NEW "0" PLAN

[Barnaby]

I'VE MADE AN UPDATE STARTING AT THE TOP OF PAGE 2

 

How does this seem for a mainly freight shunting plan, what would you alter? The base boards are 28 inches wide and 15 feet long, I have them split at 71/2 feet each and set on 8 castors for moving about. They are housed in my work/hobby room which is 20 feet by 12 feet.

This plan is in a very basic state but If you have any improvements changes etc they would be very much appreciated.

 

 

I use TRAX2 to draw them up.

 

 

Many thanks

 

Mark

[Katier]

I think I'd see if you could adjust the alignment so the loop has a double slip at the fiddle yard end. The DS would then feed the 'factory' siding which would become a fiddle yard. My thinking for that is any shunting operation requires heavy initial use of the fiddle yard. If a train comes in then the loco ( at the very least ) has to disapear into the hidden sidings as it runs round its train.

 

You could make the 'End Loading' into a covered loading siding then have fun loading/unloading your trucks in the factory building. Think there's a few other tweaks possible but that's my 'starter for 10'

 

 

[Barnaby]

Many thanks Katier that's just the sort of input I was looking for. I'll redraw my plan later today to reflect your suggestions.

 

 

Best regards

 

Mark

[Katier]

Note I had a minor typo.. the factory line is a HEADSHUNT not a fiddle yard.. sorry.. Dyslexic moment!!

[bbishop]

Barnaby,

 

Even if you aren't thinking of an exhibition, you should consider the ability to handle individual boards. So I would build four 3' 9" boards (or be daring and go for the full 4'). Also you won't want points crossing baseboard joints (unless you are good at scratchbuilt trackwork).

 

Bill

[Donw]

Personally I don't like keep going into the fiddleyard while shunting, and with only two fiddle sidings you would need to keep one clear to shunt which means only one train sould be stored whilst the other was being shunted. I would move the double slip to the end loading crossover and remove the point before the fy. one leg of the DS would lead to the fiddle yard the other would lead to the factory siding which now becomes a headshunt. That way the shunting stays in the visible area. I did this with my s'sparrows wharf' layout and it worked well.

Don

[Barnaby]

Thanks gentlemen for your input.

 

Donw, I think one of my earlier plans had the ds much as you say but I moved it to as shown above, not sure why but I'll take your advice and draw it up again as you suggest to compare.

 

The fiddle yard is not fixed track but will have shuffle trays with the intention of sliding them about or get removed and replaced with other stock from a holding rack.

 

bbishop, I did give thought to making the boards smaller but that leads to more joins so I have oppted for 2 x 71/2 feet boards [now built] on castors which I can move about in the work-room even when coupled together and when split a friend and me can lift and move them should that become necessary. It is my intention though that the layout is to remain in situ in the workroom with invited friends to come and play.

 

Thanks again keep your ideas comming.

 

 

Barnaby

[Kris]

There are a couple of changes I would make.I would replace the double slip with a single slip so that you can go directly from the factory sidings to the 2 plain ones.This move seems to be an unlikely one so the railway company would have been unlikely to use such an expensive bit of kit. This will make shunting harder but should add more interest.

The other change is purely cosmetic. The cattle dock is unlikely to be found where you have shown it. The railways always tried to minimise shunting with cattle so it seems likely that you would have found the cattle dock near the location you hvae the end loading dock. This would allow the wagons to be pulled straight out.

[Barnaby]

Hello again, I seem to be having difficulties posting my altered plans just now. Not sure why as I managed it before but I will scan them in and see if that allows them to show.

 

Donw is this the sort of thing you mean?

[Barnaby]

And moving the ds again to this position.

 

I'm not sure if I'm making the plan any better but I do like the plan #5 shown above, what do you think.

 

I've not got all the proportions and angles set yet but #5 might become ALIVE.

[Kris]

With the final 2 plans you will find that the loco siding becomes unusable most of the time as wagons will be spotted at the coal staiths blocking access.

