East Midlands based station and parcels

[MartynJPearson]

Hi,

 

Many moons ago I started a layout that was basically a roundy roundy with the idea that extension boards would allow for a terminus station - covered here 

 

So, it works for trains running round and round and the whole lot can be controlled by a combination of my code and JMRI running on a Pi. But I have a few niggles:

 

* No station - I'm missing that.

* Nose to tail storage around the outside works (this is where the computer control comes in) but can be temperamental (trains are advanced for set times, great if they move a consistent distance in that time. They don't always)

* Since we had new doors fitted, the bridge across the door is now too close to allow the door to close. Train sounds are not welcomed by the rest of the house (especially not when Strictly is on!)

 

So, I've come up with a revised plan and would really appreciate any feedback or comments before the old layout comes up. A plan courtesy of Anyrail (plus un-artistic additions in paint). Location is East Midlands, era late 70s to early 90s. I've omitted the fiddle yard area, but it boils down to 7 roads of storage with capacity for a full length 8 car HST. Track is OO code 100.

 

 

So - at the top we have the station (with the crudely drawn in platforms) - platform 3 (1 being the lower-most) being a spur, inspired a little by Grantham. The line to platform 4 represents a branch, with trains being able to enter the spur from either the main line or the branch, and then depart on either. That heads off in a different direction to the right, the return being hidden by warehouses and a parcels platform with loop. I guess for later years of operation these might be out of use, but would still serve as a useful dumping ground for engineers trains etc.

 

The scenic breaks come in the form of an over-railway station building and street scene to the left, hiding the fact that the full platforms aren't modelled. On the right, a row of parcels warehouses form the backscene to hide the return from platform 4, ending in something like an overbridge or perhaps a tunnel to allow for some scenery to the end of the board.

 

I think it is ticking more boxes for me - but would welcome any comments.

 

Many thanks!

Edited July 20, 2020 by MartynJPearson

[Chimer]

Nobody else having responded ....... I'm not sure the station works operationally.  If I understand it correctly, you have a double track main line and a single track branch which share a station, the only connection between the two being via the very short platform 3.  So a DMU can come in from the right hand side of the branch to platform 3, and depart to the right down the main.  And vice versa, though access to platform 3 from the anti-clockwise main is via a facing crossover, usually a bit of a no-no, which could be avoided if the two points on the clockwise line were replaced by a single slip.  But I can see no way for freight traffic to transfer from branch to main, which I would have thought would have been essential.  I think I would have arranged the junction something like this .....

 

 

... which allows trains from the branch onto the anti-clockwise main, and allows running round, giving much more variety in operations.

 

I'd also want a goods yard, but that's probably another story ....

 

All the best

 

Chris

 

Edit to say the arrows indicate tracks continue, not direction of travel! 

Edited July 25, 2020 by Chimer

[Flying Pig]

Your plan puts me in mind of the north end of Leicester London Road which has plenty of operating potential, though I don't think you have anywhere near enough space to model it all as it was at the start of your chosen period. Of course, the station was rebuilt in the 1970s and the track and signalling remodelled in the 80s with colour lights replacing semaphores, while goods dwindled away and the handsome Midland Railway warehouses north of the station were ultimately demolished. 

 

So as a compromise, here's a simplified schematic (you'll need to bend it to fit your space) based on the tracks around Leicester North signal box (signal diagram here and a photo showing the slightly different condition in the 1970s here) as they were pre-1985 but with the goods lines and loco depot left out. You end up with something nearer the remodelled station, but with the goods sidings on the down side (bottom of sketch) still in use.  Of course, as it's not actually Leicester, you are free to resignal it with colour lights and rebuild the station much earlier if that suits you better. I've drawn it to match the signal diagram, but I imagine it built the other way round like your original plan with the platforms top left.  That way the warehouses (a mixture of tin sheds and aforementioned brick) can be at the back of the layout.

 

There's no branch line on the layout itself, but plenty of scope for trains to arrive and terminate. Notice though that, per the Midland's dislike of facing crossovers, there's no access to the down platforms from the up passenger line, so they would need to terminate in the up platforms.  The signalling allows them to depart directly from there, but they can also shunt to the down side to wait for departure if desired. I have added a facing crossover (marked with a *)  from the down loop to the goods line for operational convenience.

