L'heure bleue: a new French layout

[Barry Ten]

Just been catching up with all this wonderful French stuff! Very atmospheric Al, You just need to add the smell of cheap perfume, Gitanes cigarette smoke and the sound of accordion music:-)

 

It all reminds me of 10cc’s One night in Paris!

 

Looking forward to watching this one progress!

 

I suspect we have very similar record collections, Dave!

[St Enodoc]

The sigh of midnight trains in empty stations, silk stockings thrown aside, dance invitations...

[wenlock]

I suspect we have very similar record collections, Dave!

Gentlemen of a certain age lol!

[Barry Ten]

Gentlemen of a certain age lol!

 

Guess who had his 10CC box set out this morning!

[Barry Ten]

A bit of work on the grotty industrial buildings that tuck in between the road and the elevated tracks:

 

 

I'm a pragmatist rather than a perfectionist, so these - even when finished and detailed - will be more about

overall effect than fine modelling, but hopefully they'll fit into the scene and look suitably nondescript. The blue

on the left-hand building is, in hindsight, a bit in-your-face so I'll be looking to repaint it in a duller shade, perhaps

grey, but I like the pale green of the one on the right.

 

Meanwhile, I've added a roof and some basic detailing to this corner building which featured in the earlier

update:

 

 

There's still a lot to be done in terms of detailing and making it look bedded down and part of the overall scene.

 

Finally, a tight shot of the USA shunter, going about its business:

 

 

Cheers!

 

 

[TT-Pete]

Finally, a tight shot of the USA shunter, going about its business:

 

french3.jpg

 

Cheers!

 

Very nice.

[Barry Ten]

Over the last few weeks I've been spending the odd few minutes just operating the layout, with the hope of getting a feel for its quirks ahead of any public outing. What's become clear is that, as it stands, it's a bit lacking in the kind of operational interest that's going to sustain me over the six or seven hours of an exhibition. Perhaps that's because it doesn't currently have a fiddle yard in place at either end, but even thinking ahead to the point where there will be a yard of sorts on the left of the layout, something's lacking! After much deliberation, and thinking to the experience I've had with my own layouts at shows, as well as those of my pals PMP and Wenlock, there's something to be said for a run-round loop!

 

So one will be now be added. It's not without some pros and cons. Adding a loop off the nominal main line will sacrifice some of the useful siding length in that part of the back siding will now have to be kept mostly clear for those movements, but I feel that's a small price to pay for the extra play value - and there's no law that says wagons can't be parked there, it's just that they'll have to be moved elsewhere from time to time. Any locos expecting to be handle the run-round will also need to be provided with couplings at either end, which is straightforward in most cases, but maybe not possible in all of them.

 

These rather tasty 141Rs, for instance - almost the "raison d'etre" for the whole project (pardon my French):

 

 

These are bloody great models, and the sound on them is the best I've heard from any big RTR engine, but there's no NEM pocket for the front pony truck, so any Kadee fixture would need to be bodged in place.

 

On the other hand, they could drop off wagons to be shunted by the resident 0-6-0 or locotracteur, move off-layout, get turned, and then return to collect an outbound train.

 

The other "con" - or maybe not - is that the main line and the back siding are at diverging levels, so there'll need to be some interesting adjustment of levels to get the loop into place, with some of the pointwork on a slight grade. That should work fine, though, provided its done with care, and some tests have shown that there's no tendency for my wagons to run away. It'll also look good, I reckon, over and above the existing variation in levels, suggesting that this is the sort of cramped inner-city location where the planners had no choice but to shoehorn a goods yard in, even with compromises.

 

None of this is major work, just a bit of tweaking, but I'm hoping the end result will give the layout a bit more playability!

[Neil]

A thought; if the 141Rs or any other train loco is to drop off the wagons for shunting by the yard pilot then I can't see the run round being used much if at all. Trains heading right to left (looking from the front) will be able to drop off a cut of wagons, those heading the other way could stop on the main with the rear clear of the yard entrance and the pilot pluck off wagons from the rear or any other part of the train. Obviously this doesn't address the day long interest problem.

[Barry Ten]

A thought; if the 141Rs or any other train loco is to drop off the wagons for shunting by the yard pilot then I can't see the run round being used much if at all. Trains heading right to left (looking from the front) will be able to drop off a cut of wagons, those heading the other way could stop on the main with the rear clear of the yard entrance and the pilot pluck off wagons from the rear or any other part of the train. Obviously this doesn't address the day long interest problem.

