New Brunswick Town

[The Evil Bus Driver]

Over the past few weeks I've been working on a layout to entertain my 5 year old daughter and give me some operational interest too. I've come up with a couple of 1ft ply boards donated by a friend and put a frame around them. I had to think about the legs too as it was a but tall and top heavy so I modified the supports so they were a bit more splayed (splayed legs? Oo-er missus) 

I've been hunting around for screws and now completely run out hehe. 

By making the legs more like an A-frame I can make the layout a bit more stable. Perhaps a storage shelf might work under the main board. That's one built, now I need to do another one. Seen at Daventry MRC's club room. 

 

The idea of the layout is there's a single line into the station, which is a single track branch line terminus on a double track formation. There's a kickback siding into a factory and a headshunt leading to it. 

There'll be a road bridge in the middle and beyond it will be  further sidings giving a storage area which can be used as a shunting puzzle. There will also be room for a loco to be stabled.

The fiddle yard to station main line will be operated by a DEMU on the ABC shuttle principle. 

 

Beyond the station I'm planning a former level crossing, with rails and check rails still in the road, and a small scenic extension board to give the idea of the line being closed beyond this point. Perhaps a parade of shops going up the road and a backscene depicting the backs of the buildings in the high street. 

 

Track plan to follow

Edited June 20, 2023 by The Evil Bus Driver
Typo (I really must get a new proofreader)

[The Evil Bus Driver]

Wood is cut for the second  board just enough time to run out of screws. 

[The Evil Bus Driver]

Update: 17th June 2023

 

Second board is built and I'm on to a new set of legs now. Then figure out how to clamp them together and jump power cables across. I've been given a few industrial buildings that might come in handy so lets see if they'll fit in somewhere and I've obtained some Mountboard to start building the platform. I'll be needing to buy some track soon. I'm thinking two options here, 

1. I can have the whole branch on Bullhead track. This would be most likely in the 70s and 80s on rationalised lines I'm half tempted to set this one in the early 80s) and the main purpose of keeping the line open was the location in the town centre,  we can assume the road network is rather diabolical and freight traffic still runs to the sidings and the stores here so operating a (admittedly pretty well used) DEMU shuttle along the line isn't too much of a hardship. 

 

Option 2. Concrete sleepers on the passenger line and bullhead in the yard. Again even though the line is singled from the previous station to the terminus the track has been replaced at some point with CWR and the slow moving freight trains shuffling around the yard don't cause much wear. Maybe a stack of 60ft rails in a corner could have been kept for use, having been lifted from redundant lines in the yard or station or something.  I don't know,  it's too early yet. 

 

I'm looking at using Finetrax turnouts or printing off some Templot diagrams at some point. I can then get appropriate parts in and finally 3D print that jig for filing. That'll mean I can just make as many turnouts as needed in a bespoke fashion rather than relying on Peco ones, though that remains an option as the Peco Bullhead points are rather tasty themselves. 

 

I might build a third board which will be purely scenic, it'd mean the road at the end of the layout could go on there and I'm planning a parade of shops from a disused (partly dismembered) level crossing up the hill into the town centre proper.  I'm wondering if there might be a local chippy there, although I won't tease audiences with the smell of fish and chips wafting from the layout 😈😈

The crossing would need to be double track width, representing the closed line beyond the buffers. A pair of rusty rails in the road and check rails with an overgrown crossing gate closed across some brambles. 

 

Other jobs

 

One other job that needs doing is the additional bracing to the legs I built before. These are bespoke due to the need for stability hence why they flare outwards. It does mean some annoying carpentry has to be done but it'll stop it falling over. I've got the wood cut for them but I just didn't have the energy to dive into building them last week (be fair it was a bit hot and sticky in the clubroom) I did manage to get all the wood cut though.

The whole thing just needs bracing length wise and I've cut a piece of wood to allow this, although I might add a couple of triangular pieces too. I'm rapidly running out of softwood at the moment so I might grab some before club on Friday and get some screws as well. The bracing pieces will need to be removable so I'm thinking bolts and wing nuts with washers to fit these .

