Novice Lane Stabling Sidings, late 90's diesel depot construction

[Joner]

Hi guys, my name is Paul. 

 

This is my first attempt at starting a thread and also my first attempt at building any sort of layout.

 

I started in O gauge when I bought a DJH class 37 kit back in  2000 when I sold all my 00 stock. I enjoyed building that model....and will finish one day!

I got another one in the back of the cupboard to start aswell  . I know the kit takes a lot to build and I know the faults people have pointed out but I like the fact you build any engine you want (except anything with wipacs) from scratch instead of chopping up a plastic kit. So this year its taken 21 years albeit with life getting in the way. I met my wife in 2000, house to renovate, marriage and kids in the past 20 years had put my modelling on the back burner. Like so many others I got back into it but just before covid hit and started building a collection of Dapol and Heljan diesels.

 

My interest lies in the late 90's, with a plethora of diesel engines and liveries so varied you almost didn't know what year it was. 

 

I'm looking at building a depot for my collection. Andrew P (Seven Mill Sidings)  and Ian (Hither Green) have persuaded me to start a thread for this.

 

I've already built the baseboards and trestle legs. It measures 12ft by 2ft and the height is around 4ft for viewing across as opposed to from above. The middle board goes up first with the other two piggybacking either side, alignment is by 3 Dcc Concepts dowels each end with adjustable 

 

I have roughly estimated what I could fit on them with a quick drawing and some Peco point templates. 

 

There is an Heljan depot at one end for small maintenance jobs. Just forward of this is the fuelling roads (tape measure). To the  side (2 roads) is the fiddle yard,  well 1 arrival/departure which runs the full length  of the layout and the other a head shunt, maybe run road(?) to access the  depot sidings. As we draw forwards a short Siding for tankers with storage tanks behind behind it. Down the other end of the layout are the stabling sidings (middle 3) flanked by 2 head shunts. All the sidings and head shunts were designed to take atleast 2 class 60's. 

 

It will be DCC.

 

I would like to know your thoughts on this rough attempt. I'm worried I'm trying to squeeze too much into the space without sufficient scenery to set the scene.

 

Any advice is welcome. I'm a newbie at this and not very electrical mined when it comes to DCC so layman's terms please. Thanks in advance and hope we have a great journey together. 

 

 

Edited February 25, 2021 by Joner
Title

[woodyfox]

Hi Paul, 

Thanks for sharing. Great joinery on the boards. My efforts are more akin to armour plating everything so it stays level and sturdy. 

On the theme, i would consider that most depots by the 90's had been rationalised from either a steam shed adaptation (Stewarts Lane) or a purpose built diesel depot from the 60's or 70's. I would plan as many roads as you have then omit 2 or 3 and show them as lifted. 

Remember rule one though! 

 

Good luck with it 

Cheers 

Edited February 25, 2021 by woodyfox

[Andrew P]

Hi Paul, My only comment would be that it looks good to me, and that is NOT  GOOD as I'm known by George @georgeT as all Track Peters, and I generally leave no room for Scenics. 

Less is moor is definitely better, but you have some good operating potential on there.

My next suggestion would be to cut out some Card Locos, say about 8 or 10, and see how restrictive it might become, or if it looks to congested.

Other than my comments, I would say I do like the Plan, I went away from the Heljan Shed idea on Seven Mills and Bench Road because it is enormous, but you seem to have fitted it in well.

I would be interested to see what others think, and look forward to your next stage.

BTW Well done tackling a kit like that for starters.

 

All the best and enjoy.

[Joner]

Cheers for the comments guys .

 

I'll have to get the proper Peco points out tomorrow and maybe some more track. Its hard to see the alignment of track from a bit of paper. I might even get some of my collection of engines out as an excuse for sizing things up. 

 

The Heljan depot is big but bought for quickness really. I've started building the ends so maybe mostly finished by next weekend  depending on homeschooling. 

 

More pictures tomorrow Paul

[birdseyecircus]

Looks good but as already said leave room for a portacabin and a road vehicle or two.

Looking forward to your progress.

