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Light Railway Station, Micro Layout


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So finally, after a long time of doing nothing but thinking, I have decided to start my first proper layout. I have a small 1ftx4ft baseboard which I plan to use. I'm thinking about doing a small station, on possibly a light railway, with a small siding. It will probably be slow progress as living in NZ and school don't help much. I've included the track plan below and would love some advice on it. Stock will be 7 plank wagons and small 1-2 coach trains. No back story as of yet...

new layout micro.jpg

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Lovely idea and go for it ,perfect size to start and maybe even finish a layout .

 

Not sure about the kick back siding, will you be able to shunt any wagons into it if this is a terminus 

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Good concept. However there are a couple of points (excuse the pun) that need addressing.

1.  Is your headhunt long enough to take your locomotives?

2. Are you going to be able to access the kickback siding? The distance between the toe of the point and the buffer stops at the end of the headshunt needs to be the length of your loco + a wagon.

If you're using the very shortest 0-4-0 loco's you might be OK on these issues. Otherwise you'll probably have problems

As you access that siding you'll find your loco and wagon switching left and right very rapidly in a short distance. This  is a great recipe for the couplers pulling the stock off the track.

I do like your idea and with the right buildings and stock it could be a model of great character.

 

Ian

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15 hours ago, willsheldrake said:

So finally, after a long time of doing nothing but thinking, I have decided to start my first proper layout. I have a small 1ftx4ft baseboard which I plan to use. I'm thinking about doing a small station, on possibly a light railway, with a small siding. It will probably be slow progress as living in NZ and school don't help much. I've included the track plan below and would love some advice on it. Stock will be 7 plank wagons and small 1-2 coach trains. No back story as of yet...

new layout micro.jpg

 

I like the concept and I have been scratching my head to come up with something similar you could try which adds some more operational potential.

I have kept your baseboard dimensions the same but added an additional one foot to the right for a fiddle yard. I used anyrail and track is Peco streamline 100.

You now have a headshunt for a run round loop at the station and the addition of a double slip allows the coal yard siding to be on the right with more space for the yard and possibility of further goods siding with store store of goods shed and yard crane. I have tried to keep to your original concept and hope this is of help but please ignore if of no use - no problem.

 

Regards

Mark

Suggestion.jpg

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4 hours ago, MAP66 said:

 

I like the concept and I have been scratching my head to come up with something similar you could try which adds some more operational potential.

I have kept your baseboard dimensions the same but added an additional one foot to the right for a fiddle yard. I used anyrail and track is Peco streamline 100.

You now have a headshunt for a run round loop at the station and the addition of a double slip allows the coal yard siding to be on the right with more space for the yard and possibility of further goods siding with store of goods shed and yard crane. I have tried to keep to your original concept and hope this is of help but please ignore if of no use - no problem.

 

Regards

Mark

Suggestion.jpg

Thanks for the ideas and support, just to confirm this a through country station, not a terminus and plan to possibly use cassettes at both ends. @MAP66 your idea was very good and has inspired some changes to the plan. thinking about small goods shed for the siding sitting abreast the track, similar to @Mikkel's biscuit shed. Still unsure for location, any ideas?

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Hi, that's a nice concept.  

 

4 hours ago, willsheldrake said:

thinking about small goods shed for the siding sitting abreast the track, similar to @Mikkel's biscuit shed

 

By that, do you mean a goods shed straddling the rails and accessible only from the front, with a closed wall on the rear side?  (like Broadway , although that is a large example - but note the very modellable sheds alongside).

 

I do find that design of structure useful because it doesn't take up much space.

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Hi Will,

 

Do you have a plan for how to disguise the track exits from the scene? The level crossing at the left might make it difficult because it creates an open space both along and across the track.

 

Your little single siding goods yard is perfect for a small through station. No need for all the usual paraphernalia that appears on models - they weren't always present in real life.

 

How about only modelling one end of the run round loop? Have both tracks run off one side or the other and use the cassettes to complete the run round movement. That would make things look less cramped on scene and give you a longer run round. Then, with only two points on scene you might be able to go for Streamline.

 

BTW: Notice that in Mark's Streamline design the usable run round is much shorter than your Settrack rendition. (And is the loco release spur long enough to be useful?)

 

Edited by Harlequin
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I like the original plan for it's simplicity, just three points seems very much in keeping with a Light Railway theme; Mark's alternative plan is nice but seems like more of a 'main line railway' setting - would a Light Railway go to the expense of a double-slip?

