Ifield Green - An LBSCR Layout & Workbench

[Matloughe]

5 hours ago, RodneyS said:

Did the mystery E4/E6 ever turn up ?

Rodney

Yes it did; so I splurged on a couple of locos from the marketplace website, the first was described as an E6 but looking at it, the loco has an E4 body but with E5 five foot driving wheels.

I also bought another locomotive slightl by accident which was described as an E5 with a Dublo R1 chassis. 

 

Both of them ran out of the box with just a little bit of help from the hand of God to get them going, there was some sparks and a nice smell of old motor.

So having spoken with a friend we have established that the E4 probably started life as an E5 chassis and has had a different body or the body has been chopped about to produce an extended Smokebox E4.

 

I'm not quite sure what do do with them as of yet, they were very reasonably priced models and fit with my current plans. I also picked up a C2X body kit unbuilt. And a resin D3 body kit to go on my M7.

 

For the layout itself I am still in the planning stages, I am having some trouble trying to fit a reasonable looking country station on the space I have available with my current requirements/desirable items. I did have a crazy idea of doing an LBSCR Minories on the board... Primarily as I still have a complete set of pointwork from the previous Minories layout I built many years ago!!

 

Kind Regards,

Gary

 

[RodneyS]

Thanks for the photos Gary.

I was rather curious as for many years I manufactured a white metal body and chassis kit for an E4.  This does look as though it is made from my kit.

Originally it had a white metal chassis but later on I did an etched chassis.

I retired the kit some years ago as the Bachmann model is better and cheaper !

 

The E5 is one of the early Wills kits (without a cab door), designed to fit on the Hornby Dublo R1 chassis.   When Dave Ellis took over the range he improved it with an etched chassis, cab doors and some cab fittings.

Rodney (who still lives in Ifield !)

 

[Matloughe]

48 minutes ago, RodneyS said:

Thanks for the photos Gary.

I was rather curious as for many years I manufactured a white metal body and chassis kit for an E4.  This does look as though it is made from my kit.

Originally it had a white metal chassis but later on I did an etched chassis.

I retired the kit some years ago as the Bachmann model is better and cheaper !

 

The E5 is one of the early Wills kits (without a cab door), designed to fit on the Hornby Dublo R1 chassis.   When Dave Ellis took over the range he improved it with an etched chassis, cab doors and some cab fittings.

Rodney (who still lives in Ifield !)

 

Nice to hear someone lives in Ifield still, I used to live at the top of Hyde Drive and attended all three schools in Ifield, Ifield First when it was at Ifield Green opposite Deerswood School, then Ifield Middle before it amalgamated with Ifield First to become the Mill Primary I think, and the Old Ifield Community College - It moved campus the year after I left.

 

I've snapped the underside of the E4 kit with the chassis:

 

It's a very solidly built locomotive, the rear bufferbeam came off after transit but is easily replaced.

If it is an E5 chassis I might pop it actually under the E5 and make up a new chassis for this E4.

I wish there was an LBSCR locomotive called Ifield as that would be fantastic - I know there was a D1 named Crawley but it's not the same.

Kind Regards,

Gary

[RodneyS]

I'm near the railway station and the schools changed a lot between my school days and yours.

Mine were a long time ago !

When I first joined Crawley MRS they had a hand built model of 'Crawley'.

Perhaps Ifield was too small at the time to be considered.

 

Thanks for the photo of the chassis, it is my kit.

The chassis was made for the E4 so is not an E5 one.   However I did sell quite a few at the time  to modellers wanting a chassis for the E5.   That was before the etched E5 chassis came out.

As Squires still do the new etched chassis for the E5 kit perhaps it might be better to get one of those ?

I seem to remember that the SEF chassis kit came with the additional bits such as cab fittings and doors to update older models.  I'm not sure if they still do but I'm sure Squires would tell you.

Rodney

[Matloughe]

Its been a quiet couple of weeks with not much to report.

