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I am busy this evening but will study signalling issues and the siting of signal posts again tomorrow. I think I placed the posts where I did on the diagram simply due to lack of space in the graphic. Once we get the mimic diagrams set up for printing onto plastic for the actual control panels we shall probably be able to use more flexible sizes of graphics, etc.

Today I have been mostly laying branch line terminus track. Witts End is taking shape. Contrary to the (straight and dull) plan, I have introduced my signature curves into both the shunting loop and the platform roads. Some tweaking was necessary due to baseboard joins not quite matching the original plan, and said original plan lacking allowance for the lifting flap at the door. If I ever build another railway I will know next time what not to do.

Given that any arriving passenger train will need to be backed entirely out of the platform for the loco to run round I hope this station could be quite engaging to operate. Maximum train length is around 20" which covers both my planned branch coach sets and a six wagon + brake train. Probably, though, except on market and hunt days, most goods trains that serve this small community will be about 3 or 4 wagons plus brake.

 

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Bridport Town, by DLT of this parish, has a similar requirement  where the carriages need to be shunted out of the platform to allow the run round.

 

It is fun to operate.

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6 hours ago, Martin S-C said:

I think I placed the posts where I did on the diagram simply due to lack of space in the graphic. Once we get the mimic diagrams set up for printing onto plastic for the actual control panels we shall probably be able to use more flexible sizes of graphics, etc.

Martin, I suggest that you don't finalise the mimic diagram layout until you have actually placed the signals on the layout. Don't ask how I know this.

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17 hours ago, Nick C said:

 

That probably depends on the company - I've certainly seen equal-height bracket signals controlling both sides of an island platform - but not when one also has a diverging route. I don't think there's any requirement for signals to be on the left, as long as it's clear which arm applies to which route. The thing with 16 & 17 as drawn is that a driver in platform 2/3 would have to look on his left if he were going up the branch, or his right if he was going along the main..

Drivers should have an intimate knowledge of the route,so should know exactly where to look for the signal covering the road he is about to take.

 

Jim 

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On 28/06/2019 at 12:29, Martin S-C said:

Cheers David; its posts like yours that encourage me and keep me going. I suppose you losing the thread is my fault since I moved it from layout topics to pre-grouping topics and deliberately didn't tell you!

 

Ha ha I won't take it too personally! :haha:  It's great to be following again. 

 

Given the amount of interest here, you will be running bus trips for visitors when you are finished and up and running! 

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21 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Martin, I suggest that you don't finalise the mimic diagram layout until you have actually placed the signals on the layout. Don't ask how I know this.

I shall take these Wise Words From One Who Has Suffered and hold off on tweaking the mimic diagrams until I have some signals in place. I will start marking potential sites with baseboard scribbles asap. Right now my main concern is having track that trains can roll along without falling off or stopping!

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I have sat beside the Witts End board and ruminated over it for a few days. There were a couple of issues with how I had laid out the track - first a big area of unused board at the front edge of the layout and secondly very little room between the end of the carriage shed road and the stream. My plan suggests a small bridge here, stone arched, giving access from the village centre to the station with a small cottage on the station side of the bridge - but as the track was laid out there simply wasn't room for anything bigger than a Hobbit hole dug into the stream bank.

I have therefore pulled it all up and relaid it. I used a curved point at the station entrance and swung everything more towards the front of the board. This fixed both the problems - still plenty of room at the front for the small coal depot, loading bank and provender store with a good deal more room at the back of the station for a field below the railway embankment. The carriage shed siding end is now a good bit further away from the stream.

The problem is the station trackwork doesn't seem to look as balanced as it was and doesn't flow so well.

What do people think?

Before:
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After:

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Hi Martin. 

 

I will definitely go for the second version. I'm a huge fan of curvy lines and I loved the curve of the first arrangement but the lazy S of Mark 2 is, to my way of thinking, much more appealing. A passenger train entering Witt's End will change direction twice within the confines of the station. Gets my vote.

 

But it's your layout. Feel free to ignore this. 