[Barnaby]

Oh bum Kris.

 

I can see that I need to increase the length of the coal siding I'll see if there is any room to slide things about while bearing in mind max loco length, number of waggons, run around loop etc etc. That siding will need to be max loco length plus 1 or 2 coal waggons, if I have the room.

 

 

 

Thanks again

 

 

Barnaby

[Katier]

how about a 3-way point with the 3rd ARM feeding the loco area roughly alongside the stathes. also means loco coal can be offloaded at same point as the stathes.

[Donw]

I was thinking of plan 6 but I like 5 too. Katier's idea of the three way is good loco point by the fy headshunt in the middle and staithes in the foreground. Time to mark out he space get some stock out and see what it looks like. I find doing this on a roll of lining paper lets me mark out points etc and get a feel of the sort of train lengths and siding capacities. Just to give you some idea of the space needed this is 0 gauge in 10ft 6ins.

 

Don

 

 

[Katier]

I was thinking of putting the loco point in front of the stathes.. but having seen plan 6 in full size ( rather than on my phone ) I think sliding it between the headshunt and coal is perfect.

[Barnaby]

Thaks all

 

This is giving me some solid ideas and I think as Donw says "it's time to get some track and stock out to see how 5 and 6 look when on the boards".

 

 

 

Regards Barnaby

[Barnaby]

Hello again

 

Here are some snaps taken in my shed showing the #5 layout above laid out with loose track. There will still need to be some alignment done before fixing but the coal siding is coming out at 28 inches which should be enough to do what I want.

 

1st photo is looking east from d/s

2nd photo is looking west from d/s

3rd photo is over view looking east

I'll mock up some buildings [soap boxes] and put some stock on to get a better feel.

[Donw]

Looking good. If you have the stock I would check how many wagons or coaches will fit in the loop to runaround. If that (with loco) matches the fiddleyard capacity it should work. 28 inches for the coal siding equates to about 5 wagons ( possibly onl four if you have included the buffer stop). If you need to get two empties out from behind two loaded before you can put in the two loaded that have just come in - it is surprising how many moves it takes.

Don

[Barnaby]

Thanks Donw I have been doing just that while trying to fill in the unused space on the base board under the d/s but I'm stuck with the limitations imposed by the head shunt. I was going to redraw the latest plan in Xtrkcad but it's not quite as intuitive as I'd hoped.

 

I'll keep on puffing along.

[Barnaby]

After a bit more tweaking I've arrived here, this one has been produced using Anyrail. I'm still getting used to using the tools but the black lines crossing the track are meant to be a road bridge to 2 gate sets into freight yards.

[Barnaby]

After some more further thought I've come to this, I'm trying to maximise the shunting space and have moved away from a station platform for regular passenger trafic and gone over to a more freight orientated plan. I've not yet decided if I make anywhere for engine facilities or precisely what gets delivered/collected from where.

[Kenton]

The problem with plan in #21 over that in #20 (or a slight variation of it) is the parcels traffic (possibly theoretically the busiest and longest vehicles) now has to negotiate TWO reversing moves from the "off scene".

 

Also - just a personal note - I would have swapped the "gravity loading" with the "warehouse" and lose one of the short warehouse sidings.

[Barnaby]

Thanks Kenton I'm considering your points as I've got nothing set in stone on what traffic goes where.

 

I have tweaked the track plan a little more though.

[Jack]

Beware putting points across basboard joins when planning your layout! Although its more feasable in O gauge than the smaller scales, its still best to avoid it.

[Barnaby]

Thanks Jack.

 

All though this is to be a bolted 2 x 71/2 feet boards mounted on castors I am making it to be splitable in 1/2. I had spotted that a point was over the centre line and have adjusted it to be all one side.now. I had been focusing on trying to get the track level and horizontal forgeting about the middle join and it wasn't until I tried a dry run on the boards that I spotted it.

 

Plenty to juggle in this process.