I am considering using the space I have available to make this layout a Minories - I have pulled out all of the old points from my previous layout and tested them over and they work perfectly. To be honest they never really got much use as I stopped modelling when I had an accident and displaced several disc's in my spine. It wasn't a fun time!

I told myself I wasn't going to do it; and I resisted for quite a long time dismissing it as out of my price range. However this beauty arrived last weekend:


She was reduced down to £120- and I coudn't say no as I knew I wouldn't be able to find another one at a similar price point even if I looked for a decade or more, shes brand-new and takes up a third of my micro layout's length so wont get much use there! I have popped her away until my larger layout gets further along. Watching the rods go round did make me consider perhaps I shouldn't re-use these boards and instead plump for a much larger layout where I could operate from the centre with modular boards so I can take it down and with me if we move again... My ideal plan is for a large junction station (like Horsted Keynes) on a double track loop as the 'main station' and the branch south to Sheffield Park being a terminus so I could run trains continiously on the main tracks and shuttle trains up to meet them at the junction.
Its only a pipe dream however as with some quick maths I figured out the platforms for Horsted Keynes are in the region of six feet long in 4mm! Then adding on station approach pointwork etc we're looking at a minimum straight of 12 feet long by however wide I need it to be to fit in the middle - and thats without deciding on what would fit opposite Horsted Keynes on the other 12 foot long straight - then figureing out where the branch line would go.

As I said pipe dream, I also have the last volumes of LB&SCR Coaches arrive (a present to myself for doing alot of overtime) and skimming through I realise I actually know very little about the LBSCR - sure I thought I knew a lot but these books are just fantastic tomes of information, I just get lost in the drawings, period photos its just fantastic.

Have a great week all!
Happy modelling!
Kind Regards,

Gary

[Edwardian]

53 minutes ago, Matloughe said:

Its been a quiet couple of weeks with not much to report.

I am considering using the space I have available to make this layout a Minories - I have pulled out all of the old points from my previous layout and tested them over and they work perfectly. To be honest they never really got much use as I stopped modelling when I had an accident and displaced several disc's in my spine. It wasn't a fun time!

I told myself I wasn't going to do it; and I resisted for quite a long time dismissing it as out of my price range. However this beauty arrived last weekend:


She was reduced down to £120- and I coudn't say no as I knew I wouldn't be able to find another one at a similar price point even if I looked for a decade or more, shes brand-new and takes up a third of my micro layout's length so wont get much use there! I have popped her away until my larger layout gets further along. Watching the rods go round did make me consider perhaps I shouldn't re-use these boards and instead plump for a much larger layout where I could operate from the centre with modular boards so I can take it down and with me if we move again... My ideal plan is for a large junction station (like Horsted Keynes) on a double track loop as the 'main station' and the branch south to Sheffield Park being a terminus so I could run trains continiously on the main tracks and shuttle trains up to meet them at the junction.
Its only a pipe dream however as with some quick maths I figured out the platforms for Horsted Keynes are in the region of six feet long in 4mm! Then adding on station approach pointwork etc we're looking at a minimum straight of 12 feet long by however wide I need it to be to fit in the middle - and thats without deciding on what would fit opposite Horsted Keynes on the other 12 foot long straight - then figureing out where the branch line would go.

As I said pipe dream, I also have the last volumes of LB&SCR Coaches arrive (a present to myself for doing alot of overtime) and skimming through I realise I actually know very little about the LBSCR - sure I thought I knew a lot but these books are just fantastic tomes of information, I just get lost in the drawings, period photos its just fantastic.

Have a great week all!
Happy modelling!
Kind Regards,

Gary

 

IIRC, 1913 livery, though no bogie brakes, which pushes it a little further into the future. 

 

Core City Ltd rake was 6 coaches, or, 4'7" of platform face, which would justify an Atlantic. So, 5'4" including the Atlantic. Can you fit that?!

 

 

[Matloughe]

10 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

 

IIRC, 1913 livery, though no bogie brakes, which pushes it a little further into the future. 

