Tim H Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Dimensions will be 4'6" x 2'8" (Winrail has truncated it slightly) on a single board. Gauge is N (obvuously) Concept is the Cambrian lines in the mid-70s operated by DMUs and class 24s, and will probably be DCC. I've drawn it with Peco Setrack for the storage loops at one end and Kato Unitrack for the scenic portion. The stock should have no problems with 9" curves. Scenically it's an amalgam of the area around Penrhyndeudraeth and the stretch along the Dyfi estuary between Dovey Junction and Aberdovey; the middle of the layout will be a tidal estuary with a timber trestle viaduct in the middle of the curve. The plan includes half a passing station with the station footbridge hiding the hole in the sky. I've inckuded a small goods yard which I recognise is a bit cramped, but the passing loop on it's own seemed a bit dull operationally. May reduce it to a single siding rather than two. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCB Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 The sidings are rather short and will be awkward to shunt with such a short head shunt, but it could be fun! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium NWJ Posted July 12, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 12, 2015 Hi Tim, I'll start the ball rolling... Firstly, I like the concept - I think that you are playing to one of the strengths of N gauge - you can get a lot into a small space. Whilst this is not the case with your plan, it will be the case with the scenery. There is an element about your plan of "Bassenthwaite Lake", a successful N gauge exhibition layout, with the idea of the river estuary and timber bridge is an interesting one, and I think that the decision to set out the fiddle yard at an end rather than the back is novel too. Certainly the water as the centrepiece of "Bassenthwaite Lake" made it a very notable scenic layout and it was only a little longer, 6' if I recall. I think that you have identified the problem which is operational interest, and this is something which is more of a personal thing. I agree that you need the yard or something. As a matter of practicality, why would the yard be set on the river/estuary/coast side of the line as this would make access tricky from the location it serves? Perhaps keep the two sidings if you can, it will allow for more shunting possibilities. Look forward to seeing this develop. Neil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim H Posted July 12, 2015 Author Share Posted July 12, 2015 You guessed correctly; Bassenthwaite was one inspiration for this plan. Moving the trestle viaduct round a bit will make room for a slighly longer headshunt and make the yard easier to shunt. There's a lot of modellers' licence here; by th 1970s the smaller stations had lost their freight facilities and in many cases their passing loops too, and those stations that still handled freight had quite extensive but underused yards. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Chimer Posted July 13, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 13, 2015 I agree that you need two sidings for interesting shunting, and also that if you could move the station a few inches "north" (up) there would be more room for a small yard outside the basic loop than there is inside, making use of the bottom right corner (but I can see this might adversely affect the sweep of the viaduct). Either way, if you reverse the yard so the headshunt is at the left-hand end and make the scenic break a roadbridge, the headshunt could disappear under the bridge too, giving you a bit more total length for it and the sidings ....... Good luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim H Posted July 13, 2015 Author Share Posted July 13, 2015 OK, here's take 2 I've made both the headshunt and the sidings quite a bit longer, which will entail moving the trestle bridge round a but. The sidings will have to penetrate a "hole in the sky" hidden behind a strategically-placed building. I am beginning to think this is going to need a card mockup now..... I've also rearranged the pointwork at one end of the fiddle yard so as to lengthen two of the three roads. The bi-directional middlesi road is intended to hold two DMU sets, and should now (just) take a combined length of six coaches, meaning there's space for one 4-car and one 2-car. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
81A Oldoak Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 OK, here's take 2 I've made both the headshunt and the sidings quite a bit longer, which will entail moving the trestle bridge round a but. The sidings will have to penetrate a "hole in the sky" hidden behind a strategically-placed building. I am beginning to think this is going to need a card mockup now..... I've also rearranged the pointwork at one end of the fiddle yard so as to lengthen two of the three roads. The bi-directional middlesi road is intended to hold two DMU sets, and should now (just) take a combined length of six coaches, meaning there's space for one 4-car and one 2-car. N Gauge is not my scene, even though our first Ixion loco was an N gauge GWR Manor. However, I will follow this with interest as I have a particular interest in the Cambrian lines and remember the period you are aiming to portray from holidays near Portmadoc at the turn of the Seventies. I clearly remember watching the shunting of vans at Penryhndeudraeth by tatty, pre-TOPS Class 24s. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCB Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 Maybe if the sidings swung towards the middle of the baseboard, especially the one nearest the centre, the hole in the sky could be avoided. There are some very steep hills on the Cambrian, and near to it so a near vertical rock face would not be inappropriate as a scenic break. Still it looks like it will be fun and could look good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 Not sure if this conversation is still going, but I too remember the Cambrian at this period. I have a photo I took before boarding the 14:20(?) from Aberystwyth, a three coach train of Mk1s hauled by a 25 - as near a proper train as one could get post-steam. The other thing to include will be the early morning train from Shrewsbury, composed of a Met Cam unit hauling a utility van full of post and newspapers. This used to stop for ages at stations, and on two or three occasions the train driver and guard made tea for all the passengers, bringing each of us a mug full! Machynlleth might repay study, because the stabling and fuel area was (is?) rammed hard up against a cliff, a bit like Boston Lodge on the Festiniog. As is said above, your yard could tuck in against a cliff that is right at the edge of the salt-flats. Since I can barely see N, and tend to cause major derailments by sneezing, I won't comment on your choice of scale! Kevin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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