round roundies

[mervyn]

Just a thought as I plan my next Layout,  i never seem to come across fixed board layouts I know that most modern housing doesn't have room for the 8x4 board but it seems that a small   straight board and fiddle yard is now more discussed on these pages rather than the fixed oval board, anyone doing an oval layout anymore ...or is it just me ?

[StevieD71]

My 10x8 shed layout goes round the walls. The main scenic board is 2ft wide and the rest are around 9in wide. I am considering a large loop in the garden to give longer running.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

I've got huge great ovals. End to end is a necessary consequence of restricted space is all. Roundy roundy is a way more flexible solution - it can be operated strictly 'end to end' if required - that also allows one to just sit back and enjoy belting the trains along.

[F-UnitMad]

The trouble with a solid top 8 x 4 board is that with one 8ft side against a wall much of the rear is inaccesible. Even with a 4ft end against a wall, you still need about 2ft of space around the sides for access, so an 8 x 4 board in reality needs a 'footprint' of 10 x 8. If you have that sort of space, there are better ways to use it for a layout than a solid 8 x 4 board, such as around the walls, with a central operating area.

Nowt wrong with roundy-roundys, though.

[Classsix T]

Oh yes, the three circles of a radius 2,3 and 4 radius test track have been split to jam in a scenic section in front and plain line fiddle in rear.

I'm blessed with a modicum of space to work with although this project only works as long as I don't require access or operation of the long end of the substantial "L" shaped layout beneath it!

 

Whilst I love shunting/operations layouts, I (and Dad) really fancied a layout that you could just have some trains plodding around unsupervised, job done!

 

C6T.

Edited June 4, 2018 by Classsix T

[fozzy280472]

I agree with the above statement by C6T , I love having a couple of trains running constantly as I'm working on something or other.

[tomparryharry]

Some of the really good exhibition layouts have been oval, or a sort of ovoid. I'm remembered a really good 3mm layout. Damned if I can remember the name though. It just looked 'right'.

 

One of the drawbacks of a really straight run, is that you've got to turn the corner sometimes! With an oval, at least you're about halfway there. Mind you, I'm a sucker for a long straight. My big pipe dream is a long straight, about 50-odd feet long, so you can get an entire train 'in section. Even better, double track, so you get one going the other way. All I need to do is to knock next doors' house down.

 

That will get me off the Xmas card list.....

 

Cheers,

 

Ian.

[Andy Hayter]

30ft x 8ft 4 track oval in H0.  Good for watching the trains go by and for running in new stock.

[bike2steam]

A good roundy-roundy makes a useful test-track for running-in locos .

[westerner]

My layout Wencombe was a roundy roundy (11ftx6ft) the station was built on a transion curve and min radius into fiddle yard was 3ft. Have a look at the thread, my Layout below.

Edited June 4, 2018 by westerner

[Silver Sidelines]

There are roundy roundies and there are dumbells - both allow continuous running which is very therapeutic and quite useful.

 

CJ Freezer was quite keen on dumbells.  My current layout has progressed to a dumbell after starting out as an out and back (with a roundy roundy bit in the middle).

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/880/entry-15713-in-the-beginning-%E2%80%93-layout-design/

 

I have lots of space and basically there is 30 or 40 ft of double track mainline with six foot diameter circles at either end.

 

Cheers Ray

Edited June 4, 2018 by Silver Sidelines

[Dagworth]

There are roundy roundies and there are dumbells - both allow continuous running which is very therapeutic and quite useful.

 

CJ Freezer was quite keen on dumbells.  My current layout has progressed to a dumbell after starting out as an out and back (with a roundy roundy bit n the middle).

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/880/entry-15713-in-the-beginning-%E2%80%93-layout-design/

 

I have lots of space and basically there is 30 or 40 ft of double track mainline with six foot diameter circles at either end.

 

Cheers Ray

Sometimes you can combine them... a dumbell twisted around on itself to make a roundy roundy, then you add an extra turn and a coal mine in the middle and call it Ravensclyffe http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/3288-ravensclyffe/

 

Andi

[tomparryharry]

There are roundy roundies and there are dumbells - both allow continuous running which is very therapeutic and quite useful.

 

CJ Freezer was quite keen on dumbells.  My current layout has progressed to a dumbell after starting out as an out and back (with a roundy roundy bit in the middle).

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/880/entry-15713-in-the-beginning-%E2%80%93-layout-design/

 

I have lots of space and basically there is 30 or 40 ft of double track mainline with six foot diameter circles at either end.

 

Cheers Ray

 

We need to ask Andy York to put a 'jealous' button on the forum. 30-40 foot of double track gets the old brain cells working....

[Silver Sidelines]

Thanks Tom

 

.... 30-40 foot of double track gets the old brain cells working....

 

.....and the visible sections all hand ballasted with poppy seeds.

 

Ray

[The Johnster]

Roundyroundies are anathema to me, but this is purely personal preference and I have no intention of criticising other peoples' views.  But operation is the most important part of the hobby to me, and watching trains go by, especially the same train repeatedly, is the opposite of that.  

