georgeT Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Well here we go again yet another thread, but this time l am going down a much different route, and l am going for an industrial scene with lots of really run down factories and warehouses, and a through station with mainly ex-LMS 3f and 4fs with BR standards, and two car diesel passenger locals on run throughs, as it will be fiddle 2 fiddle. l have been really inspired by JasonTs 'Bacup' and his latest 'The Mill', l just love the run down look of the buildings Jason has created, also l love 'Oldham King Street' which is the era l wish to model. So the first step was to lift all the track and ballast from 'Hempshaw' no easy task l can tell you, l know it was a different approach to track laying (for me anyway) and a lot of the gang disagreed with me, but l carried on against all the advise BIG MISTAKE all the varnish l sprayed on to hold the ballast together had really clogged up the track and pointwork, l just could not remove it after it had dried out. and trying to lift the tape from the baseboard is impossible so l will give the baseboard a layer of cork ready to start again....... George Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Hi Mate, Well I cant argue with you about Bacup and The Mill or as I suggested on Hempshaw, Oldham King Street is a real cracker and has such good operation in a small (for O Gauge at least) space. Good luck with this one mate, but I will make (as an Old Friend) some friendly tips, help, advice, encouragement. Firstly, Draw it out, Plan it and offer it up for comment. Secondly, Think again about what you want and how it will work for you at Home, (access to fiddle yard etc.) as you wont be Exhibiting it. Thirdly, Have you got enough room for all you desire, without over crowding the scene. Fourthly, Draw it again on a Graph, (a sheet of A4 with 1'' squares on it) then lay it under another sheet to see if it works, remember points are going to need about 14'' each. Fifthly, Make the base boards with Dowels for alignment, and over centre latches for ease of assembly / dismantling. Sixthly, Lay a good foundation, DONT SKIMP NOW for a quick finish. Seventhly, Lay the Track carefully, and slowly. Eighthly, Wire, run and test for at least a Month before the next stage AS ITS EASIER TO RIP IT UP AGAIN NOW BEFORE YOU BALLAST.. Ninthly, Painting the Track and Sleepers, Tenthly, Ballast as EVERYONE has done before you, DONT try and re invent the wheel. Good Luck mate, ENJOY. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeT Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 Hello Mate, The ten commandments to follow, all valid info thank you will do... George Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
emt_911 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 George Like Andy says, can't argue about Bacup and The Mill. I also have to agree with all the points he made about planning and testing. However, I'm looking forward to the planning and progress. Good luck with it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeT Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 Very early good morning Duncan. Cant sleep either thinking about the layout and the ten point plan from Bodgit, l know what l want it to look like, but getting there is the problem, so will start with point one... George Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ray H Posted January 4, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 4, 2015 George The devil's in the planning (and the re-planning) as I'm slowly finding out. It might help to have something else that occasionally requires your attention in the short term so that you can concentrate elsewhere from time to time. You'll then be able to re-visit your plan with a fresh pair of eyes to make sure that the ideas that you've been developing are still as interesting as you initially thought they'd be. I've been tinkering with my (latest) idea for several weeks now and am still not at the stage where I can start building the baseboards - although I'll admit that isn't because I don't want to. I'm truly hopeful that I shall have a layout that survives longer than usual by not rushing into things as I've been want to do in the past. Good luck. I know you'll end up with an excellent result whatever you do. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeT Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 Morning RayH. You are quite right in what you say, l only have 6'6" of board to play with, and all l want is about a 10" end of platform from the fiddle yard and some point work with a few sidings onto the next fiddle, l will doodle today and try to come up with something interesting hopefully as l am happy with a 9f just running through with a brake van, don't want 40 wagon coal trains, would be nice ... but then l can go and play on 'Bitton' soon ? hahahahaha George Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tender Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Hi George. Sorry to see Hempshaw go but out of the ashes............. Looking forward to see this one grow. Ray. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium southern42 Posted January 4, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 4, 2015 Morning George and Happy New Year. Delighted you've got another layout up your sleeve that you can get cracking on. You call the layout Goods but what sort of depot will it be? That'll call for non-stop movement while the passenger trains go intermittently past. What freight will you have? I'm not familiar with the area so I don't know what your primary or unusual goods would have been. I look forward to seeing all sorts of goodies vans and wagons. But for now, will pop in to see how it's progressing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeT Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 Hello Ray, It was hard to scrap after all the work involved but it was just not right so it had to go, l have not got the room to store failed projects, so a new start will be made, should be able to re-use the points once l have soaked them in DETTOL for a couple of days to get the paint and varnish off then a little touch up here and there and away we go.. George Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeT Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 Morning Polly. Hope you and Ray have had a great christmas, the area to be modelled will be south of Birmingham in the early 60s, the warehouses will be a little run down and dirty, two of the buildings will be rail fed so l guess lots of 12t box vans full of various loads, and there needs to be a water / diesel refueling point for steam / diesels in the foreground etc etc and a run through track for passenger units.. George Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium southern42 Posted January 4, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 4, 2015 Morning Polly. Hope you and