Light railway track plan

[spiket4]

Hi All i have a spare board which is 6ft x 1ft which i would like to build a Colonel Stephens inspired End of branch line.

Must haves are

A small platform with passing loop

2 or 3 sidings for goods traffic

and a level crossing.

 

Locos i have or plan to use are a Terrier, P class and a peckett so all small locos.

 

Any ideas would be welcome.

 

Mark

[Robert Stokes]

If it's a branch terminus then I think it unlikely to have a level crossing anywhere near it. Surely the nearest road would go round the end of the lines. I'm not saying it's impossible but I can't think of an example that didn't do that.

 

Robert

[Joseph_Pestell]

54 minutes ago, Robert Stokes said:

If it's a branch terminus then I think it unlikely to have a level crossing anywhere near it. Surely the nearest road would go round the end of the lines. I'm not saying it's impossible but I can't think of an example that didn't do that.

 

Robert

Barnoldswick, the level crossing is beyond the platform but before the goods yard.

 

And I don't think it would take long to find examples of level crossings at the station throat. I am sure that I have seen some and will get on Google Earth to check.

 

Found one: Hampton Court

Edited February 15, 2020 by Joseph_Pestell
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[PatB]

Minehead springs to mind, although it's admittedly a very long station. 

 

As far as LR track plans are concerned, I would think that any combination of a loop and 2 sidings is about as exciting as its likely to get. Mind you, Ian Rice has penned a few with interlaced turnouts, sidings overlapping in opposing directions and similar, should you wish to build your own pointwork. 

[Happy Hippo]

Speech House Road had a level crossing, but the line stopped there and didn't go past it after the upper end of the S&W was closed.

 

Iain Rice's book on Light Railway design is always worth a look.

 

[F-UnitMad]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Speech House Road had a level crossing, but the line stopped there and didn't go past it after the upper end of the S&W was closed.

 

 

As you infer, Speech House Road wasn't originally a terminus, but it does provide a good example of how a level crossing could be seen at a station which was once a through-station, but where the line has been truncated to make it a terminus.

[Nearholmer]

8 hours ago, Robert Stokes said:

it's a branch terminus then I think it unlikely to have a level crossing anywhere near it. Surely the nearest road would go round the end of the lines. I'm not saying it's impossible but I can't think of an example that didn't do that

Canterbury Road, Wingham.

 

There were others, but that was without doubt the silliest.

 

The thing about light railways is that they were built as cheaply as possible, and came last and lowest in the heirarchy.

Edited February 15, 2020 by Nearholmer

[DCB]

Does the 6 X 1 have a fiddle yard?  If so do you mind having to use the fiddle yard as a heasdshunt?    Normally a crossover needs about 14" so two of those is 28". plus about 6" for the loco to stand clear of the points 34" so 38" is about the most you can run round even if the loop point is right at the FY end of the baseboard. That's 3 57ft coaches and a 40ft bogie van. Add a level crossing at the baseboard end before the loop point and you are down to 32" as in X 3 57ft coaches.   Still do able.    I always think a light railway terminus works best when the loco sheds are at the terminus. That way half a dozen unlikely crocks can lurk around the semi derelict depot while the one which still runs a bit operates the service.

Narrowing the track centres makes these small terminus's look bigger, Set track makes them look very short, although live frogged and cropped set track can be very effective.   I really like the light railway concept.  John Ahearn's Madder Valley is my favourite, I especially like the way he mixes narrow gauge and standard gauge stock.    If I can get Anyrail to load I will do a doodle.

Edit  Doodle done. 2 or 3 sidings, level crossing, in 6 X 1   You don't want much do you?     Anyway here it is.  two long sidings, platform, run round loop, level crossing across the station throat (see Exeter St Davids and Gloucester for prototype examples)  Its a bit different.  

Track is Peco code 75. Apart from burying the points under ballast  I would solder rail to pins and pin it to the baseboard without sleepers to create that no one gives a fug ambience of a light railway. 

 

 

Edited February 18, 2020 by DavidCBroad

[Harlequin]

Hi Mark,

 

The road crossing could just give access into the goods yard but I suggest it should not be at the very edge because that makes the exit of the track from the scene almost impossible to hide.

 

If you assume that passenger trains are short on your light railway, possibly using 4 or 6 wheel stock (hello Hattons ), then you don't need a huge run round loop and you can use Streamline parts.

 

I suggest keeping the trackwork simple and leaving room for convincing scenery.

 

[Nearholmer]

4 hours ago, Harlequin said:

I suggest keeping the trackwork simple and leaving room for convincing scenery.

 

Couldn't agree more.

 

LRs tended to sprawl about where they could, on cheap land, so if you only have a small area, your terminus really would look best if kept very simple. Personally, I would go for just a loop and one siding, or even just a shorter loop, with the elongated "tail" acting at the goods siding.

 

Or, you could model just part of a facility, putting only half the loop on-stage, or have no loop at all (back to Canterbury Road at Wingham), and run-round by simulated gravity (motorised coach or brake-van).

 

Another thought is that a LR terminus doesn't have to be rural. A skimpy station tucked round the back of the "big company" goods yard, on the outskirts of a small cathedral city, would give scope for a usefully cramped setting. The one siding would then be the exchange facility, perhaps with a never-closed gate at the boundary. Your L/C might actually then be over the connecting line.

 

Oh, and LR level crossings often weren't exactly scenically interesting, because they didn't necessarily have gates.

 

My feeling is that if you try to fit the "HQ" of a LR into this space, with loco shed, assorted tin huts, a siding-full of decaying rolling stock etc, it will become unconvincing, so best make it "the other terminus".

 

Heres a concept. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 16, 2020 by Nearholmer

[tractionman]

Nice track plan and scenario, reminds me a bit of Shrewsbury Abbey Foregate station, terminus of Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Light Railway (S&MLR): 

 

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/05/18/the-shropshire-and-montgomeryshire-light-railway-and-the-nesscliffe-mod-training-area-and-depot-part-1/

 

see trackplan here--

 

link from https://rogerfarnworth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/abbey-foregate-yard-e1557863521689.jpg

 

cheers,

 

Keith

 

Edited February 17, 2020 by tractionman
track plan link inserted

[Nearholmer]

Rumbled.

 

But it’s also got a spice of the WC&P, which wandered across public highways (superb photos here http://railthing.blogspot.com/2014/06/weston-clevedon-and-portishead-railway.html?m=1), and perhaps a dash of the HM&ST, which had a shack-terminus round the back of Chichester goods yard.

 

One thing I would say is that to design model light railways you have to think like a light railway. As Daddy Pig said “I must become one with the puddle. I must be the puddle.” (See ‘Champion Daddy Pig’ for all you ever need to know about sports psychology).

Edited February 17, 2020 by Nearholmer

[spiket4]

Thanks everyone for your ideas and yes the size is 6ft by 1ft with room for a removable fiddle yard.

The idea of having a level crossing came from visiting the Kent & East Sussex Railway. So lots to think about and yes some big asks in there.

 

So thanks once again.

 

Mark