Designing a layout - where to start?

[PatB]

On 12/07/2019 at 09:42, Crewlisle said:

Do what I did 40 years ago, list what you want then go for it!  I wanted a terminus for 6 coach expresses, semaphore and colour light signals, a continuous run representing the WCML with OLE, steam shed, diesel shed, marshalling yard and a reversing loop.  And all this with a pencil, tape measure and patterns for the curved platforms.

 

Look on Google at my 00 gauge DCC layout 'Crewlisle'.  It is 2.6M x 2.3M with three interconnected  levels. The high level has a 4 platform terminus to handle 6 coach expresses, steam shed, diesel shed and marshalling yard.  The mid level represents the WCML with OLE and the low level is a reversing loop incorporating 1.5M cassettes replacing the standard fiddle yard.  Each cassette can hold a loco + 4 coaches or 10 short wheelbase wagons.  Minimum radius is second radius, normally in the tunnels.

 

I run a total of 52 BR Standard and ex-LMS locos (mixture of steam diesel and electric), 65 passenger/parcel coaches and 112 goods wagons.  At exhibitions I run a minimum of two trains simultaneously and sometimes as many as four.  It was built for entertainment.  That is why it has appeared at the NEC five times and for my exhibition circuit swansong at the NEC next year.

 

Anyone wanting a more detailed description, I can send them a PM via RMWeb.

 

Peter

This.

 

Crewlisle is a great example of a type of layout which seems to be out of fashion in "serious" railway modelling circles, but which was popular (or, at least, widely aspired to) in the 1960s and 1970s, and which is familiar to those of us who grew up with Cyril Freezer's dream plan books. It does, of course, directly contradict those who claim you can't do main line in less than a medium sized aircraft hangar by showing that, actually, you can. It just depends on what compromises you personally find acceptable. A six coach express (and the fact that Crewlisle can manage 6 coach trains is impressive in the space) negotiating 2ft radius curves, IMHO, looks perfectly OK in the context of such a layout. Others might disagree, which is perfectly reasonable, because there are many ways to build and operate an enjoyable model railway. No single approach is more "correct" than any other.