40 years later ...

[Si36]

40 years ago I lost interest in railway modelling (I blame girls and football), though I have dabbled with model/diorama making on and off in the intervening years.  After a couple of years thinking about it and browsing these forums, I've finally decided to take the plunge and start a layout.

 

I think my interests are most easily summed up as 'industrial northern grot' and, if I'm honest, its the scenic side that interests me more than the actual railway, especially since i know virtually nothing about the prototype.

 

So what I'm hoping is that i can get a bit of advice on a rough plan for my first foray, Current thinking is 6'x2', industrial West Riding in the late 60s/early 70s with a focus on small diesel shunters working old mills and grotty engineering works.  I've had a play around on AnyRail and come up with an idea, and would really like any feedback on how people think it might work as a layout.  Constructive criticism welcomed.

 

Thanks

   

[bazzer42]

I LIKE the track layout. I am just rebuilding my first attempt after 20 years as I had the same idea to have the fiddle yard behind scenery but found for home use it was a failure. Ideal for an exhibition layout though.

The design does look like an eye pleaser...I love raised track levels.

[john new]

40 years ago I lost interest in railway modelling (I blame girls and football), though I have dabbled with model/diorama making on and off in the intervening years.  After a couple of years thinking about it and browsing these forums, I've finally decided to take the plunge and start a layout.

 

I think my interests are most easily summed up as 'industrial northern grot' and, if I'm honest, its the scenic side that interests me more than the actual railway, especially since i know virtually nothing about the prototype.

 

So what I'm hoping is that i can get a bit of advice on a rough plan for my first foray, Current thinking is 6'x2', industrial West Riding in the late 60s/early 70s with a focus on small diesel shunters working old mills and grotty engineering works.  I've had a play around on AnyRail and come up with an idea, and would really like any feedback on how people think it might work as a layout.  Constructive criticism welcomed.

 

Thanks

 

I would suggest you need to establish what you want to do with it operationally in due course even though scenery appears to be your prime aim. Some fine suggestions on the CarL Arendt site at http://www.carendt.com/micro-layout-design-gallery/  In particular the Tymesaver and Inglenook options for shunting. See also http://www.wymann.info/ShuntingPuzzles/sw-inglenook.html

 

Your headshunts (Leads in US parlance) look shorter than your sidings as is the fiddle yard unless extended beyond the left hand scenic baseboard edge. That will add constraints you may not have intended. I find shunting for a purpose therapeutic but aimless wagon shunting soon bores. The other consideration is uncoupling options as you may need to determine magnet positioning or consider building heights if leaning over to do manual uncoupling.

Edited December 5, 2018 by john new

[Si36]

Thanks guys for the feedback.

 

bazzer, I did wonder about the practicalities of the fiddleyard behind scenery - it seems such an obvious and neat space saver, but seems little used in the layouts I see on the forums, suggesting others have found it difficult to work with as well.  I'll have to think about this some more.

 

John, I wasn't trying to match head shunt, fiddleyard, run around  and siding lengths, just trying to design it so that I could shunt 4 or 5 small wagons on any of them, if that makes sense?

 

 

I LIKE the track layout. I am just rebuilding my first attempt after 20 years as I had the same idea to have the fiddle yard behind scenery but found for home use it was a failure. Ideal for an exhibition layout though.
The design does look like an eye pleaser...I love raised track levels.

 

 

I would suggest you need to establish what you want to do with it operationally in due course even though scenery appears to be your prime aim. Some fine suggestions on the CarL Arendt site at http://www.carendt.com/micro-layout-design-gallery/  In particular the Tymesaver and Inglenook options for shunting. See also http://www.wymann.info/ShuntingPuzzles/sw-inglenook.html

 

Your headshunts (Leads in US parlance) look shorter than your sidings as is the fiddle yard unless extended beyond the left hand scenic baseboard edge. That will add constraints you may not have intended. I find shunting for a purpose therapeutic but aimless wagon shunting soon bores. The other consideration is uncoupling options as you may need to determine magnet positioning or consider building heights if leaning over to do manual uncoupling.

[Bungus the Fogeyman]

I wouldn't touch the headshunt length. Those constraints John refers to will make the operation more rather than less interesting and challenging. ...

 

Disgusting of Market Harborough

[Si36]

So I had another think and have adopted a more 'conventional' fiddleyard approach that should also add extra operating potential.  One question I wanted to ask, I'm trying to achieve a claustrophobic industrial feel but am I trying to cram too much into a small space?

 

[Kevin Johnson]

Hi Si36 this looks like the beginnings of an interesting layout.

[Si36]

So 40 years ... and then another 15 months later, but to be fair I've made some progress, which I'll try to show in a few posts over the next week or two.