 

That's about it for now. I'm hoping to get some pictures for you to all laugh at admire or whatever. If you want to point while you laugh that's up to you. 

 

I'll knock together a possible track plan as well when I get 5 minutes.

 

TTFN

 

 

 

Edited June 20, 2023 by The Evil Bus Driver

[The Evil Bus Driver]

A night at the club armed with some Peco track has yielded a track plan and some ideas. Plus I can use only 4 turnouts instead of 5. Only problem was I forgot to get any rail joiners 🙄 

I definitely think some more track is needed. The concrete sleepered stuff is a placeholder 

Edited November 10, 2023 by The Evil Bus Driver

[Trainnoob]

Sounds like a fun layout. I will be interested in this.

[The Evil Bus Driver]

1 hour ago, Trainnoob said:

Sounds like a fun layout. I will be interested in this.

Heh thanks. I need to get some rail joiners this week and hopefully some turnouts. Then I can look at getting track fixed down and holes drilled to take dropper wires. I haven't decided yet how I'll be working the turnouts though. I was hoping to use wire in tube off a lever frame. 

[The Evil Bus Driver]

I do need to tweak the plan a little bit to get the turnouts away from the board joints. A bit more plain track can help here. I'll have a play around in a couple of weeks when I'm next at club and bring in a few. I should be able to get the turnouts I need in a couple of weeks . Then I can get to actually fixing the track down and start sorting out wiring. Then (shock horror!) It'll be time to start chipping my locos for DCC. The control system I'll be using will be JMRI and my  smartphone app (Engine Driver) as I don't have a Powercab yet. I will get one eventually. I've been on the cusp of going DCC for a while now and I thing this is the impetus to actually do it. My credit card will not thank me, however 🤪😎

[The Evil Bus Driver]

Construction is on hold for a couple of weeks while we move the club to a new venue. NBT will be set up again and new boards added as soon as possible. I envisage the layout being 4 boards long eventually, but with the option of operating as a 2-board* 'Core' layout. 

 

*plus a makeshift fiddle yard. Probably the Cartridge type.  have revised the track plan a little bit too

 

Edited January 7 by The Evil Bus Driver

[The Evil Bus Driver]

Daventry MRC has moved venue, the boards have been re-erected, new ones cut (Thank you B&Q) frames being assembled and track bought. Much going on behind the scenes. It's going to be 4 boards including the fiddle yard  since 3 will be....problematic to move. 

 

Changes

 

I'm looking at putting all the turnouts on one board for simplicity. Except for the fiddle yard,  which will consist of two roads, one being a conventional piece of track with an ABC shuttle unit and the other being a cartridge.  

Another thing I'm doing is slightly tweaking the track plan so it flows better, with the main line coming out of the tunnel and curving round to the left, then the right so there's a slight 'S' bend to the whole thing. There'll be two platforms in the station, one disused but used as the headshunt and access to the signal box. I'm going to hide the baseboard joint in the middle by having a road bridge over the whole site which will add a bit of height. Also I'll have a gap between the back of the disused platform and the retaining wall with a former 'old' headshunt in it, maybe overgrown and partially dismantled. There'll be an orphaned buffer stop in the bushes, probably.  

 

Backscene

 

I need to think about this. One idea is the backs of town houses or shops. I did want the end of the layout to be a road sloping up but I'm not sure I have the width. I definitely want a retaining wall. The idea is you'd look up the road and see a local Tesco or whatever on the corner, showing that the station is actually pretty handy for the town centre and hence the reason why it hasn't shut down throughout. Since most of the line's revenue is from Town station and the next stop on the line (George Street) towards the main line it still justified itself, especially since I can say the roads in the vicinity are beyond a joke. That's why there'll be a CLASP type building. Very 70s horror in architectural form. 

My story for the line being truncated here and no longer continuing to Brunswick Beach is coastal erosion causing subsidence. I might well build a foamboard 'bookend' to go on the end with empty ballast and a buffer stop beyond the former level crossing as a kind of integrated diorama. 

Edited May 12 by The Evil Bus Driver

[The Evil Bus Driver]

And once again I run out of screws. And softwood.