Fiddle yard question

[B McG]

On 05/07/2020 at 17:46, Philou said:

Ooh ..... hang on a mo. IF your quayside branch is dropping down (no problems with that in principle), where the quayside is shown, your double track is going to be above the quay, tho' of course if you've intended to put your main track on a bridge over the quay, it would make for a nice feature. However, don't forget that boats/small ships will also need headroom, though the open sea could be towards the operator well.

 

I can see a nice girder bridge set on BIG cast-iron pillars - Charing Cross style - going over your quay .....................

 

Happy shed and layout building,

 

Philip

 

That is also my thinking too regarding a feature bridge an open sea in the operators well.  I'm having a look online to see if there is any modellers out there that have done a bridge on a 50 inch radius curve.  I've worked out on XTrackCAD that the Quayside will be 5 inches down, I could elevate the line over the quayside by another inch, so with 2 inches to the water level the line would be 8 inches above

[Philou]

Barnstaple be any good? It's a single track bridge on a curve but there's no reason that it shouldn't be double. It looks a simple enough structure AND it was good enough for 4-6-0s to cross it - here's a link:

 

https://www.google.com/search?source=univ&tbm=isch&q=barnstaple+old+photos&client=firefox-b-d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiKvfC2gsvqAhV55eAKHehlCTIQsAR6BAgKEAE&biw=1366&bih=664#imgrc=JJNr-NoWL2i7FM&imgdii=iVBBrLAXgQf47M

 

There's someone on another thread that was asking about the railway into Barnstaple - you could try a search on RMweb ...............

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

Edited July 13, 2020 by Philou

[class26]

13 hours ago, B McG said:

 

No problem, your shed manufacturer tip has saves me over a £1000 compared to the nearest quote. Just to get the word out to any followers of this thread who may have an interest, the manufacturer has been really busy of late so my date of installation won't be until nearly mid-November.   

Speaking of electrics what sort of heater are you planning on to keep it warm in those winter months?  I'm thinking along the lines of either a single 2kW convection heater or two 1kW ones once insulated and skinned.

 

Cheers

Bryant

 

I started out looking at a company from near Chester which, whilst looking very well made (and fully lined) was £9,000 before I found this company just a few miles down the rod from me. Most things round here are cheaper, Try comparing property prices ! That`s why i am here !

 

I haven`t got round to the heating question yet but will need to before the autumn arrives. As it is 24 feet long I think one at either end will probably be what I do. Still waiting for the electric to be installed. Now it is fully lined and all baseboards are in place, track loosely in place just to see how it all looks. This layout has been planned  for a long time and most of the buildings etc have been made prior to the sheds arrival so once the electric is installed (hopefully this week) I can get going properly.

[DCB]

I don't know how you intend to get in and out of the shed but that great slab of baseboard across the door may be no problem now but in ten or twenty years crawling under it won't be fun anymore.  We had a removable board initially in a 24 X 8 shed but it was a pain and stayed down and we crawled under. Then I had sciatica badly and couldn't crawl under so it was re engineered as a hinged lifting section with two levels and later the hinges were beefed up from domestic door hinges to car bonnet hinges and we can get someone out and the track back down in under 15 seconds. The lifting section has a 4 platform station on it plus a two track main line crossing on a bridge.   The Harbour branch in front of the FY isn't great as you will end up with at least a 6" high retaining wall or backscene  behind the harbour station. It could work as a Canal basin but most railway building era boats had masts and sails so wouldn't fit under the bridge. I would model the baseboard edge as the quay and put  run round somewhere on the branch.

The bay arrangement is a bit ugly. I would put them in the other platform and move the back platform back a bit,  That way branch train could depart from the bay at the same time that the main line train departs from the main platform.

Edited July 14, 2020 by DavidCBroad

[Buhar]

On heating, a portable air-source heat pump might be worth investigating, especially with good insulation installed.

Alan 

[B McG]

On 14/07/2020 at 10:07, DavidCBroad said:

I don't know how you intend to get in and out of the shed but that great slab of baseboard across the door may be no problem now but in ten or twenty years crawling under it won't be fun anymore.  We had a removable board initially in a 24 X 8 shed but it was a pain and stayed down and we crawled under. Then I had sciatica badly and couldn't crawl under so it was re engineered as a hinged lifting section with two levels and later the hinges were beefed up from domestic door hinges to car bonnet hinges and we can get someone out and the track back down in under 15 seconds. The lifting section has a 4 platform station on it plus a two track main line crossing on a bridge.   The Harbour branch in front of the FY isn't great as you will end up with at least a 6" high retaining wall or backscene  behind the harbour station. It could work as a Canal basin but most railway building era boats had masts and sails so wouldn't fit under the bridge. I would model the baseboard edge as the quay and put  run round somewhere on the branch.

The bay arrangement is a bit ugly. I would put them in the other platform and move the back platform back a bit,  That way branch train could depart from the bay at the same time that the main line train departs from the main platform.

 

Thanks David, having suffered sciatica once myself I think you are right about at least a lift out section.  Given the state of my current woodworking skills my line of thinking is flip the layout so that the minimum track is affected.  That would mean that the area of the bridge and quayside in the original plan will be the area of the lift out.  If I use the baseboard edge as a quay then effectively I'm only looking at the elevated double track being in the lift out.  An elegant solution methinks!

 

My line of thinking with the double track bay was to use one as a motor rail facility have the other accessible for the branch DMU's.  Seeing that the loop would more likely be used as the branch platform rather than than crossing the main lines to the bay I'll delete one of the sidings and see how it looks.  

 

Cheers

Bryant

 

 

Edited July 18, 2020 by B McG
typos!

[B McG]

Thanks all for useful tips help and advice.  My 20 x 11" shed got delivered last November and since then I've insulated it and boarded it and had electrics fitted. In the Christmas period I also started on the framework to support the ply boards.  Big shout out to Class 26, without the shed tip I couldn't have hoped to get this project running without blowing the budget!

 

In the end two things emerged from the plan.  I decided to keep the running lines (Cheers Chimer!) in front of the storage and I really wanted a double junction at the end of the station.  So I sacrificed 3 roads in the upper storage yard and planned in 4 more storage lines on the lower level from the branch line 17cm lower with a run round loop.  The goods yard was modified for a reception siding and the good shed was moved the other end and the engine shed and refueling was also moved too. I also went with Davids idea of a lift out section, however if my wood working skills are up to scratch and scenery allows I'll hinge this.  I ended up with two bays for motorail and also parcels / newspapers, I could in theory use a single slip to enable a DMU to reverse out onto the opposite running line.  For the branch I had my heart set on a harbour scene and worked it in so that there is a fleeting resemblance to Weymouth.  It pretty much planned out now, it took me months of fiddling to get here so it's a final roll call for any feedback...

 

Without further ado here's some screen shots and pictures.  From previous photos in the thread I did a lot more in the than just build a base for the new shed, and yes we have a bar in our back garden that we built in 2019!  (Very handy for lockdowns 1,2 & 3!)

 

Edited January 20, 2021 by B McG
A compliment to a member