 

Starting with basic track mock up

 

 

And then a bit of woodwork of course

 

 

 

 

 

[SteveyDee68]

What I like about your track plan is the distinct lack of S curves through pointwork. Then again, my Inglenook is half the length of your layout!

 

Looking forward to seeing this develop.

 

Stay safe, stay well.

 

Steve S

[Si36]

Thanks Steve, it may have been more by chance than design!  And yes my plan is certainly at the top end of 'micro' (the scenic section is 4'x2') so I do have the luxury of space compared to many.

 

Here's some more images of the construction:

 

 

 

I wish now that I had taken more photos as I was building as there are large parts of the work that I didn't capture (and have already forgotten what I did).  Wiring/electrics took me ages, especially the 6 Cobalt points motors as I'm not great with electrics.  So then some time later I started on scenics: 

 

 

The retaining walls and my first building are mostly a combination of foam board and wills sheets and I'm happy enough for a first attempt at scratch building, though my painting/weathering needs work.

 

 

These forums are so valuable to us newbies with lots of ideas for techniques I would never have thought of myself.  One of those is the 'water' in my canal - foam board, painted murky and then with c. 15 coats of gloss varnish, which works remarkably well.

 

Part way through this early scenic work I concluded that my project has one major design flaw (in terms of long-term use) that I'm just going to have to live with as I wasn't willing to start again.  I wonder who will spot it first?  

 

Cheers

 

Simon

[ELTEL]

Your heads hunt doubling as a coal staithes is far to short .

[Si36]

I admit the headshunt is shortish, but the major design flaw I mean is that once scenery is done I have no access to most of the wiring (including point motors) without tearing apart the scenery.  Let's hope my wiring is robust!

 

Much of the past 9 months, when I've had time, has been spent on the foreground scenery, which is now getting quite close to completion, as shown here:

 

 

 

 

 

It feels like I need to do some work on weathering and blending things together.  Since I'm aiming for a neglected and semi-derelict look for this part of the scene I'll need more detritus lying around but have not quite worked out what that will be yet.

 

One thing I can't decide is whether to put some larger pieces of debris, maybe even a semi-sunk barge into the canal area.  Here's how it looks at present:

 

 

I've started work in some other buildings for the back scene and yard area but I'll save those for another post.  Of course all the scenery and building work is putting off the job I dread most - ballast/groundwork around the actual track.  I should probably sort out the fascia and back scene too, oh and there's the fiddleyard ... the list never ends! 

 

Any constructive criticism/ideas always welcome!

 

Cheers

 

Simon  

[Calidore]

Hi Simon, I reckon that looks fantastic. Particularly the last photo: the barrels, sunken rubbish in the water, sign on the warehouse door, lifting beam, mooring posts / bollards etc have made it all very believable indeed. I think if you do place anything else in the water you'd do well to make sure all that nice detail is still visible and not hidden or overpowered.

 

The building is very nice too -- how did you go about those lintels, if you don't mind me asking? The way the depth of the frame and the overhanging cill are all clearly one piece looks very convincing.

 

Will look forward to some more photos when you have the chance.

 

Best

Adam

[Si36]

Thanks Adam, kind words indeed!

 

The building was made in foam board with a wills sheet skin so ended up with quite thick walls, but that seemed appropriate to represent an old 19th century stone storehouse.  The lintels were cut to full thickness and the windows applied on the inside, hence the deep sills.  The lintels are actually just balsa strip which looks surprisingly like distressed stone after a bit of dry brushing with dark greys/browns.  It did take me a long time to build it though - pretty much all last summer just for the one building!

 

The windows are from LCUT Creative and very good value  in my opinion (I think they're only about 20p each) and the 'glass' is just PVA applied liberally and left to dry - another tip I picked up here that works well for opaque windows with an odd pane missing/broken.  I've recently picked up one of the LCUT building kits (another small warehouse) and have been very impressed so far, but its not a quick process (for me at least) building and painting it.

 

Btw, just had a quick peek at your current project and very impressed, you clearly have an eye for detail and like scratch building - will try to follow your project more closely for tips!

 

Cheers

 

Simon 

[Si36]

As per my previous post, have been spending quite a lot of time building an LCUT Creatives warehouse that I picked up at the Doncaster Show back in February (you remember, when we used to be allowed out).

 

As usual, I forgot to take any photos in the early stages: 

 

 

 

... and the build is just about complete now, but it's been a nice kit to make and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out:

 

 

 

The current plan is for this to be in the middle background of the layout, with a larger (low relief) stone mill further back, but that could change.  I think I need to play around a bit with its location, take some photos, and canvas views from those who understand visual composition better than I do.

 

Cheers and stay healthy everyone!

 

Simon

 

 

[4wDH]

Simon this layout your are building is looking really good. The buildings you have built look nicely done.