"N" Roundy Roundy

[lapford34102]

Having dithered around unable to decide what type of layout I wanted – end to end or roundy roundy – let alone a trackplan things have developed rapidly. I had one of those moments where inspiration struck and a bit of fiddling around with a few bits of track gelled into an idea. Where the inspiration came from was totally unexpected and all I’ll say on that is Coldplay and let the lateral thinkers figure it out.

I’ve done a poor sketch of the trackplan and taken a pic of the baseboard to give an idea of what I’m thinking.

 

Lacking any “N†experience I’m hoping what I intend is practicable. I’ve no idea whether the flyover is workable, in fact I can’t even remember if I’ve tried anything like this in any scale. I need to raise the track by 1 ¾ inches and have just over 2 feet for each leg of the incline. To steep? Not a clue but I’ll give it a go when I’ve figured out how to build the ramps. There’s a couple of ludicrously short platforms for the station on the lower leg that’ll probably won’t look to bad with nothing bigger than a 150 stopping there. Intending to do a curved backscene and looking at the “less is more†approach to the scenics but then the thing is only 5’ by 2.5’. I’ve got more questions about how I’m going to do things than answers and there’s going to be a large dollop of making it up as I go along so progress certainly won’t be quick.

I do have a scenario to explain why it’s all there but we’ll leave that until some actual progress has been made. Any thoughts, comments, advice or derision gratefully received.

Cheers

Stu

[shanks522]

Hi Stu,

 

I really like the look of this, nothing to complex but enough to keep you from getting bored, one thing i would say is your incline is going to be steep, about 1 in 13. If you could raise the whole trackbed about half an inch you could have the track through the station dropping to baseboard level making the incline not so steep.

 

Graham.

[7APT7]

Hi Stu

 

Great start mate, looking really good...

 

What Era will you be running on the layout and do you have much stock...

 

Keep your photos and keep us updated on the progress...

 

Jamie

[lapford34102]

Thanks for the feedback Gents. A bit of a rethink is needed judging by the the general opinion that it's a no goer to have the over bridge in this tight space. Plan "B" is basically the same but I'll keep the rising line inside the other one to give the impression of up and over. I'll try and do a sketch later.

What Era will you be running on the layout and do you have much stock..

Contemporary local/suburban passenger, freight and infrastructure. Got the basic idea from looking out the windows at the Emirates Stadium (that's the Coldplay connection) and realising there was a railway down there - Drayton Park. Did a did of research and decided it was worth following it up even though I've mangled it out of all recognition but basically it's a link line between two major routes that cross quite close by Got very little stock, in fact it's all here

 

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/41846-lapford34102s-n-bench/page__fromsearch__1

 

With the stuff I have plus the recent FGW 153 I've got it'll probably look a bit Bristol'ish but I'm trying not to be too tied to one area. Need some more freight and I quite fancy an Overground 172 but that'll be a lot of work from a 175..........

 

Thanks for the interest.

 

Stu

[lapford34102]

Hi, Apologies for the poorly formatted reply above. Copied and pasted it from a word processor and it's gone 'orribly wrong and I can't edit it.

 

Anyhow we're back to plan A. After some discussion elsewhere it looks as if my original plan is feasible with a bit of tweaking plus taking into account the fact I'm not likely to be running even moderately long trains.

Tracklaying has started but nothing worth reporting yet but I will update in due course.

 

Cheers

Stu

[Revolution Ben]

Hi Stu

 

Good luck with this project. It looks interesting; I often travel past the Emirates on the ECML (from home in Cambs to work in W London) and the various junctions in the area. I am also a big fan of "decaying" urban scenery.

 

Keep us posted!

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[Adrian Wintle]

From my experience in North American N, your flyover is impractical. I aim for 2% (1 in 50) and would go no steeper than 4% (1 in 25), although I do run loco-hauled trains rather than multiple units. The fact that your incline is curved will increase the problem. I'd suggest making a test rig and seeing what your stock will climb. Put in the curves and the transitions to/from the flat. The transitions will have to be eased quite significantly so your peak slope will be steeper than the 1 in 13 mentioned above. I have built an over-under flyover in 2' x 5' with a maximum slope of 2%, but it required almost all the track to be on a grade, with the lower line dropping and the upper line climbing to give a 2" clearance at the flyover - they were effectively level in one corner of the board with the flyover effectively in the diagonally opposite corner.

 

Adrian

[Black Sheep]

I'm afraid in UK steam N your flyover is a bit steep, my layout (Milliedale - see bottom of my post) has a steep incline going down to a canal wharf, only my 0-6-0 can get a few wagons up it, my 2-6-2 can't, it slips with the same load and my tender locos don't like the steep transitions into and out of the slope.

 

It may be worth making a mock up of the incline and finding out if your usual stock can make it up or not - some DMUs might cope without a problem.

[devondynosoar118]

You could look at these for your incline, it's a fairly simpe system.

http://www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com/product/13633/ST1410_Woodland_Scenics_Incline_Set

[Adrian Wintle]

You could look at these for your incline, it's a fairly simpe system.

http://www.kernowmod...ics_Incline_Set

 

Those are very useful. Their steepest incline is 4% (raising approximately 1" in 2'). I tend to use the shallowest ones (2%).

