Hi Pete.., yes you were one of the prompters... so first dibs is yours. I did play with a slanted entry from the cassette area (may just be a hidden area, but liked the idea of casesstes to ease loading - not yet worked out how to make one...but) and what I can get my hands on will probably dictate this. I love the entry to Hendry Lane - slanted under a disused railway bridge - but wanted some real estate to the left of the entry point, so scrubbed that idea initially. HL was an inspiration.

Yes, I have print outs of the peco point sets and have laid them out on the desk - blu-tak'd - but will try the wallpaper idea too. I started at 5' long, but found that the 55s would be too close at the sidings entry point - so lengthened them (track and point cutouts with lcocos sat on them).

I'll map it out properly and see how it goes.

Thanks for the suggestions.. and for watching.

Looks pretty good to me, although I'd be tempted to rotate the whole thing a few degrees to prevent the main axis of track being parallel to the board edges - this might cost you a siding, depending on how you do it, but it would probably look more natural?

Morning -

Further to Petes suggestion - have you looked at Xtrkcad - it's a brilliant free layout planning program that you can download - it'll allow you to build your trackplan - (it has all peco point templates included on it) and view/print it to scale - you can even print it out full size to work straight from it - better to make any mistakes 'virtually' on your screen where its much easier to correct things with a few clicks of the mouse. I'd also agree with Bill - if you skew the plan slightly , it may be at the cost of a siding - but you'll see all that lovely bufferbeam detail to better effect Again, you can easily rotate your trackplan on Xtrkcad and see how it fits your board size, and modify if required.

tfn

Jon

Will and Jon, Morning. Thanks for the suggestions. I handn't thought about rotating it... I'll see what I can do although I may be limited to keeping it straight at the back to get the run into the maintenance depot shed.

I can alway wident the baseboard a bit,.

I tried to download Xtrckcad but then found that I needed to buy a license to get some sign-in number (?) Downloaded ok, but didn't have the long number - (was it a 12 digit number?) and thought that it said that I needed to buy a license to get it. Did I get it wrong?

One area to ponder at the moment is the stabling point in the middle foreground (6). I did wonder about putting a single road shed on this... or a washer plant, but wonder whether this could render the rest of the layout more difficult to photograph, and that it might draw attention away from what's behind? Any thoughts? I suspect that some 3-D rendering may help - might try and draw some up... although not to BCNPete's standard of course.

Xtrkcad used to be pay software, but is now open source. Try downloading from here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/xtrkcad-fork/

Be aware - there is a learning curve! I found it somewhat idiosyncratic but it does work well when you get used to it.

Thanks Will... I'll give that a go tonight.

Jon I love the sketch! Trackplans sketched out by hand always look nicer to me - more organic! Have you any sketches or photos to share that are the inspiration for the location for those of us not familar with Kings Cross in the period you're talking about?

One thing I'd consider for a layout of this size is to try and use C&L or Exactoscale (P4 Track Co) OO track with bullhead rail for the sidings. With some judicious weathering and ballasting they can be made to blend in with Peco Code 75 points (see Chris Nevard's Cement Quay and Arne Wharf). Flat bottom Peco Code 75 looks nice, but perhaps not the 'diesel stabling point' look you're going for?

Hi James, thanks for the comments. The hand drawn sketches always give that fag-packet look... which is representative of the planning behind it (minimal at this stage), but any changes require a complete redraw. A cad system would therefore be useful... part of tonight's search (if I get time).

The advice about the track is noted. Not something I'd considered, but I'll take a good look. The article on Chris Nevard's Arne Wharf did cover this didn't it - will dig it out (a recent Model Rail I think).

For Kings Cross, there are a number of references, but can't locate them at the moment. Try googling Kings Cross Stabling point and you'll quickly get the feel of it. Now its just offices and portacabins.... very sad!

For Finsbury Park, this fotopic site is useful... although I'm still digesting ideas http://johnsmith.blokes.org.uk/ (Finsbury Park Diesel Depot Remembered). Have just ordered the DPS book on Finsbury Park too... expecting some useful information in this.

Thanks again

Will, "Be aware - there is a learning curve! I found it somewhat idiosyncratic but it does work well when you get used to it." Wow, you're not kidding! maybe I'll try this slow time... can't seem to get the hang of it right now. But thanks for the pointer... now have it downloaded.

My confusion was that I tried to download Templot - license needed for that.

Chris, The tunnel entry point is one we share (top left of plan at present), and whilst I will plan for this to be DCC, yes I'd love sound too. As the majority of my fleet are currently Deltics (DMD could be Deltic Maintenance Depot ) this does pose a bit of a problem with sound. The balance of opinion on this swings towards SWD as the source for the sound items, and I will pursue this once funds purchased the digital controlled and allow for £100 a time upgrades to the fleet. It'll be a slow progress, but there's no rush.

Having now started to become familiar with teh chassis dissasembly of these - I reduced the bogie height on 55008 last night, I may actually try fitting the fuel tank speaker myself. However, for now, I have this layout to plan, and I'm enjoying just detailing my diesels.... so sound can wait awhile. However, the sound locos are good, and yes they do take you back. Mind you, I stood watching a Deltic (022-RSG) hauling a train to the buffer stops at Kings Cross a few weeks ago, throttling up to haul the coaches up the grade from Gasworks... now there was a sound that I'd not heard for over 30 years - hair on back of neck stood on end! It was a good day out all in all... just a shame that it clashed with the DEMU showcase.

I'm also strapped for space - hence the under 6' plan. But I think I'll end up with something. I mean, look at Hendre Lane !

Pete, thanks for the prompt about that layout. It is good isn't it! I found it a while ago searching through the layouts pages... and it helped with some ideas for my depot plan.

No revised plans at moment, but will get back to that at the weekend... hopefully. I'll grab some tracing paper out of the drawer and give that a go.

Spent last two evenings dropping bogie/chassis height on two of my Deltics. Improves the look a bit. I took some photos of the work last night on Tulyar, so will start a workshop blog with that article.

Thanks Pete....... Jon