paulprice Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 Some of you may have seen my blog entries in the modelling section of the site, which showed some of the progress of the building of my first truly portable decent size layout. In the past I have built layouts that I have claimed to be portable, or at least removable in case the spare room is needed, but as I'm sure other have found out, they spookily end up being firmly fixed to walls and scenery suddenly become seamless. The idea was to build a layout that I could erect and take down when needed to turn the room into a bedroom and potentially if I ever got an invite take to exhibitions, that's if the standards of build is good enough to get any invites. The layout is my attempt to portray a secondary mainline absorbed by the LMS somewhere in the Northwest on the outskirts of your typical industrial town, all very suburban and grotty. Add to this a connection with a branch line that runs into a bay and connects with some distant hamlet (a source of additional passenger and freight movements). And all this to look realistic and be contained within three baseboards 40 inches wide, easy I thought initially how hard could this be, and how long could it take?? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulprice Posted September 23, 2013 Author Share Posted September 23, 2013 lovely empty board to mess up, sorry I mean railway model upon how predictable an entry onto the layout from the standard much used tunnel even though on this one I intend to have stepped terrace houses running above it, I'm sure that's never been thought of before? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulprice Posted September 24, 2013 Author Share Posted September 24, 2013 from this idea the following track plan developed I thought this would be the final track plan but then I added a little siding to provide a place for a coal merchant Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulprice Posted September 24, 2013 Author Share Posted September 24, 2013 One of the problems I found from the start and I still have now is finding a suitable name for the layout I have had a few good suggestions but the layout is still un-named, progress a can be painfully slow sometimes as time and motivation can be in short supply. Being a standard N gauge layout it means I did not have to build any track unlike those marvellous 2mm layouts I drool over. In line with my favourite method of over engineering things you can see that I like to use plywood for the base structure of things like bridges and the raised section at the back of the layout. the raised section will contain a row of terrace houses and a pub to give that industrial urban feel common to most small towns in the northwest unless I change my mind you can also see one of the mock ups I use to scale out buildings (namely the warehouse) and comes from the usual cereal boxes, I mean you cant have too many bran flakes can you Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulprice Posted September 25, 2013 Author Share Posted September 25, 2013 Once I had formulated in my head how I wanted the scenery and the station environment progress was a little swift, but as usual I made a few changes along the way. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulprice Posted September 27, 2013 Author Share Posted September 27, 2013 I know there are a lot of people who say that you should only model prototype locations, and the reason for this is that you get a true representation of a location, that should as a result look right and feel right to the viewer. They also say that "freelance" models never look right as they are a miss-match of buildings and features and have no real logic, I have heard many people remark like this in the past and it tends to annoy me (I also believe that these people never actually make any models????). I will at some point make a scale model of a prototype location and I have a couple of possibilities in mind, and I greatly admire those modellers who model prototype locations, it takes true dedication and control to not only complete the research but also resisting the temptation to "improve upon" what was already there. You only have to look at some of the prototype models in this forum section truly inspiring. However I think that there is a lot to be said about freelance modelling and it could be said that it takes an equal amount of skill to do this as you have to potentially justify the location and existence of buildings for example, pretty much like the original railway builders must have. I mean for example the hardest bit for me so far has been to try and come up with a name for the layout, which I still have not decided upon (please help) Anyway back to the history, of "insert layout name" the timeframe for the layout is the years leading upto 1948 and the terrible nationalisation of the railways. I know the reason for this and I agree with the process but it meant the end of the LMS and those lovely maroon locomotives. Plus the fact that I like to be difficult (just ask the other half) and the fact that you cant just walk into a shop and buy a loco in the correct livery is a challenge I quite like. It must be easy being a post nationalisation modeller as you just walk in hand over your cash and "jobs a good un" how easy is that?. Before I alienate a mass of people I'm only joking though at a couple of exhibitions I have attended lately I have seen multiples of the same model, on the same layout, and when I asked if they were to be renumbered the reply I got was, "why would we do that?". At one exhibition I attended whilst watching a layout I got as much enjoyment from a pair of young siblings who were actually rather vocally playing a game of snap, and were having a great time. Anyway back to the layout, the time frame is the years leading upto 1948, the LMS is still in shock from the war years and the effect this has had on it and so is the country, somewhere in the grimy, wet northwest a small town is served by a secondary main line and its small station and goods yard and the services this brings,. The station also has a short branch collection which leads off to a distant hamlet, though its existence is justified more by the livestock revenue this brings in rather than the number of passengers (plus I wanted an excuse to run an auto train and build a Johnsonn 1P 0-4-4T). Goods facilities are rather sparse thought as is the case in this part of the world it does have a rather large goods warehouse to help process the products of the various concerns around the town, interspersed amongst the seemingly endless string of terrace houses that provide meagre shelter for the masses, just as the railway seems to provide an endless supply of freight trains and suburban trains heading to the major cities in each direction. Life as a train spotter was pretty boring in this part of the world until engineering work took place further up the line and rumour has it that the occasional big Stannier locomotive can be seen pounding through the platforms. Maybe this is the sign of things to come and the whispered "investment" in the railway, though the Station Master would rather see his wooden buildings replaced with more substantial and less troublesome brick buildings. I think I have gone on enough already, if anyone would like to know more let me know and I will post updates of the progress and the plans for the layout still lots of work to be completed on the buildings but I hope it gives an impression of what Im trying to achieve? