Fryers Lane - Speedlink in the '80s (P4)

[Geoff Cook]

The turnouts could go further left and be arranged as a tandem would probably keep the sidings the same lenght

 

just a thought

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Span Yard.

Apologies for the rather cluttered picture, but this is my take on off stage storage on small layouts.

At the left hand end there are two exits (one behind the bit of paper), the top right is the main entry track of the layout, and these 3 have fiddlesticks, and the bottom right goes onto an extension board with a low relief warehouse. There is the one "on scene" siding top left to mantain interest.

To my way of thinking, having a fiddleyard on a small/micro layout serves no purpose and takes up valuable space, bearing in mind that Span Yard is designed to fit into a suitcase and travel to the UK as hold baggage for exhibitions (remember them?) so space saving is a prime concern.

 

Mike.

[Mark Forrest]

15 hours ago, Geoff Cook said:

The turnouts could go further left and be arranged as a tandem would probably keep the sidings the same lenght

 

just a thought

 

 

Yes, good point (pun intended), thanks Geoff.  I did start to do that, but as the siding has a transition curve Templot didn't like the idea of auto creating the tandem.  I know I could have got around that, but had already decided the sidings are about as short as I want them to be.

 

4 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Span Yard.

Apologies for the rather cluttered picture, but this is my take on off stage storage on small layouts.

At the left hand end there are two exits (one behind the bit of paper), the top right is the main entry track of the layout, and these 3 have fiddlesticks, and the bottom right goes onto an extension board with a low relief warehouse. There is the one "on scene" siding top left to mantain interest.

To my way of thinking, having a fiddleyard on a small/micro layout serves no purpose and takes up valuable space, bearing in mind that Span Yard is designed to fit into a suitcase and travel to the UK as hold baggage for exhibitions (remember them?) so space saving is a prime concern.

 

Mike.

Looks good Mike, can see how that would work well. Before starting on this extension for Fryers, I was thinking about doing a small micro layout as a bit of a side project, got as far as downloading the Scalescenes box file layout buildings (although I was planning something a bit larger than a box file). 

If I were starting from scratch with Fryers,  I might be tempted to try to do something that's scenic along its entire length rather than giving over a third of the layout's length to a non-scenic fiddle yard.  When I was a kid my Dad built a layout (to an Iain Rice plan) which was scenic along its entire length, using a kick back arrangement to keep the storage behind the back scene.  It was an approach that I have always thought made good use of space, although does require operating from the rear of the layout to access the storage sidings.

[Indomitable026]

4 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Span Yard.

Apologies for the rather cluttered picture, but this is my take on off stage storage on small layouts.

At the left hand end there are two exits (one behind the bit of paper), the top right is the main entry track of the layout, and these 3 have fiddlesticks, and the bottom right goes onto an extension board with a low relief warehouse. There is the one "on scene" siding top left to mantain interest.

To my way of thinking, having a fiddleyard on a small/micro layout serves no purpose and takes up valuable space, bearing in mind that Span Yard is designed to fit into a suitcase and travel to the UK as hold baggage for exhibitions (remember them?) so space saving is a prime concern.

 

Mike.

I remember you telling me about your baggage at the last Stafford show.

 

Great stuff.

 

 

[Mark Forrest]

12 minutes ago, Indomitable026 said:

I remember you telling me about your baggage at the last Stafford show.

 

You make it sound like you're his therapist 

[Mark Forrest]

There's only so much doodling and messing around with track plans I can do; if this is going to be a relatively quick project, I need to stop procrastinating and cut some wood.

Luckily I had a sheet of the same 12mm ply that the original layout board was made from in the garage.  A few minutes work with the circular saw and I have a back scene and a couple of lengths for the front and for cross bracing. Don't mind admitting,  I hate using the circular saw, can really see the appeal of laser cut baseboards, so I'm glad this bit is done!

 

[Mark Forrest]

Straight out to the shed after work to massacre some more plywood, the new board is starting to take shape.

 

 

The end that I'm reusing from the old fiddle yard is, of course, not wide enough so will need to be extended. 

 

It'll be a bit of a bodge, but easier than making a new one as I know the alignment dowels are exactly where they should be on this piece.