 

Core City Ltd rake was 6 coaches, or, 4'7" of platform face, which would justify an Atlantic. So, 5'4" including the Atlantic. Can you fit that?!

 

 

I think I am going to have to be more (or less) flexible with my dates for any layout.

 

I can't fit in the City Limited on the boards I have available no, I was doing some maths. I am limited by 3' 6" length boards with that in mind I believe I could accommodate a maximum of four 54' coaches plus a medium sized locomotive such as an D3/E4 etc.

Something larger like a Mogul or Atlantic would result in loosing a carriage if doing a Minories layout.

 

[Edwardian]

1 minute ago, Matloughe said:

I think I am going to have to be more (or less) flexible with my dates for any layout.

 

I can't fit in the City Limited on the boards I have available no, I was doing some maths. I am limited by 3' 6" length boards with that in mind I believe I could accommodate a maximum of four 54' coaches plus a medium sized locomotive such as an D3/E4 etc.

Something larger like a Mogul or Atlantic would result in loosing a carriage if doing a Minories layout.

 

 

Running in turn?

[Matloughe]

18 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

 

Running in turn?

Quite possibly,

 

I'll have to have a think; I was inspired somewhat by the YouTube channel 'That Model Railway Guy' with his concept of a larger modular layout. I don't think a single sheet of 8'x4' will be a good solution for me as because I rent it's not particularly portable should I need to move in future so smaller say 4'x2' modules would be easier to future-proof.

 

Whatever happens I have my micro layout to tinker with, even if these boards don't get used I have a 7mm plan that would fit on them nicely.

 

The question is would a 3-car train look silly behind an Atlantic... If so is it worth continuing with a Minories with the board restrictions I have.

 

I wanted to say @Edwardiand that I have really enjoyed reading your threads on the forum.

 

Kind Regards,

Gary

[Matloughe]

So working on from my ramblings earlier I have done some calculating using SCARM and AnyRail and produced the attached plan. Please note the measurements on the plan are in Imperial due to me working out the board dimensions in Imperial when it was built. I will be making some generalisations and converting some average dimensions into mm and working out plans this way.

My boards are 3' 6" long which equates to a maximum train length of 1,066mm provided I used full sized casettes. I have shown on the plan what is most likely the largest platform length - both of which are effectively too long for my maximum train lengths. The widths of the platforms are based on Skaledale and I believe are 18 scale feet wide which I feel is reasonable width.

 

Taking some average carriage lengths, listed below I will work out the length in milimeters:

26' 4-Wheelers = 88mm

33' 6-Wheelers = 132mm

48' Suburban Bogie Stock = 192mm

58' Mainline Bogie Stock = 232mm

As well as some locomotive lengths:
A1 Terrier 0-6-0t = 88mm
E1 0-6-0t = 129mm
E4 0-6-2t = 141mm
H2 4-4-2 = 239mm

So taking some assumptions, with an overall length of 1,066mm comes out at the following - taking the smaller platform of 952mm length those will be in brackets.
A1 Terrier + 11 Four Wheelers (9 Four Wheelers)
E1 Black Tank + 7 Six Wheelers (6 Six Wheelers)
E4 Radial + 4 Suburban Bogie Coaches (4 Suburban Bogies)
E4 Radial + 3 Mainline Bogie Coaches (3 Mainline Bogies)
H2 Atlantic + 3 Mainline Bogie Coaches (3 Mainline Bogies)

 

I havent decided on the loco siding at the top so I drew it with a much longer length and the ability to shorten it later. Likewise the bottom most point which goes no-where is just there to provide a location to springboard a siding off should I decide to do so.

