How do you decide what to model?

[bigboyboris]

Currently I am relegated to the position of armchair modeller for space and financial reasons, but I have begun saving towards the goal of beginning construction on a layout next year. To that end, I want to have a reasonable idea in mind of the layout I intend to build (or at the very least a couple of strong possibilities) so that I have something to think about and plan over the next year. 

 

I am reasonably settled on the idea of working in N scale as although I don't know exactly where the layout will go, I can be reasonably certain I won't have a gigantic area to work with and I think that (given the types of scene I want to be able to replicate) any larger scale would not work well. My interest is primarily freight traffic, and I want to be able to run reasonably prototypical mixed goods trains as well as block trains of a good length carrying as wide a variety of cargo as possible. 

 

I have zeroed in on two particular periods of interest. The first is the early 1960s - on the steam side I most enjoy large freight locomotives, and I like the silhouette of many of the Type-1 diesels that were operating in the period so from a traction point of view things work quite neatly. The second point in time that interests me is the era of BR sectorization - I enjoy the various grey liveries that were applied to freight locomotives during the period, and it seems this is about as recent as one can go and still have mixed goods while remaining accurate to the prototype. I am leaning towards the former, but thus far information on the latter period has been easier to come by at my local library, which is of particular significance since I'd like to learn the art of scratch-building rolling stock eventually. 

 

The second dilemma facing me is what to model. I'm likely going to choose something freelance but based on one or more prototypes for flexibility, and I think a significant main-line section is a must in order to allow running any period-appropriate variety of train that takes my fancy. My current plan is to have a diagonal main-line section joining opposite corners of a roughly 12'x2' baseboard with fiddleyard connections at either end and then some kind of facility on one side to add operational interest. The question that then arises is what said facility should be - which is an answer that probably differs depending on which of the two time periods I settle on. 

 

The 'obvious' answer for varied freight traffic is a marshalling yard of some kind, but that seems like a very obvious choice and I'd ideally like to do something a little more unusual if I can. I'm hoping people might have suggestions for something else I could do as an alternative that would still generate at least a couple of different types of wagon but manage to be a bit more unusual while doing so. 

[Sir TophamHatt]

I posted similar question when I was first starting.

 

My current model isn't anything special and every so often, I'll loose interest as it isn't as big as I want.

 

You've given youself some plans but only you can decide what you want. Think about the trains that are available and that you want. When you have that list, it'll show you the dates of your model.

 

In contrast, I run all sorts from 4MT and Pannier tanks to Class 170s and HSTs.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

...The 'obvious' answer for varied freight traffic is a marshalling yard of some kind, but that seems like a very obvious choice and I'd ideally like to do something a little more unusual if I can. I'm hoping people might have suggestions for something else I could do as an alternative that would still generate at least a couple of different types of wagon but manage to be a bit more unusual while doing so. 

 Choose a rail served industry site that operated unchanged in essentials for both the periods you are interested in? Something like a block works taking flyash, cement, aggregate, fuel, in and shipping finished block products out perhaps? Placed to the rear some distance off the rail route, with the connection to the route unseen would be an easy arrangement.

[rockershovel]

Nostalgia, whimsy and accumulated impressions over time...

[Kris]

For my model of Avonwick, I chose the location due to size, I could fit the whole station in without compression in the room I had available. 

For my model of Coombe viaduct, I chose the location as I knew it and I could build it accurately without compression. I could also expand it at a later date. 

