Kelgh - A layout for the boys

[Kris]

Having two small boys, and remembering what fun I had as a child playing with trains, I recognise the importance of getting them playing with trains from an early age. With that in mind and a cracking deal from Amazon on Black Friday a Thomas train set arrived for Christmas. Now that was just a start. £20 for some track (unused) via Facebook really got us started. The Hornby trackmat has some limitations, facing points etc but it is a good starting point and the track plan has some lovely play value. 

Now I looked at the layout and altered the siding layout in the middle and at the side. Having done this I also added in some gradients for added interest (mainly for me!)

It’s now a few weeks after Christmas and a few weekends work and some late evenings building card kits has brought us to the point where the layout is being played with and scenery is staring to appear. 

Edited March 17, 2019 by Kris
Layout name change

[Kris]

When creating a layout it is always good to consider what you want to get out of it. For this layout the following were considered to be important. 

• Twin tracks so that both boys could drive a train independently. 
• Two shunting areas, one for each boy. 
• A station, there has to be somewhere for the passengers to get off and for the Fat controller to talk to the engines. 
• A tunnel, it adds some mystery and allows us to suspend belief and feel that the trains are going somewhere, not just into circles. 
• A bridge, (one for me here) I love seeing trains going over bridges. 
• Roads, including a level crossing and a bridge over the railway. One of my sons loves his toy cars far more than railways, so this provides a buy-in to the project for him. 
• Houses with garages (see above). 
• Fields, the cows that my youngest bought for me on my birthday have to have somewhere to live!

After some hunting round at my parents I was able to find some of the track, buildings and rolling stock that I had as a child. This has provided the station, a temporary engine shed and some extra locos, carriages and wagons to add some interest. None of these are up to modern standards but after a bit of maintenance the locos all work (and with the addition of extra wiring the HST now has bi directional lighting), the coaches and wagons add some variety. For some reason I have also purchased myself a Hornby Road Ashton Hall and 5 coaches for it to pull. 

[OhOh]

Looks that you've got the makings of a very enjoyable layout, thanks for sharing it.

 

Do your boys get involved with the actual build?

[Kris]

44 minutes ago, OhOh said:

Do your boys get involved with the actual build?

 

The eldest one does a little, helping painting, and building the hills, but the youngest is still too little and just wants to play, which with a loaded paint brush is bad news. 

[calvin Streeting]

nice.. i like the fact it's not flat..   

[Kris]

Flat was never going to be an option, we don't live on a flat earth so why should our trains (okay they pull better on the flat).

As a way of cheating height I put the main pointwork and goods yard at a datum point. The main line then falls away to the station at about 1 in 50. The branch to the top goods yard then rises from this point at about 1 in 35 to just before the upper goods yard point. This gives the impression of a significant rise, yet both gradients are manageable by the maximum sensible length of train found on a small layout. 

 

Right as a little update. Over the past few days I have removed a little bit of baseboard to allow for a better scenic gradient. This has now been given the support layer ready for the mod roc. It really shows off the rising and falling gradient that I talked about above. 

 

 

I have also completed the base layer for the main hill on the layout. I experimented with some printed road, however this needs some real modification to make it acceptable. Something for me to poke at another day. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2023 by Kris
Re adding photos

[calvin Streeting]

13 hours ago, Kris said:

Flat was never going to be an option, we don't live on a flat earth

lol... and when young i used to love watching out of train windows, as the track next door used to dive or climb away before going of ito distance... 

[Kris]

Small steps make for a good project, and this weekend I have made one such small step. Another retaining wall has been partially constructed which fills in another hole in the board. This little step has further added to the realism as it's now harder to see the carpet below the layout! 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2023 by Kris
Re adding photos

[Kris]

More small steps over the weekend. 

After work on Friday, but before the boys went to bed I covered the final area by the tunnel with Mod Roc and also did the bank between the main line and the branch. It would appear that the Mod roc that I have is suffering from age as it has taken an age to set, that however has not stopped me slapping some nasty green paint on to prevent plaster dust from coming off. I have also continued the task of ballasting, filling in the 45cm or so between the tunnel mouth and the level crossing. Little steps as I said. The final bit of progress for the weekend has been to start building a signal box (every good layout for children needs a signal box. Yet another cheap purchase via facebook market place has helped stretch the budget here. At the moment the house is just placed on the layout, it keeps moving about a little bit. Eventually it will be bedded in, probably in the same sort of location. I don't think that I would like to live there as flooding might be an issue! 

 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2023 by Kris
Re adding photos

[NittenDormer]

What about the tunnel? Does that suffer from water ingress? And does the hill fit under the bed?

[Kris]

1 hour ago, NittenDormer said:

What about the tunnel? Does that suffer from water ingress? And does the hill fit under the bed?

I suspect that the tunnel does suffer from water ingress 

It does fit under the bed with about 15mm to spare. It took some careful planning to manage that, taking the scenic potential to the maximum given the limited height. The layout is on casters so it can be rolled out very quickly and also rolled back under very quickly. 