Have a good evening all.
Kind Regards,
Gary

[Matloughe]

Good Evening All,

 

I hope all is well?
I've been lucky enough to be on half-term this week and next week coming; and a small exhibition to go to this weekend will be nice. I'm also aware of a parcel that arrived from HMRS for my partner who isn't a modeller... so perhaps thats my birthday present arriving 😁

 

I was bored and decided to attack the centre coach of my Bachmann Red Coach 3-Set; the goal is to produce a passable set of coaches consisting of two D45 Brake Thirds and a single D43 All Second/Third. I do think I should have just bought the Hornby Coaches - but all three of these cost less than a single Hornby coach so perhaps not! So these coaches are a horrid garish red colour, with a large order from Phoenix Paints I have a nice collection of lovely smelling enamel paints:

I'd not long put a coat on the carriage so it still looks wet here; whilst the sides & end were drying I turned my attention to the carriage roof and put a thick coat of cream from Games Workshop on to cover the black plastic as best as possible. I also reached back into the depths of my mind and after the cream paint set decided to use some tissue paper and PVA glue to make an attempt at a stretched canvas roof:

I then finished off by painting the roof with some white paint in an attempt to represent the White Lead roof of the time period; I should stress this is my first time carrying out the technique - from memory from a Model Rail/Railway Modeller article about representing a van with a torn roof showing its scribed planking underneath. I'm not 100% sure of the finish - and because its all PVA/Acrylic on the roof I can simply soak it in warm water and start again if needed.
Close up it looks rough, but at 3 feet away it looks quite good. Once I am happy with the finish I have a gold paint pen I will attempt to pop the lining on the panels of the carriage.

I hope everyone is doing well - and I look forwards to progressing further as/when.
Kind Regards,

Gary

[BlueLightning]

I rather like the look of the carriage roof like that, but don't forget to remove the bits over the top of the lamps!

 

Gary

[Matloughe]

21 minutes ago, BlueLightning said:

I rather like the look of the carriage roof like that, but don't forget to remove the bits over the top of the lamps!

 

Gary

Thanks,

Despite not being lined on signwritten I had to press it into service on a Good Friday special run on the Micro.

That single extra compartment compared to a Brake Third makes all the difference.

 

I'm also working on wagons at the same time:

We have (From L to R) a 5&9 Open D in early stages of construction. A Oak Hill Works Open A largely built and doing running in. And a Cambrian Kits Open A that has been in this condition since 2015 awaiting finishing!!

 

I have a brand-new tinnof Phoenix LBSCR Wagon Grey for these beauties. I also have a number of LBSC Ballast Wagons from Oak Hill I am working on as well which are yet to make an appearance but will do.

Kind Regards,

Gary

[BlueLightning]

20 minutes ago, Matloughe said:

A Oak Hill Works Open A largely built and doing running in.

 

Always puts a smile on my face to see my kits out in the wild!

 

Gary

[Matloughe]

On 07/04/2023 at 11:00, BlueLightning said:

 

Always puts a smile on my face to see my kits out in the wild!

 

Gary

It's getting painted over the course of today!

The topcoat will be later on as the smell of enamel paint fumes will cause all sorts of issues in my house for those with sensitive lungs.

I'll do the top coat after they've gone to bed.

 

Gary

[Matloughe]

Modelling Monday!!

 

So I work in the education sector; and today is one of those few days where there is an inset day and students aren't in - likewise I am only contracted to work term-time only!

So I have a list of jobs in my head I want to do to sort the house out while I am home on my own - as well as some modelling! So first with the modelling - then the washing up while its drying/curing off! Only a quick post.

So I have painted the Bachmann Red Coaches in Phoenix Mahogany (P988), exactly the same as the previous centre coach I painted before. As per LBSCR painting descriptions I have left the ends in their original coloured plastic finish which is a good approximation of the Vermillion ends. The roof of the coaches have been given a coat of cream to disguise the gloss black plastic and I have decided to do both of these coaches differently to before.

So previously after the paint set; I daubed PVA on the roof of the centre coach as can be seen above - and then placed a sheet of tissue paper on and daubed more paint on to secure it down. Then I overpainted it in white acrylic to represent the White Lead of the time.
With these brake coaches I have cut the tissue paper into strips - and making holes for the lantern, on the first coach I decided to lay a strip and daub glue onto the tissue paper to stick it down, then overlay the next piece and glue that down etc. The second brake coach I have done very similar aside from laying all the strips onto the roof and then glueing them down I'm hoping that by cutting it into strips and gluing them down seperately will provide a much neater finish representing stretched canvas better than my first attempt. When the glue is cured and paint is dried I will show off a couple of more photos.

