Satan's Goldfish Posted May 18, 2012 Author Share Posted May 18, 2012 If i shifted the fish tanks out then i'd probably have enough room to set it up entirely indoors, but i like my fish too much to do that and the missus would kill me! As much as i liked the 4 track design and it would look good, i felt it wouldn't quite meet what i was after and didn't really have enough space to swap trains without disrupting running. So, here's my rethink! It has all of 6 visual streamline points, 1 diamond crossing (yes i know it's a single-slip in the picture, but i forgot to print off a diamond crossing), and 1 set track turnout 'off stage'. This gives an idea of what i'm thinking. There should be a 4th board between the middle board and the board with the double junction which would just carry a pair of running lines but there wasn't space indoors to set that up too. These 4 boards will have a low 6inch high back scene fitted to the very back. The box drawn under the container wagons is where the H&M Duette would sit and have a warehouse built over the top to hide it. The other 4 boards will have the back scene fitted part way across so there's 12inch of scenic side with just the outer pair of tracks running around. the inner 6inches behind the back scene would hold the other pair of tracks and be used for hidden adding and removal of stock. At the double junction the inner 2 tracks will go straight into being the hidden pair of tracks. At the Hornby viaduct end the inner single track will vanish 'off stage' when it passes under the bridge and that's where the set track points would be to get it back onto the hidden double. The method of operation will be: A train in each direction on the outer lines continuous running. When a train needs to be changed in either the clockwise (up) or anti-clockwise (down) directions then the new train will be taken out of it's box and placed on the inner 'off stage' track. The train to be removed will enter the 'off stage' outer track and as soon as that's in and stopped the new train will leave the hidden area and start the continous run. Also on the plan is a short siding in front of the Warehouse building which could have a hard standing beside it and be used for speedlink services/holding engineers trains/stabling a couple of engines. It's only accessable from the single track 'off stage' line so any shunting movements would come from there. I probably should draw the entire layout down, might make imagining it easier..... Now, already, a couple of alterations to the plan after i drew it down!: Firstly, i think it might look better if the 'trailing crossing' is moved closer to the board join. And secondly the double junction might look smoother with curved points rather than medium radius that are there at the moment. So that's my plan, thought i'd 'play trains' to see how it would look/work: RES 47 drags a diverted AC service 'up' the mainline under the viaduct. A local pacer stopping service heads 'up' the line about to pass a 37 double headed container service heading 'down'. Outside the warehouse a pair of 20s shunt wagons ready to be unloaded. Yep, i think that'll work! And really must do some improvement work to those old Hornby container flats..... SG Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cromptonnut Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Good to see some progress - and looking forward to seeing the tracklaying begin and the scenery starting to take shape. Almost inspiring me to have another think about an octagonal layout but it'd have to go in the box room which is only 6ft square, meaning it'd probably have to be done in N gauge. That in itself isn't necessarily a problem as I have plenty of track and stock but I wasn't planning on an N gauge layout right now. I suppose at least it's easier than the equivalent O gauge layout of at least 18ft diameter... the house isn't that big! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed a/c Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Very nice, I shall be following this and looking forward to seeing the progress. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satan's Goldfish Posted May 18, 2012 Author Share Posted May 18, 2012 Thanks guys. I'm pretty sure you could by a round table that's about 5-6ft in diameter, ready made board! My original inspiration for these was to build a big N gauge.....don't think that'd ever get finished! I'll apologise now if progress isn't swift, but i will try and update with a proper track plan soon. Very happy with this idea and it's tough for me to start over complicating it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satan's Goldfish Posted May 19, 2012 Author Share Posted May 19, 2012 Quick rough xtrak plan. The track won't be that close to the edge of the board when i build it but it gives a rough idea to go with the description above. First modelling question: I have 1 signal cabin, where would it be located? by the single track branch for ease of handing over tokens or by the larger junction as in the real world it would probably be busier? Ta SG Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satan's Goldfish Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 Satan's monthly update! A Saturday at Wigan with the always amazing Warren Lane folks has spurred me into a little action. Some back boards start to appear (3 so far, 5 to go!), and i've slowly been working my way through half a dozen scalescene containers which still aren't finished. Back boards are 6 inches high for easy storage. 2 holes cut in the back of one are for the HM controller which will be hidden under a warehouse, and the other is for any point/cicuit switches and leccy bits which will be hidden under a stack of containers. Maybe more next month! SG Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satan's Goldfish Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 Can anyone tell me how i tweek my thread title and comment box to help keep it in line with what's going on? Ta. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark 37 Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 You should have an edit button on your first post. Then tap more options (full edit). That should do it for you Regards, Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satan's Goldfish Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 You should have an edit button on your first post. Then tap more options (full edit). That should do it for you Regards, Mark Thanks, thought it was like that but doesn't seem to want to work for me. Ah well i can live without. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satan's Goldfish Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 Right, i may have had a rum or 2, but i can draw a couple of conclusions from todays attemptempted completion of the scale scene containers: They look amazing when made by a competent modeller. I am not a competent modeller. I either need to save for some modern plastic containers to replace my old Hornby examples on the ffa/fga flats, or find another way of trying to put them together. I'm not going to add pictures, it's embarressing. On the plus side, because i was trying to build 6 at once and i've only tried putting 2 together, it leaves me with some spare sides, doors and roofs to decorate 'the stack' out of that's going to hide switches. SG Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cromptonnut Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 I'm sure if you asked nicely someone would be willing to have a go at making some for you. After all, it seems a shame when everything else seems to be coming together well. The modern plastic type containers aren't that expensive - Hattons have some good prices: http://www.ehattons....s/prodlist.aspx or if you feel competent with plastic kits, have a look at the C-Rail range: http://www.c-rail-intermodal.co.uk/ for some unusual examples for a bit of variety. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satan's Goldfish Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 I'm thinking i'll try proper basic of sticking the sides to a suitably sized block of wood. I used i similar technique in the 2011 challenge to knock up some in N gauge that look good enough to me. Cutting out blocks of wood is definately in my skill set! The 2 i've built might be convincing as end of life battered ones still. When the weather clears up and i can get the saw out again i'll see what i can do, I need to build the warehouse and container stack structures from wood anyway. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satan's Goldfish Posted July 12, 2012 Author Share Posted July 12, 2012 Todays thought proceeses and ramblings for any that may be interested: I thought i'd make use of the sunshine that's plaguing Norfolk today and for only the second time i've managed to get all 8 boards up and together! Unfortunatly the nice flat patio i had before has gone and been replaced with an uneven poor excuse for lawn so it wasn't exactly a neat setup, and with the possible threat of rain i didn't want to get any power tools unpacked and do the little jobs mentioned in the previous post so they're all still outstanding. I did manage to get a 4th back board on though as that was already cut. The back boards for the remaining 4 boards will be 1/3rd of the way accross and make the boards take up more storage room than i have right now so they'll remain off until track is laid at least. I've drawn on where they should be so i know what space i'm playing with. Then i started playing around with track. The Single line exit from the storage loops would not allow the viaduct to go right up to the board join. I want a level crossing towards the front edge of the next board (as can be seen in the below picture) so i tried shuffling the viaduct up a little leaving space at the back for the single line. Not to keen on this plan though. So I left it for a bit, drew the big sweeping curves onto the other boards before i got annoyed, then came back to it. After a bit more playing around the layout below emerged and lined up quite nicely, the viaduct covers all 3 track again, and it can be thrown together out of set track bits i already have which is a bonus. One of the pictures further down should show it all drawn on so i know what i'm laying where. I want all tracks crossing board joints at 90 degrees if possible so the junction the other side of the viaduct is going to need some re-aligning. Feeling chuffed that i'd achieved something, and making the most of the fact that missus Goldfish has gone out for the day so can't look at me disaprovingly, i posed some trains! Despite not much happening on a layout itself, i have been busy. Missus Goldfish treated me to a very cheap Bachmann 3 car class 166 in NSE colours. Very cheap because it was a non-runner, missing some couplings, and the paint's a bit iffy. The paint i won't touch because i'm likely to ruin it, but i did order a pack of couplings from a certain online auction site to replace them, and a quick investigation found the motor still works so i just need to tinker with the wiring a little. There's a DCC chip in it which is no good to me so that will get itself removed too. So here is said 166 emerging from beneath the viaduct passing a short Regional Railways 37 hauled service heading in the opposite direction. (Can anyone remember which line i said was 'up' and which was 'down'?!) It continues on down (or up) the line. And no i couldn't get the damn washing line out of the ground. Next up, we head around to the other side of the viaduct in time to catch a 58 on an mgr service emerging from the branchline and crossing the junction onto the mainline. Behind it, tankers sit in the siding in front of an invisible warehouse and stack of containers as the 73 that's just delivered them waits for the branch to clear so it can leave the siding. Somebody may want to tell the driver of the 58 that his fuel tanks have fallen off.....