Filsham Yard - idea for a small fictional urban shunting layout

[Huggy]

So chuffed (pardon the pun...) with my recently acquired P Class tankie in Southern green, and inspired by the many splendid micro idea from you guys in this forum, I've been messing about with Anyrail with one eye on a  nicely flat piece of MDF that's laying about, for a teeny yard that's an extension from the main goods yard at a fictional inner London borough station - Filsham  (possibly) - mainly for a coal and sand / ballast merchant and odd bits of PW materials, that sort of thing. It could probably be done to represent anything from the 1920s to the 50s at least. I've got a few ideas for interchangeable things like posters, inserts in the yard surface to replace certain things for different eras, to widen it's scope, should I get round to building it to a standard where I might show it. As well as the P I have a couple of Terriers and indeed a couple of little diesel shunters. No points involved, so easy to wire and feed all tracks, but it all hinges on getting a decent sector plate made.

I would probably build that first on an outrigger from the main baseboard, and build up the ground in the yard with polystyrene board to get them levelled up.  The rudimentary fiddle facility at the back would be long enough to accommodate a Peco loco lift, and no train would be much more than the loco and a couple of SWB wagons.  Nothing is set in stone yet regarding the yard facilities, so open to ideas. The viaduct would perhaps be good with a high level line on it with a static loco / coach / whatever.    Let me know what you think chaps!

 

Edited April 24, 2018 by Huggy

[luke the train spotter]

Like the idea of this. I think its better to not over complicate a layout and this one already has a nice look to it. Personally I'm not a fan of the static wagon/coach/loco on the viaduct but the decision is yours. Do you have any rough ideas for size?

[Guest Bishoptrains]

This looks a really good layout can't wait to see more..

[sb67]

Nice idea Huggy, looking forward to seeing it develop.

Steve.

[Huggy]

Like the idea of this. I think its better to not over complicate a layout and this one already has a nice look to it. Personally I'm not a fan of the static wagon/coach/loco on the viaduct but the decision is yours. Do you have any rough ideas for size?

Cheers guys. The size would be about 900mm X 350mm overall, a scenic area of about 600x250 excluding the viaduct, really small and compact so I can store it on an old coffee table under my present ongoing layout. As to getting it under way, I'm itching to crack on, but must finish a few bits on Tillingham first. Watch this space!

[marc smith]

Looks a good plan Huggy.
Actually, I've been pondering a small, pointless layout quite a lot myself recently. Something looking quite similar to this in fact
I like the idea of a sand, gravels, PW and building materials yard too... nice

One thing I was thinking about for my plan, was to use a 2 road sector plate as fiddle.
It's that bit trickier, to get both roads aligning perfectly with all 4 roads on your layout
Perhaps even not possible for one road to align with your offstage fiddle siding (but therein lies a nice shunting challenge eh?)
I was just thinking the added  sector plate road does give you a bit more operational flexibility....

[Huggy]

Looks a good plan Huggy.

Actually, I've been pondering a small, pointless layout quite a lot myself recently. Something looking quite similar to this in fact

I like the idea of a sand, gravels, PW and building materials yard too... nice

 

One thing I was thinking about for my plan, was to use a 2 road sector plate as fiddle.

It's that bit trickier, to get both roads aligning perfectly with all 4 roads on your layout

Perhaps even not possible for one road to align with your offstage fiddle siding (but therein lies a nice shunting challenge eh?)

I was just thinking the added  sector plate road does give you a bit more operational flexibility....

 

 

 

Cheers Marc, Yes, having not made a sector plate before, I'm not sure I can get it all to line up, it's one of the reasons for trying a micro as it happens. Putting the swivel point off the board (maybe on a shelf bracket or something/) would give a bit of flexibility in that perhaps.  I also want to try out automatic decoupling methods so this will be handy for that too. However, my biggest "bete noir" is getting points to operate remotely, and it won't teach me anything about that 

Edited April 25, 2018 by Huggy

[Jerry1975]

Looks a interesting idea, looking forward to seeing more.

 

Jerry.

[andyram]

This looks a promising project and looks good so far. I am also not a fan of a static loco on a bridge either.

[Huggy]

This looks a promising project and looks good so far. I am also not a fan of a static loco on a bridge either.

 

Just a "forward thinking" project so far Andy, though I hope to make a start with the sector plate in the near future, so I can see if the tracks can be aligned as planned. As to the viaduct...we'll see. How about a permanent way crew  working on the track? 

[HillsideDepot]

Looks an interesting concept, very much the sort of thing I like.

 

I'd be tempted to agree with others about the viaduct - why not just model the track as if it were a working railway, but one where you never get lucky and see a train? I can think of various little used lines which have a great fascination simply because you never seem to see a train on them. Where do they go? What travels that way? Glimpses of such mysterious lines were part of my childhood, and no doubt, part of the beginnings of my life-long fascination with railways.

[andyram]

Just a "forward thinking" project so far Andy, though I hope to make a start with the sector plate in the near future, so I can see if the tracks can be aligned as planned. As to the viaduct...we'll see. How about a permanent way crew  working on the track? 

That sounds much better. Or you could make it an overgrown and abandoned line. Maybe with a dog walker or a couple of photographers looking down on the yard scene?

[Huggy]

OK, it aint much, but it's a start!   Got the piece of board the size I'm thinking of, and drew a quadrant the length I'd like the sector plate to be (300mm-ish) and at a guess, the curvature of the lines running off it would be manageable.  Will get some odd bits of flexitrack and have a go soon as poss.  I'd like to think about using the code 75 or bullhead track, which seems a bit expensive to me, but then I won't need much. Is it worth it, or any snags? 

 

 

[Huggy]

Thinking again, with so little track, and no points, it would be just plain wrong not to use bullhead track on the scenic bit dontcha think...?  Unless - fill me in here someone - it only accommodates fine  scale wheels - clue me in someone. 

[luke the train spotter]

Thinking again, with so little track, and no points, it would be just plain wrong not to use bullhead track on the scenic bit dontcha think...? Unless - fill me in here someone - it only accommodates fine scale wheels - clue me in someone.

if you're doing bullhead on the scenic you may as well do bull head for the sector plate. As far I know you dont need finescale wheels for bullhead track but they cant be old ones which have the massive flanges.

[Huggy]

if you're doing bullhead on the scenic you may as well do bull head for the sector plate. As far I know you dont need finescale wheels for bullhead track but they cant be old ones which have the massive flanges.

Cheers Luke, that's what I needed to know.