Kind Regards,
Gary

[Matloughe]

Monday Modelling Madness!

So after a few hours drying I have the finished result!

So looking at it - its clear that the approach I have taken with the brake coaches looks much neater than the centre all third. Still room for improvement but looks better - the precoloured plastic ends don't look too far from the colour they're supposed to be so I will leave them unpainted currently. I'm fairly impressed with my take on the Stroudley Coaches based off of the Bachmann Red Coaches. More so considering these cost £32 to buy, plus another £4 on Mahogany paint, free tissue paper and free white acrylic paint. So £36 for three coaches which are quite impressive from a normal viewing distance - the closeup here does them no favours, versus £39 for a single Hornby LBSCR Coach. Not too shabby. To finish them off I will be looking at getting some gold paint to sort out the carriage door handles in a brass colour and some toning down of the roof colour.

Last shot of the three set; I will be looking at some Hunt Couplings for this set to bring the coaches slightly tighter together in formation.

But I am quite pleased with them - and it fulfills my self-imposed mandate of modelling the LBSCR on a budget.

Kind Regards,

Gary

 

[Matloughe]

Hello All!

 

Its been a while since I've posted here; to be honest I've been working on the Micro Layout and collecting far more stock than I need. As Winter is drawing in however, I am have a desire to finish some projects that have been laying around gathering dust.
Firstly in 1911, the LBSCR produced a batch of Gangway Push-Pull units consisting of a Driving Trailer Third and attached Composite. I had decided (way back in 2014) to use the Ratio Midland Coaches to produce a similar looking unit using a Brake Third, and a First coach. I recently found both of these coaches in their bare unpainted state and decided to begin to refurbish and complete them to produce a faux-LBSCR Push-Pull unit for my own enjoyment:

I've got some Styrene sheet on order to form some internal partitions and will order some seating to form the side corridor coach layout this set has. A question I have to ask is - what livery would be appropriate? My Layout has a broad timescale from 1890 up to 1922 with the eclectic selection of stock I have (I do really need to narrow it down). It looks like the year before the real life units were produced the livery changed from Umber and White to plain Umber - and indeed there are photos of AC Stock in early and late 1911 being delivered in this livery. Would it make sense to keep this in a plain Umber or should I just go off on a tangent entirely and paint the upper panels in the off-white I have in stock.
The large square projection on the side of the carriage I was thinking of painting into a colour - to represent destination boards for the side of the train, perhaps Rusper + Horsham on the board for my Microlayout. I do like the idea of painting it Blue with white writing to represent Blue Enamel but thats probably more off on a tangent than a fictional Push-Pull unit in a real-life colour scheme!!

Other items of rolling stock I have been looking at include a Triang Brake van:

Which is very close to a Billinton 10ton van structurally - I picked this rather sorry looking example up for £1.50 and free postage from an online marketplace, it is the correct length and roof outline to match the drawing I have here. The camera lense does make it look too large but to the naked eye its spot-on. Its just 1.5mm too tall - I was hoping a Dapol wagon underframe might cure this as well as some structural modifications to the brake van chassis. So this might be a nice future project to work on.

In a similar vein the Kernow LSWR Brake van is essentially the same as the LBSC version shown here - they were built IRL to very similar designs - I am hoping when I am brave enough a quick repaint and some new transfers and it will look great! Its already fitted with Kadees since this photo was taken so operationally works on my micro layout - it just needs some cosmetic work and is much shorter than the Hornby LBSCR Brake van in use up until this point.

Thats it so far, I've enjoyed looking for models that are similar enough to use as LBSC prototypes to fill gaps in my collection. I also look forwards to completing the refurbishment tasks on them and improving my skills.

