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dseagull

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Original text left here for reference. Have now changed direction (again)... - Current details from Post 44

 

Well, after much pontificating, procrastination and other words beginning with 'P' (especially after smashing my fingernail with a brick when putting foundations for the shed in...), the time has come for me to start my layout topic.

 

We've moved into our new house, the shed is built (thank you Royal wedding extra bank holiday!) and tomorrow, the internal cladding will be fitted. Just the wiring to sort, and will be good to go.

 

Due to the domestic situation - a rented house - this one will be portable, albeit living in the shed most of the time, in the time honoured shelf-style, and supported on 'track and slot' brackets. This means that, at worst, the scenic section can follow us to another property, and best, all of it can - with any future increase in available size being of benefit, but not neccasary, for the layout to survive and flourish.

 

post-723-0-68642400-1304714305_thumb.png

 

Above is the scenic section, all 7' 5" x 20" of it (including the off-scene part of the curves which take a continous loop round the shed).

 

Below is how this all fits in:

 

post-723-0-08298800-1304714379_thumb.png

 

Those of you who have seen my (idiocy inspired) layout planning thread will note that the plan has been altered very slightly to include a trailing, rather than facing, crossover and a slightly rationalised river with the road bridge off-scene. There have been compromises too - originally I wanted a headshunt for the factory siding, but that's not an option without some kind of 'crampons required' gradient curving back over the non-scenic curves - I also wanted the ends of the platforms to be visible, but they don't fit - so this is very much a 'making the best of' design, so they are now off-scene. You will also probably recognise the following layout blurb;

  • 4mm 00 Gauge (SMP Track/Peco Code 75 Points)
  • DCC Control (NCE PowerCab), with Traintronics or Tortoise & Hare combos controlling the three sets of points in the scenic section)
  • 1976-79
  • BR Southern Region, on the Lewes-Newhaven line
  • Cameo-Style, high level of scenic presentation with an 'enjoy the journey' rather than 'race to completion' approach
  • Third rail units to Newhaven & Seaford in one direction/Lewes & furrin parts outside of Sussex in the other
  • Pickup freight from factory
  • Through freight to Newhaven docks

Why 'Tarring Neville'? - chosen because the real railway does pass through the hamlet (population 36 in 1971 says Wiki, and one of those bizzare places where the 'thank you for driving safely through...' roadsign is visible as you are passing the 'welcome to...' one!) of the same name, but this plan looks nothing like Southease (the station that exists nearby in reality, and because Tarring Neville is a suitably odd name which appeals to my sense of humour(!)

 

It does, however, give me the majority of the 'givens' I originally listed back when I was dreaming the scheme up (the recent Iain Rice book has been of massive help to me! - that and the RM article on Colin's excellent 'Newhaven Harbour' have been read so often now I know what words go where!) - those being: A river, some kind of industry, and (hopefully) an 'open spaces' style. The original blurb also, somewhat embarrasingly, contains the following pencilled on the bottom of 'the list': "Learn signalling(!) and signal for bi-directional running to allow access to factory siding"

 

Off-scenic section, the staging will be simple whole-train cassettes (Perfectly suitable for the max train length of a 4 Coach Mk1 EMU/47 + 10 'traditional' vans + brake/47 + 6 AB Vans) - this will have the added benefit of being able to simply bring stock inside overnight.

 

So - there we have it. The culmination of about 6 months of planning (since I 'came out' as a modeller to the girlfriend!) in a couple of hundred words. Tomorrow the internal cladding for the shed goes in. After that, it's all systems go. I hope it comes good!

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Hi mate,

 

I don't know if it helps with your operations or not, but I've seen a pic somewhere that shows a pick-up goods train approaching lewes from the seaford line and the blurb states that the train picked-up at various places along the way from seaford hence why there was 3 guard/brake vans scattered in the consist. admittedly this pic was from the early 60's so this type of movement might have finished by the time period you are going for.

 

Kev

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Hi dseagull,

 

It might be of interest to know that there were several cement works/ chalk quarries near the real Tarring Neville. One was just to the south at South Heighton and was rail served, but the line was long gone before your chosen era. Another was the rather larger Beddingham cement works. That had quite complex sidings and a narrow gauge line from a clay pit too. Situated at Tarring Neville is an old chalk quarry which was only road-served in my memory.

 

Perhaps your factory could be cement-industry based. It would fit the local area and there are plenty of RTR wagons to suit the traffic flows.

 

Re. your comment a headshunt being too steep: I met a chap in Newhaven last year who had worked at the Eastwoods/Rubgy cement works at Lewes (just up the line from Tarring Neville). He worked on the trains to and from the cement works when he was sixteen,. The line up to the main line exchange sidings at Southerham Junction was so steep that the engine had to take a run at the slope and could only manage three loaded wagons at a time.

 

So there is a prototype for everything!

 

Good Luck!

 

Colin

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Thanks all! - All ideas very welcome!

 

Colin - Thanks. I was toying with the idea of squeezing in a runaround loop , which would give space for a headshunt, inlaid track style, to dissapeer behind the billboards/clump of trees and through a hidden hole in the backscene, but not sure if it would be overkill.

