box 'in the raw' with track laid and sprayed. I decided to leave the top front wooden spar off the APA box as it would be easier to work on the layout without anything in the way and I planned to build a simple lighting unit (four pieces of timber in a rectangle with a fluorescent tube attached) to rest on top. Even without that additional spar the APA box is very sturdy. For the deck I did not use the slot in fibre board provided but cut a piece of 3mm MDF to fit on top of the wooden spars and braced it with a small beam underneath. This gives a flat raised surface that extends right to the front, enables tracks to be extended outside of the box and gives useful space underneath for wiring (or point control if I had any).

 

DG_MP_EBL_apa01.jpg.e652c16880ae1e47f39e54764dfb01c4.jpg

 

DG_MP_EBL_apa02.jpg.9261f1b833a4608e7b789789193f4801.jpg

 

The underneath with adjustable feet added. Note the extensive wiring required! I have yet to install the wiring for the lights.

 

DG_MP_EBL_apa03.jpg.2f24f0c9e3b3dbce13d541418b13461c.jpg

 

The fiddle yard/traverser. The APA box attaches (well butts up to) the right hand end. The tracks extend to the left so that I can attach a second APA box module there. To give a sense of scale the tracks on the right can hold a Class 47 or single Mk1 carriage.

 

DG_MP_EBL_fyard.jpg.d058f4ad32a78462c50a9a96108912d0.jpg

 

Some mockups using the APA box module. The loco shed is a cut down Scalescenes diesel depot and I am using Scalescenes stuff for most of the scenic side. The carriage platform is Knightwing with a new base as I could not get the one supplied to stay flat. Knightwing also for fueling point and tank.

 

DG_MP_EBL_apa04.jpg.466f219b5c1650c38f72ac47516af0bf.jpg

 

DG_MP_EBL_apa05.jpg.7f3be471e9814bf78a8178785732a603.jpg

 

DG_MP_EBL_apa06.jpg.7f66aa01013d524b883b1c6c32d324e5.jpg

 

DG_MP_EBL_apa07.jpg.a5b0b02268fe33509a1b682c690549e2.jpg

 

Paths/hard standing etc. areas (apart from between shed tracks) laid ready for ballasting.

 

DG_MP_EBL_apa08.jpg.781b83beb11ec44454d8fac67d6a937d.jpg

...to be continued

 

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Yes, the stabling sidings have a 3rd rail.

 

I'm hoping to take some more photos over the next few days as the 'layout' has moved on a lot since the set that I posted as I took those some time ago. For example, lighting unit constructed, 3rd rail and ballasting is done, backscene and low relief carriage shed (with internal lighting) is in as is right had end wall and very low relief factory. I'm currently detailing and weathering the loco depot building and installing its lighting.

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Spent the weekend shoveling snow (had to clear our drive 3 times + road outside as council never come around and do it) so have not had much opportunity to take many more photos. However did a snap a couple off.

 

This is the lighting unit - a very grand title for four bits of spare timber and a fluorescent light. It simply rests on top of the APA box.

 

DG_MP_LB.jpg.a531cbf7541ab3c7effb9fb9b67fb5a6.jpg

 

A few bits and pieces I knocked up from various spares, bits of wood, card, plastic etc. for use inside the loco depot. The cabinets are bits from various Scalescenes kits suitably dirtied up, the tools, oil cans and bucket from a set of Springside loco bits, boxes are made from bits of brown envelope with rags from tissue paper dirtied with black artists pastels and scrunched up (technical term), coils are soft copper wire wound around a plastic sprue then painted . Can't remember where the rest came from - I found them in the bottom of my spares box.

 

DG_MP_SC01.jpg.be4e85bcec45986548f5210d755e7098.jpg

 

 

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A few more photos of progress.  Note that loco shed is not yet in place and will block the view of the entries from the fiddle yard. Still some work to do on the ballast.

 

Overall views of complete 'layout'.

 

DG_MP_SC02.jpg.f43c7858ce4fc531c633ab750125573f.jpg

 

DG_MP_SC06.jpg.0eb123ab12362e0f46c7190988c6657e.jpg

 

Some further views from different angles. Inside the carriage shed at the back is a photo of one of my EPBs printed full size and stuck to the backscene. Apart from the carriage platform (Knightwing) everything else is scratchbuilt  from Scalescenes textures. The railings on the carriage shed roof are those from the Knightwing carriage platform kit. I am also experimenting with some CG Textures photos of office blocks etc. as additions to the backscene to give a 'distant' townscape.

 

DG_MP_SC03.jpg.77f16a98a8e5a2f00727a32ffab433b5.jpg

 

DG_MP_SC04.jpg.06848dcbcf69e5b490c7b63500ef7536.jpg

 

DG_MP_SC07.jpg.1b2042357c8f48eb97ad0f8650f863f6.jpg

 

DG_MP_SC08.jpg.30e2f60336e7c3b805071bbfd2477ac1.jpg

 

DG_MP_SC09.jpg.bee85dc4a6a6c679794455ba781799d6.jpg

 

DG_MP_SC10.jpg.4e12b272ee850bbbbad05baa0c7389b5.jpg

 

DG_MP_SC11.jpg.5fed369a47db0a52afc379793453ca1c.jpg

 

 

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A very nice and well executed project so far, i really like the buildings on the backscenes and the rear building is especially well done.

