What makes a good first layout?

[garethashenden]

I've been thinking about building a layout in 2mmFS. I've been thinking about it on and off for a while but other things have been the priorities before. I'm interested in opinions of what would make a good first layout. I don't want something overly ambitious, but I don't want something too simple either. I'm not a huge fan of shunting, but a little bit would be welcome. I've got 6 feet, plus 24"-30" either side for fiddleyards, and I feel this should be enough to get a nice scene. Kinda thinking of a double track secondary route, small goods yard, maybe a siding for another industry. Something rural I think, maybe outer suburbs. Bit torn between LNWR and LSWR, too bad they didn't have any joint lines, but about 1930 with either.

But is that the best approach? Would I be better off with a branch line terminus of some sort and do the through station as a second layout? I'm not afraid of the work needed, but I'd rather not waste time and effort on something that doesn't suit either. 

[phil_sutters]

1930 would be a bit late for those two - unless you are just thinking in terms of locations in their former territories. They were merged into the LMS and Southern railways respectively in 1923.

[garethashenden]

12 minutes ago, phil_sutters said:

1930 would be a bit late for those two - unless you are just thinking in terms of locations in their former territories. They were merged into the LMS and Southern railways respectively in 1923.

Yes, grouping but early enough that most of the infrastructure and locomotives hadn’t changed. 

[Sithlord75]

Bricket Wood on the LNWR St Alban's Branch - might be worth looking at as it was a passing station from memory and had a yard.  Not double track but if you're going fiddle yard to fiddle yard, you won't be running trains for passing much anyway I'd have thought.

[BR traction instructor]

Include sufficient RTR/already available stock to get something running early on.

 

Include some kit building/RTR modifications to get the modelling skills sharpened.

 

Include the occasional scratch built items to stretch the skills developed above.

 

Research any chosen prototype well because there will be layout construction/operational characteristics that will be individual to any particular one and these aspects, built in and executed well, will transform the end result into a model railway.

 

A model railway can be very simple but still an accurate rendition of what was intended.

 

BeRTIe

Edited February 9, 2022 by BR traction instructor

[Lacathedrale]

My only thoughts would be to keep it simple in trackplan, and particularly to put as much space as possible between turnouts - I made the mistake of my first little cameo layout being 3' x 1'  and every turnout was butted right up against another - there's lots of work on turnouts vs. plain track and debugging feeds/etc. is more difficult.

[Pandora]

If you entering 2mmFS, I would look at the locos and rolling stock which are available, and can be converted to 2mmFS, then I would choose a period and location setting to match my choice of stock, looking over the products of Farish and Dapol,  the BR modernisation plan  diesel era has a greater choice of stock over the steam era

Edited February 9, 2022 by Pandora

[johnb]

I like all the responses. I've seen people start a large layout and then give up. I'm a small layout fan. I've got one, admittedly US HO 6ft long with two points and a fiddle stick and it gives me hours of enjoyment shuttling freight cars around with a little switcher.

Start small, if it doesn't suit then you haven't lost all that  much time or effort, but it will be good practice. As long as you enjoy yourself that's all that is important.

[Nearholmer]

Are you coming at this as an experienced modeller changing scales, or is this genuinely a first layout?

 

If the latter, I do wonder about 2mmFS as a first choice, because it is a format that is quite demanding of craft skills, and one where, unless you have an infinite amount of time for the job, unlikely to yield very quick rewards in terms of being able to run trains.

 

The classic route is to “cut your teeth” on something less demanding first, but clearly it’s your choice.

[garethashenden]

I’ve got the stock for the proposed railways and era. Not the full amount needed, but enough to start. I’ve got a Jinty with a new chassis, as well as a running Coal Tank and M7. I need somewhere to run them and somewhere where I can work on my scenery skills. 
 

 

[Crosland]

Something you can realistically achieve

 

I have made too many false starts interrupted by work, house moves, etc, ..., that a simple length of track on a plank with no turnouts would be better than what I have achieved so far

 

[bécasse]

A Jinty adds a further dimension as they were basically a Midland Railway shunting engine adapted as an LMS standard design. I doubt whether there were many places (bar joint lines, eg Birmingham New Street) where an ex-LNWR Coal Tank and a Jinty could be seen together in the early pre-grouping years - and that is before trying to add an ex-LSWR M7 into the equation. Even somewhere around Kew in S.W.London where the three railways ran pre-grouping is unlikely to have seen that combination of locos.

 

Perhaps the answer is to be unambitious to start with, a short length of double track in a cutting framed by reasonably anonymous over bridges at either end would take you back to a concept commonplace (but in 7mm scale) seven decades ago, but nevertheless still useful for honing your 2FS skills.

[garethashenden]

I think the specific locomotives are kind of irrelevant to the question I’m trying to ask. There’s a continuum from Inglenook to Copenhagen Fields, I don’t want to be at either end of that really. I think something along the lines of Modbury would be where I’d like to be, but I wanted the opinions of the people who had gone before before I just dive in. 
Beyond a length of EasyTrack I haven’t built any 2mm track, but I’ve built working track in both P4 and American N, so it should be manageable.  