Ray have had a great christmas, the area to be modelled will be south of Birmingham in the early 60s, the warehouses will be a little run down and dirty, two of the buildings will be rail fed so l guess lots of 12t box vans full of various loads, and there needs to be a water / diesel refueling point for steam / diesels in the foreground etc etc and a run through track for passenger units.. George Ah! Well. A 9F dragging a Fawley oil train through the station. http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2131131 Or, if Bishop's Street is on another line, maybe, like me, a shortened rake of tanks destined for a small depot in the region somewhere up a branchline. That's if it's in keeping, of course. I got lucky. I just liked the picture so wanted one - and actually found one in the area. Or, maybe, Bishop's Street has it's own oil depot. Oh, dear, I must let you get on and build your layout. All this speculative drivel must be doing your head in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Evening Mate, I've just looked in and expected to see some points and ballast. Glad to see you haven't though. Polly has some good points about Traffic Flow, have you decided what will be coming and going from the Factories / Warehouse, and what about Oil, Cement, Timber etc? Loads to work out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeT Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 Evening Polly / Andy Far from speculative drivel Polly, all inputs and comments are gratefully received, as l need as much info as possible, l guess there would have been lots of freight going through at that time in the 60s and lots of different types of steam / diesel locos as well... George Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Alister_G Posted January 5, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 5, 2015 Hi George, First day I've managed to look at RMWeb for a week (I'm back at work now ) and here you are with another new project. Andy's commandments look good to me, and your ideas sound good, so looking forward to seeing Bishop Street being built. I like the sound of all the buildings. Happy New Year mate, Cheers, Al. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeT Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 Hello Al. Happy new year to you and your family too, l really don't know how you with Bakewell / Jason (Bacup) Ray (Camel Q) and many, many others on here maintain the interest to keep building the same project to the finish without the boredom factor creeping in ? So this project l will see to the end (?) l will really try this time to stay in focus, trouble is when you have a grass hoppers type of brain, jumping from this to that its hard. know what l mean hahahahaha And no l didn't mean l have a grass hoppers brain Bodge, just a type of one. hahahaha George Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ray H Posted January 5, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 5, 2015 George I think a lot of us have been there and done that with regard to getting bored with a layout. Mine never used to get much further than track down before I realised I didn't like the scheme and dreamt up another one. I wonder if it is the solo operation that does the damage? I wonder if the answer is to have a couple of projects on the go simultaneously, one possibly smaller than the other, so that when you get bored with the main one there is something to distract you until the enthusiasm returns? I suppose layouts are no different to rolling stock in one way - there's only so much that you can really do to them - if we ignore the tinkering. There is one main difference though. Rolling stock can go in a drawer or be shunted into a siding and see use from time to time either in isolation or as part of a train. Unless you build modular layouts - probably not too practical in anything other than 009 or N for most of us - that's not an option with layouts themselves. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Todd Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Evening Mate, I've just looked in and expected to see some points and ballast. Glad to see you haven't though. Polly has some good points about Traffic Flow, have you decided what will be coming and going from the Factories / Warehouse, and what about Oil, Cement, Timber etc? Loads to work out. Cor !. . Give George a chance, Andy, it's only the first page of his thread. ........ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeT Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 Hello RayH / David. l have ordered some 2mm plywood to start building some warehouses / factories and will hopefully build a layout around them, bit of a different approach ? Regards George Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium southern42 Posted January 5, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 5, 2015 Hello Al. Happy new year to you and your family too, l really don't know how you with Bakewell / Jason (Bacup) Ray (Camel Q) and many, many others on here maintain the interest to keep building the same project to the finish without the boredom factor creeping in ? So this project l will see to the end (?) l will really try this time to stay in focus, trouble is when you have a grass hoppers type of brain, jumping from this to that its hard. know what l mean hahahahaha And no l didn't mean l have a grass hoppers brain Bodge, just a type of one. hahahaha George I find it hard to be bored with CQ, George. There's always something to do on it or find out. At the moment, anyway. For instance, I initially got excited about the new Delabole Slate Presflos from Kernow (except about the price, that is!) but then when I looked up the history of them, they weren't built until 1958 (approximately the time we're currently operating CQ) and they carried other stuff (salt) before they carried slate. I think this means we can cross them off the shopping list. But it doesn't stop there. What was the slate from Delabole carried in around 1958, then? Answers gratefully received. See, interesting. And, then, all the "How do I do that?" questions and "trial and error" attempts at doing it. No time to get bored, frustrated, maybe, but not bored. Even the operation keeps you on your toes. You'll see that at Stafford, of course. Might not be able to get a word out of us, but we'll keep the trains running. If it helps, I don't think there's anything wrong with jumping from one thing to another. That's my nature, too, but maybe have a to do list or two to re-stimulate the little brain cells every now and then to keep bringing you back to the layout. Maybe have a few small ideas or projects on the go at the same time rather than just one. But I think the most important bit is adding things that excite or interest you. I find stories help - think like a Soap Opera. OK, we have railway staff, rolling stock, commodities, buildings, timetables and so on, but