 

Great work and look forward to seeing it develop

 

cheers

 

Neil

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This looking great - and feels surprisingly spacious.

 

Can I ask if you have any plans to close off the front while in storage? I've been planning an APA box layout and was going to tip the box on it's side so that it can be closed up to keep the dust out and look respectable in my v. small flat. However, I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that there won't be enough room for both track and scenic treatment using it this way around.

 

I haven't got the box handy at the moment, but looking at this photo:

post-4916-0-54448000-1359437074.jpg

would I be right in thinking that if you glued the top member to the missing side the whole thing will still slot back in?

 

Thanks

 

Stuart

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I was planning at some stage to use the APA box front side or a piece of MDF to complete the box for transportation but not by simply slotting it in down the slots that you can see in the photo. The reason being that I have extended the scenic part beyond the front slots (look at some of the photos and you can see a small fence there for example - and there will eventually be a small store and water tank as well).

 

Currently I have two small pieces of MDF painted black that go in the slots to give some 'framing' to the scene (again see photos). I planned to do something similar for a front cover but attach it to two new small peices of MDF by some wood blocks as spacers so that it can in effect 'slot in' but extend over the front of the APA box.

 

Yes, if the scenery in your APA box does not extend beyond the slots, you could simply do as you say and glue the top member to the front side and slot in it in place and then attach the screws to lock it in place.

 

Currently to prevent dust getting in I am simply slotting a thin piece of card down the front and leaving the APA box lid on.

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Yes, if the scenery in your APA box does not extend beyond the slots, you could simply do as you say and glue the top member to the front side and slot in it in place and then attach the screws to lock it in place.

 

Currently to prevent dust getting in I am simply slotting a thin piece of card down the front and leaving the APA box lid on.

 

Thanks for the quick response, that's very helpful. Being sent overseas for work just at the time I was about to start building has actually turned out be be not such a bad thing as I've been able to see what everyone else has been doing with their APA boxes in the meantime!

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Few more photos with a few bits of stock - work progressing - but slowly...

 

Looking across the fueling point (still working on the roof, oil drums,signs, weathering etc.):

 

mp08_01.jpg.643c00be1a04ea1a6183cf393f2e9fce.jpg

 

The fuel tank:

 

mp08_02.jpg.2dc920d1ee0ebda028e02e52413e81a3.jpg

 

Looking inside the diesel depot:

 

mp08_03.jpg.18058a4c0f79ac4f8e182aa832937304.jpg

 

General view towards depot end:

 

mp08_04.jpg.f48fda6e88074661188800afdc55b6b9.jpg

 

And towards the fuel tank end:

 

mp08_05.jpg.ebcfe9a9146f345feee2a277b7ba1803.jpg

 

 

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Yeah, same here, I've been inspired by this and a few other threads on here: having just accidentally bought a Hornby Sentinel, and finished modernising a Triang Dock Shunter to create a freelance industrial loco, plus having a Bachmann Scenecraft loco shed building spare, I was thinking of [part of] a third-party rail maintenance facility, where anything and everything could be seen undergoing repair or modification work.

 

Its handy to see the locos in the earlier pictures, it gives me a good idea of scale and size.  On the question of closing it up when not in use, I was wondering, would it be practical to replace the front wall with a section of Perspex instead, to keep the dust off but still allow the model to be viewed?

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JDW - no reason why you could not use a piece of perspex as you suggest - infact quite a neat idea for when it is not in use as the layout could then be on permanent display (other half permiiting) rather than just be wooden box.

 

I hoping to post some more pics later this coming week as I have been working on the 'layout' quite a lot over the last week or two whilst we have been having this terrible wet weather

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Yeah, same here, I've been inspired by this and a few other threads on here: having just accidentally bought a Hornby Sentinel, and finished modernising a Triang Dock Shunter to create a freelance industrial loco, plus having a Bachmann Scenecraft loco shed building spare, I was thinking of [part of] a third-party rail maintenance facility, where anything and everything could be seen undergoing repair or modification work.

 

Its handy to see the locos in the earlier pictures, it gives me a good idea of scale and size.  On the question of closing it up when not in use, I was wondering, would it be practical to replace the front wall with a section of Perspex instead, to keep the dust off but still allow the model to be viewed?

 

I've found that gluing the top member to the front and sliding the whole thing in and out (as discussed further up the thread) works very well to close everything up. See here for some pictures:-

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/73735-riverside/&do=findComment&comment=1090924

 

JDW - no reason why you could not use a piece of perspex as you suggest - infact quite a neat idea for when it is not in use as the layout could then be on permanent display (other half permiiting) rather than just be wooden box.

 

I hoping to post some more pics later this coming week as I have been working on the 'layout' quite a lot over the last week or two whilst we have been having this terrible wet weather

 

Looking forward to some progress pics - your topic was very helpful when I started my APA box so I'm keen to see the finished article!

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