Deliberately Old-Fashioned 0 Scale - Chapter 1

[Donw]

There is only so much you can do with just three points. I think a lot will depends onthe details such as the level crossing. Personally I would go for a fourth and have two sidings in opposite directions which adds complexity to the shunting.  Possibly the best known example being Martin Goodall's Crichel Down Affair.

 

Don

[Northroader]

Looking at your plan, I think the crucial part is the cross section at the centre join, so I staged it on my line, which just happens to be 16.5” wide, to see what it looked like. As you can see, if you’re not too precious about how big you have your platform shelters, you can do it. I like the way you’ve finagled the Y point in and got it looking as if it belongs.

The one layout I’ve seen where you end with a level crossing, and it looked very good, and he did have through running on to an extension as well at times, was Ivan Maxted’s “Darenth”, using a Colonel Stephens basis, although his is 24” width, I’d estimate, still two boards making 8’.

Edited November 1, 2018 by Northroader

[Nearholmer]

Rough

 

I have considered a turntable 'release', but for this one, as you say, through-running is the order.

 

Don

 

That's exactly where I got to yesterday evening, and I think I'm settled now, and ready to paint the boards and start laying track. I saw Crichel Down a vast number of years ago, possibly a 'first version', and I was really impressed by how he'd managed to achieve spaciousness in no space, largely by 'breaking the rules" with point-work; doing what worked in practice, rather than being hidebound by theoretical perfection.

 

Northroader

 

Many thanks. I think I've now got this 'sorted', so that it all works, and by having the entry/exit road fairly near the baseboard edge it will be compatible with a three-road 'drawer' FY, even when on top of the book shelves against the wall.

 

Kevin

[brianusa]

 

A bit different but its the American side of the layout,  its a Sunset Models narrow gauge Mallet, quite small, which ran on a logging railway in N California.  Has a Seuthe smoke unit which still works after a few years now; they don't normally last that long!

 

Brian.

[Nearholmer]

Interesting loco, with lots of detail.

 

I thought that Sunset specialised in finescale brass; is this the same company?

[brianusa]

Interesting loco, with lots of detail.

 

I thought that Sunset specialised in finescale brass; is this the same company?

 

 

 The very same - brass and all!

 

Brian.

[Donw]

I don't know if you are a current gauge 0 guild member but there is a layout with a mix of fines and coarse scale stock in the latest gazette.

 

Don

[Northroader]

I was looking at that article and curious how he was doing it. I see he’s using Peco SM32 track. He’d come indoors from garden Railways and was down sizing from G, so I suppose it makes sense, as SM32 is intended for outdoor 2’ gauge modellers really, with code 200 rail. There’s a mix of ACE and Dapol running quite happily on it.

[Nearholmer]

Has he got Dapol running through SM32 points?

 

I ask, because SM32 uses G0G coarse standards, and the points are made accordingly, so finescale wheels are likely to bounce on the crossing noses when running through a facing point.

 

Some people fit third rail to SM32 track, but quite a few modern coarse locos are 2/3 rail switchable, and some (not all) wagons have insulated axles.

 

And no, i’m not a G0G or HRCA or BLS member, having decided that the TCS suits me best, but I usually see journals for all of them, a month or two late, as I swap with pals.

Edited November 7, 2018 by Nearholmer

[Northroader]

The points are the same stuff, so there must be a bit of a hole at the crossing for the finescale wheels, but he comes over as being happy with it.

Edit to add he’s running it as 2 rail.

Edited November 7, 2018 by Northroader

[Nearholmer]

In odd moments between other things, I'm getting on with painting the baseboards for the new tiny terminus, preparatory to track-laying.

One possibility that has struck me is to make this a seaside terminus, rather than rural, inspired by Lymington Pier, which even had (has?) a very odd level crossing, taking a small road onto the 'hard' where small boats are hauled-up. Another thing I like about LP is that it had a 'home over distant' starting signal, because the block to the Town station was so short, which is a type of signal that model train makers churned out in vast numbers, because it looks pretty, but is not all that common in practice.

