Cowley-on-Sea - OO - 4ft x 2ft

[davidprentice]

Hi all

 

Owing to a change of circumstances, I'm downsizing my layout plans from a double garage to a 4ft x 2ft 'shelf' type layout, and the plan is to use Peco Code 75 finescale streamline trackwork.

 

I have a draft track plan and would welcome observations and comments.

 

 

The scene is basically 4ft wide by 2ft deep. The plan is to have the backscene made up of low-relief warehousing/industrial units and a low-relief signal box near the entry point to the scene. Entry will be from the top-right, with a casette or similar extension board acting as off-scene fiddle yard. The entry will either be via a tunnel, or perhaps more likely, be concealed beneath a road bridge or similar. From the entry point, we approach a small radius LH turnout, with one path leading to a fueling point siding that is long enough to stable two locomotives. I may have this path lead to a single road engine shed 'door' that can be opened/closed to reveal another off-scene fiddle yard extension.

 

Continuing into the scene, from the turnout, will be a double slip, leading off into a two-lane scratch built loco shed, if I can get it to fit (just). Continuing on, it will lead to a three way asymmetrical point, and a one-car DMU platform, to represent a 'just about surviving' branch line. As you can see, coming out of the platform, allows access to a number of mostly one loco long stabling points.

 

The train platform will connect to a stairwell/lift in the bottom right corner that takes passengers down to street level, where there will be a station forecourt scene, with some railway arches added for scenic interest, beneath the main trackwork. If space allows, I may also try to model a quayside or river-side towards the bottom right, as would be keen to experiment with water!

 

In particular, welcome thoughts on what ground signalling might look like for such a layout. I have pre-emptively purchased Cobalt alpha mimic ground signalling x12 (modern style - white/red, 4 lights) and so would welcome thoughts on how one might place such signalling and how it might prototypically operate...

 

I'd also welcome any thoughts on improving or tweaking the layout to either make it more interesting or just 'better'? For example, should I perhaps take out some of the track and adopt a 'less is more' approach?

 

I've tried to get the balance right between the possibility of having some passenger traffic (1-2 car DMUs headed to the fueling point and/or platform; and locomotives/shunters turning up for maintenance and/or fuelling. Operationally, I feel like there is opportunity to develop a sort of timetable for passenger workings that could be quite interesting in terms of accommodating locomotive movements. For example, a passenger service arrives, off-loads passengers, but a stabling locomotive (prior to the passenger service return journey), needs to get from one of the bottom two stabling points to the loco shed, the fuel point, or exit the layout, and so on.  

 

The main hold-up at the moment is waiting for delivery of the trackwork since Peco halted production for a while, but everything else is either with me already or arriving soon.

 

[davidprentice]

P.S. An alternative design allowing for a bit more passenger traffic and perhaps more realistic in terms of space:

 

[TravisM]

I like the plan but the only thing I would suggest is not having the loco shed and use the space to enhance the station.  The fuelling point should remain as that would be more realistic.

[davidprentice]

2 minutes ago, jools1959 said:

I like the plan but the only thing I would suggest is not having the loco shed and use the space to enhance the station.  The fuelling point should remain as that would be more realistic.

 

I think you are right to try to enhance the station, perhaps I should aim for something along the lines of a branchline that gets busy in the summertime (hence the need for two platforms), but dies down significantly in the off-season and reverts to more of a once-hourly single car DMU service. I also think it might be a shame to 'lose' space (and sight of locomotives) to loco sheds. I do like the idea of keeping some sort of conflict between the locomotives and passenger traffic though - and I think the way to achieve this is to keep it pretty busy with locomotives using the 2-3 stabling points at the bottom right of the layout.

 

In my head, this branchline and fueling point is perhaps just a few miles off a mainline, maybe near a container port or similar that has struggled with a recent surge in demand (or perhaps is being remodelled) and so locos are having to come here to this once-forgotten haunt to get some fuelling and light maintenance taken care of?

 

Era-wise, most of my stock is late 1980s onwards to the present day - with perhaps the odd railtour making an appearance...!

[Keith Addenbrooke]

As has been suggested, the loco shed takes up a lot of space.  One option could be to model it in low relief, thereby retaining the concealed entry / exit, and the front of the engine shed (always a popular place for photographs).  It partly depends on how you’ll be modelling - if you have an engine shed you want to include then you may not want to cut it up (and if it’s a resin model, do take appropriate safety precautions), but as the design says “Custom Engine Shed” I wonder if the option to build it differently is there?  Just a thought, Keith.