[Kris]

Another week goes by and more small steps have been taken. The has been a little more ballasting, this time on the "branch" from the mainline to the uncoupling / retailing ramp (an essential, if very unprototypical bit of track to help those with small hands). "Grass" has also started to appear in the rear righthand corner of the layout, around the tunnel mouth. 

The glue was still wet for the photo, however I could try and claim that it was a frosty morning. 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2023 by Kris
Re adding photo

[Kris]

It's been a busy couple of weeks at work so progress has been almost non existent. I've kept poking away at the signal box (wow, what crap instructions) but until today very little else has happened. Today however I was at home with one of my sons, so with minimal help and maximum distraction more "small steps" progress has been made. Retaining walls have gained plinths and cap stones, some of the stepper sections of scenery is now covered in bushes and some of the stray bits of ballast have been removed. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2023 by Kris
Re adding photos

[Kris]

Wow, it's over a year since I last updated this one! Well my boys have not lost interest in "their railway" and continue to play with it, sometimes a little more roughly than I would like! This has led to the failure of the card board road bridge  . Progress, as with many of my projects, has slowed however over the past few weeks, when there has been more time available at home (wonder why???) progress has been made. Some cheap Dapol house kits have provided a small estate location between the yard and the station, the broken bridge has been replaced (3d printed) and lots of playing has happened. 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2023 by Kris
Re adding photos

[smallman28]

Yep, kids can be a bit rough playing.

Fixed Scalextric cars for a friend of mine several times and despite me showing them how to repair the most common issues that keep occurring they still find their way back to me. 

[Kris]

Over the past few weeks I have found a little bit of time to work on my boys train set, mostly whilst they have been racing trains around it. The bits I done are somewhat rough around the edges but trying to build and stop children crashing trains can be fraught. 

 

  

 

 

p.s. Hope that you like the older Hornby rolling stock, it's rather robust. 

Edited September 23, 2023 by Kris
Re adding photos

[nick_bastable]

Kris

 

very nice and suitable for young people  are you applying a Jesuit theory ?

 

Nick B

[Kris]

The next developments on this trainset are slowly taking place. A couple of years ago I purchased a goods shed to go on here. I started to construct it then got distracted. In the intervening time I put it somewhere safe, a very safe place as it turned out, so safe I could not find it. This led me to do some real tidying up. Having done lots of this and found several kits I had forgotten about (is there a theme?) including an 0 gauge coach, 4 n gauge coaches and lots more wagons than I remembered I found the goods shed. I have not yet allowed myself to get distracted making up an n gauge coach (I did nearly get the soldering iron out this morning) I have cracked on with the goods shed. I have built it fractionally narrower than it is designed to be to better fit the space of this small layout. It is not finished yet but I could not resist putting it sort of in place on the layout. 

 

[Kris]

I set myself a challenge to get the goods shed completed before the end of the year when I restarted the construction. Gosh, and I think that I might just have done it. It's not glued onto the layout yet, so a job for tomorrow to fully hit my target, so close, so close. 

 

 

 

 

[Kris]

No photos but the shed has now been finished and is stuck down. Happy days as I can say I completed my self set challenge. 

 

For the next one, get the goods yard completed by the end of February. 

Edited December 31, 2020 by Kris

[Kris]

It's amazing just how long it takes to glaze a model house. Having glazed 4 and a signal box over the past 2 days I can say that I am glad that I have only one more to do (the pub). I have also added internal walls to the "council" style semi's. These are a must just to stop you seeing straight though. It has also given the boy's something to help with by decorating the interior walls. 

I have also started too added fencing to the goods yard area in the hope that I can get this looking a lot more finished in the next week or so. 

Finally there is also a picture of the finished goods shed complete with one of the 2 figures that are stuck on to the layout at the moment. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2023 by Kris
re-adding photos

[Kris]

The goods yard is slowly progressing. Today I built the wall around it, though looking at the pictures I need to shoot the builder on a couple of sections. He must have spent his lunchtime in the pub! He blames the fact that 2 children were trying to play with toy cars on the road.

 

The signal box has also been completed with the exception of painting the roof and trimming the base to make it fit the chosen location. This will remain a removable item as its location is very exposed when one of my sons gets on and off of his bed. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2023 by Kris
Re-adding photos

[MiniMan64]

Love it. My two boys would be very jealous if I showed them this, especially if they spotted Toby! I’ve had to mention several times about how expensive all the Hornby Thomas trains are to ward off very expensive requests! 
 

We’ve got a little more space to play with than you (8x8 with a well) but we are completely lacking in gradient or scenery so far. 
 

Great work, thanks for sharing! 

[Kris]

Toby is a Bachmann model, It's very powerful but slightly smaller than the Hornby version. 

[Kris]

This afternoon, after some home schooling fun this morning, I have rebuilt the wall. It's not perfect but it is a lot better. Having done this the painters got their overalls on and put a base coat of colour onto the wall. All of this took place to the sounds of trains running round and children having lots of fun. 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2023 by Kris
Re-adding photos