TravisM

If I was going to do 'Minories', this would be my plan using 6'x18" boards, but could be put on three 4'x18" boards but I wanted to keep all the point work on one of the boards as I used Peco long radius points. It would be set in the present day and showed where there used to be a centre road in the station, long since removed as a cost saving exercise back in the 70's by BR. I've shown modern signalling but I'd love to have put semaphore signals in instead.

I remember seeing the plan of Greenwich Park awhile ago and thinking 'wow', it has so many possibilities. You could even model it in the present day, basing it on the track plan of Norwich Thorpe station, between Platforms 4 and 5, with the centre road being used for storage. The road crossing the railway behind the signal box, makes the perfect scenic break.

I seem to remember that CJ Freezer was interviewed (in probably Railway Modeller as it was so long ago), and he said that the Minories plan, as was all his plans, were to inspire people, to adapt them if needed and not to follow them as if they were written in stone. I think some people need to take a step back and admire what people have created, not criticise. If not, build your own and show it to the world.

I've always thought that Weymouth Tramway would make a brilliant layout, but because of it being on a outward facing curve, it would look great at a exhibition layout but not so good on a home layout, unless you built it more or less straight.

I agree that AnyRail is a good product, quite easy to use, but as Hornby Dublo points (and track) is made from stamped steel and absolutely no give in them, so it can be difficult to get them to fit as you'd like them.

I must admit that I do like the first plan, but what worries me is the point throws, either manual or electric can interfere with other points if laid too close to the diverging route of another point. Or is it just the way it's drawn on AnyRail but not like that in real life?

My very first 'proper' model railway when I was a kid, was Hornby Dublo 3 rail, and I've recently bought a few items to relive my childhood. I'm seriously thinking of building Minories as CJ Freezer designed it, but with the track work of the era in mind when first drawn out, do you think I can make a convincing layout, to the same size and track plan using Hornby Dublo 3 rail track?

Only in swarf 😂

I have to agree with @RobinofLoxley, the bay platforms are very short and the maximum length DMU that would fit is 2 cars (easy to work out on the grids), not 3, and I also feel that scenically, the station would look very compressed. If your modelling the modern era, with BR and it's cost saving measures in the 70's and 80's, I'm pretty sure the passing loops would have long gone. I would stick with your Oxford Road plan, lots of movement which will keep you busy, and therefore enjoyable.

All sensible suggestions, thought's and questions are most welcome, as to buffers on the head shunts, I've decided only to have them in the warehouse and the siding under the overhead crane. I want the world to think that they go further on, so if I decide to expand the layout, I won't have to worry about removing them. To stop stock rolling off, I plan to use thick clear plastic that I can screw to the ends, high enough to stop stock hitting the floor, not high enough to be noticeable. I'll probably have long gone up the chimney before Peco finally do a Bullhead short crossing, so I'll have to make use of their normal code 75 for now.

Finally managed to get the printer working and started to figure out what goes where, and exactly how much room I have. Here's some pictures of the progress.

Oh I plan too 😂. Learnt from bitter experience not to do that first. But first I need to sort out my damn printer so I can print out these templates.

Tim Horn delivered my baseboard for the layout today, fully assembled, which was extremely generous of him. I've decided to go with the plan I've uploaded, because after playing around with different plans I had drawn by placing track roughly where I wanted it to go, this one worked the best. As you can see by the pictures, I've allowed 14 inches as the absolute minimum for a head shunt, which equates to one Class 08 and one BYA bogie wagon. I'm planning to use Peco Code 75 Bullhead rail for the visible sections of the layout as I think it will look so much better, but I'm having problem downloading the Peco point templates because Peco send the plan to the printer as a PDF, and my printer won't print them, so I'm a bit stuck at the moment. I'm sure there's away round this.

Closest I'm ever likely to get to one, 841 - Class O - 0-8-0 - Museum of the Moscow Railway, Moscow Rizhsky Station - 06/2017 😂

As I've got one on order, really looking forward to seeing the samples. I know this is a 'how long is a piece of string' question, but roughly how long before the samples are approved and they arrive at Rails, and into my grubby little paws.

I like this plan over your latest creation as everything flows nicely. By putting in carriage sidings, your creating more work for yourself if your running it as a one man band, or if you have others in to help run it, do you have enough space in the operating well without getting in each others way?

I think I'll leave it as it is as I've got stock I can use, a Class 08 shunter and various other items I wanted to use on the layout, ie containers, vehicles etc, which focus the attention to it being set in present day. As this is supposed to be a money saving project and use what I already have, I'm defeating the principle idea and possibly spending more money which I could eventually use on my Cumbrian Coast layout.

After a trip to West Hill Wagon Works new shop opening yesterday, I was able to study their two helixes and the approaches needed to get them to work properly without derailments. I've come to the conclusion that my St Bees plan works great on paper, the reality is that I'm going to run out of room very quickly. The whole plan would have worked beautifully had my room been another 18 inches/2 feet longer in each direction. With a heavy heart, I'm going to have to compromise (again) and come up with a new plan. I've also attached a picture of one of West Hill Wagon Work's Helixes and you can see that it takes up more space than I had originally hoped, and that uses 3rd and 4th radius curves, which is what I would have needed to have two trains able to use the helix at the same time. It was also nice to see @Accurascale at the shop, showing off their new wares.

I'm wondering if I should backdate it to the 70's, mainly because the wagons are shorter, so more of them and might look better on the tighter curves, as well as having possibly more shunting options. Instead of using a BR shunter, using a Sentinel 0-6-0 diesel as the docks shunter as not all docks used BR traction.

Having seen one of the Accurascale pannier tanks in the flesh earlier today, even though it was undecorated, it looked the part. I forgot to ask, apart from what era your modelling, what area as well? In most cases, a J78 and pannier tank would have been poles apart as I think (happy to be corrected) that J78’s were a northeast loco, where as the pannier’s could be found just about all over the western region. As I’ve found with my ‘The Docks’ layout, you need to plan your shortest siding so it can accommodate your biggest loco with your longest piece of rolling stock. Something I’ve learned from bitter experience. Also, don’t let being young put you off as most of us here are big kids at heart 😜

That’s why I do a cut and past reply. So much easier and both parties know that the transaction has gone well.

Unfortunately that’s buyers for you. I tend now to leave feedback only when the buyer leaves theirs. I also put that in the item description, which usually motivates people as they want to been seen as a good buyer.

Hi there, Welcome to the RMWeb club, and most on here are very welcoming to newbie’s, so don’t be scared to ask questions. You have some interesting ideas and you could use them straight of the mark, but I do have a few questions. 1, I notice you are in Finland, are you planning to model UK or European practices? 2, What scale are you modelling? 3, What era are you modelling, ie steam, diesel or change over? 4, The biggie, what do you want to achieve? Sometimes we over extend ourselves and it looks a mess. I like to follow the KISS principle (Keep it simple, stupid), as well as ‘less is sometimes more’. Remember, this is all fun, so enjoy and don’t be too hard on yourself, or take notice of armchair critics.

Im not planning to have the Class 60 on the layout due to length of head shunts etc, it would be assumed that that it was left at the exchange sidings (as per real life). Also, as it’s a stand alone layout, there would be no fiddle yards.

Any better?