'Less is more' is a common mantra these days for layouts, but that single goods siding could be quite a handful to shunt, if there are specific 'car spots' (to borrow an American term) along it to shunt particular wagons to, instead of just dumping a 'goods train' in there and be done with it.

For example, along that siding could be a small goods shed, coal staithes, and something else, such as an open platform with crane, cattle dock, or something else. Clearly the coal wagon isn't going to be shunted to the shed or crane/cattle/whatever; it goes to the staithes. Similarly vans won't go to the staithes, but to the shed. So even a 3-wagon goods train would need to be shunted into the correct order to go in the siding, then there might be empties to pull out as well, and the usual faff with a Brake Van to get on the right end... just that one siding could keep you occupied for a good half-hour or so sorting out incoming & outgoing wagons. :good:

Remember, "Operating Potential" of a layout does not depend on how complicated the trackplan is, but on how many 'spots' or destinations there are for the rolling stock. 

Edited by F-UnitMad
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If I might be permitted to expand on the previous post concerning "operating potential" with a view of my current layout.

56830048_2173097019445738_321947041951383552_o

 

The scenic section of the model is 3' 6" long. The rest of the passing loop is hidden on the sector plate. But the station only has the one siding much like your plan. There are perhaps 5 spots for wagons on that siding, (at the moment I only use 4). But to correctly assemble a train offstage, bring into the station and switch out the wagons already in the siding takes a great deal of thought and planning. Woe betide you that you get a wagon out of place, then you really have to think hard to get everything to work out. It's very challenging and a lot of fun.

 

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2 hours ago, Ian Holmes said:

If I might be permitted to expand on the previous post concerning "operating potential" with a view of my current layout.

56830048_2173097019445738_321947041951383552_o

 

The scenic section of the model is 3' 6" long. The rest of the passing loop is hidden on the sector plate. But the station only has the one siding much like your plan. There are perhaps 5 spots for wagons on that siding, (at the moment I only use 4). But to correctly assemble a train offstage, bring into the station and switch out the wagons already in the siding takes a great deal of thought and planning. Woe betide you that you get a wagon out of place, then you really have to think hard to get everything to work out. It's very challenging and a lot of fun.

 



How did you make your sector plate?

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Not sure a through station with 2 cassettes is a good use of the space.  If the cassettes are  18" long you end up with a total length of 7ft.   

7ft woud allow a 5ft 5" terminus and one cassette.  Obviously you can't have two trains pass at a terminus but if the main idea is making  a scenic layout/ diorama a terminus might make sense.

 

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I'm enjoying all the ideas coming out on here. Willsheldrake, have you seen a layout called Ruyton Road, it's a fantastic small station terminus based on a light railway, I've not found many pics online but there are youtube videos and a track plan. It's well worth checking out for a bit of inspiration.

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On 18/03/2020 at 23:20, MAP66 said:

 

I like the concept and I have been scratching my head to come up with something similar you could try which adds some more operational potential.

I have kept your baseboard dimensions the same but added an additional one foot to the right for a fiddle yard. I used anyrail and track is Peco streamline 100.

You now have a headshunt for a run round loop at the station and the addition of a double slip allows the coal yard siding to be on the right with more space for the yard and possibility of further goods siding with store store of goods shed and yard crane. I have tried to keep to your original concept and hope this is of help but please ignore if of no use - no problem.

 

Regards

Mark

Suggestion.jpg

I like the look of this one: it would make a nice model, but I also agree that a prototype light railway probably wouldn't stretch to a double slip.

It could work with a single slip too - one that completed the run-round loop: it's not likely there'd be stock movements between the two sidings as shown.

For a small (excessively compressed) station on a branch line, a double slip would keep the running line free if the right hand siding was a headshunt, but it's again unlikely (such a branch would probably run one engine in steam, and losing the coal yard would be most unlikely).

Just some thoughts on this one, I think models similar to this have been built and much enjoyed.

Edited by Keith Addenbrooke
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On 18/03/2020 at 07:11, willsheldrake said:

So finally, after a long time of doing nothing but thinking, I have decided to start my first proper layout. I have a small 1ftx4ft baseboard which I plan to use. I'm thinking about doing a small station, on possibly a light railway, with a small siding. It will probably be slow progress as living in NZ and school don't help much. I've included the track plan below and would love some advice on it. Stock will be 7 plank wagons and small 1-2 coach trains. No back story as of yet...

new layout micro.jpg

When I saw this idea I immediately thought of it as a passing station on a narrow gauge line (though that is a different concept).