Kind Regards,
Gary

[Matloughe]

With tonight's storm closing in I have decided to continue my Push-Pull refurbish and have managed to paint the composite as well to match the driving trailer third.

I'm still not sure about the ducket / destination board if I should paint it body colour white or if I should paint it blue white writing.

Won't be long until they're back on the rails soon.

Kind Regards,

Gary

Edited November 1, 2023 by Matloughe

[Skinnylinny]

22 hours ago, Matloughe said:

In a similar vein the Kernow LSWR Brake van is essentially the same as the LBSC version shown here - they were built IRL to very similar designs - I am hoping when I am brave enough a quick repaint and some new transfers and it will look great!

If you want to make it look even more like the LBSC van, I would think some plastic strip would make a huge difference - do plenty of dry test-fits before gluing anything, but the thicker green bits I reckon would have the biggest effect. The blue bits on the end doors are a bit more subtle, but also make a bit of a difference. Finally, the four corner lamp irons on the Kernow LSWR model weren't on the LBSC van, and they look to be separately-fitted parts, so hopefully should just pop off with a scalpel blade tip. Do let us know how you get on!

[Matloughe]

On 22/03/2023 at 00:48, Matloughe said:

So working on from my ramblings earlier I have done some calculating using SCARM and AnyRail and produced the attached plan. Please note the measurements on the plan are in Imperial due to me working out the board dimensions in Imperial when it was built. I will be making some generalisations and converting some average dimensions into mm and working out plans this way.

My boards are 3' 6" long which equates to a maximum train length of 1,066mm provided I used full sized casettes. I have shown on the plan what is most likely the largest platform length - both of which are effectively too long for my maximum train lengths. The widths of the platforms are based on Skaledale and I believe are 18 scale feet wide which I feel is reasonable width.

 

Taking some average carriage lengths, listed below I will work out the length in milimeters:

26' 4-Wheelers = 88mm

33' 6-Wheelers = 132mm

48' Suburban Bogie Stock = 192mm

58' Mainline Bogie Stock = 232mm

As well as some locomotive lengths:
A1 Terrier 0-6-0t = 88mm
E1 0-6-0t = 129mm
E4 0-6-2t = 141mm
H2 4-4-2 = 239mm

So taking some assumptions, with an overall length of 1,066mm comes out at the following - taking the smaller platform of 952mm length those will be in brackets.
A1 Terrier + 11 Four Wheelers (9 Four Wheelers)
E1 Black Tank + 7 Six Wheelers (6 Six Wheelers)
E4 Radial + 4 Suburban Bogie Coaches (4 Suburban Bogies)
E4 Radial + 3 Mainline Bogie Coaches (3 Mainline Bogies)
H2 Atlantic + 3 Mainline Bogie Coaches (3 Mainline Bogies)

 

I havent decided on the loco siding at the top so I drew it with a much longer length and the ability to shorten it later. Likewise the bottom most point which goes no-where is just there to provide a location to springboard a siding off should I decide to do so.

Have a good evening all.
Kind Regards,
Gary

So During the festive season I have unexpectedly come back to this idea I had previously of Minories on my 7'x1' boards formerly occupied by Ifield Green - it took my a while to find this post and come back with my random jottings down to make things coherent.

 

So within the same space as before, however now divided up into neat 100mm x 100mm squares my ideas were thinking of an urban terminus, along the lines of Minories but less grand maybe a suburban terminus for example, the advantage here is that the entire plan is drawn using Medium Radius pointwork so could be substututed for the new Peco Bullhead Rail within the same space.

I could also substitute the small radius points and free up some more length - but I don't think it would be an more beneficial. At least Medium Radius points have better running characteristics. I could swap the second point in from the left for a three-way, which would preclude the use of bullhead track but would remove three points consecutively and possibly allow a smoother curve into the topmost platform. I'm not sure how else it would benefit me.