what's really going on in Bishop's Street from day to day, from morning till night? I look forward to finding out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeT Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 Hello Polly, That is a very different approach to the way l always go about it, l normally just lay some track down and hope for the best, but l will be going down your road this time, thanks for sharing... George Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Jason T Posted January 5, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 5, 2015 I set my heart on Bacup as a location and planned out what I needed to do in order to achieve it, including the large number of buildings required to obtain the feel of the location. It did get a bit tedious at times but because I had that vision of where I wanted to get to, I never lost interest (maybe due to it being such a huge undertaking too - wouldn't have scrapped it half way through). Again with The Mill, we discussed our ideas, track plan and how we wanted the finished item to look and be operated before getting started. I would suggest a few more items to add to Andy's list, to hopefully avoid falling into the same trap as earlier layouts. 1. Write down what you want to achieve, e.g. a shunting layout with enough operational interest to keep you interested in, well, operating it. Building a level of complexity into the plan that will entail more complex shunting for example. Think about what purpose the yard will have. Will it be a goods yard for various merchandise, as small marshalling yard where trains are formed prior to distribution to other yards or industries, or concentrate on a specific traffic flow or be for a specific industry. Think about what you want to use for the shunting. Specific shunter, the loco that worked the train in, industrial (privately owned) locos, etc. Plan out the placement of buildings, coal cells, etc. before building (or even planning) the track. Will the yard be accessed from one or both directions and if the latter, is there room for two suitable fiddle yards. Think about losing the loco stabling and servicing area as for the size of yard you are able to produce, it would be highly unlikely that the locos would be stored at the same site (they would run light engine to the nearest shed if they needed servicing). Lose that and you have more space for more sidings and / or buildings. If you can find anything suitable, sticking to prototype or using it for inspiration will make life much easier because it will be more believable. Hope that is of some help, Cheers, Jason Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Alister_G Posted January 5, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 5, 2015 Hello Al. l really don't know how you with Bakewell / Jason (Bacup) Ray (Camel Q) and many, many others on here maintain the interest to keep building the same project to the finish without the boredom factor creeping in ? Hi mate, well you've had answers from Jason, Ray and Polly, so here's mine... Firstly, I had a very clear plan of exactly what it was I wanted to achieve - a replica of the real Bakewell Station. This was a long-held dream, which I've wanted to do since I was a teenager. Secondly, as Jason says above, because I wanted to build a replica of a real place, I could use photographs of the prototype as inspiration to keep prompting me to get it right. Thirdly, as Polly says, I am enjoying finding out about the real place, what trains ran where, what goods would be handled in the goods yard, which coal merchants worked there, how the cattle went to market, etc, etc. Finally, don't forget this is the first time I've ever done anything like this, so things that to you are perhaps a bit boring and you consider a chore (like fitting windows, or ballasting) are still new and fresh challenges to me. You've followed my thread, so you know that I've tended to flit about a bit, between buildings, scenery, rolling stock (lawnmowers) so I've deliberately tried to change tack if I was getting bored with some aspect of it, but I do have a definite goal to aim for. I wonder if you've really considered what it is you want from a layout? Do you in fact enjoy the building more than the operating? Maybe you should consider doing a scenic diorama a bit like Jaz has been doing, where the railway is almost an afterthought? That's more like Jason's Bacup as well, more buildings than railway... Cheers mate, Al. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Hello RayH / David. l have ordered some 2mm plywood to start building some warehouses / factories and will hopefully build a layout around them, bit of a different approach ? Regards George George, remember the 10th commandment, DONT try and re invent the wheel :nono: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Well mate, you've heard from the EXPERTS with experience at building long standing quality Layouts, Jason, Ray, Al, etc. And there are loads more on here, Little Bytham, Peterborough North, Grantham, Eastwood Town, A Nod to Brent, Much Murkle, and that's not even scratching the surface. Some are Prototype locations some are not, bit either way they are all quality Layouts because they have been researched and detailed to ensure as near to accuracy as possible. Now as you well know, I have dodged from Modern Image to Steam and back again, not to mention a short flurry into O Gauge, (I SAID DONT MENTION THE O GAUGE) but this time with Bitton I wanted a long term project, in some respects I do wonder why, but then I come back to the fact that all my previous layouts have bored me after a few Months, and been sold on, with one exception, and that was Glen Roy. With Glen Roy, I took a real Place and put it into a fictional layout. I made sure that at Shows I ran the correct Locos, I ran the correct coaches, I ran the correct wagons and I operated it as near to prototype as I could so I was getting complete satisfaction from knowing I was as near right as I wanted to be. Jason and Al have gone overboard to model their chosen location, Ray has kept Camel Quay true to a Fictional Location by using the correct stock and then building a story around it, but has spent time making and altering sock to suit to ensure its authentic. Maybe you don't actually want a Model Railway at all, Maybe you just want to have a photographic plank in which to sit your latest purchase, but I think not. What you need is a goal, Not one that will be easily achievable in 6 Months. Not one where you can knock up a few points and get them to fit like a train set. Not a set of warehouses where there is no identity to its origins. Not a Layout where operation is whilly nilly and pointless. Not a Layout that has no real end meaning. Not a Layout that has no sense of belonging to a place in time or location. In short not what you or I have done in the past. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.