New 00 track plan - comments please

[ozthedog]

 

I am in the process of developing a new 00 layout that may have to move house in a year or 2. The above plan is intended to form the basis of a larger layout that will be approximately 5m x3.5m. The first part will be made from 2 boards 1mx2m and 0.9mx2m. The track layout is "inspired" by the Priory Rd Station GWR part of Wells railway that led on to the Junction with the S&DJR. I do not have the space to replicate the layout of Wells accurately but all the components that were present (Station, Goods Yard, Engine Shed & Gasworks) are included. So this becomes a fictious layout but based on some semblance of reality.

 

Before I think about how scenery would be placed I would welcome any comments that anyone might have on the layout. I am worried about the track leading to the Gasworks. At Wells it led off the goods reception road but I cannot work the plan to allow that to happen in the space available.

 

Please be critical of the whole layout as I want to get it right before starting.

 

Thanks

 

Keith

[The Stationmaster]

Nothing particularly unprototypical about that gasworks siding apart from the lack of a trap point - my only concern is what might one day come next at that end of the layout which might interfere with the ability to shunt that siding without tying-up the railway for miles around.

 

The loop line puzzles me a little as I'm not entirely sure of its status - if it is a goods line/run round loop it is lacking a trap point at the loco shed end and I think it would look more prototypical laid parallel to the main line through the platform - if you can make the geometry fit? But I can foresee difficulties in shunting a freight off the loop to/from the yard as you will inevitably block the main line in order to do it which could restrict other movements.

 

Finally the loco yard 'looks a bit wrong' with that rare kickback arrangement off the turntable - not a totally unusual layout I realise but not a common one although it's far easier to criticise than it is to come up with a sensible alternative which will fit the site you are forced into.

[Katier]

I think I would run the goods yard off the loop, not unlike my plan for Ceeton. Then have the headshunt also coming off the loop so good would come in and if needs be can be shunting back into the headshunt before getting shunted into the yard.

 

Doing that would, perhaps, allow the gasworks where you have the MPD and then move the MPD to where the gasworks is.

 

 

The above picture is Ceeton, obviously the mainline is different for Ceeton and your branch would come in where my headshunt is, but I think you get the idea.

 

 

 

 

 

[The Great Bear]

Nice plan.

 

In the temporary case what do you propose for fiddle yards, one each end?

 

Finally the loco yard 'looks a bit wrong' with that rare kickback arrangement off the turntable - not a totally unusual layout I realise but not a common one although it's far easier to criticise than it is to come up with a sensible alternative which will fit the site you are forced into.

 

Could you either add extra point or move the existing point into the loco yard to the right, just to the right of the base board joint by moving the yard a little to the right? You could then have the engine shed next to headshunt and the turntable in font of that on the edge of the baseboard.The shed could then possibly form the scenic break at this end of the layout.

 

Also thinking about the shed area, is there a coaling stage?

 

Hope this helps.

 

Jon

[ozthedog]

Thanks for all your comments. It will be interesting to transpose the gasworks and MPD. I shall hopefully re-draw the plan tomorrow and re-post it.

 

Cheers

 

Keith

[ozthedog]

 

Here's the revised plan. I tried switching the gasworks and engine shed but could'nt make it work well. Also I like the gasworks in the corner to act as a disguise for the corner. The loop has been modified to run parallel with the station track and also so that the headshunt and sidings leave it directly. In order to modify the loco yard and get rid of the "kick-back" I had to use a small radius point which I usually try to avoid if possible. I guess that they might have been used on the prototype when space was tight. - Correct or not?

 

Catch points have been added on the loop and gasworks line. Should the station siding also have one?

 

Thanks once again for your comments. Please let me know if you think the revised plan could be improved.

 

Cheers

 

Keith

[Katier]

Not got a great deal of experience with positioning of Turntables - but couldn't you have the turntable 'kicked back'.

 

I'd take the headshunt straight off the loop - it doesn't need to be hugely long because to access it your using the loop anyway so it's really just there to help with long shunting operations. Then make the MPD go into the goods shed with a servicing road or two doubling up as a 'headshunt' to allow you to back onto the turntable and turn the loco.

 

The turntable would thus sit more or less in line with the edge of the horizontal board and about 2.5 green squares in. Not sure if that's completely prototypical but to me it's logical and allows locos to be serviced without being held up by someone needing the turntable.

 

 

[Flying Pig]

Wells cropped up before in this thread.

 

A couple of thoughts on your version. I think I'd convert the bay to a dock siding: straighter and diverging more from the main line. That would allow space for your rather short platform to grow. I'd also reduce the number of sidings in the yard as it looks very crowded and I'm not keen on what the three-way does to the flow of the track (a purely aesthetic consideration).

 

The turntable seems rather overpowering to me. Do you really need it? Wells made do without and the S&D didn't seem to mind tender-first running.

[buffalo]

...The turntable seems rather overpowering to me. Do you really need it? Wells made do without and the S&D didn't seem to mind tender-first running.

 

Some confusion here, methinks. The OP mentions that the plan is inspired by Priory Road station, but surely it is based on Wells East Somerset, which later became the goods station. This station had both the gasworks sidings and a turntable. S&D traffic never passed through here, terminating at Priory Road which is immediately to the west over the level crossing. GWR traffic passed through the S&D Priory Road station in order to get from Tucker Street (on the GWR Cheddar Valley line) to East Somerset (on the East Somerset line).

 

Nick

[seahorse]

A station like this would have half a dozen passenger trains per day, with long gaps morning and afternoon to be filled by the pick-up goods, which could take hours ( and take a long time in model operation). So strictly prototypical train operation would be a bit limited. I was looking for ways to augment the service. It was a through line, not a terminal branch, so there could be coal and empties from one side, and stone and empties from the other. Flying Pig suggested "Convert the bay" - just as I was thinking to use it for an Auto-train service to fill the gap in main-line running during shunting. Also to use it to stable stock overninght for the first morning departure.

 

I see problems of conflict between access to the loco depot and shunting. There are not many if any examples of direct running onto a turntable. I would justify the turntable by making all freight trains change engines (and "crew" )on an out-and-back basis, otherwise there are facilities to stable engines, but not stock.

 

btw on the subject of small gasworks as a generator of traffic for our models - how many trucks of coal per day? and trucks for outgoing coke? ( same trucks or different?). Have a part-built extension to justify wagon-loads of bricks, timber, steelwork etc

 

 

Well, you asked for thoughts on your plan. These are mine. I have been composing operating schemes for layouts since CJF plans in my father's Railway Modeller when it cost two shillings.