 

Progress has been a little slow, with other things taking priority this weekend, but the first of the layout boards has been purchased, as has the framing, and will hopefully be put together when we get a dry evening this week.

 

The SMP track for the scenic section is also in place (ie, in this house!), and the shed is now cladded, and looks good, so no excuses!

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I think the first picture when you get round to it should be of the smile on your face as the first thing is built. Look forward to seeing how this commences. Out of interest, are you planning to have any storage loops in the off scene area?

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Seags, have you checked out Raphael's old Southerham stuff? Apart from being superb modelling, he has some info about the industries already mentioned. There are a couple of bloggy things, here and here. Unfortunately I dont think he updates here now, but there's this on another forum which you'll be able to see without being a member.

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Looks really good - my own shed based layout is also southern - but set 1960-65. You would get much more scenic extent by having the scenic area diagnonally across the shed - particularly on the left side you could cut out the non-scenic straight bit and have a longer scenic area.

 

Hope this helps and well done - i will follow this with interest!

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Looks really good - my own shed based layout is also southern - but set 1960-65. You would get much more scenic extent by having the scenic area diagnonally across the shed - particularly on the left side you could cut out the non-scenic straight bit and have a longer scenic area.

 

Hope this helps and well done - i will follow this with interest!

 

Thanks - Whilst I'd like to get a longer scenic area, I am limited on two fronts - firstly (and less importantly!) - my XtrkCad skills aren't up to a great deal to plan it properly, and secondly - the 'long' sides of the rectangle can be no wider than 18" so as not to overlap the door opening, with one of the 'short' sides needing to be removable for access, and therefore not a lot more than plain track on the board.

 

Ian: Cheers for those links, always liked Southerham, and interesting to see how it is continuing - just as excellent as before too.

 

Re a shed meetup - maybe, let me get some work done in there first though :D

 

Thanks for all the support, I'm certainly looking forward to it.

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Could have sworn I replied to this earlier!

 

Thanks Simon, that's great and it should fit too - going to digitally 'scenic' the plan tonight and see how it looks.

 

Re: The Factory - I had planned it as a sweet factory (I have a 4-year old who would be dead chuffed to have something on the layout named after him!) - but a cement works 'further down the line' would give me scope for more variety - had Presflos gone by the era I'm planning?

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...a cement works 'further down the line' would give me scope for more variety - had Presflos gone by the era I'm planning?

 

Hell no, you're just on their most interesting period, with significant numbers of refurbed wagons about and providing lettering variations B) Blue Circle built up a fleet of AB wagons through the 70s but Rugby didnt acquire any til the 80s

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If you fancy something sweet to name for your little un, you could have a "gingerbread house" on the hillside, IIRC there is a suitable house on the hill above the real Tarring Neville

 

Kev

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I'm along for the ride. I have all fingers and toes crossed for you having followed all your previous layouts and plans! So best of luck with this one.

 

Like the idea of a short length of scenery but also a continuous run. My only suggestion might be to make your sidings or industry slightly anonymous so you can switch the traffic to it without whatever that is looking out of place. So you could have vans one time, presflos the next, oil traffic, wagons for scrap, grampus with old ballast etc... All of which are suitable on the way down to Newhaven. Southerham was all about exchange sidings rather than the industry itself and this has been good for pretending the sidings are for different types of load.

 

I've also had a chat with the chap from Eastwoods and talking to him it was obvious that loaded wagons were dropped off in one direction and left - the loco going on to Eastbourne and returning in the opposite direction to pick up empties at a later date. Nothing like as complex a system as I devised. With yours you could easily do the same. I'm assuming the same happened at Asham on the Newhaven line, nearer to Tarring Nevill.

 

Excellent name by the way.

 

Raphael

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The first time I passed Tarring Neville, I wondered what Neville had done to get people so upset that they tarred him *and* how it was so infamous that they named the hamlet after it :D

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Thanks Rapheal, really appreciate that - some good operating suggestions there too - Presflos definatley to be involved then!

 

Well I've edited Simon's plan - completing the circuit to make sure it fits and extending the headshunt/goods loop to allow for more off-scene stabling (the theory being is that the loop connects on the other side of the (hidden!) station) - and adding the scenics.

 

Signal Box to be a Wills kit (we had a Saxby & Farmer 'box at Hailsham, so it is ideal really).

 

post-723-0-24738000-1305058408_thumb.png

 

Del: My thoughts exactly :D

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Glad you like it. Would it be possible to take the loop round and reconnect to the main line, or do the cassette staging arrangements preclude that?

 

I like your scenic ideas, but it seems a pity that the signal box has its back to you. Swapping it to the opposite side of the track would also put it on the outside of the curve with better sighting - maybe by the loop crossover if there's room.

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No, unfortunatley the cassette staging precludes that - though having said that I may try it out when it comes to the physical, rather than digital, aspect of planning - if it does fit, it would be useful!

 

post-723-0-06852100-1305138514_thumb.png

 

You are right about the Signal Box, it does look better on the other side, as per above!

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Hi mate,

 

I don't know if you have seen it, but there is an excellent article in this month's Railway Modeller (Page 426 & 427) about baseboard lifting sections that might be of some interest and use to you in building this layout.

 

Kev

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