Most of the infrastructure at LP remained in-situ until fairly recently; it was still signalled until at least the 1970s, after electrification. Notice LQ signals in this 1979 picture, although the loop and siding had gone by this time https://www.railscot.co.uk/img/33/517/ I can remember things being like this, but I have a feeling that the signals might have been permanently fixed in aspect, with the line being run 'one engine in steam'.

By making the thing a complete mirror-image of Paltry Circus this is looks to be possible, although I need to lay the track out to check once the paint is dry, and having a prototype to refer to, even using a merciless degree of compression and compromise, will probably help prevent my mind wandering too much.

Bit of an odd idea to build two termini to what amounts to exactly the same track plan, but it does seem to be a very practical plan, and 'dressing' it differently should disguise things a bit.

Edited November 8, 2018 by Nearholmer

[GRASinBothell]

Among the Peco backscenes, there are several that combine to form a harbour scene. Either "as is" or enlarged down at your local copy shop, they could be used to set the scene.

 

Gordon

[Donw]

Of course these days the station is dominated by the Wightlink Ferry so the backscene would be the car park with perhaps queues of vehicles waiting for the ferry. If you take the concept and site it elsewhere then the backscene can be whatever you choose.

 

Don

[Nearholmer]

Both back scenes and overbearing boats have been exercising my mind.

 

I'm not quite sure where this place might be, but one possibility is Cuckmere Haven, on the eastern side of the estuary, giving a very similar situation to Lymington, so a view 'out to sea' would in fact be across the broad estuary to quite high hills on the far side - its actually the opposite view from the one that Northroader has used on Washbourne, so we can actually see him, standing at his easel, as a tiny figure in the distance.

 

This would mean no IoW ferries, and Newhaven has the big cross-channel boats, so the main vessels here would be trip boats, which are much more modestly sized. Candidates would be William Allchorn, Southern Queen, and Enchantress, which could extend their traditional trips from Eastbourne to Beachy Head, http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/AllchornPleasureBoats.html#anchor307594 , or the equivalent from Brighton coming the other way. "Any more for the Skylark?"

 

But, for now, modelling is focused on our youngest's rather over-ambitious plans to create a detailed diorama of The Great Fire of London, with all the houses having detailed interiors and all the populace "running about screaming".

Edited November 8, 2018 by Nearholmer

[Northroader]

That tiny figure is disappearing over the hill to a pub in Seaford. There was a very nice model by mr. Bob Jennings appeared in the BRM (I can mention this on here?) for July 1994.

This would be his copyright.

Can I suggest the other location for this place is at the end of the hypothetical branch line from Chichester I suggested on my thread, placed at West Head, with Hayling Island opposite. Flattish shingle but a nice sparkling sea and the Bembridge end of the Isle of Wight in the distance. Trouble with Lymington is it’s a bit up the river, reeds and mud, no seascape for a budding young artist to do for you. Then one of the old ferry boats, “Duchess of Richmond” Railway, “Duchess of York” Red Funnel, small boats, but quite large models, otherwise one of the Hamble Ferries are quite pretty?

Edited November 8, 2018 by Northroader

[Nearholmer]

I vaguely remember reading that magazine. There have been a few models inspired by Lymington Pier, this being a very good one that is 'on the circuit' currently https://harlynpier.weebly.com . I think a good period to "do" for an accurate model would be immediately pre-WW2, when the platform had been extended and the siding added (Mr Jenning's layout was, I think, inaccurate in having the siding) to support the new generation of vehicle-carrying ferries; there's a good photo of the inaugural sailing in 1938, showing some wonderful 'old crock' lorries and busses disembarking.

 

As to exactly where my 'ironing board' might be, that doesn't need to be settled yet. In fact, it may never need to be settled, it might just be in somewhere on the south coast, where the sun always shines, just as Paltry Circus is somewhere on the inner fringes of London where it is permanently drizzly and the air tastes of coal smoke.