 

Paul

[47606odin]

Cracking looking set of boards

 

I’d be looking at losing at least one line, as it is all a tight squeeze limiting I to 4 tracks in the width, single track in the shed at the edge of the board if people have to work in there, and by doing that, will be 2 points leases and make your storage sidings slightly longer so you may find you will perhaps not even lose much  at all by having less tracks

 

You need to consider the fact people have to work in the yard and be safe as stuff passes by

Edited February 25, 2021 by 47606odin

[Mol_PMB]

I agree with the comments above, the track needs some simplification. By the 1990s there should be approved walking routes around the depot, also derailers or other protection for men working in the shed, road access for cars, vans, RailPart truck, forklifts etc. Some offices and a crew mess room, a stores for spare parts and another store for lubricants etc. The fuel land tanks will need to be bunded and to have safe access on foot. 

Less is more, start thinking about the safe walking route to everywhere a loco might be stabled. 

 

[Mol_PMB]

PS. If you want an excuse to bring absolutely anything to the depot, consider modelling a wheel lathe instead of one of the other features. 

[David Bell]

A wheel lathe is a great idea. I am including one in my Little Allerton Depot. Attached is an under wheel lathe to give you some ideas. I am using the Heljan kit too but I am building it inside out! Look at the thread to see what I mean.

 

Best of luck with your plans. Will follow with interest.

Cheers

David

[Joner]

58 minutes ago, David Bell said:

A wheel lathe is a great idea. I am including one in my Little Allerton Depot. Attached is an under wheel lathe to give you some ideas. I am using the Heljan kit too but I am building it inside out! Look at the thread to see what I mean.

 

Best of luck with your plans. Will follow with interest.

Cheers

David

Hi David

 

Funny enough I came across your thread the other day and began following it. Its looking really good and like your idea of viewing from the inside. 

I'd thought about a wheel lathe before and it's not off the list of things that might be changed or appear. 

 

Paul

[Joner]

I've also been following Terence Lane by JBM37404. That also has a wheel lathe. 

 

Paul

[D6775]

Will be watching with interest. Like others have said, less is definitely more.  Even if you lost one road each end and the associate couple of points it would give a better feeling of space.  In terms of 'official' walking routes I don't recall seeing too much in the early 90's but certainly from the privatisation era walking routes and barriers very much became more the norm. 

[47606odin]

5 hours ago, D6775 said:

Will be watching with interest. Like others have said, less is definitely more.  Even if you lost one road each end and the associate couple of points it would give a better feeling of space.  In terms of 'official' walking routes I don't recall seeing too much in the early 90's but certainly from the privatisation era walking routes and barriers very much became more the norm. 

Lots of official walking routes for many many years before privatisation. Not necessarily paved or fenced off, but routes that were designated as walking routes and as such kept clear and if required boarded crossings over things like point rodding 

[D6775]

7 hours ago, 47606odin said:

Lots of official walking routes for many many years before privatisation. Not necessarily paved or fenced off, but routes that were designated as walking routes and as such kept clear and if required boarded crossings over things like point rodding 

 

Probably should have worded it better Ian, that's what I meant. There seems to be a mindset that whatever era a modern layout is that walking routes all seem to be marked out with yellow lining, paved and fenced off with lighting.  Like you say there would be recognised walking routes  which would have been kept clear, but not necessarily fully 'structured'. I would guess on the Southern they were probably ahead of most other places given the inherent dangers presented with the third rail.

[47606odin]

10 minutes ago, D6775 said:

 

Probably should have worded it better Ian, that's what I meant. There seems to be a mindset that whatever era a modern layout is that walking routes all seem to be marked out with yellow lining, paved and fenced off with lighting.  Like you say there would be recognised walking routes  which would have been kept clear, but not necessarily fully 'structured'. I would guess on the Southern they were probably ahead of most other places given the inherent dangers presented with the third rail.

not really, trained in how to step over 3rd rail which also had kickboards fitted in yards and sidings, but wooden walkways over lines

[Joner]

Not done a great deal to the design of the  layout the last couple of days. Only started construction of the depot.

 

I did however spend time with my eldest son "playing" Lego. We managed to build a reasonably version of a jinty. It comes out slightly larger than an O gauge 08.

 

I think it looks pretty good considering we built it from scratch and just used what Lego was available.