I think there are examples of heritage narrow gauge lines where trains only stop in one direction, so having one platform is valid, particularly if passenger trains would stop when travelling right to left (so trains in both directions head straight into the loop, rather than taking the diverging point).

Most important thing is to have fun, whatever you go for, and there are loads of experienced modellers on this Forum to help along the way, so enjoy the journey. Keith.

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In the last month, not much has changed on the micro (name?) Completion of the paper mache on one side. Meanwhile, the workbench has been very busy, completion of a gnat and a Mark IV tank. Also, this past week has the finishing of my first scratch build wagon, a bolster using part of Hornby railroad crane for the chassis. I'm very pleased how it turned out, will be a great addition to my fleet. I plan to build a second one alongside an unfinished parkside box can kit. Hope to do some more work on the layout (name ideas?) With the arrival of scenic greenery.

20200502_171934.jpg

20200502_125753.jpg

20200502_163029.jpg

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On 21/03/2020 at 12:49, Keith Addenbrooke said:

When I saw this idea I immediately thought of it as a passing station on a narrow gauge line (though that is a different concept).

I think there are examples of heritage narrow gauge lines where trains only stop in one direction, so having one platform is valid, particularly if passenger trains would stop when travelling right to left (so trains in both directions head straight into the loop, rather than taking the diverging point).

Most important thing is to have fun, whatever you go for, and there are loads of experienced modellers on this Forum to help along the way, so enjoy the journey. Keith.

 

Answer might HAVE been to use a dual height platform a la Brill where initially of tramway trailers made up the train before a single coach rattled back and forth.

Put the lower platform section beside the point, not good practice but there is probably a real real station with a deviating point somewhere along its length other than a release road.

That would the allow the extra two straights to be removed and one fitted as the head shunt at the level crossing.

Change the level crossing for a single arch bridge and a vestigial cutting it thus masks of the run into the fiddle yard along with some lineside foliage.

Install a provender store or two along with a small hut/office in lieu of the coal staithes and the original design is given what it needs to be self contained.

Those basic changes would still work for a Canal basin where the canal or railway provided the provender content for the stores.

A small crane to offload the barge would be a luxury but when did that stop one being fitted on a model?

 

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On 30/06/2020 at 01:32, Sturminster_Newton said:

 

Answer might HAVE been to use a dual height platform a la Brill where initially of tramway trailers made up the train before a single coach rattled back and forth.

Put the lower platform section beside the point, not good practice but there is probably a real real station with a deviating point somewhere along its length other than a release road.

That would the allow the extra two straights to be removed and one fitted as the head shunt at the level crossing.

Change the level crossing for a single arch bridge and a vestigial cutting it thus masks of the run into the fiddle yard along with some lineside foliage.

Install a provender store or two along with a small hut/office in lieu of the coal staithes and the original design is given what it needs to be self contained.

Those basic changes would still work for a Canal basin where the canal or railway provided the provender content for the stores.

A small crane to offload the barge would be a luxury but when did that stop one being fitted on a model?

 

Thanks for the idea,has got me think and going back to inspirations (real and miniature). Really like the idea of the Brill Tramway platform and might include it. Have a few plans being thought out in the background and school holidays in NZ should help things get going.

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There were some very nice secondary/branch railways in NZ that looked pretty much like British light railways ......... after all, a lot was learned from colonial experience about how to build railways on the cheap, and that experience was imported to Britain by returning engineers.

 

Look locally for inspiration?? 

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Thanks for the ideas and help, but having hit a wall (metaphorically) this probably the end of this ideas as a layout. I've decided to concentrate on expanding my skills by making dioramas instead. This layout idea might reappear as a diorama in the future. 

This my new thread and most of my future modelling will appear their instead of here.

again thanks for all of the help/

william 

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On 05/07/2020 at 14:34, JimRead said:

The Hundred of Manhood and Selsey Tramway which ran illegally as a railway and was a Col. Stephens acquisition had a slip in the yard at Chichester, called a Barry Slip.

 

Wow... I never knew about the Barry Slip, but are you sure that the Selsey Tramway was illegal?

 

From my knowledge of the Tramways Act of 1870: the operation of a line would only be illegal if either the engines running on the line were not fitted with skirts and yet still continued to be driven along the roadside or the company failed to pay for the upkeep of the roads it was built across. Of course, the HM&ST ran trains on their own line, rather than along the roadsides and only even went over any roads at level crossings, which meant that they only needed to pay the council for the crossings' upkeep.

 

If there is another reason be sure to explain to me.

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