Reviving old layout [with pictures]

[jamespetts]

After many years of sitting in my parents' garage, an old OO gauge layout which was built (but never finished) when I was about 12 back in the early 1990s has been transplanted to the attic of my new house, the boards arriving to-day:

 

Overview by James Petts, on Flickr

 

Overview (storage yards) by James Petts, on Flickr

 

 

Overview (station end) by James Petts, on Flickr

 

The layout has suffered some damage in storage and transit, as might be apparent. There is rather less usable space in my attic than I had imagined, and this layout (the parts in the background having been intended to be a station) can (according to the design when it was first built, at least) barely take a 7-car HST in one of the two terminus platforms:

 

Plan view (station throat) by James Petts, on Flickr

 

As can be seen, the layout in fits almost exactly by length (this attic, taking into account the chimney breasts, being only a few cm longer than the bedroom in my parents' house where this was first built), although there is a little more space in the way of width than the previous room, and there is space to extend the stoarge/fiddle yards, which were originally constrained by the door to the room:

 

Overview (storage yards) by James Petts, on Flickr

 

As originally conceived (a two track terminus with a parcel siding, an oil depot, a small locomotive maintenance depot and a locomotive siding somewhere in the North-East of England in about 1992), the operating possibilities are rather limited. Because of the extra width, what was intended to be a very short parcel siding (the track on the far right) could be extended to be a full platform:

 

Station throat by James Petts, on Flickr

 

but this would then not connect with the up line in the current configuration:

 

Plan view (station throat) by James Petts, on Flickr

 

and it would waste a lot of the otherwise wasted work on this incomplete layout to have any major remodelling of the station throat:

 

Underneath by James Petts, on Flickr

 

My hopes of an interesting West of England through station or even terminus in the late 1980s/early 1990s with carriage sidings, empty stock movements, class 50s with 9 Mk. IIs, lots of locomotive hauled trains terminating and/or changing locomotives seem rather to be confounded by the space available (and especially the amount of space that a corner takes up).

 

If I were starting from scratch, I should probably build it in N gauge so as to be able to fit much more interesting things in (as interesting operations are what I enjoy; I never quite understand putting huge amounts of time and effort into a beautiful layout to have trains running around in circles), or perhaps do something totally different and try to model the District Line/LTS line in the 1930s (whose shorter platforms I could just about squeeze in on a four track line; I should probably like to do this one day in any event), but I don't want to waste what I have for now.

 

Can anyone think of any ingenious ways of making this layout rather more workable than it appears to be at present, or even making it a through station? I had wondered whether having curved platforms at the far end, but I am then unsure as to what to do with what were originally intended to be the oil depot sidings:

 

Station position by James Petts, on Flickr

 

What would others here do about this? What potential do those who have experience of these things see for interesting operations on a layout of this sort in this sort of space? Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

[KalKat]

I would be inclined to start again. There are a number of issues with what you have there - the biggest being it doesn't fit. The layout also has no framing or stiffening and will be likely to distortion and sagging.

 

You might consider also getting some insulation on the undersides of the rafters of the roof as the space will be broiling in summer and freezing in winter. Once you get the space to the way you wish, then measure up and spend some time planning what you want from your railway.

 

Hope this helps

[jamespetts]

Thank you for your reply; that is very helpful. There was originally stiffening on the layout in the form of a lattice of wooden cross-members on a lower set of boards underneath the baseboards. This I still have (you can see one of them upturned in the last shot in the background). These had to be separated for transport and storage. I am not sure how easy that it would be to reinstate them. The trouble with these, however, is that it made it very difficult indeed to access the wiring, as it was the lower boards to which the shelf brackets were originally affixed in its original location, requiring dislocation of the track in order to access the under-board wiring. What is the better way of providing stiffening?

 

The original layout does fit; perhaps I did not describe the situation as clearly as I might have done in my foregoing post. The trouble is that this original layout (conceived as a two platform terminus, which, of course, is not terribly realistic, as even the smallest termini tended to have at least 3-4 platforms) is rather cramped and operationally limited as might be apparent from the pictures.

 

The trouble is that 4.1m on the longest side is not an easy space to fit a realistic length of platform in OO gauge into and still have space for trains to arrive and depart on each side. With a terminus arrangement, I can get about 3m of platform length assuming straight platforms, but with a through station, this would be reduced considerably.

[JeffP]

I, too, would redesign, scrapping the above and re-using what you can. Take it from one who knows, trying to bodge something already built into a space carries lots of problems.

 

I would also think about at least one Velux-type window in there, and then use Wickes cavity batts, (sort of stiffened mineral wool insulation that stays between the rafters once pushed into place), between the rafters, covering with a polythene vapour barrier tacked into place, at the very least, for warmth in winter, cooler in summer and less muck etc dropping through onto the layout. You could even screw up plasterboard if you were clever, and paint it white for extra light, but the Velux window would be my goal...my loft are is now usable even in hot weather. before that it was a sauna, to be avoided at all costs!

[Nearholmer]

I didn't look at the layout a great deal in your pictures, looking instead at the loft.

 

My view chimes with that of others: if you are going to enjoy playing trains in there, insulate it, and fit controllable ventilation, such as a velux.

 

September, October, April and May might otherwise turn out to be your only train-playing months. And, the extremes of temperature in the other months will play havoc with the railway.

 

You can play trains in an un insulated loft, but it isn't much fun.

 

I think there might be a booklet about all this stuff in the Peco series,which doubtless contains the appropriate warnings about compliance with building regulations - which might sound bureaucratic, but has the advantage of ensuring that you don't accidentally bring the roof down on yourself.

 

Kevin

[jamespetts]

Thank you both very much. If the existing layout cannot sensibly be salvaged, and if serious works are needed in the attic, it may be best to wait a few years before giving this any further thought, as I had rather hoped to capitalise on the advantage of something already partly built and a decent space in the attic in which to put it. If neither of those features are readily available, the barriers to entry for this are much higher than I had imagined, and the enterprise might well not be worthwhile in the short term. Thank you for your input, however: it is appreciated.

 

Edit: Given the lengths of various platforms on the London Underground network (here), modelling a full length one of those in OO might be workable in the attic, which would at least allow me to make some use of the two Q stock cars from Harrow Models that I have, although this would still be something for the further future, I think.