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanLister Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 Hi Quick progress! Interesting consideration of prototype or freelance in your post. Can i suggest there's a third way of creating a concept for a layout: looking at a real location and considering how it might have been if a decision had been made differently? This sets you free of the demands of the prototype where if it's to be an accurate model then everything has to be accurate, while giving you a framework in which to plan. For instance: I used to live a mile away from a tiny NER branch terminus at the top of Weardale...Wearhead station. Around 1900 the NER considered building a tunnel through the Pennines to link to Alston, which would have given them a very useful through route for heavy goods from Teesside to the Glasgow area. How different would that sleepy branchline have been? And how interesting to consider how it would have differed in layout, stations, traffic, and the effect on local communities. You end up 'freelancing' in a disciplined and structured way, constantly asking yourself...is this how it would have been? It's another way of looking at things........ Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Chimer Posted October 27, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 27, 2013 Hi Paul Clitheroe (on the Blackburn-Hellifield line) might not be quite as grimy as you want, but could have been a junction for a branch to Slaidburn, which would be about right for the agricultural bit. I don't know what the traffic was like in 1948, by the mid 60s it was freight and diversion only, some passenger services now reinstated I believe ..... Something of a centre for the cement industry too. I have a dream of doing something in the area in the 60s, but in a parallel universe where the line was rather more important (and might have forced its way onward through the moors to meet the ECML somewhere near Thirsk, providing a link from Liverpool to Newcastle). Cheers Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulprice Posted October 28, 2013 Author Share Posted October 28, 2013 Ian/Chris thanks for the comments its certainly given me something to think about and has led to a lot of armchair modelling and what if thinking, and I think my next project will definitely involve that approach. As for my layout although progress has been quite slow of late (very very slow) and its nowhere near complete I have a lot of work started on the first two boards There is even some green stuff appearing in places, though like most of us I then to get caught up in other little projects like weathering the stock of converting locomotives to more useful types I cant be the only one this happens to??? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulprice Posted November 10, 2013 Author Share Posted November 10, 2013 Am I the only one who finds it difficult to maintain discipline when working on a new layout, so far I have started work on many smaller sub-projects that seem to zap my free time, but I cant seem to stop finding more?? Is there an answer to this out there? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulprice Posted November 12, 2013 Author Share Posted November 12, 2013 well in another sub project, I have started to improve my 4F fleet, seeing as they are typical North West motive power I want them to have that typical Northwest look, so its muck muck and more muck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lankyphil Posted November 13, 2013 Share Posted November 13, 2013 Am I the only one who finds it difficult to maintain discipline when working on a new layout, so far I have started work on many smaller sub-projects that seem to zap my free time, but I cant seem to stop finding more?? Is there an answer to this out there? No. And no. HTH Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulprice Posted November 13, 2013 Author Share Posted November 13, 2013 Thank god for that, so many projects so little time Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulprice Posted December 30, 2013 Author Share Posted December 30, 2013 Progress is slow but I have started work on the backscene and of course building the locomotive fleet Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulprice Posted January 29, 2014 Author Share Posted January 29, 2014 Why did I ever think working on a backscene was a good idea? I now know why the other half in never satisfied with decorating, you always see the bits that could be done better Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulprice Posted February 5, 2014 Author Share Posted February 5, 2014 well today had a free hour so I played trains for a while Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lankyphil Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Can't help but think that the layout would quite suit GWR Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulprice Posted February 6, 2014 Author Share Posted February 6, 2014 I've had an even better idea, we could build a combined GWR layout Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lankyphil Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Maybe we could hi jack one of those 10m trailers going for mothball.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulprice Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 Maybe we could hi jack one of those 10m trailers going for mothball.... Think of the number of copper capped loco's we would need to fill that, you would have to give up that Longmoor habit you have, Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lankyphil Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Think of the number of copper capped loco's we would need to fill that, you would have to give up that Longmoor habit you have, Maybe a double decker? 4mm Longmoor/SR on the top deck, 2mm on the bottom deck? And if we use a fridge decker you've got ready made air conditioning Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulprice Posted February 17, 2014 Author Share Posted February 17, 2014 I know you, you would set my section at -12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lankyphil Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Slander! -21 maybe Maybe the first actual working 3rd rail de-icing unit? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulprice Posted February 18, 2014 Author Share Posted February 18, 2014 you beast you!!!! And leave my lovely 3 rail out of it, you know your only jealous Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulprice Posted March 15, 2014 Author Share Posted March 15, 2014 NAME NEEDED, I need a name for the layout, any suggestions are more than welcome Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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