RailwaysInMyDNA

That's interesting to know Ian, thank you. You never know, he might message if he spots the thread! Will keep my fingers crossed.

Yes, I've spotted a commission build centering on Doncaster station.

Many thanks for the pointers.

Research phase. Well, the easiest thing is starting a project! This year should see tangible progress, but gathering all the necessary relevant information is my starting point. Drawings of the station, works buildings and signal boxes, together with an accurate trackplan of my chosen time period (late 60's/early 70's) will be essential for depicting this well known location. The intention is to model the station to scale without scaling compromise, bridge to bridge and everything in between. Any reference help would be greatly appreciated on this. More details soon. Paul.

Correct Jeff, Lots of good pointers there, thank you chaps. Will investigate further and update so others can benefit from what l can get hold of. Cheers, Paul.

Hi guys, Can l ask, do Network Rail allow individuals to request station plans or would the local council be a better idea? I'm looking for scale drawings of Doncaster station for an upcoming project.

Apologies Jeff, but my chosen time period is around 1970. It won't be fixed in stone, as someone will always be pointing out an error, stating such and such! So l do reserve the right to have something turn up unexpectedly!

Many thanks for your good wishes. I am aiming big but will be able to work on it full time when the layout build itself gets underway. The trackwork is indeed complex, with a number of slips required and building pointwork will be a real challenge. A new thread will appear at a more appropriate time when the layout construction begins after sizeable building work has been done.

Agreed Graham, l followed HLJ build and went to see it at Wakefield. I thought it was a magnificent achievement!

Evening all. There have been significant developments since my last update, in that huge decisions have taken place that have altered all my plans! After careful negotiation (with the wife) and my offer to build stables away from our established stabling block, it means l now have a much larger footprint in which to build my project. With this development in mind it has resulted in an ambtious plan to build an even bigger project, with the intention of opening it to the public! After much deliberation and with the extra space becoming available my plan for York will not now go ahead. What l now propose to build is a complete scale model of Doncaster station, under the umbrella of my business CreativeRail. Therefore, l won't continue this thread. Going forward l will start a new thread, but only when construction of the layout begins. The scenic section will be in the region of some 70 feet, but much building alteration must happen to make this work. I do apologise if this news disappoints some, as York remains very special to me and others but l hope that my interpretation of Doncaster will be impressive in this scale. The new thread will be a considerable length of time coming. Many thanks, Paul.

What l'm hoping to do is board above the fiddle yard to gain the necessary space for the shed and fuelling point. There will be an operating well between the station approach and fiddle yard area.

Just a little update. I've put a plan into AnyRail that hopefully gives a good idea of the extent of what I intend to include in my interpretation of York Station southern approach. I'm hoping that I can directly overlay which commercially available points will fit this plan. There will be some omissions from this plan, due to cost and complexity, such as most of Holgate Junction, but the plan will hopefully still be convincing.

Hi Paul, Thank you for the excellent wagon references. Your collection recording so much of Britain's railway heritage has been invaluable to me over the years and is very much appreciated. Cheers, Paul.

Many thanks for your good wishes. I do get your valid point on 20's. I recall seeing an image showing an abundance of single 20's around the turntable in what is now the main hall of the NRM. My choice of location was a battle between Hitchin and York. Both had their own merits and l took my time in making the final decision. Am l right in saying the 03 pilot had a match wagon, as did the Newcastle pilot?

I didn't recognise the name but recall him by his 53A Models username. Agreed, an absolute superb collection of my chosen time period. I do have a dmu on pre-order and will need to add additional units later on. To answer your earlier question about trackwork, l'll be looking at Marcway for pointwork initially, but will work through my trackplan when drawn up. One thing l can say is it won't be an exact replica, although l do aim to make it look authentic. Cheers, Paul.

I have Graham thank you, and l'm sure like me, everyone whom followed the progress were blown away by the finished article.

I realise how much l've bitten off, but this is the big project to do justice to a favorite place that l've probably visited most years of my life. I'm in awe whenever admiring the fantastic engineering that went into such a grand building. I'll fit in as much as space allows, but only intend around half the station length. I certainly do remember the number of double slips! I actually reproduced York in BR days for Rail Simulator, which l sold through my business CreativeRail. Many thanks for the good wishes. Cheers, Paul.

Very much appreciate the welcome Julian.

Hi all, I'm pleased to say that my long held aim of building my dream layout is reaching the planning stage. Another house move has enabled the jump in scale from 00, as the indoor space available has dramatically increased! I'm proposing to use part of my stable block, as a reduction in the number of horses and machinery has freed up usable covered space for a layout. The building measures in the region of 45 feet by 12, and the fact that l intend loops at either end that extend beyond the walls, for a continuous type of configuration. So the overall length could be touching 75 or so feet. My plan at the moment is to model the complex south approach from Holgate bridge to about the mid point of the curved train shed. All platforms might not be included, as the overall width might not be possible. This will become clearer when l've drawn up a scaled trackplan. A fiddle yard will be included in the continuous run, hence available width will be at a premium. I'm proposing to board above the fiddle yard to provide sufficient room for York TMD and Leeman Road stabling point. For the past couple of years l've been acquiring rolling stock and trackwork for the project. Time period for the layout is around 1970, so preTOPS, and will feature a mixture of BR green FYE and BR blue. Current list: Class 08 x 2 * Class 20 x 2 * Class 25 x 1 Class 31 x 4 Class 37 x 2 Class 40 x 2 Class 45 x 1 Class 50 x 1 Class 52 x 1 Class 55 x 4 Class 60 x 1 Mk1 BG x 8 Mk1 BSK x 3 Mk1 SK x 5 Mk1 TSO x 4 Mk1 FK x 2 Mk1 RMB x 3 GUV x 3 HAA x 12 Clay hoods x 12 Cargowaggon x 2 VAA x 5 Standard vans x 12 HTO x 5 16 ton x 11 20 ton brake van x 1 Grampus x 1 More items are on preorder. As you can see, some items in the list don't quite fit. There will be a Cornish project in the future! This is a mammoth undertaking, and will involve lots of building improvements/modifications before actual layout building can commence. Updates aren't going to be numerous as my time at present is limited with other assignments, so please be patient. Planning will need doing carefully to make this work. That's all for now. Cheers, Paul.

Hi Guys, I'm currently looking into what magnetic uncouplers are available for Kadee fitted stock. Does anyone know for certain if they can effect sound fitted locos, ie low fitted speakers? This may not be an issue as I'm only planning to use one in a siding that shouldn't have a loco pass over it, but I thought I'd ask the question. I'm a little puzzled by the instant and delayed operation at this early stage in my investigation but need to see how big a range of products are out there before deciding on one.

I'd been hopeful that Heljan would do another batch of this much loved loco. The guys at Tower gave the impression that it would never happen, which I found puzzling after seeing very inflated prices for 2nd hand examples on Ebay and the speed in which they sold showed there was clear demand for them.

Has anyone tried any of the long bogie locos over these 2nd radius set curves? Ie., class 40, 45?

Nice progress. The station layout looks great. Building platforms will be a good test with all those curves. How many Mk3's will be on your HST's?

I wasn't aware of the cheap Hatton's 8-pin decoders, but will take a look so l can get some more of my DCC ready locos operational

Have you seen the curved Hornby points? I did consider them for the fiddle yard but did go with all peco in the end, but they do offer a tighter radius should you need it on the south end of the platforms.