DomDulley

After seeing plans of the old Princetown station on Dartmoor I've tweaked the track plan so that the branch line terminus is similar in design. The up and down main lines still run between the scenic breaks, and everything joins up 'off scene' to a single track running around the attic walls. The main loop is in place now and I am about to start work on the main scenic area. The whole thing is a mess at the moment! Here's a short video of the Bachmann 94xx Pannier Tank that Father Christmas brought me having its sound functions tested:

Work has commenced on a smallish (6' x 3') layout in the corner of my attic. A single track will run around the attic walls, splitting into two lines in the scenic area to represent a main line (probably Exeter to Plymouth), which will allow me to run longer trains in a continuous loop. The scenic area will feature mainline platforms, a goods shed and cattle dock, together with a branch terminus with a small engine shed and limited MPD facilities. It is perhaps unusual in having a thumping great turntable as well, but I want it so that's all I have to say about that 😃 Anyway, here is the current track plan and I would welcome any comments or suggestions. Red lines are baseboard edges and green scenic breaks. Thanks!

I've decided on a setting, though I still have to come up with a name. The primary time period will probably be fifties to sixties which will allow me to run steam and green diesel, and with some careful modelling I can also hopefully run some BR Blue in the seventies and eighties. The layout will model a station at a fictional small port town in the South Hams in Devon, across the river Erme from the real hamlet of Mothecombe The town sits on a fictional branch line that runs from the main line between Plymouth and Exeter at Ivybridge, and continues through my port town to bring tourists to Bigbury-on-Sea and Burgh Island. This means that as well as the usual newspapers, fruit, passengers etc., I can bring in china clay, tin, gunpowder and granite from Dartmoor, together with stone from the local quarry, all for loading onto ships. Ships can also deliver goods to be loaded onto outbound services. This should provide quite a lot of operational interest, but I have also built an Inglenook puzzle into the layout. The branch line nearest the platform will attach to cassettes on either side of the layout. Oh, and I've managed to squeeze it into 4 feet, although once I actually lay out some track and test with wagons I may need to extend again. I welcome any thoughts or suggestions 😊

Hi Jim, I completely agree. The things I find most frustrating about the hobby are unexpected stoppages (especially with sound locos), and certain rolling stock expectedly derailing or uncoupling (they know who they are!). These of course are amplified when slow running. I managed to get the TMD in my old layout pretty reliable and so I'm hoping that I can manage the same on a smaller scale, although I know it will be a challenge. Fortunately I have most of what I need for a DCC layout so price won't be a barrier.

Thanks for the replies - some very inspirational stuff in there. I'm thinking operational interest should be my first consideration so I am looking into this first and will experiment with some track set up on the dining room table before settling on anything. Can anyone suggest good resources on railway operations? This is not an area I am familiar with and it's all a bit daunting.

Hello all, I used to have a garage layout called Coombe Ferrers which I tore down some five years ago to create a space for my then teenage children to hang out with their friends without wrecking the house. I had hoped that by now, with the little feckers grown, I could reclaim the space, but I suspect they will still have need of it for a couple more years at least and quite frankly I can't wait any longer to run some trains. As a result I have been thinking about creating an end-to-end micro layout in 4mm, perhaps 4 to 5 feet by 1 foot, and with the capacity to add a small fiddle yard or traverser dealio on one or even both ends. Eventually I might incorporate this back into a new garage layout, or maybe it will remain a standalone type thing. In terms of subject matter I have a number of BR Blue locos and rolling stock so a TMD seems an obvious choice, but I do want a decent amount of operational interest so I was also considering a shunting puzzle, as I have a lot of pre-grouping wagons and would not be averse to getting a little tank engine or such for Christmas. This would also be a bit different to Coombe Ferrers which incorporated an 80s/90s diesel depot (albeit unfinished). It would also be nice to have a small platform and perhaps a little engine shed and loading stage/parcels shed/cattle dock/etc depending on the setting. I am well aware that 5'x1' is a very tight space and sacrifices will have to be made, but I was hoping that some of you fine people might be able to provide some inspiration that will help me make a decision and come up with a track plan. Thank you in advance, Dom

Great shot

Being on a steep learning curve re operational matters, I'm interesting in how the shunting was carried out on a single fuel road - or is the fuel road different to the fuel siding? I've found this part of the Gateshead Depot plan - not sure if it's correct but it looks to me like there is a short siding leading to the tanks (marked 'buffer stop'). If this is right and the empties were kept in the siding and then just shunted out to allow full TTAs to come into the siding, where would the empties be shunted to before being taken away? I assume they wouldn't just be left blocking access to anything, or did that happen for short periods? Agree about the size of the tank.

I've always wanted a turntable - don't know why but I love them - so this one is a legacy from when the imaginary Coombe Ferrers yard serviced steam locos. I figure if it was done at St Blazey it's not too much of a stretch Good point on the facing point. I should mention that this is an existing layout, and this new plan replaces the current yard which was badly planned. I want to avoid too many changes to the main lines and rest of the layout if possible. There are prototypical examples of facing points leading to yards (moreso after track simplification I understand), but I agree that it would be better if it was trailing. The town scene is just a bare board so I will look at shifting it to the right-hand corner and perhaps adding a trailing point on the left. Thanks Tony!

Hi all, Comments please on the following design for an 80s/90s TMD in South Devon. Locos enter the yard and refuel at either side of the two fuel points (FP) before moving onto the headshunt bottom left from where they can either enter the shed or move to the turntable for stabling. Fuel wagons can be shunted between the discharge siding and the storage siding below it, to which they are delivered. Does this look fairly prototypical? Thanks, Dom

I had a bit of trouble recently fitting a mega bass speaker into the body of a Bachmann 37 (I didn't fancy trying to fit it in the tanks!), so I thought I'd document the process as much for future me as anyone else An initial fitting of the speaker without its enclosure gave very disappointing results, so I tried removing the fan housing from the 37 body and replaced the fan with some electrical tape. Despite being very careful I still managed to pop out the fine brass grille, and it took a long time and much swearing to fiddle it back into place. The speaker enclosure still wouldn't fit, so I tried cutting it down but couldn't get it low enough to fit. Eventually I decided to remove the enclosure again and blutack it to the metal chassis so that the gap below it would do the enclosure's job. This works really well and new the 37 sounds suitably deep and throaty. I've created a YouTube channel and this is my first attempt at uploading a video. It shows the 37 being put through its paces a bit on the DCC Concepts rolling road I picked up at Warley. I think I'll use a tripod next time

Fantastic! I am going to need to invest in more wagons It's a cement works so I will also need to look into how the coal is delivered. Brilliant stuff - very useful. Thanks!

I should also clarify: the cement works and the ballast sidings would not be connected. Just two different parts of the layout.

I hadn't thought about in such depth. Very interesting. Coombe Ferrers is now located on the South Devon Main Line where it skirts the bottom of the Dartmoor National Park, so Meldon is pretty much directly north and not too far away. I had envisaged a little diorama next to the track with a pile of ballast and a JCB to load it into wagons, but I could also have a truck bringing it in from Meldon. Or was ballast always loaded at larger facilities?

I am planning a cement works at the end of a single track line. I also thought about some sidings to fill up engineers' wagons with ballast. Now I have a clearer idea of where Coombe Ferrers is, I can look into what freight would be passing through as well.