 

Of course, an oval with a station on the front and a fiddle yard at the back, almost the standard club exhibition layout, is not a roundyroundy if it is operated avoiding continuous running, and I have no objection at all to that!

[vitalspark]

Roundyroundies are anathema to me, but this is purely personal preference and I have no intention of criticising other peoples' views.  But operation is the most important part of the hobby to me, and watching trains go by, especially the same train repeatedly, is the opposite of that.  

 

Of course, an oval with a station on the front and a fiddle yard at the back, almost the standard club exhibition layout, is not a roundyroundy if it is operated avoiding continuous running, and I have no objection at all to that!

 

Correct and for a good exhibition layout with a continuous feed of different trains a large up & down fiddle is required and as it would be a long time before a train reappears it couldn't realistically be called a roundy roundy.

 

Alloa is operated very successfully like this and the new project Larbert has a 40ft frontage with long straights that swallow a 50 wagon train or a pacific and a dozen Mk 1s fed from a 14 road fiddle with 42 sections in each up and down so even with long trains occupying double sections there should be around 50 trains to choose from.

 

Anyone that stands that long and complains its roundy roundy will have our resident rotweiller Mike set upon them.

 

 

Dave.

[sharris]

Some of the really good exhibition layouts have been oval, or a sort of ovoid. I'm remembered a really good 3mm layout. Damned if I can remember the name though. It just looked 'right'.

 

 

Ballyconnell Road is a nice round Irish 3mm layout. 

[tomparryharry]

Ballyconnell Road is a nice round Irish 3mm layout.

Aaah! That might be the one. I'll need to have a return look.

 

Cheers.

[Northmoor]

Some of the really good exhibition layouts have been oval, or a sort of ovoid. 

 

One of the drawbacks of a really straight run, is that you've got to turn the corner sometimes! With an oval, at least you're about halfway there. Mind you, I'm a sucker for a long straight. My big pipe dream is a long straight, about 50-odd feet long, so you can get an entire train 'in section. Even better, double track, so you get one going the other way. All I need to do is to knock next doors' house down.

I see your problem..... but I agree it's nice sometimes to have something just going round for no particular reason.

 

I was going to be slightly facetious and say almost all continuous-run exhibition layout seem to be oval/ovoid, because they seem to be based on fixed radius curves (on view) linked by straights, which look unlike almost any stretch of railway anywhere (and I live near the SW Main Line).  Railways are generally curves linked by other curves, because it's the most economical route through the scenery.

 

And for the mathematical pedants - yes, I know, a straight line IS a curve (of infinite radius).

Edited June 5, 2018 by Northmoor

[tomparryharry]

Each of us will have their own particular reason/want of a layout design. I don't mind if the emphasis is on the BLT, as your track will have to stop somewhere. I personally favour the 'roundy-roundy', because that's what I prefer. That said, the bigger the layout, the bigger the operating scope.  You start to get towards the 'social layout', where a train service can only be run when you've got a group of friends over.

 

I can just sit back and watch a rake of wagons trundling past on a 56xx tank. Watching a loose coupled train 'take up' is something I can never tire of.  Boredom? No, not really. At least it keeps me off the streets.  "Oooh look, another pannier..."

 

 

Cheers,

 

Ian.

[vitalspark]

 

 

I was going to be slightly facetious and say almost all continuous-run exhibition layout seem to be oval/ovoid, because they seem to be based on fixed radius curves (on view) linked by straights, which look unlike almost any stretch of railway anywhere (and I live near the SW Main Line).  Railways are generally curves linked by other curves, because it's the most economical route through the scenery.

 

 

We find it better to model actual locations with the trackplan to scale and no foreshortening for the main part of the layout which is the station in its entirety and immediate approaches.

 

There has to be curves eventually of course as the stock has to find its way back to the fiddle but yes you are right in that invariably the track approaches on very long radius curves with in our case the only actual straight track being within the platforms of the station.

 

One of the downsides of modelling an actual main line location to scale of course is the length required with our layout occupying a frontage of 40 feet but the upside is that there is no head scratching as to what signals are needed and where they go! 

 

Dave.

 

[Killian keane]

Whoever said roundy-roundies were unprototypical?

[tomparryharry]

Whoever said roundy-roundies were unprototypical? 32021308634_aa3009fcf4_b.jpg

There's a real size roundy-roundy on Jersey. Dom Pallots steam museum? I had a trip on it about 20-odd years ago.... Painful noises....

[Andy Hayter]

And if you want an industrial roundy roundy then the chemical works to the North West of Ferrara in Italy is the perfect basis.  You can use google satellite to get a good impression, but basically a single line entry onto an oval of track with passing loops and sidings going off at odd angles - much a la Hornby track plan style.  

[pH]

There was a roundy-roundy operated by the LNER at ROF Thorp Arch, a couple of miles east of Wetherby. Trains brought workers from as far away as Wakefield and Bradford and ran round the circular railway, serving 4 separate platforms. Here's a map of the ROF, showing the railway: http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/features/thorp_arch/index10.shtml

 

The map comes from this website about the ROF, which also shows a couple of tickets referring to the railway: http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/features/thorp_arch/index.shtml

 

Richard Hardy has written about working on the line, when he was at Bradford during WW2.