[Ian Smith]

Gareth, the footprint you have described is pretty much what Modbury is (20” traintables either end of a 6’ish scenic section - 10’6” overall).  That suits my purposes of a branch line, but for a double track main line longer fiddleyards would obviously be preferable.  Like you, it is my first 2FS layout so I wanted something that was achievable in a few years, especially as I expected to have to scratch/kit build everything.

look forward to see how your ideas progress.

Ian

[AndrueC]

If it's a first layout then I think it needs to be simple enough that you stand a chance of finishing it - or at least getting to the point where you've done a bit of everything. That way you can hone your skills and learn what works (also what you like). You can also forgive a slightly slapdash approach if it helps create the opportunity to learn new things.

 

If there's a chance of it becoming a permanent layout then you need to ensure good quality. My current layout is my first and it's been a great proving ground but I've noticed recently that I'm encountering issues that stem from the quality being merely 'adequate'. It might mainly be due to this being the first winter it's been in a running state but the halcyon days of summer when it 'just ran' appear to be over. If this was supposed to be my life's work I'd be a little upset. Thankfully it was never intended to be anything other than an experiment so I can log everything as a learning experience

Edited February 9, 2022 by AndrueC

[drduncan]

8 hours ago, garethashenden said:

I need somewhere to run them and somewhere where I can work on my scenery skills. 
 

 

I know very well your scenic skills are extremely  good!

drduncan

[drduncan]

What makes a good first layout? Green locos with Indian red frames, surely…

 

Inflammatory suggestions aside, I think a couple of things are important. First, are you an operator or a builder. If operation is key then not only will it need to satisfy operationally, but you’ll need to be able to maintain the mojo through the build stage to get to the operation… If you are a builder then completion might actually be an anticlimax!

If it were my choice, which of course it isn’t, I’d look at secondary main lines or major branchlines , double track or double going to single, and a junction for max operational interest.  A single line track plan that I think oozes potential is Bewdley, a 4 way junction between the Severn valley branch line and the wooferton to Kidderminster line. If you want mainline action wooferton is interesting.
 

Matching lnwr and Lswr is going to be difficult outside of the west London joint extension line. The north and west route (GWR and lnwr) or Sdjr are your best bets for c1930

DrD

[Caley Jim]

Connerburn started life as a 'small' layout to hone my skills and eventually perhaps become part of a larger layout.  It was 40 years before I started the present one, which bears no relationship to the intended 'larger project.  What it did make me realise was that a terminal station was not what I wanted, and indeed that I didn't really want a station as such, as my interests were more in the freight side of things, specifically coal, which was the bread and butter of the CR.

 

Jim

Edited February 9, 2022 by Caley Jim

[garethashenden]

I have found a couple of places near each other that are close enough to what I was thinking of to pursue a little further. On the LNWR line from Coventry to Nuneaton there is the station of Bedworth. Double track secondary line, small goods yard, brickworks behind the goods yard with its own sidings. Great! But nothing is so perfect that it can't be improved by cutting and pasting pieces of the local geography. With that in mind, we are going to relocate the Coventry canal to the down end of the layout. Give an excuse for a nice bridge, and who doesn't like a canal? The up end should be in a cutting with a bridge over the track, that could work but I'm not opposed to a level crossing either. Probably a few buildings near the station and a lane leading back to the brickworks. 

It occurred to me this afternoon that I can model an LNWR line and run as many LSWR trains as I like on it. No ones going to know if I don't tell them.

 

The topography isn't final, but here's what I'm thinking at the moment. 

[Ian Morgan]

That looks like a good plan. Seven points and a crossing should not be over-stretching for a first layout.

 

I can tell you from our experience with Alresford thirty odd years ago, that you could easily spend all day at an exhibition pushing wagons about in that yard and not get bored. Alresford only had three sidings.

 

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by Ian Morgan
Images reposted

[ShadowinLinby]

Vince Lombardi, the famous coach of the Green Bay Packers American football team, regardless of the previous year’s results, started each new season training with the same five words: ‘Gentlemen, this is a football’, in other words start with the basics. You state, that apart from some plain Easitrak, you haven’t made any other 2mm FS track. So, which of the four available point construction systems are you going to learn, Finetrax, pegged Easitrac, Easitrac or PCB? However, you’ve already ruled out the first two options, as you’ve included a diamond in your plan, which will have to made using one of the latter two. Once you’ve made that decision, buy the appropriate bits from shop 1 and make your first 2mm FS point. Don’t even think about using this point but put it to one side and make another. Get and make up two wagon chassis for shop 2. When you can push one wagon chassis with the other through your points without derailing or jumping you can consider yourself adequate at making point for your planed layout. The more you make the better the results.

 

Chris Bentley

[garethashenden]

To make the trackwork more complicated, it’s actually a single slip followed by a double slip. I’ve got Easitrac turnout bases and chairs, I’ll try making a point with them for practice. I had some pcb sleepers too, but I may have used them elsewhere.