The idea would be that the lowest platform with the run-around loop would be the principle arrivals platform - trains with locomotives short enough to fit in the 160mm long headshunt could push back and run-around themselves without need of the station pilot. All platforms would have isolated sections (not shown here but marked out on the plan) at least 260mm long to isolate an incoming locomotive. The pilot could remove the coaches to another platform allowing the incoming locomotive to be serviced (if needed) or to shunt to the opposite end of the train for departure. Alterntively the pilot could remove the coaches from one platform to another and return to its own siding, allowing a loco from the servicing siding to attach to the outbound train and the inbound locomotive could be serviced.
Or in a true minories fashion, the inbound locomotive would have to wait for the locomotive from the servicing siding to couple up to depart. Once released the inbound locomotive would be serviced and the pattern repeated. Personally I quite like the idea of having a station pilot myself scuttling about moving coaches. I have included an end-loading dock at the end of the pilot platform for some extra variety - the loco refueling siding could be some sort of goods siding instead with locomotives not being serviced and being relased and departing or serviced off-scene. And equally parcels traffic could be handled at any of the platforms.

 

The island platform I make to be about a scale 14' wide so might be a little narrow. The backscene could be low-relief station buildings like parcels offices etc - you could have a partial overall roof potentially to make the scene a little more 'grander' I'm thinking a retaining wall behind the signal box and perhaps an overbridge masking the off-scene exit complete with a horse Omnibus or perhaps an early motor bus for the ironic modelling trope.

Thoughts?
Kind Regards,
Gary

Edited December 29, 2023 by Matloughe

[burgundy]

Have you looked at the Central Croydon branch?

Best wishes 

Eric 

[Edwardian]

1 hour ago, burgundy said:

Have you looked at the Central Croydon branch?

Best wishes 

Eric 

 

What a perfect modeller's compact passenger terminus!

 

[Nearholmer]

6 hours ago, Matloughe said:

So During the festive season I have unexpectedly come back to this idea

It’s quite an interesting terminus to operate, because it can be used either for ‘turnover’ operation, or ‘running round’, or with a pilot engine, as I well know because it’s effectively my own Paltry Circus layout (coarse scale 0 gauge in my case).

 

 

 

Yours has one more road against the retaining g wall, which personally I would make as an ECS siding, with just a wooden walkway for carriage cleaners, rather than a passenger platform. 
 

One thing I would suggest is to consider the length vs width vs height of retaining wall ratio, which makes a big difference to the balance of appearance. Some layouts of this kind come out looking to “deep”, or too long and thin. You can break things up to ‘right size’ the visual blocks by using overbridges; even a fairly spindly public footpath bridge to retain a right of way that existed before the railway will act as a “stop”.

 

As well as Central Croydon, some of the stations of the ELR are worth a look as inspiration for ‘trenches’, likewise places like the former WLR station at West Brompton, or the next door District Line station, which has a cracking hood footbridge concourse/exit.

 

Incidentally, I too built The Dyke, in EM, but I decided it was terminally boring, or a boring terminal, once track was laid, so never finished it. It’s more one for people who like close-up and exact rolling-stock building than one for operators.

 

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by Nearholmer

[Matloughe]

@burgundy@Edwardian Central Croydon is something I had looked at before but I don't think I could make it fit in 7' by 1' - I'll have a look later today it's one of those situations I wish my boards were slightly deeper and slightly longer!

 

I was researching minories and I stumbled upon this post from @Pacific231G with a fantastic picture of a pre-war O Gauge layout from E.A Beet - it was quite inspirational and I took to AnyRail without even making a cup of tea!! ☕

 

@Nearholmer I really like your O Gauge set-up, it's nice to know the track plan works - I'll take that idea on board the topmost platform being a carriage siding against the wall with just access for cleaners. it might also make more sense to remove it and free up more depth for scenery resulting in just a two platform station.

 

I also managed to squeeze this plan down into a mere 90cm x 30cm in N Gauge as well (with shorter 3-Coach trains max) which was my original planning for a micro layout.

 

Kind Regards,

Gary