00 Western Terminus Layout

[adriantr]

Hi Everyone,

 

While I've had a model railway collection for over a decade (I know this is a short amount of time for many of you!), this will be my first attempt at a permanent layout.

 

In the future I would like to (given enough time!) convert this from a terminus to a through station and incorporate it into a slightly larger, continuous layout. However, that will be many years from now so don't let it hamper any ideas you might have.

 

Track Plan

I'll start by thanking everyone from this thread, in particular DuncanF. I was browsing this forum looking for track plan ideas and saw this one and all but fell in love. It has pretty much everything I want! I've re-created it in AnyRail (a terrific piece of software!) and made a few changes of my own. I would love to hear everyone's feedback on it. Please forgive the slightly terrible curves and bends in places (particularly the goods yard, engine shed and return loop, goods shed), I'm new to this AnyRail software (or indeed any track planning software), I promise I'll make the curves smoother and the straights straighter when it comes to pinning it down to the baseboard!

 

Notably, I have omitted a turntable. This isn't final, while I have a Hornby turntable, I would be interested in building my own based on a real-world prototype but I am undecided on that yet. If I did include one, it would be placed between the engine shed and the rest of the yard.

 

 

Setting

I do not have a particular prototype in mind, however I want to set it somewhere in South Wales. I grew up in there (although I now live in Canada), so that region holds a personal interest for me. Scenery-wise, I'm looking at 50s - 60s, and the same goes for rolling stock. While it will probably mostly be steam and some diesel, there may be the odd DMU here and there. The town itself will be to the north and east of the terminus.

 

Misc

For anyone wondering, this layout will be DCC for ease of wiring and to increase operational possibilities. Track will be Peco Code 75 for aesthetic reasons. The baseboard is 10x3 and has not been constructed yet. Space is not a major concern for me, but I still want something I can get out of the house as I won't be living here forever!

 

That is definitely enough rambling from me, I can't wait to hear your thoughts, but go easy on me, I'm new!

 

Thanks

 

Adrian

[Kris]

Adrian, I'm glad that you like the original plan, the alterations that you have made to enable it to work in OO, make sense in some ways but not in others.

 

The problems that I can see with your plan are.

1. The goods shed would not be placed in the location that you have put it - there is no access for road traffic to collect and deliver goods.
2. Platform 1 is to short to be workable.
3. The goods yard is overly cramped with no space in which to get vehicles between the tracks - something that very few modellers think about. You need to think about what these sidings will be used for. Not all sidings had a revenue earning purpose. Most stations would have at least one siding that was used for storing wagons that were either empty or full.

Now that's the negatives out of the way, lets look at some solutions.

 

Problem 3 - This is the first problem to sort out. The entrance to the goods yard is a slip point. Remove this and replace with a standard point, then only have two sidings coming off this. Use the slip point where the first point on the loop is. Use the extra leg of this to give access to the second pair of sidings in the goods yard. Reasons for this. Doing this will space your sidings out in the goods yard and allow access to the sidings giving them a reason for existence. Making the engine shed lines face East would make this much easier.

 

Problem 1 - Having sorted out the goods yard lets look at the goods shed. I would suggest putting this on one of the sidings, one of the outer ones, maybe in the area currently occupied by the engine shed? This will remove the loop that the goods shed is on, it's not needed. Reasons for this. Doing this will allow deliveries and collections of goods to the shed.

 

Problem 2 - Moving the goods shed will allow you to extend the platform and solve this issue. Reasons for this. Doing this makes the platform worthwhile and usable.

 

 

A couple of other thoughts

At the moment the goods loop is very very short. I might have a solution to this, but need to think about this a little more and see about solutions.

If space can be found for the TT it will add to the operating potential.

 

Hope this doesn't come out as being overly negative as in general the plan has a lot of possibilities.

[Kris]

I have sorted out a track plan to help illustrate the changes that I have suggested.

I have said that 2 of the sidings serve a large coal yard suggesting a large town with several coal merchants. This obviously could be changed with another use for one or other of the sidings. As I suggested in my earlier post I have relocated the engine shed. In doing this I have also added a turntable, although the position of this is less than ideal, you might need to have some scenics suggesting a cramped site to justify this.