 

More layout ideas later chaps and chapess's. 

 

Paul

[Joner]

Hi guys n gals 

 

Been busy having a bonfire tonight and I stink of smoke!

 

I was a little busy with some ideas for the stabling point this afternoon. I got the points out of their  boxes along with a couple of engines I had to hand for a sense of scale.

Basically the same as the first draft but losing the small fuel tank Siding between the depot roads and fiddle yard. The tablet holder and polystyrene are to represent the fiddle yard/ headshunt. 

 

This one I changed a bit more.Same principle but this time the fiddle road is the second line and the first is the headhunt. Loco's etc come in diagonally to the far headshunt at the front of the layout and either go to the shed or fuel roads or back on the first road to access the 4 (yes four) stabling roads.  This frees up some space in the middle board at the front. 

 

Both designs lose a point/ Siding yet the second one I gain another if that makes sense?  It does to me.

 

Let me know your thoughts people.

 

Paul

 

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by Joner

[47606odin]

Here’s my suggestion to create a little more space for scenic and operational variation

 

 

by replacing the R/H point to a L/H point (meant to say L/h on the picture not R/H) it alters the geometry of the track and should allow a run round loop, and will spread out the remaining 2 sidings which you can add a gentle curve to, to make it less regimental

[Joner]

Started on the construction of the sides of the Heljan depot. I'm concerned about the quality of the sides as they are neither flat along the bottom or straight along the walls.

Am I being finicky?

I'd expect the bottom of the walls to be flat against the floor. I'd of gone for one of the excellent wooden depot buildings available if I knew it was like this before I started.

The picture below is after I've run a section over wet and dry ( the bottom piece of the 2, the top one is untouched) to try and take out the "droop" in the wall. I'm reluctant to do this too much as it's going to take away half a brick course on the bottom.

I thought about warming it in hot water, however I think this would only work on straightening wall lengthways and not along the brick course.  Any suggestions? 

 

Paul

 

[Joner]

I've cleaned up a couple of sides so far and attempted to level the base. These are 2 bottom to bottom and are a lot flatter than before I started.  The base will be blended into the board with stones and foliage so this will help.

 

Paul

 

[Joner]

Last week I took the decision to not follow the instructions on the depot. The sides and roof come in 4 sections, these are built and added to the next sub assembly(4 in total).     Because of the vast bend in the castings I couldn't see how these were going to fit together let alone straightening out so I glued all the sides together and all the roof sections together. The roof mouldings are very good and flat with very little clean up required. 

 

These were unintentionally left for weekend to harden up. I'm hoping that the roof will help the sides straighten out but I'm expecting the roof to curve up. I may have to resort to some internal strengthening anyway as the building will be removable so some sort of metal bar maybe?

 

Paul

[pwr]

That's shocking - I would send it back

 

Paul R

[Joner]

13 minutes ago, pwr said:

That's shocking - I would send it back

 

Paul R

The problem is I'd started removing stuff other parts from the sprues and cleaning them up. The rest of the kit looks quite good. There is a long wall which goes at the rear of the building (width) if required, that is perfectly straight! I'll post an update soon  as I'm building that bit now.

 

Paul

[Joner]

Here's one I made earlier!

I glued the middle pillar to the roof sections. That was the piece that would have been the furthest from the roof. 

Whilst waiting for that to dry I started on the ends, it's going to be open at one end only. I'm not too worried about glue on the clear plastic as I want it to be frosted or atleast look older than when the depot is based. I could just paint it but thought I'd have a go with a sanding block or tamiya cement. 

 

You can see the long wall on the right. Perfectly straight! 

I'm going to try and glue more of the sides again now and probably leave it overnight to dry.

 

Paul

[Joner]

Round two today. 

 

This is the third glue up I'm doing now. I'm leaving the middle clamp on just for my own satisfaction really as it's had 24hrs drying time! The cans are trying to keep the middle pressed down in the hope it will keep a little straightness to it. Not much in the way of distortion at the moment but we've got the others to glue up yet.

 

I'll let this go off and glue the next posts this afternoon. 

 

In the mean time back to the track layout. Will post some ideas shortly. 

 

Paul