[Mark Forrest]

Tonight's after work wood bodging gets me to this stage of the build:

[Mark Forrest]

The length of flat bottom, concrete sleepers track at the end of what was the mainline has been lifted.

The underlay can up fairly cleanly so there should only be minimal work needed to prepare the ply trackbed.

I need to work out how to and by how much the trackbed needs to be widened.

[2ManySpams]

I see the PW crew have disappeared off to have a brew.

[Mark Forrest]

3 minutes ago, 2ManySpams said:

I see the PW crew have disappeared off to have a brew.

They said something about looking for a Full English.  As they're not members of the Royal Family, I can only assume they meant breakfast.

[Stubby47]

Those sink holes look quite serious.

[Mark Forrest]

This gives a bit of an idea of what I'm hoping to achieve. 

 

I think that the rear siding could potentially be hidden behind a wall or fence rather than a building.  I've included a hole in the end of the board that would allow stock to be shunted off the layout onto a "fiddle stick" (although that's not an option at home, unless I knock through an external wall).

[Enterprisingwestern]

5 hours ago, Mark Forrest said:

I've included a hole in the end of the board that would allow stock to be shunted off the layout onto a "fiddle stick" (although that's not an option at home, unless I knock through an external wall).

 

Where's your spirit of adventure?

 

Mike.

[Mark Forrest]

23 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Where's your spirit of adventure?

 

Mike.

Climbing up a ladder to change the stock on the fiddle stick could be interesting,  especially the way the weather has been the past couple of days!

 

Today's activities included removing the track from the siding and roughly cutting the new sections of track bed to size.

After a mild panic,  I found the leftover underlay foam that I used on the rest of the layout and it looks like there will be just about enough for the new track.

 

[2ManySpams]

Will there be caravans?

[Mark Forrest]

1 hour ago, 2ManySpams said:

Will there be caravans?

They might have to wait until I add the next extension. 

 

I have made a start on some track though.

 

I usually start by fixing all the timbers down first, then start on the rails, but decided this time to do all the rails first so I have a kit of parts ready to go once the timbers are down.  Thinking about it, I'll probably make the whole turnout on the bench then drop the complete formation into position. 

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

I think those blue chairs are a bit over scale?

 

Mike.

[Mark Forrest]

2 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

I think those blue chairs are a bit over scale?

 

Mike.

Could be useful in demonstrating the benefits of springing and compensation over rigid chassis and underframes though.

[Mark Forrest]

My initial plan was that the two sidings would be quite close together, leaving plenty of room at the rear of the layout for a building of some description, the role of generic industrial building played here by the parcels office from Wolverhampton Low Level.

 

However, I’m currently liking the idea of the less crowded scene with the new siding further back, creating more space for loading/unloading from either of the two sidings, something like this:

 

I think the difference in height will make it reasonably easy to hide the rear siding behind a wall or fence.

[Indomitable026]

6 hours ago, Mark Forrest said:

My initial plan was that the two sidings would be quite close together, leaving plenty of room at the rear of the layout for a building of some description, the role of generic industrial building played here by the parcels office from Wolverhampton Low Level.

 

However, I’m currently liking the idea of the less crowded scene with the new siding further back, creating more space for loading/unloading from either of the two sidings, something like this:

 

I think the difference in height will make it reasonably easy to hide the rear siding behind a wall or fence.

I like the parcels office where you’ve got it...

[Mark Forrest]

57 minutes ago, Indomitable026 said:

I like the parcels office where you’ve got it...

I'm undecided; I like the idea of using a building here, but it feels a bit formulaic and I've struggled to find photos of prototype buildings that would suit the space available.   

On the other hand, I've found plenty of photos of both vans and opens being unloaded onto hard standing or directly into lorries between two sidings.

 

The chance to finally find a home for some of my parcels stock appeals though. 

[Stubby47]

How about this ?

 

https://images.app.goo.gl/ADy5u9RjtTcACBid9

[Mark Forrest]

26 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

How about this ?

 

https://images.app.goo.gl/ADy5u9RjtTcACBid9

Yes, something like that would work very nicely,  just not in the space I have available.  One day...

[Andrew P]

Hi Mark, Have you checked out Richard / Mudmagnet's Acacia Ave?