Your Layout Track Plan Mistakes

[Donw]

The extra space required by a turnout for the stock to clear each other is known as the fouling point this is affected not only by the turnout size but also the track spacing. It is something I find easiest to work out full size on the baseboard which is a bit late. So one way is to take a turnout or two and set the up on a srap of board and check using your stock just how much space is needed.

Echo what others have said about planning and re-planning. Although it only had five turnout Sparrows' Wharf was planned very carefully to maximise train length. The time spent planning was well worth it. I also check during construction if slewing tracks by half an inch will help you can make late changes.

 

Don

[Blacque Jacque]

Not wishing to take the thread off topic, but one question jumps out at me;

 

What is so bad about facing points ?

 

I've seen mention that they were avoided in prototype wherever possible, but why ?

 

I freely admit my lack of knowledge / understanding of prototype operation, but if ya don't ask, ya don't learn

[Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71]

Hi BJ,

 

Facing points required locking in position on passenger lines with a 'facing point lock' to reduce the risk of derailment, this was an additional expense. Maintenance was another issue, poor maintenance could cause the points to 'stand off' and risk a derailment.

 

Cheers

 

Dave

[The Stationmaster]

Facing points were common in running lines in the early days of railways (and wagon turntables were not unknown either) but several serious collisions - from memory Blackburn and Wigan (North Western) - bought in new strictures from the Board of Trade which both made such pointwork very difficult to get passed by the BoT Inspector except when essential and added the complication of locking bars and lock bolts. Thus running line facing points only appeared where they were essential such as at junctions and in large station layouts.

 

In addition I would think that increasing traffic levels and rising train weights and speeds were also leading to the realisation that shunting via facing points off running lines at wayside stations was a more awkward and time consuming exercise than simply reversing a train into a yard or sidings.

 

Incidentally a simple 'rule of thumb' way we used to establish a fouling point when working in a yard or whatever (e.g. 'squeezing movements past a derailed vehicle) was to stand in the widening vee coming out of the heel end of the point at the place where you were just clear of the sleeper ends on both sides - that meant that vehicles would also be clear of each other (un;less they were overwide for some reason. Not so easy to do that on a model railway I would think and Don's advice above is very sound - always remember to take account of the fouling points when estimating how much standage is available between or beyond pointwork.

[gordon s]

Gordon, intended as a complement to the skill, dedication and ingenuity we have all enjoyed in the planning and building of your magnum opus.

In response to the above posts the more I learn about the real railway the more I wish to replicate it in miniature. In some ways inventing your own track layout, even if it is "inspired by" a real place is much harder as you have to overcome all the difficulties that had been mostly solved on a prototype plan.

 

Without wishing to take this OT, the question of modelling a prototype location or just making up your own is an interesting one. I have the greatest respect for those who replicate the prototype to the Nth degree and steadfastly refuse to consider anything that is not right for that period or location. Jim Smith Wright and Great Northern have both followed this route and made inspirational models of real locations, but it wouldn't suit me. I'm not anarchic, far from it but I don't like constraints in my life and once you go down the prototype route there will always be rules and restrictions that must be observed otherwise the model will lose it's raison d'etre. From memory JSW speaks of building a model of a railway versus a model railway. I happen top fall in the latter camp right now and there's nothing wrong with that as it happens to suit me and my lifestyle.

 

I believe I could build a model of a prototype and one day I may well do, but right now I have quite a collection of loco's I have picked up on my travels and they will all run at some time or other on ET, should it ever be finished.

 

The various rebuilds of ET have not been down to track failures, but mainly other aspects of the build such as gradients, hidden areas and failure to accept compromises that seemed acceptable at the outset. I'm not sure it's harder to generate your own plan versus following a prototype if the plan is based on prototype principles applied in a fictitious location.

 

It's always dangerous to think that a layout based on a prototype is always better than one that is freelance. I have seen outstanding, good, bad and indifferent layouts in each genre and it's the quality of modelling that separates them, not the thinking behind the layout.

[Heinz57]

My current layout originaly had a three way point leading into three hidden sidings. It had alot of problems with locos and stock constantly de-railing on entrance and exit of the yard. The hidden sidings themselves also provided the problem of me finding it difficult to access the tracks.

 

So, to rectify it I decided to extend the layout by another 4ft and build an 8 track fiddle yard with storage for 14 locos. With this, I replaced the three-way point with a two way and cut the hidden lines down to two and used them as access lines to the fiddle yard.

 

It all works fine now, and as a bonus the layout has increased stock capacity.

[devondynosoar118]

It's always dangerous to think that a layout based on a prototype is always better than one that is freelance. I have seen outstanding, good, bad and indifferent layouts in each genre and it's the quality of modelling that separates them, not the thinking behind the layout.

Agreed, but when I started railway modelling I had insufficient knowledge of correct operating procedures so modelling the prototype solved that, I just had to work out the compression and how to build it using pre built track.

I can't imagine, with the quality of your track work that running quality has ever been an issue!

Three way points seem to be a common problem, are they just inherently un reliable?