 

All the best.

 

Cam 

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My 2p worth.

 

I like the first one, but maybe slewed more nearer the edge.

 

The second one has curved sidings - I'm not sure these would ever be used unless the topography forced it.

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On a brighter note, today I got the exchange sidings laid. Reasonably happy with these; the shortest is 48" long and the other two 60" withe two spurs totalling another 50" so plenty of room for stock storage. I made a straight section on one road so the Peco loco lifts can be used. Just need the turntable installing now.
 

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Apologies for the mess; these really are WIP shots.

Edited by Martin S-C
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5 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

My 2p worth.

 

I like the first one, but maybe slewed more nearer the edge.

 

The second one has curved sidings - I'm not sure these would ever be used unless the topography forced it.

I tried laying loose lengths of tracks around but it was next to impossible to slew the existing layout nearer the edge without coming up with the second plan.

The station has only one siding, the outer track nearest the baseboard edge in both cases, which parallels the platform road. The two short roads that kick back towards the station entry are the engine shed road and an engineers siding where the company crane wagon will be stored. I thought it would be acceptable to curve the one siding in order to follow the platform road - the aesthetics of two parallel curving roads is appealing. Of course in the real world, unless there was a pressing reason to keep that road close to the platform, it would have swung off away to allow access to both sides of it. In the model there isn't that reason other than the benefit of how it looks.

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First version looks more "railway-like" to my eye, more plausible.

 

I'd extend the carriage siding to the brink of the stream, and have the bridge lead direct into the station forecourt.

 

If you need some "visual mass" where the cottage now doesn't fit, without needing much actual space, what about a fairly big advertising hoarding? The Edwardians were no slouches when it came to huge, unsightly bit of commercialism in otherwise picturesque locations.

Edited by Nearholmer
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9 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

First version looks more "railway-like" to my eye, more plausible.

I agree it does.

I made the V.2 layout with a curved turnout at the station throat. If I swapped that for a curved one for the engine shed road (see red arrow) I might be able to do this.

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11 minutes ago, Martin S-C said:

I agree it does.

I made the V.2 layout with a curved turnout at the station throat. If I swapped that for a curved one for the engine shed road (see red arrow) I might be able to do this.

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4 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Better, partly because it leaves more space for earthworks between levels.

 

Its probably a foreshortening thing, but it does make the run-round loop look short.

I agree with Kevin - also I didn't like all those reverse curves on the first revised version.

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37 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Better, partly because it leaves more space for earthworks between levels.

 

Its probably a foreshortening thing, but it does make the run-round loop look short.

V.2 (today's effort) leaves more space for the earthworks than v.3 (green lines) will.

There is some foreshortening going on in these photos I suspect. The run round loop is only 20", about 24" if a train stands on the turnout that accesses the carriage shed. However my two branch passenger sets are both 18" or under in length and the daily goods will only be ~4 wagons plus brake.

 

31 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

 

I agree with Kevin - also I didn't like all those reverse curves on the first revised version.

Its unfortunate then that I like them a lot! :blush:

Apart from the double curve which is not so railway-like, V.2 fulfills all my requirements.

I'm going to leave well alone for a few days, go back into rumination mode and perhaps other ideas will arise.

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Martin,

 

Regarding your "after" setting (V2 I think), I had a similar pair of reversed short points and found various stock trended to derail when making the crossover move. Long time ago now but it might have been coupling issues, lockup?

Drove me crazy and in the end I redesigned to something nearer to your original design that avoided immediate changes of direction. Maybe I'm just repeating what St Enodoc said above?

 

Colin

 

 

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Personally, I liked the first one, but wondered if you could maybe simply slew the approach road slightly, to take the station across the space diagonally?

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9 hours ago, BWsTrains said:

Regarding your "after" setting (V2 I think), I had a similar pair of reversed short points and found various stock trended to derail when making the crossover move. Long time ago now but it might have been coupling issues, lockup?

