Stoat's Nest? - Extending Godstone Rd

[Lacathedrale]

Thanks to your kind help and ministration the layout that has become Godstone Rd has come into being and is really enjoyable even at this early stage to photograph and operate.

 

Desired Improvements 
One thing that's annoyed me as soon as I had to use it however, was the traverser - it works exactly as intended and in an exhibition environment I'm sure it's a lifesaver, but for now it just means I have to walk over and align the tracks any time I want to make ANY movement past the station throat. One thing that's also pretty obvious is a lack of any kind of straight run for my locos to stretch their legs.

 

Restrictions
There are a couple of restrictions to this plan that I can't really get around:

• The grey areas represent anywhere there is less than 12" clearance from the roof to the lowest layout height. The angle of the roof is approximately 45 degrees. Since I want a minimum visible backscene height of at least 9" (and that's with quite an aggressive letterboxing valance), it makes them suitable only for non-scenic connections.
• The large black area on the right is basically a 'no go' zone - it has the entry hatch into the loft and generally clearance is required to stand up, shove boxes up into the loft, etc. this is why the continuous loop connection passes wide to the outside and snug up against the edge of the roof at the top-right.

 

Sketch Plan
I have sketched out a plan which covers off both of those, for a very modest cost: 

 

Sketch Plan Notes
Going counter-clockwise from the entrance to Godstone Rd:

The gravel siding connects to the up main, and they pass over a rail bridge - this vignette is important to me. Not sure of the view block for the exit, maybe one of the older art deco signalboxes (i.e. Hither Green, Purley) and a gantry over the top?

 

(Source unknown)

 

Or maybe a transition between embankment and cutting such as the ground contours around South Croydon station. (Did you know the church adjacent to the railway there was designed by George Gilbert Scott, the same chap who designed St. Pancras?)

 

The other end of the horseshoe shows a little junction - initially I assumed the diverging line would be a branch, but it probably makes sense to be the reverse, where the straight route is the mainline and the diverging route is my little branch, which splits into double track after the connection (like the entrance to the real Bromley North branch at Grove Park):

(Kent Rail)

 

The other end of the platform is also pretty captivating, showing the connection to the actual mainline (please ignore the huge new footbridge, that doesn't factor into my design at all) and with a handy scenic break in the form of a road bridge:

(Kent Rail)

 

Either way, I see them running through a 'bitsa' site of a station that's totally disused and razed. Overgrown and unused infrastructure was a huge part of the railway I saw growing up. Lamp huts with the windows smashed, bricked up doorways, grass and buddleia over the platforms. The following shot is of Selsdon, where the goods yard was taken over by an Oil Terminal - alot like I'm suggesting here:

(Disused Stations)

 

The long plain section as it comes around the bottom of the room would need to be quite short and shallow - so a close zoom of a cutting and shallow descent of scenics from a retaining wall behind 'the station' down to a cutting, with a road and/or footbridge over the top at the 'exit' to FY would allow it to be a nice photo stage for stock of almost any era or region. 

 

 

The FY is single-ended since the layout is primarily a terminus to FY scheme, but there is a provision for a passing loop in the continuous connection. The shortest road has capacity for a loco and five coaches. I would probably want to try to lay this by hand to save expense and to allow me to put a double scissors instead of the heel-to-heel turnouts in the throat. I can see a problem turning trains, as it will require stepping over a joist (either side of the Godstone Rd board) and fiddling right in the back corner. Any ideas?

The continuous run would be a single line resting on a sectional L-girder - there's access to reach under the layout to rescue any stalled train. 

 

[Flying Pig]

A single lead junction to the branch, with the main line remaining double at least until out of sight would probably look better, unless you have space for a double junction. I also think you may need a bit more length than you have shown for the junction plus disused station platforms.  Is the staging yard conveniently placed if you have to do any fiddling?

[Lacathedrale]

No, not really - there's a joist which requires stepping over (it's not high, just a barrier to walking leisurely) - but I'm not sure what my options are! Do you have any ideas?

 

As for the junction - I agree. I was envisaging the platforms to be between the OIl terminal and mainline, maybe with the road overbridge and the shell of a station building/bricked up footbridge holes, something like this:

 

(Disused Stations)

 

The Godstone Rd branch would come off on the left (behind the cameraman)

[Siberian Snooper]

Would it look better to have the continuous run as double track in the scenic area and a single lead on to the Godstone Road branch and then doubling it beyond the junction, this would infer that the continuous run was the mainline. 

 

 

[Lacathedrale]

Yeah, makes alot of sense - junction becomes something very roughly like this:

 

 

 

Taking a view of the space, I think it would make sense to leave it 'open' if I could - so maybe just using view dividers to chop up the curve - aforementioned road bridge. Maybe the landscape transitions from embankment to cutting on the curve, with a road-bridge and ex-station building (as per Lewisham Road above) forming the bottom left corner backscene. Thoughts?

[Flying Pig]

Your single lead junction needs to be a plain point and a facing crossover to match prototype practice. So actually, a double junction would be more compact after all! Apologies for the misinformation.

 

As regards the fiddle yard, I think you may have to sacrifice one of the other elements to fit it in a more convenient position.

Edited February 12, 2019 by Flying Pig

[Zomboid]

Space need not be the issue though. If the closed station was already closed when they renewed the junction, the crossover cold go between the remains of the platforms.

 

Though I'm not aware of many single lead junctions in suburban 3rd rail territory, a double junction with diamond would be more typical. (Pouparts junction is the only one that comes to mind, and the diverging line is very lightly used compared to the main, not sure it even has a regular passenger service)

Edited February 12, 2019 by Zomboid

[Lacathedrale]

Maybe something like the old Camden Road station:

 

(Disused Stations)