riddler

LOL I moved home in October to a winter lodge. Will be moving into my new property on 1st March. So for 6 months I have been twiddling my fingers and all changes next week. So I have countless plans and I wont bore you with anymore. The 3 I have listed seem to be the better ones. When it comes to the planning I have just been trying to cover all the bases because I can't get fixed on just one type of setup

How about this plan?

My wife said she would like to be nosey and sit and watch. So the scenic view was to just have 6" in view just to watch the trains go by. So a backscene would be between that and the fiddle yard. I would be standing in the middle facing the main baseboard where all the action is. The fiddle yard would literally be behind me in view so I can see what is what. Think that makes sense

The Fiddle Yard and reversing loop would be to the back of me, thus making it easy to deal with any problems. The scenic area to the bottom containing the up and down lines would have a scenic barrier hiding the fiddle yard. Harlequin, just been looking at your Lyneworth and Millhampton trackplan. That is very good and easily achievable with the space I have for N gauge

What I do have is another complete plan of Moor Street. Obviously it has been reduced and less sidings then there would be but it also shows the fiddle yard which is not hidden from my view and I also have a separate scenic area which you can view from outside. What do you think of this one? The good shed is based on the actual one at Moor Street with 2 lanes and one side having a platform area

Another useful reply, thank you

The first plan I listed was based on Cheltenham but I have altered the arrival lane and the relief sidings, on the second plan I altered it to be the same as the prototype. So your examples you gave me above would be based on my first plan? What you guys are adding to this thread is very helpful. I have previously done a few layouts which always ended up being not finished because of not planning correctly. I mean I am still having trouble deciding exactly what I want. I like to watch trains go by but not all the time, I want to do some shunting but not all the time. Perhaps I might be better off using a scenic board either side, have 2 control panels and on one side have a goods yard and on the other side have a mainline station.

That is indeed another valid point and something that I do need to think about. In a ideal world I will have it automated and nothing will go wrong, however how often does that happen. I will make up the other plan I have for the fiddle yard and post it tomorrow. What I do have now is the plan being altered to accommodate a turntable. I have two ideas and again would be nice for comments to see if one or both are options

The replies to my post are very interesting and helping me understand the complexity of having a busy layout. I have no idea how a prototype railway works and I will never get to that stage so a large part of my layout is purely for my enjoyment and the modelling the building and landscape is something I really enjoy especially at N gauge level. What I have added is the fiddle yard and how the rest of the layout will progress, it is ambitious but I already have a large quantity of Flexitrack, points and point motors which have been sitting idle for a few years.

The plan has not been finished yet. I have a generous space of 13ft x 6ft shed but could be larger (14x8) if I can convince the boss. As the plan shows the mainline comes in from the left, I plan to have a fiddle yard underneath the main board turnback loop as well, pretending that is the mainline so I can still have trains running around,but that will depend on whether I can get it automated. If not then the fiddle yard will be on the other side in view. The era I am doing is between 1960 - 1970. I have a large number of Dccconcepts Cobalt digital point motors and NCE handset. I feel layout would require a turntable and stabling but the original was a lot further down the line, could I put it where the cattle pens are?

After the thoughts of you guys I am going to stick with the original plan for the goods shed, after all it is prototypical,. What I will need to do is move the turntable and coal yard as I only have room for a 2ft wide baseboard, so maybe lose the cattle pens and construct something that side

Johnster Thank you for the great reply, so really having a goods shed like that would be no good for my N gauge layout, as I wont be able to prototypically move the wagons into and out of the shed. I have altered the Goods Shed and roads to it, would this set up ever been done or am I just playing trains sets now?

The original good shed was 130 ft long. The layout will be for my own benefit and I wont be showing it to anyone, so I can run it how I want to but I would like to keep it to a prototypical set up if I can, so the goods shed is a pink elephant on this plan. Flying Pig, I will alter those points you suggested to see if it looks better. On the plan, I have added the cattle dock, I will need to move the coal yard and turntable so I could use the area to the left

Flying Pig You are indeed correct, I have redone the plan to nearly how it shows on the Georeferenced map from 1914. However as you can see it is still squashed a little and the coal yard is off the board. The actual Engine Shed and other turntable would be further down the line. I will have to squeeze it some more to get most of it in, but I am confused on how the goods shed works

I am now trying to move some bits and pieces to fit in the space I have. It seems I've made a few errors in the plan, however the goods shed and track leading into it and before are as the original plan. I just wanted to make it interested in the shunting moves. I would guess that when it was active they would use horses then?