[rob D2]

25 % nostalgia , 25 interesting stock, 25 interesting location , 25 operating potential

[The Johnster]

Easy for me; I have for many years modelled South Wales in the 1950s or early 60s.  So, that being a constant and the focus of the stock I own, the decision comes to what sort of prototype or prototype-based location I have the space to model.  While not actually modelling during an unsettled period of my life which is now thankfully over, I drew out plans for various types of layout to suit different layout sizes, from outer suburban Cardiff coal storage sidings. and carriage shed to shunting problem colliery and dockside layouts.  The eventual space I was able to use promoted a BLT, and the decision was a little complicated by this, as there are very few of these in South Wales; in almost all cases, the passenger terminus featured the line continuing to a colliery a little further towards the actual top end of the valley.  The nearest I could find was Abergwynfi, fortunately photogenic and easily photographed from a road bridge, so there was plenty of pictorial information available, and even this had a colliery branch behind it at a higher level.  Apart from that, you're looking at Merthyr High Street (too big), Porthcawl (much too big), Barry Pier (not busy enough), or Clarence Road (I liked this one, but not really enough space to do it justice, and the canal railway went past it).

 

So, Cwmdimbath is basically Abergwynfi  with a couple of sidings added and the (imaginary) colliery down the valley instead of further up it. a real place which never suffered the devastation of the industrial revolution and yet preserves the sylvan loveliness that all the valleys must have once possessed.  The real Dimbath is a tributary stream of the Ogwr river in Mid Glamorgan, a steep and narrow valley actually literally undermined by collieries in the adjacent valleys; my fiction is that it had it's own pit and a village to be served by GW branch, with locos from Tondu shed.  Like Abergwynfi, the service is much more intense than the basic facilities and restricted layout suggest, and there are few spare paths on a working day.  I run coal trains and the corresponding empties, an auto passenger service to connect with the main line at Bridgend, a daily pick up, and 2 separate workman's services, a miner's based on the Glyncorrwg service a couple of valleys over, and one for the Royal Ordinance Factory at Tremains near Bridgend. this actually ran from Abergwynfi.  

 

I have indulged myself in the fiction of a Remploy factory (South Wales had a lot of these in the 50s) with a siding that attract NPCCS; this is pure Rule 1 fiction.

 

But the choice of type of layout, and the prototype it is loosely based on, was ultimately determined by process of elimination; area of interest (South Wales 1950s), space available (2 walls of a bedroom), finances (limited), modelling ability (also limited), desire to get the layout to a degree of completion in order to retain enthusiasm and interest (primarily operating to 1955 Rule Book and some of Abergwynfi's entries in the Sectional Appendix to it); these were the factors that led to the layout being built and named in the way it is.

 

I think that I was very much assisted in this by limiting myself to an area and period and sticking rigidly to it; if you run anything and everything (and I would be the last to criticise you if you did) your choice is too great, too confusing, and it is hard to pin things down.  But every principle of layout planning and building brings it's own problems and issues, and there are no right or wrong ways to go about things.  It's just that there is a little more to it than people who go to an exhibition and come out all fired up and wanting 'one of those' might initially think, even at what I hope nobody will object to me describing as a basic level.

Edited April 28, 2018 by The Johnster

[Pete the Elaner]

For a long time I have wanted to model a real location.

My favourite locos are LMS Pacifics & AC Electrics.

This limits my locations to WCML & requires alternative scenic sections, both of the same location.

Space is a factor. I would like to model Crewe but it would take decades to do it justice & I don't own an aircraft hangar!

I found a location which can fit into a reasonable space, but it is urban so I am having to make lots of buildings, which take more time than creating fields. It is also in London so I have 6 running lines.

 

I would like some pointwork or sidings but they don't exist in the location I am modelling so I don't have them on the layout. Fortunately I like re-creating the prototype more than I like having a running session so I can live with this compromise.

[Crewlisle]

Make a list of what you want from your layout.  When I started my 00 gauge layout 'Crewlisle' many years ago I wanted to model the WCML based on visits to Rugby & Crewe trainspotting in the 1950s.  The space I had available was 2.6M x 2.3M.  To model what I wanted my layout is on three interconnected levels.  My requirements were a double track main line on the middle level representing the WCML; a 4 platform high level terminus to accommodate 6 coach expresses; a steam shed with turntable; separate steam & diesel sheds; a turntable for the steam shed; a goods yard on the high level & on the through station on the WCML;  a reversing loop which goes under the baseboards so trains can leave the terminus & come back again; no space for a fiddle yard (they are wasted spaces) so I incorporated a cassette exchange system on the reversing loop which runs down the inside of the operating well.  I store 14 cassettes on a rack under the baseboard which are easily changed/replensished from stock boxes as required. 

