Beginner, What can I do with 6' x 2'?

[Harlequin]

18 minutes ago, Zomboid said:

See, I interpret that as "all the fun of a BLT, without being a cliché".

 

That is the Holy Grail of small layout design, of course!

 

But does this suggested design have satisfying operational interest? A lot of the moves now take place off-scene in the fiddle yard(s), which can be a bit uncomfortable.

 

The least satisfying operation (to my eye anyway) would be getting a passenger train on Platform 2 to cross to Platform 1 so it can leave on the notional correct outbound track: The carriages would have to be moved from P2, across to the outbound track and into the fiddle yard, back into P1, only for them to reverse the move they just made and head back out to the fiddle yard! They could have just departed directly from P2.

 

Edited March 12, 2019 by Harlequin

[Flying Pig]

 

4 hours ago, Harlequin said:

The least satisfying operation (to my eye anyway) would be getting a passenger train on Platform 2 to cross to Platform 1 so it can leave on the notional correct outbound track: The carriages would have to be moved from P2, across to the outbound track and into the fiddle yard, back into P1, only for them to reverse the move they just made and head back out to the fiddle yard! They could have just departed directly from P2.

 

It's not the notional correct outbound track - it is the correct outbound track, because that's how the line is signalled. It would certainly be more efficient to reach it directly from platform 2, but that isn't permissible without a signal and facing point lock that aren't present on the original plan B2 that TA posted, so the less efficient shunt is necessary. This is perfectly railwaylike and the prototype would have provided the extra equipment only if the potential of delay to other traffic due to the shunt justified the cost. If we pretend it didn't, we get the extra moves.  To me this is all part of the fun of reproducing the operation of the prototype as it was, warts and all.

 

I agree that layouts where the fiddle yard impinges on local movements require more suspension of disbelief, but that's the price to pay for modelling railway features bigger than we actually have room for. My main concern about the plan in that regard is that shunting the goods yard will prove to be fiddly and less satisfying than the fan of sidings at a typical model BLT, but that's a matter of taste and for the OP to decide.

 

 

[Titanius Anglesmith]

20 hours ago, Flying Pig said:

 

Ok, that sounds sensible. If you place a station building at the left hand end of the layout as a view blocker, you can omit the left hand crossover and use a short traverser or cassette for loco release, hidden behind the building.  Trains can then run right up to the end of the layout on arrival and a short passenger train shouldn't look too cramped in the 4 feet of platform you've shown as actually modelled.

 

I'd guess that passenger trains will need to shunt to depart, as the layout isn't locked and signalled for departures from the lower platform. You could always resignal, but it would only reduce the play value.  There won't be that many trains - just the branch service, or a reduced passenger service to a the last station on a route that has been truncated for some reason. I think the latter scenario is better as it gives a reason for the goods to reverse too and not run through to the next large yard. 

 

Below are a couple of ideas based on your plan B2.  The station building is a view blocker on the left and on the right, the end of a large goods shed on a loop is used. Both sidings continue into the fiddle yard - I don't know how or if that will play with your need to turn through 90°. I've used large radius points on the Anyrail plan, so the new bullhead range would fit. I've also extended the trap siding to form a short dock of some sort - quite a common Midland feature.

 

To be honest, while this would probably make a convincing scene as a slice of a wayside station, it provides only about the same operating potential as a simple branch terminus and probably less conveniently.

 

 

 

 

Thanks, Flying Pig.  That's the sort of thing I was imagining.  I like the use of the station building as a view block.

 

I'd guess that passenger trains will need to shunt to depart, as the layout isn't locked and signalled for departures from the lower platform. You could always resignal, but it would only reduce the play value.  There won't be that many trains - just the branch service, or a reduced passenger service to a the last station on a route that has been truncated for some reason. I think the latter scenario is better as it gives a reason for the goods to reverse too and not run through to the next large yard. 

 

In this plan, I'm in two minds about having a wrong-road starter and FPL'ing the crossover (economical, of course), or shunting ECS from one road to the other.  Like you say, both prototypical.... six of one, half-dozen of the other.  As much as I like the goods shed on the loop, it's not absolutely essential; there were of course lots of dead-end sidings on the railway.  I like the dock leading from the double-slip too, my local station had that feature too.

 

I agree that the plan doesn't offer anything more than a BLT, but I'm not expecting anything more from a layout this size (that is, without going to a shunting or industrial setting). 

 

 

 

15 hours ago, Zomboid said:

See, I interpret that as "all the fun of a BLT, without being a cliché".

 

I haven't been here long enough to get away with saying such controversies, but.............

 

 

10 hours ago, Flying Pig said:

 

 

Edit:  I can't figure out how to get rid of that empty quote above

Edited March 13, 2019 by Titanius Anglesmith

[Titanius Anglesmith]

16 hours ago, mdvle said:

 

Don't have time to look at the exact sizes but a layout similar to what you are thinking of has recently appeared in the Layout section that you may want to look at where only part of the platform is included

 

 

 

Thanks, I'll give this a look

[Flying Pig]

10 hours ago, Titanius Anglesmith said:

As much as I like the goods shed on the loop, it's not absolutely essential;

 

I think the siding does need to continue offscene as it will look too short otherwise. It doesn't need to be a loop of course and other view blockers are available.