(it's ok, i found them in the box afterwards) I suppose as the theme is now 'weekend drags' that i should throw in some token tugged ACs. So below is an RfD 47 pulling an RfD 92 on an empty cartic service. In the background just leaving shot, an engineers dutch 37 passes over the double junction dragging a trio of Intercity locos (a 90 and 2 86s) behind it. The 4 cartics here are actually what has dictated my wished train length. I have plans and all the materials for the center sections to make them into proper cartic 4s (i just haven't gotten around to doing it yet, like most things!) and double-headed when complete will make for a train length just short of 13ft. Play time over, here's an overview of all the boards. New scribblings can be seen for the location of the level crossing and the viaduct. One final alteration as i took it apart was to move one of the alignment and support fingers. As good as they are at their job, they do make fitting the last board a pain when putting the whole layout up! That's it for now, more progress as and when. Any comments welcome. I still can't seem to edit my first post to change the thread title now i know what the layout is to become. It's not an urgent biggy, but if any mods read this that could look into it i'd be very grateful. Thanks. SG Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satan's Goldfish Posted August 11, 2012 Author Share Posted August 11, 2012 Little bits of monthly progress. Worked out the layout of the track on the first 2 boards i'm going to try and get running. I'm dangerously close to actually pinning track down! Just need 2 more pairs of points and a few lengths of flexi track........and point motors, and electrical connectors for between boards, etc, etc, etc...... All the working out track alignment was so i could cut out and stick down the hard standing for the warehouse and container stack without giving track head aches later. The hard standing is a piece of hard board cut to shape, I had planed to lay it smooth side up and paint as concrete, but then noticed the other side could pass as brick weave once suitable painted so thought i'd be different and have an industrial area with class! The 'wooden box' is the basis of the container stack and will hide electrical bits and point levers. The container sides themselves will be fitted to mounting board before being stuck on and they're not being stuck on until i've painted the brick floor. Next time it's out i'll try and get the warehouse 'box' built. I've taken a mental inventory of my stock and decided to commit myself to a line/area/style rather than being a vague 'weekend drags somewhere in the uk'. Through a combination of what i already own/like/know and spending too much time with the wonderful people of 'Warren Lane' I'm going to go Great Eastern Mainline. So it will be drags to start with but ohle will be added at a very later date. In line with that, I'm also changing my era from 1980-95 to 1985(ish)-99(ish). Most of my stock still falls in that bracket but it means i can also have some Mk2 DBSO and 'Anglia Railways' action, and other early privatisation colours and wagons. Class 66s will probably be banned though, i'm making an exception for my 59! Operating with Warren Lane, i've also made the decision that when i start wiring it up it will still be DC but wired in such a way that it'll only require a couple of minor changes to make it DCC compatible. At the recent Southwold show i picked up some wheel sets to start trying to improve on all my old Hornby FFA/FGAs. They certainly look a lot better and have lowered them a fraction but the biggest improvement is on how freely they spin! (new wheel's on blue flat, old on black) Comparing them to the new KFAs, I think the next job will be to remove all the bogies and cut a mil or 2 off the mounts on the wagon body so the wheels are closer to the body as with the KFA. I also need to sort out some 'ends', hopefully s-kits can still help. That's all til next time! SG Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satan's Goldfish Posted December 9, 2012 Author Share Posted December 9, 2012 In case any one cares, it's still not dead! Moved house with only minor damage to one of the back scenes when it was unloaded into the garage. Survived the garage flooding 2 weeks later (painting the boards was time well spent!) and recently had a nice big sheet of ply donated by a neigbour so construction can continue soon. Unfortunately the kids N gauge did not survive the flood and guilt might eat at me a bit if i work on mine before making theirs run again. An un-original idea i've had to help me break it down into managable chunks when i get as far as scenery is to create 4 scenic breaks around the layout. Starting from the board with the controller on and working clockwise, each of the 4 scenic areas will be a different location (Industrial/Urban Station/Open Country/Country Farm) and each is going to be during a different season (summer/Autumn/Winter/Spring). These breaks will also allow 2 boards to be stored/moved joined facing each other as a weird shapped box. The end of the siding by the industrial buildings will finish at a low relief goods shed with a closed door rather than buffers to give a sense of a larger area. There will be a short 4 track section going into the station with the rear 2 tracks stopping shortly after going out of site under a bridge but giving the illusion of also being through lines. Operationally these short sections of line should be enough to stable loco's/short trains/multiple units. Well there's the plan update when all the other household jobs are done! 2013 may see running trains........ In the mean time, i do have some running... Merry Christmas!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cromptonnut Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Can't speak for anyone else but I'm still following I still very much fancy an octagonal layout but I know I don't have the space for one at present, once we managed to move house (if that ever happens) it'll have a railway room at least big enough for my O gauge project (plus extension that isn't designed yet, to go on the not complete layout I'm still building) and an octagonal OO or N layout - haven't yet decided what. I think perhaps it might work best for me in N simply because of the 'trains in landscape' factor. