Maintaining the Balance? - Positioning of Structures

[dseagull]

My new project is not one I've entered into lightly - I want it to be a long term success, hence a lot of very careful planning.

The plan is below, the discussions which let to it and previous variations of it are in the RMWeb version (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1330-the-cuckmere-valley-railway/) of my blog, http://cuckmerevalleyrailway.wordpress.com/

 

 

Having declared this the final, final plan - last night I found myself flicking through books and looking online and came up with a slightly different variation, scenically if not in the actual track plan.

 

 

What if I lost the 'Rotherfield Style' Goods Shed (Picture of Prototype first picture on http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/r/rotherfield_and_mark_cross/index.shtml), and replaced it with Coal Pens - and had a 'Hailsham style' Goods Shed/Warehouse opposite the platform (Pictures 8 & 9 on http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/h/hailsham/index.shtml show it well).

 

I have scale drawings for all structures, so that isn't the issue, but would having such a large structure (which scales at approx 17.7 inches long in 4mm/1 Foot (!)) destroy the 'balance' of the layout? I thought so at first, but when viewing from the front, the 'view' of the station forecourt with the combination of Station Building, Shed and a glimpse of the goods shed on the opposite side of the platform road appeals.

 

The revised version is below (a quick and nasty version on Paint, as don't have my XtrkCad file with me);

 

 

 

On this one, you need to use your imagination. The red box at the top is the 'new' goods shed (roughly to scale length if not width, that dimension is written down at home but hasn't stuck in my head like the length!), whilst the red lines near what is marked as 'Goods Shed' represents the coal pens, the red box to the left of this a cottage. The goods shed (brown) on this plan would be removed.

 

 

One further note - the siding through the goods shed (on the 'revised' plan) leads to an offstage brewery. Would it be realistic for this to run through the goods shed or not? (in the original plan it is just a siding, which doesn't run through anything).

 

All thoughts welcome!

[allan downes]

Nice little plan, plenty of potential but may I offer just one thing ?

 

Draw the whole lot foreward towards the front of the layout and leave as much room as you can along the back for scenic development - houses, factory ?, brewery maybe, church, school, anything. Give the railway a reason for being there.

 

Cheers.

Allan

[Oldddudders]

Running sidings through a goods-shed en route a private siding is not common, I'd say, as it requires locos to go back and forth through the shed, which might not be popular with the staff there, and risks dirt and sparks doing nasty things.

[The Stationmaster]

The goods shed does seem rather large - presumably there's a reason for that otherwise I would have though a shed capable of holding 3 wagons more appropriate?

 

As Ian as said it would be unusual to go onto a private siding through the shed - shunting the siding would not only involve the problems Ian mentioned but would also interfere with working the shed as wagons would come in during the morning and leave late afternoon in an ideal world (although many smaller depots weren't worked that way and just had a single shunt, but even then shunting the siding would delay work in the shed.  But the shed does need to stand at least a couple of wagons beyond it to allow the working of more than it can actually hold.

 

And the engine shed opposite the goods shed road could also lead to operational problems when the goods road is busy.

[Nick Holliday]

Given the Brighton provenance, I would suggest considering using one of their small wooden lock-up goods sheds on the left hand siding, as, for example, Fittleworth, which might give a better artistic balance, and also move the engine shed to the other side of the platform, a la Littlehampton, although that loses the brewery connection.  To add a bit more variety, the erstwhile engine shed road could then become a combined cattle dock / end loading bay, again as per Fittleworth, Isfield on the Lavender Line and elsewhere. I'd avoid the use of coal pens, unless the era is relatively modern, but if you want them for scenic reasons, I would position them away from the tracks, probably with their back to the perimeter fence, wherever that is.

[Talltim]

I like the way the trains disappear behind the goods shed in it's original location. My mind it helps make the layout bigger by not letting you see the whole thing at once.

[dseagull]

Thanks all - some interesting comments which I'll deal with in turn!

 

Allan; This is the last passenger station on a branch serving various local industries - the full rationale is explained in the blog posts (too much detail to repeat here!). As for leaving room along the back - I'm toying with the idea of making it a double-sided layout, that can be viewed from either side. I'm using the jigsaw method of construction, so this is a possibility.

 

 

Ian; I did wonder if it wouldn't be common for that reason - although there is the possibility of just the shed, with goods out (beer!) and goods in (coal/anthracite as per disucssion here transported by horse and cart to the brewery just offstage instead of running the siding straight in?

 

 

Mike; Thanks, as mentioned I am having second thoughts about the siding running through. The shed would deal with local smalls traffic and possibly items for the brewery as above. I could also extend the local chicken fattening industry (http://www.heathfield.net/historical-information

 

) to Litlington too!

 

As for the Engine Shed, that is a direct copy of the prototype at Hailsham, which, until the 1880's, had an Engine Shed (and Cattle pens for that matter on the same siding - see the OS Maps on http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/h/hailsham/index.shtml ). The Engine shed isn't marked on either, but it is clearly shown on the maps in the A.C Elliott book 'The Cuckoo Line' from which I've gained a lot of inspiration.

 

 

Nick; Thanks for that - the shed, as above, is copied directly from Hailsham (or when Hailsham was a terminus at any rate). I liked the idea, from a visual perspective, of the engine shed breaking up the view. With regard to coal pens - I wasn't sure on these either, but Hailsham had them, and looking through the aformentioned Cuckoo Line book, most if not all stations along the line did too. Era is late 1920's (with a possibility of putting making it late 1900's in the future, should my soldering skills improve!)