 

That's absolutely true, Neil - the snag at the moment is that, for the foreseeable future, there's only room for a fiddle yard on the left side, due to my train room being just a shade over 12 feet long.

 

The layout's designed to have trains run in from either end and in the long run that's how I envisage it being operated, either with a continuous run around the rear, or two independent fiddle yards. But for the purposes of the Cardiff show I decided I didn't want to tie up 16 feet of frontage with only half of that being the modelled part of the layout, so I decided I'd bring it in 12' format at the longest. I've even said I'll just bring the scenic part if space turns out to be tight, and operate it as a kind of diorama with no off-stage running.

 

I do like your point about the pilot being able to pluck off wagons from a train stopped on the mainline. Thinking about that, if it could pluck off all the wagons, the 141R could then reverse light-engine back over the bridge and into the fiddle yard, and its counterpart could then back out facing the right way to collect an outbound train.

 

Perhaps I should take it out "as is" and get some experience on the day.

[wenlock]

Splendid looking beasts those 141Rs!  Whether you install a loop or not I'm looking forward to the show!

[Mike Storey]

A bit of work on the grotty industrial buildings that tuck in between the road and the elevated tracks:

 

french1.jpg

 

I'm a pragmatist rather than a perfectionist, so these - even when finished and detailed - will be more about

overall effect than fine modelling, but hopefully they'll fit into the scene and look suitably nondescript. The blue

on the left-hand building is, in hindsight, a bit in-your-face so I'll be looking to repaint it in a duller shade, perhaps

grey, but I like the pale green of the one on the right.

 

Meanwhile, I've added a roof and some basic detailing to this corner building which featured in the earlier

update:

 

french2.jpg

 

There's still a lot to be done in terms of detailing and making it look bedded down and part of the overall scene.

 

Finally, a tight shot of the USA shunter, going about its business:

 

french3.jpg

 

Cheers!

 

On the blue building, if you can get hold of some Michelin transfers, I think that might look just the job. I recall small garages/workshops in Paris even in the early '70's, having slightly garish paint jobs, just to make them stand out I suppose. But they rarely seem to have been re-painted, so a faded, uncared-for blue might be more typical than you think?

[Barry Ten]

 

Here's a short Youtube clip showing some of the functions I've added to the Faller car system

arrangement on the module. At the moment there's a simple circuit with a stop point and an

option to take a longer route around the circuit.

 

It's all very easy to get working. The roadbed is 3mm mdf with the contact wire added using

the very handy Faller cutting tool, as well as a slitting disk on a Dremel-type tool for some

of the awkward bits. I added two branch-off points and a stop point, all of which run off

a 12V dc supply.

 

The system is fun to work with and adds a fair bit of play value, in fact I could almost see

it as a separate hobby in its own right. You have to live with the rather sudden start/stop

actions of the vehicles, as well as the fact that they move quite quickly (some people use

a different battery to drop the voltage) but they're not deal-breakers to me. Unfortunately

my attempts at adding lights were a bit rubbish, not only being a bit on the faint side, but

eventually stopping working completely. Time for a rethink on that one!

 

 

[jmh67]

Something struck me as odd in the video. Then I noticed that your lorry driver must be a recent immigrant from the UK or Japan ;-). While French trains (mostly) drive on the left, road vehicles drive on the right in continental Europe.

 

Other than that, I can only agree with those who called your layouts "very evocative" or gave them similar compliments. Looking at the pictures, I can almost "smell the smoke on the Saint Denis wind" or whichever industrial city comes to mind.

 

-jmh

[Barry Ten]

Something struck me as odd in the video. Then I noticed that your lorry driver must be a recent immigrant from the UK or Japan ;-). While French trains (mostly) drive on the left, road vehicles drive on the right in continental Europe.

 

Other than that, I can only agree with those who called your layouts "very evocative" or gave them similar compliments. Looking at the pictures, I can almost "smell the smoke on the Saint Denis wind" or whichever industrial city comes to mind.

 

-jmh

 

Thanks!

 

Unfortunately there's only room for one guide wire, so I decided to treat it as a narrow road that cars will just drive along in whatever fashion they like. Eventually I'll add some parked vehicles to add to the impression of a narrow, congested city street. The van can go the other way round, too, so there isn't really a fixed direction.

 

I ought to know about driving on the right, as I sat my driving examination in the Netherlands! In fact for a long while driving on the left was a bit unfamiliar to me. The first car I owned after returning to the UK was right-hand drive as well.