[davidprentice]

39 minutes ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:

As has been suggested, the loco shed takes up a lot of space.  One option could be to model it in low relief, thereby retaining the concealed entry / exit, and the front of the engine shed (always a popular place for photographs).  It partly depends on how you’ll be modelling - if you have an engine shed you want to include then you may not want to cut it up (and if it’s a resin model, do take appropriate safety precautions), but as the design says “Custom Engine Shed” I wonder if the option to build it differently is there?  Just a thought, Keith.

 

Cheers Keith. I think that might be a nice idea - to model it in low-relief... perhaps just enough depth so that with doors open there's some of the 'inside' on show, but leaving as much of the track clear for locos etc. I will be scratch building it, so definitely an option and one I will likely pursue! Thanks!

[JohnR]

If this is to be set post 1980, the track plan looks a bit cluttered. It would have been simplified a lot by that time, if not earlier. 

 

I agree about loosing the loco shed, but a small stabling point with refuelling facilities would be more typical. 

[Flying Pig]

I would leave out the station altogether.  There isn't really enough room to model it convincingly as well as the yard and you are better off including fuelling and stabling for DMUs in the yard, which will give you just as much operation as a platform.

[davidprentice]

1 hour ago, JohnR said:

If this is to be set post 1980, the track plan looks a bit cluttered. It would have been simplified a lot by that time, if not earlier. 

 

Thanks. Is it conceivable that in the scenario of this depot/fueling point getting busier due to a surge in demand, additional (new) track might have been added or reintroduced?

 

I ask as I quite like the idea of having some old, well-worn elements, and then perhaps having 'new' elements (looped in red below) help explain the clutter? Would this/does this ever happen?

 

And, if that might be plausible, would the pointwork at A and B be more likely to have long since been simplified/removed and thus also need to be 'new', or would it be plausible that they were retained (even if the sidings coming off them, looped in red, had previously been removed/left to corrode)?

 

Thanks for your time!

 

 

  

[davidprentice]

3 minutes ago, Flying Pig said:

I would leave out the station altogether.  There isn't really enough room to model it convincingly as well as the yard and you are better off including fuelling and stabling for DMUs in the yard, which will give you just as much operation as a platform.

 

Thanks for the alternative view on this... You may very well be proved right on not having room to model it convincingly. Some of the best small layouts I've seen do K-I-S-S, as they say.

 

I suspect that I shall end up making a call on whether to go station + yard, or just pure yard, once I've got the track down and have a better idea of just how little space I actually have!

 

I'd be sorry to lose the station element, if only because I don't want the scene to end up being too 'industrial'. I like the idea of a small branchline station where perhaps the solitary member of staff takes pride in the station's appearance, with hanging baskets, and so on, and a similarly 'nice' station forecourt with arches. If the 'yard' only wins out, I would likely rethink the foreground scene, probably just using the space to enhance the yard, rather than add to an already ambitious trackplan.

 

I think the heart says station + yard, but when laid out, perhaps my head (and reality) will rule in favour of 'just' a yard!

[mdvle]

So, very much amateur compared to others on here where it comes to UK track layout rules, but to me (based on comments from the experts in other threads) it seems wrong that the passenger "station" is accessed via a switch while the more dangerous (in terms of runway) fueling point/engine shed gets a direct line to the mainline...

 

That said, I think there is some promise here even if it may not be 100% prototypical.

 

My suggestions

• lose the station forecourt - you really want the railway to be lower than the surrounding area, so then having an even lower forecourt seems unlikely
• move the station to the current fueling point area.  This solves the issue mentioned above, but also offers operations flexibility.  By having the branch continue on off scene to the left you can have a situation where your scene is the first "station/yard" when leaving the mainline with a branch continuing off to the left.
• a) with a branch to the left, when you are operating with a fiddle yard/track exension connected to the left you can have a goods arrive from the left and pick up some wagons before continuing to the mainline.
• b) you offpeak dmu service can stop at your station and reverse, while a peak service continues up the branch.
• c) your station is provided for both the little industry on your layout (think inner city with no parking), and via stairs to the warehouses/industrials in the backscene.
• custom loco shed - change this to an industry, needs to have stuff dropped off/ picked up when the branch train is returning to the mainline - alternately, if the branch isn't being serviced the train needs to be backed onto your layout.
• two tracks just below right side layout entrance - stabling/fueling.  Could be an old engine shed where the roof is long gone, maybe even the layout front wall leaving the layout rear wall to help hide your fiddle yard entrance.  Or perhaps it was a single track engine shed that has been extended to 2 tracks without actually building a structure.
• lower 2 right tracks - your desired canal scene, with the station forecourt now the canal.