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satan's Goldfish Posted December 9, 2012 Author Share Posted December 9, 2012 Can't speak for anyone else but I'm still following I still very much fancy an octagonal layout but I know I don't have the space for one at present, once we managed to move house (if that ever happens) it'll have a railway room at least big enough for my O gauge project (plus extension that isn't designed yet, to go on the not complete layout I'm still building) and an octagonal OO or N layout - haven't yet decided what. I think perhaps it might work best for me in N simply because of the 'trains in landscape' factor. Unfortunately the house we've moved to is provided by work and would not be my first choice of design to house my hobbies! In theory these boards would provide the width for a circle of G scale Radius 3 LGB Track all the way round but that would be a bit dull......Depending how big you wanted your N gauge could an Octagon/Circle be made in 2 halves from 2 bits of 6' x 3' board and hinged together to pack away/transport? It should still leave enough space in the middle for an operator and 6ft goes a long way in N. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium skipepsi Posted December 9, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 9, 2012 I admire you perservering in the face of the problems and difficulties, the lack of cash is a major obstacle for me too. I have only 3 tanks now the number and size shrank as the kids got bigger. I have always fancied a circular layout the idea of joining two sheets together had never struck me but two 8x4 sheets with a lot cut away would just be movable by one man. I think use it as a shelf and put the layout on top in sections. Good Luck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
d winpenny Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 Glad your still continuing with this still watching with interest, and sorry to here about he flood damage David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ess1uk Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Like your work. Good luck with the layout. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satan's Goldfish Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 I'll be honest, no progress has been made at all! I've worked on various bits of stock in the evenings when i can but the work load of my new job has eaten into a lot of spare time and the weather being as it has has made the garage an uninviting place to want to go and freeze myself. The aim here is still to just get some tracks laid and get a train or 2 running so i don't lose interest, sod the back scenes and scenery for now! Lack of action building this does make my mind wander onto other plans (Norwich!) but each time i see the pictures of how smooth and flowing trains look going around them i think there will always be space for these boards somewhere, much to the wife's annoyance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
devondynosoar118 Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Ha ha, my big layout has stalled too but I can hide it in my big shed! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravenser Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 I'll be honest, no progress has been made at all! I've worked on various bits of stock in the evenings when i can but the work load of my new job has eaten into a lot of spare time and the weather being as it has has made the garage an uninviting place to want to go and freeze myself. The aim here is still to just get some tracks laid and get a train or 2 running so i don't lose interest, sod the back scenes and scenery for now! Lack of action building this does make my mind wander onto other plans (Norwich!) but each time i see the pictures of how smooth and flowing trains look going around them i think there will always be space for these boards somewhere, much to the wife's annoyance. Think it's worth persevering. Modern image is characterised by relatively long trains, and a lot of simplification of track - the design you've come up with is admirably suited. The GE Mainline is one of those things that should be modelled a lot more than it is . If you want to run container trains - and they are a key part of the modern GE - then you are somewhere south of Haughley Junction and north of Shenfield . Long sections with little more than a double track line would look very realistic - if you want to see what simplificvation and rationalisation means in practice , compare Haughley in 1952 and today... Actually, thinking about it , I'd be inclined to take away the scenic breaks at 1 o'clock and 7 o'clock, and just have 2 scenic sections : the top one loosely based on Haughley Jnc and the bottom loosly based on Manningtree. Diesel hauled container trains would come off the loops from "Harwich" (Bathside Bay terminal) and disappear via "Haughley Jnc" onto the Bury line for Peterborough, you could add Turbostars to Ely (One livery 3 car Turbostars have been on bargain at Hattons for ever) and Cambridge /Ipswich locals. "Manningtree" has a shuttle EMU from the bays to the off stage loops. Norwich expresses fly round the outer loop, and you can throw in a train of tanks to/from N Walsham from time to time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satan's Goldfish Posted January 27, 2013 Author Share Posted January 27, 2013 That sounds like it would be a good idea but..... Fate has just intervened and my garage has flooded again. Had to drop everything and run from Warren Lane at the Erith show this morning. The boards have been completely wiped out this time. Luckily where i'd started on re-doing the kids n gauge the board for that was safe and fortunately all the stock is kept in the house upstairs so that is safe too but i'm back to square one with the layout. I'd still like to keep focused on the GE Mainline and i'll keep working on stock for it but until this flooding situation is resolved then i'm not going to start rebuilding boards. I could swear right now but i don't want Andy Y to get upset with me! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravenser Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 Very sorry to hear this - it doers sound like there's a problem in the garage , though the recent weather won't have helped. Hope something's salvageable from the boards Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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