 

Adrian

[Les1952]

If you only have 5' of length give serious consideration to using 9" radius setrack at the bottom end, even if the curve under the top is 10.5" radius. Your curve on the upper level can be 9" or a little less if you are sticking to DMUs and nothing bigger than a Bo-Bo up the incline. You haven't enough room to make a train too long for most diesels.

 

I would also use Setrack points and small Setrack curves in the fiddle yard to allow you to get more in.

 

On the question of the slope, if you move the point to the headshunt up the slope by about a foot it will give you room to start the slope before it- beginning a slope straight off a point isn't easy so allowing yourself a bit more space will help you to get a workable transition. Make your bridge the absolute minimum thickness to pass a train under and you might just get away with it.

 

Your layout is the same length as and 6 inches deeper than my Furtwangen Ost. You can get a lot into 5', but play with the trackplan and test clearances and gradients before committing yourself.

 

Best of luck with it.

 

Les

[lapford34102]

Hi,

Thanks for the comments and advice. I have looked at the Woodland Scenics inclines as they're cheap and would take out the guesswork. The eminently sensible suggestion is to do a mockup and try it. I'll do that and see where it gets me though it's going to have to wait a couple of weeks now as life is getting in the way.

I think setrack for the fiddle yard will be essential but I'll get the tricky bits done first.

Traction will be contemporary diesel with DMU's usually confined to the lower loop. Up and over would short trains such as a 66 and say 3 twin pack container flats or half a dozen twin axle infrastructure wagons, The headshunt was put in to add interest rather than be an operational neccessity. I've had one quite serious suggestion that I ditch the two platform arrangement and just have one done in modern urban fashion. That could effectively reduce the layout to one point which does appeal to my minimal tendencies.

 

I am also a big fan of "decaying" urban scenery

Anyone who has seen my other layouts will realise that to date I've never been big on scenery so this'll be a bit of a challenge, Got a few ideas as I've being going in and out of St Pancras on the High Speed which has some interesting views on the Kings X side plus I'm hoping to do a bit of "concrete jungle" as well.

Again thanks for the input.

Cheers

Stu

[Les1952]

You may well have problems with class 66 on the upper loop- they are quite long. Find out what minimum radius they will take first.

 

All the very best

les

[lapford34102]

Progress of sorts. Now have the track down and here’s a couple of pics to show how far I’ve got. For the first time I’ve used glue to tack weld the track down. It seems to have work and I’m minded to use the method again. It also means that if it all goes pear shaped the track can be lifted and used for Plan “B”.

The up and over is in place but only testing will tell whether it’s practical in spite of what experiments I’ve done. The trackbed looks narrow and rough, it is. However if it works there’s a fair amount of scenic work to be done.

The oval will be temporarily completed with a bit of straight track while the wiring and test running is completed.

The next stage won’t get started for a month or so – too many other demands – so bear with me.

As regards the scenic side being up at the Ol ympic Park has provided a few additional ideas. I hadn’t realised just how much railways runs through the middle.

 

Thanks for looking.

Stu

[devondynosoar118]

I found something similar to this at the local tip, all the track was new! If the up and over fails you could convert it into a separate loop at a higher level, this is what the builder of the one I found had done.

[lapford34102]

Hi,

This somewhat stalled project has taken a few more steps forward. A number of people were sceptical about the up and over plan with a deal of justification as it turned out but like jumping headfirst into a nettle bush sometimes you need to prove things to yourself the hard way. Losing a bit of interest and detracted by other diversions including slinging a few aircraft kits together it was put to one side. I then had a request to bring a layout to a small event that some friends are organising but it came with a strong hint about how the N gauge project was going. So the board came out and back on trestles, some of the track came off and the whole thing started again. I spent some time looking at “N” layouts in mags and on various forums though that only got me so far. Plenty of ideas but more importantly gave me a clear idea of what I didn’t want.

So this is what I’ve come up with. It satisfies one criteria in keeping the straight bits to a minimum. I’ve a number of ideas about what to do scenically however so far simply marked the rough shape and position of the backscene. There’s also the beginnings of a back end story to go with it but that can wait until things develop. Tomorrow I hope to press on with completing the wiring, getting the point motors installed and installing the control panel.

 

Cheers Stu

 

Stu

 

[Revolution Ben]

Hello there,

 

Nice sweeping curves!

 

Is the intended position of the backscene marked by the red line? If so, I wondered whether you might consider moving it towards the rear of the layout? I have found it advisable as a general principle to maximise the scenic depth.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[lapford34102]

Hi,

That's right and thanks for that Ben, been duly noted. There's plenty of pencil lines drawn on sketching out the various possibilities but I'll bear in mind what you've said before finalising things.

It's all wired up properly now though if you've ever seen my wiring you'd have serious doubts. Point motors installed and tested and a control panel of sorts created. A bit more testing then on to the scenic.

 

Stu