New 7mm Project

[josh993]

Good Evening,

I just thought I'd start a new topic to show you what I have been working on recently, and for any feedback on what other people think of the plan and for some guidance on a few finishing touches for this design.

I have recently been working on a project with a friend of mine, who has recently started out in 7mm. As you will see from the attached photos. The project consists of two parts; a permanent fixed running loop with fiddle yard and a integrated layout that has been designed to exhibit.

The outside loop, which contains a double slip, two points and a passing loop on one side and a ladder fiddleyard on the other side. This has been designed based on 32mm Peco track work, this part of the layout has already been built and is just about up and running. The fixed part of the layout has been designed like this so we have somewhere to continuously run locos and to allow friends to run there 0 gauge locomotives which may not be suitable for the finer gauge on the main layout. The plan also allows something to be run on the outside loop, yet still allows the inner loop and fiddleyard to be ran independently.

The second part has been designed so it can be operated as part of the fixed outside layout but so it can also be operated at an exhibition. When at home in the garage, the layout can be operated via the branch line exit and the main line will effectively be used as a head shunt. When at an exhibition the main running track will be utilised with it's own traverser and a secondary traverser or fiddle yard will be bolted onto the branch line track. 

Although the current photo shows the layout built with 7 baseboards in a row, the intention is to have 4, 4ft boards and 1 3ft board (which are shown as track centre line outlines) then a trapezium shaped board which will reverse the layout in a "U" style followed by another 4ft baseboard - This is to allow maximum access when at home and during construction. When exhibited this additional trapezium shaped board will not be used but and an additional 4ft scenic board will be bolted on instead. Hopefully this makes sense from the attached pictures. (I notice the plan has changed slightly across these two pictures but is mainly there to show the two baseboard arrangements)

The main design constraints of the layout is to utilise the space as much as possible, whilst still being able to operate the layout via the branch line road when at home. Additionally, we wanted to create something that was simple, flowing and not to over cramped. The other limiting factor is the single radius on the right hand of the garage.

The exhibition part of the layout will be built to 31.5mm, and will be loosely based on a fictional Southern Region station, somewhere down towards the coast with the possibility of utilising holiday traffic. The largest loco is likely to be a King Arthur, but mainly it will be nothing bigger than a T9/T3. To suit my interests, it is also intended to be built so that the buildings could be changed to reflect a Eastern region station giving the option to run two era's of stock if required.

As you will see there are a few complex pieces of point work, mainly the diamond crossover arrangement which will lead into a double slip, which I am currently struggling to design myself in Templot. Being fairly confident this is the final draft of the plan in terms of the layout plan, I am now currently trying to finalise it by building a proper slip in Templot and sort out the sleeper spacing and orientation. However, if someone would like the challenge who is more confident, and probably a lot quicker and familiar with Templot and would perhaps like to "have a go" at sorting this part out and perhaps some help with the sleeper spacing and orientation around this part of the layout, it would be most appreciated. Alternatively, any ideas, suggestions and pictures to help with this would also be greatly appreciated.

As said above, I've posted on here in the hope from feedback from others on the plan, and any potential bottle knecks/problems people can see before construction starts. We have taken delivery of 6, 4ft x 3ft 3 baseboards this week and one 3ft a 3ft 3 board, so we are hoping to finalise on a plan within the next couple of weeks.....!

This is the Boards set up as they would be at an Exhibition - Obviously it cannot be setup like this at home due to the rooms constraints and would require two fiddle yards as described above, and hence the image below for home operation


Baseboards setup for Garage Operation 
(The 3ft board that the bulk of the point work board has since been extended to a 4ft board)

[MarshLane]

Looks an interesting idea and way of working! Shall enjoy following along with your progress.

 

Rich

[Happy Hippo]

As someone who has had a hand in organizing model railway shows as well as exhibiting large scale model railways, I have some suggestions for you:

 

1. If you intend to exhibit the whole line then the overall shape might give an exhibition manager some problems due to the 'bulge'.

 

2.  Which side are the public going to view this from? The 'action' is well inside the outside perimeter of the boards.  If it is too far away, then people will just walk off and not bother to look at all.

 

3.  Having boards in the centre of the operating well also causes movement issues for your operating team when you need to get from one side to the other.

 

4.  We used to operate with boards set 48" from floor level.  With the 3 foot wide boards at this height it was necessary to have step stools or boxes positioned so that operators could reach across the scenery and track/locos/stock in order to get to the occasional derailment or the like. (Even on the best laid track etc, you will need to do this occasionally).

 

5. Your storage sidings look pretty cramped (width wise) you would need to space them out some more, especially if they are 'visible'.  it also is advisable for them to be spaced so you can easily remove or place stock on the track without knocking wagons etc off adjacent roads as you do this.

 

6. Try and avoid pointwork spanning baseboard joints as they can be tricky to align, especially in an exhibition environment

 

Hth