[TT-Pete]

You have to live with the rather sudden start/stop actions of the vehicles, as well as the fact that they move quite quickly (some people use

a different battery to drop the voltage)

 

Love it, looks like the driver is on the run from les flics... 

[Barry Ten]

Love it, looks like the driver is on the run from les flics... 

 

This lot?

 

 

or even?

 

[Neil]

.... The system is fun to work with and adds a fair bit of play value, in fact I could almost see

it as a separate hobby in its own right. You have to live with the rather sudden start/stop

actions of the vehicles, as well as the fact that they move quite quickly (some people use

a different battery to drop the voltage) but they're not deal-breakers to me. Unfortunately

my attempts at adding lights were a bit rubbish, not only being a bit on the faint side, but

eventually stopping working completely. Time for a rethink on that one!

 

I think that a different battery to cut the speed of the van down would be well worthwhile even if none of the other items are addressed. A gentle trundle round either of the two available routes would add to the presentation of the layout, with the stopping and starting done when it's off scene.

 

Edit; just managed to locate a layout article (New York City's High Line, Erik Block and Evan Daes - Model Railroad Planning - 2015) where the Faller road vehicles have lights and turn indicators. They mention this Dutch website as being particularly useful in achieving that. It is in Dutch, but I imagine that wouldn't be a problem.

Edited November 30, 2018 by Neil

[TT-Pete]

This lot?

 

 

Mais non! More like this lot;

 

[Barry Ten]

I think that a different battery to cut the speed of the van down would be well worthwhile even if none of the other items are addressed. A gentle trundle round either of the two available routes would add to the presentation of the layout, with the stopping and starting done when it's off scene.

 

Edit; just managed to locate a layout article (New York City's High Line, Erik Block and Evan Daes - Model Railroad Planning - 2015) where the Faller road vehicles have lights and turn indicators. They mention this Dutch website as being particularly useful in achieving that. It is in Dutch, but I imagine that wouldn't be a problem.

 

Thanks, Neil - I've just dug out that issue of MRP and will have fun following the link!

 

I didn't give much consideration about where I was going to put the stop points until it was too late to add them off scene, but having scratched my head a bit in light of your comment, I think I can see how it could be done, once the baseboards are split. I agree that having the cars stop and start off scene will aid the realism. I do need them to be able to stop as otherwise the battery charge wouldn't last for a whole day's operating. I say "they" but at the moment there's only one vehicle.

 

(Annoyingly, by the way, Faller now offer a proper SNCF version of that van in a starter set. Mine's got German lettering on the side so will have to be repainted at some point).

[Barry Ten]

I thought I'd throw in a couple of gratuitous shots of my weathered 141R:

 

 

 

I've still got to do the other one. These really are phenomenal models; they just have a certain presence and the

running and sound qualities are as good as anything I own.

 

[Andy Hayter]

Not sure the yellow ended tank wagon should be in the train.

I have it in mind that the yellow end signifies that the wagon should not be moved, but maybe someone more knowledgable can confirm.  Otherwise what a lovely atmosphere you have created.

[St Enodoc]

Mais non! More like this lot;

 

Le-Gendarme-de-Saint-Tropez.jpg

Or this:

 

https://memegenerator.net/instance/43451459/officer-crabtree-good-moaning

[Barry Ten]

Not sure the yellow ended tank wagon should be in the train.

I have it in mind that the yellow end signifies that the wagon should not be moved, but maybe someone more knowledgable can confirm.  Otherwise what a lovely atmosphere you have created.

 

You could well be right, Andy - I'm certainly not knowledgeable enough to know either way. It's just one of a few tank wagons I've picked up over the years, but I know

nothing about the prototype or the authenticity.

[JAMO]

The tank with yellow ends is named in french "un cul jaune" in English "a yellow ass".

 

This wagon is located of a crew track of a station or a yard and must stay there.

 

Police is for towns and Gendarmerie is for countryside.

 

Le gendarme de St Tropez (I like these funny movies) have light brown "summer" uniforms. Now it's always blue and dark blue colors.

[Fat Controller]

Not sure the yellow ended tank wagon should be in the train.

I have it in mind that the yellow end signifies that the wagon should not be moved, but maybe someone more knowledgable can confirm.  Otherwise what a lovely atmosphere you have created.

From the locations I've seen 'cul jaunes' (as opposed to gilets-jaunes..) in, I'd say they were akin to our 'internal users', covering everything from waste-oil tanks to vans used as club-rooms. They often include retired coaches, used as dormitories for PW and S&T staff.