Which way do you view a layout at home

[Halton Boy]

Hello everyone

I have recently designed a layout to fit in a shed.

But now out of the blue I have been offered a new job which means I will be moving.

I will be running the South West office that I worked in before my transfer to Oxford.

The model railway now goes on the back burner, or does it?

Here is a new plan:

The layout is a small O gauge.

Each board is 1050 x 600mm, 3'6" x 2'. 

I am thinking of having raised sides around the scenic boards and to view the layout looking down the tracks from the fiddle yard.

The raised sides will be 300mm above the track.

As it is a shunting layout any buildings will be low relief to aid uncoupling.

What do you think?

Ken 

[Halton Boy]

Hello everyone

I start my new job on Monday and will be traveling every day to the south west.

Not much time for modelling.

The plan now is to buy ready made baseboards and build a simple layout.

I will build the two, or four, scenic sections during the weekends.

Plan A:

Plan B:

 

I will ask them to fit cork top to all of the baseboards and then fit the track.

The fiddle yard is a sliding traverser. In plan B the small board is a head shunt turntable.

The removable scenic sections are attached to the baseboard using dowls as below.

The sections are now 1200mm long:

 

The left most baseboard will be inset track with the other baseboard having normal sleepers.

In plan B the engine will go through a wall opening onto the turntable.

I will not hide the fiddle yard as I will be stood there looking down the layout.

I am not sure what to do with the edges of the middle board.

I could make two scenic sections with just a wall and gate or a fence:

The middle sections could be country side or light industrial.

I do not know if it is worth doing.

Does the layout need four scenic boards to make it look complete?

Thank you for your help.

Ken

 

[Halton Boy]

Hello Everyone

This is the final plan for the railway:

The kick back siding will be used for engines and brake vans. These will run onto the 600mm cassettes.

I have two 1000mm cassettes and two 600mm cassettes that I purchased from the Midland Railway Centre some years ago. 

The acrylic sheet I have purchased online. This will help the cassettes slide.

I have ordered three 1200mm x 400mm baseboards and one 400mm x 400mm head shunt turntable.

I will lay the cork and track myself.

The main work will be building the four scenic boards. I do not know what the industry will be yet.

There is only one point in the tarmac section which is the left hand board.

Please can you tell me, could I use cork to represent tarmac?

Would Polyfilla be better or would it crack?

I do have some DAS modelling clay, but it is a large area to cover.

Thank you for your help.

Ken  

 

[AndyB]

Hi Ken.

First of all congratulations on your new job.

 

I think the title of your thread may be putting people off from engaging with your questions? It might be worth editing it to be more descriptive of what you're trying to model?

 

I don't think you mention the scale/gauge or era for your model which might help people give you advice. What kind of industry are you modelling?  Again this would be helpful to understand. 

 

As for representing tarmac It might be that if your gauge is large enough that cardboard inserts could be used. Or DAS might be perfectly OK. 

 

Cheers. Andy

 

 

[wombatofludham]

The only thing I would say is consider access to the track in and around any scenery or backdrop to allow for track cleaning and maintenance.  My now dismantled shed layout "Wednesford" was built with a central well and the scenery to the back of the layout to help with track cleaning after some trials and tribulation.  The modular basis will aid eventual relocation, my first exhibition layout "Kings Oak" broke down into modules designed to fit the car, and used quick fastening bolts and CCTV male-female power leads and connectors to provide electrical continuity, so if you think you might need to relocate at some point designing it to be moved might be prudent.

[jpendle]

I tend to view my layout with various levels of despondency and desperation.

 

John P