 

I have a total stock of 52 locos, 65 coache/parcel coaches & over 100 goods wagons.  In later years visiting Crewe & an 'all line railrover' with my son in the early 1980s, I became interested in AC electrics.  The WCML now has OLE with the normal AC electrics.   My timescale is from the mid 1950s to the mid 1980s with Stanier Pacifics, Black Fives, blue & green diesels, AC electrics & finishing with the APT (to be replaced with one of the new DJM Crowd Funded APTs).

 

I am the first to agree that it is not prototypical but it entertains with something for everyone.  I converted to DCC 10 years agoafter hearing a sound fitted Class 40.   At exhibitions I have a minimum of 2 trains running & sometimes as many as 4 running simultaneously.  That is why it has been at the NEC five times with my final visit due in 2020.

 

My advice is that you list what you want on your layout, sketch your track plan then go for it!

 

Peter

Edited April 29, 2018 by Crewlisle

[bigboyboris]

 Choose a rail served industry site that operated unchanged in essentials for both the periods you are interested in? Something like a block works taking flyash, cement, aggregate, fuel, in and shipping finished block products out perhaps? Placed to the rear some distance off the rail route, with the connection to the route unseen would be an easy arrangement.

 

Thanks for the suggestions - I'd initially disregarded industrial sites as an option because I figured they'd mostly have only two types of traffic, but on closer examination it makes sense that for many industries you'd have several ingredients delivered by rail. Will have to look into paper mills, steelworks / metal smelters and anything else suitable I can find in addition to your suggestion. 

[E3109]

Never done a layout based on a real location before now, and to be frank I wish I'd done it years ago.

I'm currently doing Reddish Depot and what I've found is that researching the building and track plan from photos and official BR/BTC documents, I've come to realise how well the place was constructed.

It won't be perfect, nothing is but I'm still going to get it as accurate as possible.

 

I reckon once this is finished, my Asian interests (which are currently sidelined) will also involve a real location rather than somewhere that 'might have been' near Bangkok.

 

Thoroughly enjoying the research as much as the construction, and I reckon that's what's kept me plodding on.

 

Of course RS being RS there were a lot of 40s there as well as the resident leccies, and seeing as 40s have always been my favourite BR diesels that surely helps!

 

Ultimately it's up to the individual what they choose to model but in my experience, modelling an actual location has been something of a pivotal decision and only wish I'd done it when I got my first train set!

 

Cheers

E3109

[DavidMcKenzie]

It's a positive that you've got time between now and starting the layout to draw a few track plans, I would advise taking the time to go away from them and come back a week later and change them. It's much easier than laying track and then finding you don't like it.

 

I know for maids morton it went through about 12 iterations of track plan. With a big list of requirements: station, section to run trains full speed, a yard for shunting interest etc. The first plan's were far too complex and were followed by slowly working towards trying to add as much interest whilst at the same time reducing the complexity as much as possible.

 

As for which era, I guess that is a personal thing. I have been modeling the wcml in the mid 90s because I was a young boy during this time and the era not only interests me, but holds a lot of good memories plus a huge amount of stock and livery potential.

 

The only other thing I could suggest if you are really drawn between the two era's is to make anything time specific removal from the layout to be replaced by similar buildings from the other era when you 'switch'. It would almost give you two layouts in one.

 

As for inspiration from real life locations, I've always though the feel of somewhere like willestden junction (without ever doing an exact model) would be interesting. There is a large amount of different freight moving in different directions and to different locations (also with a track plan at different heights). That along with a service depot for shunting and holding area's. It allows a huge amount of interest and doesn't limit realistic stock to one type (a coal train would look very strange in a freightliner terminal etc...).

 

I wish you all the best with your layout and hope you get a lot of enjoyment from it.

 

Regards

Dave