 

So you have the benefit that the layout is operational with only the fiddle yard connected on the right, but extra flexibility/potential when space is available to connect a track to the left side also.

Edited May 13, 2020 by mdvle

[JohnR]

Could you not have the station be a single platform, with entry/exit being separate from the entry/exit to the freight yard?

[davidprentice]

@mdvle: thank you for these observations - I'd not even thought about the 'safety' type argument you put forward, and nor had I considered the possibility of flipping the station to the rear and the fueling/stabling to the front. I very much like these ideas. I will be reworking things to reflect many, if not all, of your suggestions.

 

@JohnR: thanks also. I think I'm going to flip the station to the rear...

 

Thanks all for your thoughts on this - just shows how many heads are better than one, particularly in my case!

[sb67]

I like your idea David. I would have the station to the rear and I would replace the slip point with a right hand point and have less sidings for your yard. I would use the engine shed as a view block for the exit to the storage yards. Have you looked at Buxton diesel depot? It has a similar arrangement with a depot near a station, albeit the other way round. Hope that makes sense. 

[davidprentice]

Thanks @sb67, will take  a look at Buxton before I finalise the track plan.

 

I've busied myself, making the basic frame (overkill, I expect with CLS timber) for the layout, but resisting the urge to fix the two additional supports until I'm sure where I will be putting the turnouts and any corresponding motors, or anything else that might need a hole and access from underneath the baseboard! The 12mm plywood top should be arriving in the next week or so, allowing me to print out the various track plans, lay them out, and see which design wins out! Here's hoping Peco's production of finescale streamline track has resumed, or I could be waiting a while before making any further progress, as it seems to be out of stock virtually everywhere!

 

 

I'm pretty pleased with the Accurascale Rawie buffer stops I've acquired, the Guagemaster floodlights, and the DCC Concepts Cobalt Alpha Mimic Ground Signals - even though they've yet to come out of their boxes! Looking forward to getting them installed in due course too! But mostly, it feels good to have got the frame basically sorted, and to now be in a position to get cracking once the track arrives.

 

 

[davidprentice]

So, I've still not entirely finalised an updated trackplan - but have managed to get AnyRail to print the last layout plan for overlaying on the board that arrived today and which I have matched up to the frame, and am pretty happy with. I can heartily recommend AnyRail. I bought the paid version as it is pretty useful and am sure will get lots of use out of it. It also makes clear how important, for making the scenic board of decent value, that having a decent off-scene fiddle yard extension (or loading point) will be, on the top right and on the left of the layouts.

 

I'm intending to create some basic 6-inch wide and perhaps 2ft long boards, one for the top right and one for the left hand side, where I intend to be able to load up to a 2-car DMU into the scene. I have a number of 3 and 4 car D/EMUs... but that would mean adding about 3ft to both ends of the board to allow the odd bit of 'through train' action. But, to be honest, if I had space for 3ft on either side, I'd have built a layout twice the size anyway!

 

And for loading locomotives onto the boards for entry to/exit from the layout, I have ordered some Peco Locolifts (SL-43) which seem to have favourable reports and are stackable, so can hopefully avoid the agony of loading locos out of/back into their boxes between running sessions.

 

 

Looking forward to cork arriving soon, finalising the track plan, fixing the plywood to the timber frame, and getting cracking. The unwanted delay in arrival of Peco track may be a blessing in disguise. It is certainly causing me and affording me time to think hard about the trackplan... Though I do just want the track to arrive so I can start to get it laid!

[rob D2]

I think in any planning scenario, it’s always worth thinking “ why is that track there “, after all it costs money to install and maintain.

 

shed wise - why is there a loco shed ? Is there an offscene industry that needs locos ?or is the place remote enough that dmus need to be serviced here.

 

kick back sidings - not very practical as to get to them you have to access a platform ? What are they for ? Would there be a run round off scene ?

 

just a few ideas of food for thought 

[JDW]

If it were me, I'd be tempted to use thr two sidings top right for the loco shed - or more likely reduce it to a single track shed and just one siding, so it's not too squashed, which would provide a view blocker for trains entering/leaving. Alternatively, as others have said, putting the station where you have the loco shed I'd then have a single-road shed (maybe just a few inches of it against the backscene) on what is your "two-car DMU platform", which would then leave the bottom platform as a headhunt for the four (possibly overgrown) sidings on the right. Again the part loco shed would form part of the view blocker for things departing to the left.