I am a little concerned about the width of the layout. You would need to be able to access both sides of this unless you have an exceptionally long reach.

 

 

I have also been able to massively increase the length of the goods loop, although to use this the main line has to be accessed. By adding in an point before the first turnout to the goods yard with a link line to the other side of the loop this necessity could be removed. You do loose out on some of the length of the loop by doing this though.

 

As can be seen, I have gained length on platform 1. This can now take 2 coaches and allow use of the run round, without need to push the coaches back to access the loop. If you push the coaches back you could fit in 3 maybe 4 coaches. Platform 2 will hold a 4 coach train allowing access to the loop and 5 coaches not allowing access to the loop.

 

The design of this plan uses medium points, 3 way points and curved points only.

[adriantr]

Hi Kris,

 

Thanks for the useful comments. You don't sound negative at all, this is exactly the kind of feedback I need! The plan to illustrate the changes you had in mind is also very useful, I have tried to incorporate some of these into my own plan.

 

 

The coal yard is a fantastic idea. It certainly suits the setting and gives the yard some real purpose.

 

I have managed to make the loop slightly longer, without having to use the mainline. The other major difference (from your plan) is I have the engine shed next to the turntable, but I'm not entirely convinced this looks right.

 

Access to the layout will be fine. I am 6ft 6 tall so that won't be a problem! Scenic turnouts and the turntable will be motorized. During construction I have enough space that I could walk all the way round the layout (this is a major benefit to moving to Canada, space is not at a premium!).

 

Let me know your thoughts.

 

Adrian

[br-nse-fan]

Hi Adiran

 

Nice to see another modeler this side of the pond! What part of Canada are you in?

 

I like the basics of the plan, and really only have one comment or suggestion... that being the loco coal siding. Typically (I would assume) that this would be next to, in at the very least, close by the loco shed for ease of access.

 

Keep in mind, I'm a BR Blue modeler, so take my advise on kettles with a grain of salt!

 

Otherwise, I'm looking forward to seeing this progress!

 

Derek

[adriantr]

Hi Derek,

 

I am in Manitoba, although we're planning to move to BC in the next few years (we miss the hills). I've never been to London, ON, however I have traveled a bit around southern Ontario and it's very nice there.

 

I was thinking the same thing about the coal siding, I'll have to play around with it and see if I can come up with something a little better.

 

Thanks

[Kris]

Loco coal should be next to the coaling point for the loco's. They could be coaled directly from wagons - unusual, or done via a tipper system, or more commonly via a coaling platform.

 

The round house off the TT is not a common feature of UK sheds but is also far from uncommon. You might be able to fit in a couple more lines to increase the size of the shed, which may make if feel "realler" (if such a thing exists!)

[adriantr]

 

I've moved the coaling point to the west of the headshunt. As this is a mining town, coal will be coming from the mines, rather than down the track. I may add an extra line or two to the engine shed/depot when it comes to pinning the track down, I shall have to see how much space I end up having. I would like to get that road in to the north of the yard, with some low (or no) relief buildings on the north side of the road. We shall see how this pans out.

 

Thanks for all the help.

[br-nse-fan]

I had a quick go at a possible design... not exactly based on any particular prototype, but it encompasses pretty much all of what you wanted...

 

as a late thought, I guess you could always extend the coal line to join with the turntable to add more operation, such as being able to run the loco hauling the goods train right over to the sheds..

 

Oh well... I threw this together in about 20 mins while at work.!

[adriantr]

I've given the coal/water loading situation a little more thought, recalled some things from my own memory and done a little research.

 

I've decided to incorporate a coaling tower/stage similar to the one currently at the Didcot Railway Centre (for which I have many fond memories!). It may be slightly overkill for this terminus (which is much smaller than Didcot) but I think it would make an interesting addition. The only major "if" at the moment is the incline, I think I'll wait until I start building to figure out if it will actually work (or if it'll look atleast somewhat realistic). If it doesn't work, I'll keep the sidings in the same place, and have some type of coaling tower/stage that starts at ground-level. The coaling stage isn't next to the engine shed, but I will use scenery to imply a lack of room to make this seem more plausible. Please let me know your thoughts on this whole plan.