 

 

[caradoc]

I read it that Platform 4 has a facing connection from the main line, out of view on the left hand side, so a bit more like Grantham ! And even more like Grantham, the facing crossover enables trains to arrive in the bay from the main line and depart onto the branch, and vice versa, which was the case for Skegness line services until the new curve was constructed at Allington.

 

Edited July 25, 2020 by caradoc
Mistake

[Flying Pig]

1 hour ago, caradoc said:

I read it that Platform 4 has a facing connection from the main line, out of view on the left hand side, so a bit more like Grantham ! And even more like Grantham, the facing crossover enables trains to arrive in the bay from the main line and depart onto the branch, and vice versa, which was the case for Skegness line services until the new curve was constructed at Allington.

 

 

Well you could, but the left hand crossovers are quite distant from the station, so that would mean a lot of wrong line running.  Not impossible, but if a facing crossover is wanted, better to put it in the station throat.  However, it seems to me there's more play value without as there will inevitably be the odd carriage shunt.

[caradoc]

??? There is a facing crossover in the station throat, which is what I was referring to !

[Flying Pig]

1 hour ago, caradoc said:

There is a facing crossover in the station throat

 

Not sure what you are referring to here.  There is a facing crossover in the remodelled Leicester layout dating from 1986, but that wasn't the basis of my sketch and there wasn't one in the older layout as shown on the signalling diagram*.  It really depends what era the OP wants to represent as things changed significantly in many places over the period he mentions, with most remnants of the steam railway finally being eliminated.

 

*The s-r-s seems to be having one of its periodic fits of blocking direct links. If you can't see the diagram, go to their homepage https://www.s-r-s.org.uk/home.php and navigate via Drawings and the LMS index.

[Butler Henderson]

29 minutes ago, Flying Pig said:

 

Not sure what you are referring to here. .

Quite clearly a facing crossover in the OPs drawing immediately to the right of point between the left to right running main line and the bay. The issue of how does  a train from the branch get onto the right to left running main line could be explained by the presumably parallel line from Platform 4 being bi directional connecting with the main line proper some distance away.

[Flying Pig]

5 minutes ago, Butler Henderson said:

Quite clearly a facing crossover in the OPs drawing

 

Fair enough - I thought the response was to me.

[caradoc]

2 hours ago, Flying Pig said:

 

Not sure what you are referring to here.  There is a facing crossover in the remodelled Leicester layout dating from 1986, but that wasn't the basis of my sketch and there wasn't one in the older layout as shown on the signalling diagram*.  It really depends what era the OP wants to represent as things changed significantly in many places over the period he mentions, with most remnants of the steam railway finally being eliminated.

 

 

I was referring to the OP's diagram, hence the reference to Grantham.

 

[MartynJPearson]

Thanks for the comments, certainly food for thought and very much appreciated.

 

My intention had been that the spur platform would allow trains coming from the branch to reverse and leave on the main and vice versa as the Nottingham - Skegness services might at Grantham - although of course they could come back from where they came from as for example a Nottingham service terminating at Grantham and returning might. I'd not considered where freight would go but I do have the get out that it all happens at the other (non modelled end) of the station - as I believe it does at Grantham.

 

I also liked the separate "appearance point" that trains may come from, adding a little "what's coming next mystery". Of course, as the operator I should know but it's not always a given

 

The facing crossover was a nagging doubt so perhaps a little more time with Anyrail and a single slip is in order to see what I can do.

[MartynJPearson]

Thanks again for the comments, now had time to play some more with AnyRail (although I haven't done the highlight artistic additions in Paint!) and updated the plan to use a single slip, so trains can arrive into the spur from the anticlockwise main or the branch, leaving the spur platform they can join either the clockwise main line or the branch.

 

Main concern with the slip is the behaviour of my MGR wagons - although as I think I have largely persuaded them to go over standard crossings without deviating, through the use of packing the bogies to stop them rotating and adding more recent wheels, I guess they should behave equally well.