 

It will need a name, of course, so I hope Zomboid is feeling creative. 'Hope Gap' I quite like, that being a real, and clearly disappointing, place between Seaford Head and the Cuckmere.

[St Enodoc]

Both back scenes and overbearing boats have been exercising my mind.

 

I'm not quite sure where this place might be, but one possibility is Cuckmere Haven, on the eastern side of the estuary, giving a very similar situation to Lymington, so a view 'out to sea' would in fact be across the broad estuary to quite high hills on the far side - its actually the opposite view from the one that Northroader has used on Washbourne, so we can actually see him, standing at his easel, as a tiny figure in the distance.

 

This would mean no IoW ferries, and Newhaven has the big cross-channel boats, so the main vessels here would be trip boats, which are much more modestly sized. Candidates would be William Allchorn, Southern Queen, and Enchantress, which could extend their traditional trips from Eastbourne to Beachy Head, http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/AllchornPleasureBoats.html#anchor307594 , or the equivalent from Brighton coming the other way. "Any more for the Skylark?"

 

But, for now, modelling is focused on our youngest's rather over-ambitious plans to create a detailed diorama of The Great Fire of London, with all the houses having detailed interiors and all the populace "running about screaming".

Oh yes! An Allchorn boat from Eastbourne to Cuckmere Haven, stopping at Birling Gap on the return for tea, would be a wonderful afternoon excursion. I'd prefer the view from the west across the pier with the Seven Sisters on the backscene though.

 

I think we've been here before...

[Nearholmer]

Once more around the buoy.

[Nearholmer]

On the practical, as opposed to 'imagined setting' front, baseboards are now Regulation Grey, and further checks suggest that the 'mirrored Paltry' will fit neatly.

 

This layout will be 160mm shorter than PC, to fit the bookshelves exactly, neatness being a prerequisite for something that will live in a 'habitable' room, and all that loss of length has to go from the run-round loop, so it really will be only two bogie coaches or three six-wheelers, whereas on PC it is possible to run-round three bogie coaches, just.

 

It is fractionally wider than PC, which makes a noticeable difference to how the foreground can be used ...... I can possibly use it to suggest goods-the-activity.

 

Views on the shed: loco; goods; or, not at all? I think it forms quite a good view-block.

Edited November 9, 2018 by Nearholmer

[Nearholmer]

A small tinplate remembrance, using the AS model of 2419D, the coach in which the Armistice was signed.

 

The coach preserved at the memorial site is a ‘stand in’, because the original was destroyed by the Nazis in WW2.

Edited November 10, 2018 by Nearholmer

[sncf231e]

The small Italian company Dottori made a in 0 gauge some 35 years ago a model of 2419D with correct(?) interior:

 

 

 

 

Regards

Fred

[Nearholmer]

A thing of beauty!

[brianusa]

A thing of beauty for sure but....................!  How many look inside and how many times does it happen?  In my LGB days, everything was big enough and interiors were more visible but even then, while it was nice to have them, soon the effect was lost in other railway matters.  Lionel's Standard Gauge coaches were magnificent in the same way but the novelty of having a toilet with a lid, soon wore off.

But, such is the attraction for details like these, they will continue to please the owners and the envious lookers.  My Hornby coaches only have silvered windows, invariably in dodgy condition which will never be as impressive.

 

Brian.

[St Enodoc]

A thing of beauty for sure but....................!  How many look inside and how many times does it happen?  In my LGB days, everything was big enough and interiors were more visible but even then, while it was nice to have them, soon the effect was lost in other railway matters.  Lionel's Standard Gauge coaches were magnificent in the same way but the novelty of having a toilet with a lid, soon wore off.

But, such is the attraction for details like these, they will continue to please the owners and the envious lookers.  My Hornby coaches only have silvered windows, invariably in dodgy condition which will never be as impressive.

 

Brian.

If you were of a delicate disposition, it probably wouldn't have been a good idea to look inside the late G P Keen's 0 gauge sleeping cars...

[Simond]

Suggests that “sleeping” is something of a misnomer...