 

Thanks for the input Derek. I feel pretty settled with what I have so far, however I will give it some more thought and think about the plan you have proposed. Thanks!

 

[Kris]

I like the idea of the coal tower.

 

Yesterday evening I did some further reimagining of the story of your station.

 

I felt that it started as a small terminus with limited goods facilities serving a minor town. As time passed a local coal mine expanded and started to need to export it's product by rail. To enable this a short branch was constructed to the pit. This branch was run by company owned locos bringing the wagons down to a fan of exchange sidings at the station. As well as the coal traffic, a workers train was run to the pit twice a day requiring a connection to the platforms. Once at the station the coal wagons were collected by GWR locos and taken off across the network. The cramped site of the station led to some awkward shunting to get wagons into the exchange sidings.

 

 

 

Having exchange sidings allows for the tight spacings that I went against in the earlier plans as these wagons are not here to be loaded or unloaded, it's just a waypoint on their journey. Some of the curves are a little tight as well.

[adriantr]

I'm really liking how this layout is progressing!

 

Derek, I really like the idea of a third platform, especially for DMU traffic.

 

Kris, the coal exchange sidings are a great idea. Weirdly, I was also thinking along the same lines with regard to a branch line to a (some) local mine(s). The idea of a workers train up to the pit is also a good one so I''ve added a carriage storage siding next to the coal sidings to support this. Now that this terminus is becoming bigger (and busier), I've added an extra track to the loco shed as well. I was trying to make sense of your layout, can't quite figure out why you have a turnout in the top left corner?

 

Thanks for all the help

 

[Kris]

As a picture is meant to paint a thousand words I have added a green line to the plan that I did to illustrate what the point at the top corner does.

 

 

 

The green line is the branch with the point at the top corner being the point at which the branch splits to feed the goods yard / exchange sidings and the platform.

 

I considered the need for an extra platform but decided that the passenger traffic that branch would generate could not justify as extra platform, given that some very busy stations (especially on summer Saturdays), only had two platforms.

 

The passenger siding that you have added removes access for vehicles to the goods shed. To regain this you would need do a little by of shoving around of sidings. The other option for the coach siding is to place it as shown by the green line that I have added to your plan.

 

 

[adriantr]

Thanks for the feedback Kris. I'm at work at the moment so I don't have access to AnyRail. What I think I'll do is add the coach siding you suggested, move the coal sidings up slightly and make my carriage siding part of the coal sidings. Having the carriage siding where you suggested seems much more logical as it is right next to the platform.

 

I am going to say that the branch line branches off a little further down the line, just outside the scenic area.

[Dave777]

You could move the engine shed back a bit to give some standing room outside - makes it easier to view your various purchases . The problem with engine sheds is that everything is hidden from view (you might want to angle it more than I've shown here)

 

[Kris]

Saying that the branch joins further down the line is a good space saving idea.

 

As a thought, you might want to look at the width of your platforms (I think i may have also fallen into this trap when designing), They look a little narrow on your plan, especially the one that now has the bay and main line against it.

[adriantr]

Thanks Dave, definitely a good move. Don't want to hide all that good stuff!

 

Thanks again Kris, another wise thought! I shall play around with it in anyrail tonight.

[adriantr]

OK I've been a little busy the last few days but managed to play around in AnyRail this morning. I've made the platforms wider and added the second carriage siding. Attached is what I hope will be the final plan. I will not be able to start building anything until the beginning of next year, so things will go a little quiet for a few months. I'll probably start a layout thread once I start pinning down the track. If anyone has any small/highly important changes they think should be made, please feel free to post them here.

 

Thanks for all your help, you've definitely made this plan more awesome than it already was!

 

[Kris]

I'll keep my eyes open for the construction thread to start then. It's probably a good thing to just leave this alone until you have the time to do anything, but that that point have another look at the plan to make sure that it is still what you want.