 

Drove me crazy and in the end I redesigned to something nearer to your original design that avoided immediate changes of direction. Maybe I'm just repeating what St Enodoc said above?

If that is going to be an issue then I'm in trouble as I have several pairs of short turnouts making crossovers in the design... usually in goods yards so we'll have to see about that. If only some stock items are affected it may be easier to not use them. I have a few spares.

There is the same reverse curve in V.1, only it's right at the station entrance where freight trains will be shunted. In V.2 the dodgy crossover is the loco release and will very rarely see any stock propelled over it.

 

9 hours ago, Regularity said:

Personally, I liked the first one, but wondered if you could maybe simply slew the approach road slightly, to take the station across the space diagonally?

I can certainly try that. I've got a couple of inches to slew the approach track as it crosses the room's lifting flap. I'm just hoping I can keep the general shape of the trackwork interesting rather than mostly straight from the entry to the stop blocks.

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On 03/07/2019 at 18:26, Martin S-C said:

If that is going to be an issue then I'm in trouble as I have several pairs of short turnouts making crossovers in the design... usually in goods yards so we'll have to see about that. If only some stock items are affected it may be easier to not use them. I have a few spares.

There is the same reverse curve in V.1, only it's right at the station entrance where freight trains will be shunted. In V.2 the dodgy crossover is the loco release and will very rarely see any stock propelled over it.

 

I can certainly try that. I've got a couple of inches to slew the approach track as it crosses the room's lifting flap. I'm just hoping I can keep the general shape of the trackwork interesting rather than mostly straight from the entry to the stop blocks.

Which Coupling system do you plan to use? 

 

My problems were with the basic NEM socket Bachmann Mk II types where the hooks kept getting crossed. Other proprietary types I looked at were not recommended for small radii (<36in AFAIR), which my modest layout has by default. Since then I've made the move over to Kadees which I find are excellent and you buy them fully assembled if using the NEM pocket varieties. I imagine these could work well over the reverse curves, anyone with experience out there?

 

While on the topic of Kadees, I learnt a little late that under rail magnets are best and hence lay these before final track fixing.

 

Colin

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I do have the Bachmann Type II. However I find the occasions when the hooks fail to couple to the right side is quite rare and the issue with changing a coupling system is I have 100s of vehicles to convert. I'm 90% satisfied with the Bachmann tension lock. If during operations it becomes a serious problem (rather than just a minor problem). I'll look at the whole issue of couplings again.

 

Meanwhile.

Moar track! MOAR!

 

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Neil returned today after a bit of a break and he was very welcome as he fixed a few things I'd managed to break during his absence.

One area that had really got my dander up was the Coggles Causeway track layout. It's only 3 turnouts, a siding and a loop but due to some changes after planning and during construction this little station became my nemesis on the layout so far. I have laid the track three times now and finally got a layout that fits the space and looks reasonable. The area is on an 'S' curve between a tunnel on a gradient on one side (to the left in the photo below) and a very tightly curving gradient up to Snarling Jct. on the other (right hand side on the photo). For all kinds of stupid reasons that I won't mention this little station proved to be a nightmare to lay track for.

Today I got it into an acceptable condition. Neil was a huge help for this, as well as the connection between the branch line and Snarling Jct., which is also a fairly tight bit of track design. I think when he returns tomorrow we will crack this nasty little beastie and then finally the branch line track will be connected to the main line and I can actually run trains back and forth with some kind of purpose rather than the roundy-roundy-with-a-glass-of-wine operating that I've had to suffer with (!) to date.

First the Coggles Causeway track. Please don't look too hard at the horrid mish-mash of bits-n-pieces on the right. This will all eventually disappear under a blissful camouflage of ballast, DAS clay, chinchilla dust and electrostatic grass.

 

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Next a shot or two of Snarling Junction being born. In the second photo some futuristic rolling stock marked with strange runes that spell "L M S" and "L N E R" and other odd scripts that only the Dark Ones speak of with 8 wheels that are more than 50 feet long, are in use to check clearances on the curved platform roads.

 

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