My "Location Undecided" layout

[ianwales]

Just a couple of photos attached which show I have now finished the baseboards, or at least what will be the low level baseboards if I build the layout as a figure of 8, you can see the alcove which is only 5ft 10 wide which may cause me a problem bringing the north end curve around because it is a bit on the narrow side, still I am not complaining because I have a room 22ft long for the layout which is a better space than some people have. If you look at the bottom photo(the one showing the alcove) the storage yard will be on the left with the station on the right, either on the boards you can see or another board 4ins higher in which case there will be 4 tracks on the LH board in front of the storage yard which will carry the lines from lower to higher level, 2 in either direction.

[Rammy]

Lovely looking room you have there Ian, and some nice carpentry work in building your baseboards.

I see what you mean about the alcove looking tight, but I am sure you will get by. Do you have a trackplan available?

I look forward to your updates.

 

Dave

[ianwales]

Do you have a trackplan available?

 

 

Dave

 

Hi Dave

 

No Trackplan a the moment, I want to do a through station and have an idea what I want to do, but, I have first got to decide do I build it on the flat or do I build the station on a higher level with gradients linking the 2 levels, I want to run 8 or 9 coach trains. If I build it flat I shouldn't have any haulage problems, but, only a short length of run from leaving the storage yard into the station while the other scenario putting the layout at a higher level gains me a longer run, but at the expense of having the trains being pulled uphill, I am talking to various people who have done both to get the pros and cons, but, I have to decide soon, because where the station is located impacts on the design of the storage yard. any opinions anyone?

 

Ian

[Lee m22]

Hi

 

Does indeed look like a brilliant start here! It's funny how it doesn't matter how big a layout gets, it'll be one small part that affects the entire design. What era/stock are you planning to run? 8 or 9 coaches sounds good in any era mind! Will look forward to updates

 

Regards

Lee

[ianwales]

Hi All

 

I should have mentioned it is going to be an ECML steam/diesel transition era layout in OO gauge 4mm scale.

[Kris]

2 levels sounds attractive to me, and if you arrange the gradients sensibly you should get away with 1 in 50 over a 6" drop, but make one go up and the other down and you'll reach 1 in 100 which shouldn't present any problems for the train lengths you're talking about and you'll still have the station on the level.

[griffgriff]

Hi All

 

I should have mentioned it is going to be an ECML steam/diesel transition era layout in OO gauge 4mm scale.

 

One for BRM then B)

[ianwales]

Hi All

 

A quick update, firstly for anyone who has seen pevious a previous layout topic of mine I should give an explanation why the Wales Pre TOPS diesels and the Kent lines didn't proceed futher, briefly I got it into my head that I wanted to go N gauge, I sold all the OO to finance this and bought a few locos, stock and track, planned a nice layout and started a small section of it, but, found after 50 odd years in OO I was really struggling with N so reverted to OO, hence "New Start"

 

The main station will be based on Grantham, (but probably not close enough to be actually say I am modelling Grantham) and I think by bringing the lines up where they are shown on the sketch I may have gained a few extra inches in width for the station which hopefully will give me at least a single track representation of the Nottingham lines.

[lordhinton]

could you get away with the horrid second +3rd radius curves used?

[ianwales]

could you get away with the horrid second +3rd radius curves used?

 

No, Minimum radius will be 2ft 8in in the alcove, 3rd radius is far to sharp.

 

Ian

[Brian D]

Hi All

 

I should have mentioned it is going to be an ECML steam/diesel transition era layout in OO gauge 4mm scale.

Right up my street. Can't wait to see more.

Regards,

Brian.

[lordhinton]

oh dear what if you add in small triangle sections in the corners to open it up abit?

[ianwales]

Hi all

 

Just a small amount of progress at the moment as can be seen in the photos, first for Lord Hinton showing how I have a curved "plank" for want of a better word which takes the curves to the extremes of the alocve giving me a 2ft 10 and 2ft 8 radius curves.

 

 

 

 

Finally, the low level control panel in position. I am using DCC for the trains, but, a conventional control panel for the points and signals, something to do with me being a signalman I suppose.

 

 

 

I am going to do something a little different with this layout, I find that previously having laid loads of track and points I can't face the wiring up of the points so it doesn't get done, then I get fed up with walking around manually operating the points at different locations so the layout doesn't get used, this time I'm going to wire the pointwork back to the control panel as each section is laid so it doesn't have to be done all at once, we#ll see if it works for me this way.

 

Ian

[ianwales]

Hi All

It has been a while since this thread was updated, work and family considerations mean slow progress sometimes, however I have completed one end of the storage yard. I couldnt resist posing the NRM deltic and a rake of coaches on the sidings.




There will be 14 storage loops along with a through running road and 2 kickback sidings, this will all be situated beneath the main station mainly because of the length of run I wanted, however, because they are underneath the station it has led to a revision of the low level plan as below




In order to avoid coupling and uncoupling in the main storage any train that requires reforming or a loco change will be bought around to the exchange loops by the person operating the low level control panel where loco exhange and/or reforming will take place before the train is put back in its storage loop ready to run up to the station at its appointed time in the sequence.

There will be little visible progress for a while now as I have run out of track and points, so while saving for the next batch I am going to concentrate on wiring this section, my son is hoping for some movement by Chritmas.

Ian

[Robert McGee]

Better crack on with it, 3 weeks and counting. Only just come across this thread. I could only dream of having that much storage, nice roads. I would imagine this is 00 gauge with the 2ft 8in curves.

 

Robert.

[ianwales]

Hi All

 

Can I ask for a couple of opinions and advice, since i took the photo with the Deltic above I have added surface mounted point motors to each point and am in the process of wiring them up, now, as mentioned these will be situated on a lower level below the main station and there will be a similar complex of points the other end of the storage yard, by the law of averages or sod , whichever you wish, at some stage I am going to have a point or point motor fail, how feasible or difficult would it be to design the top level baseboards to have a lift out section over the pointwork to allow access to the points and motors underneath, and then a supplementary question would it be best to design it as a lift out or a hinged section?

 

Ian

[ianwales]

Hi All

 

I have just spent a couple of tedious though nessesary hours, while my wife is in work and the kids are out with theit cousins, soldering up the Tag Boards for the north end of the storage yard

 

 

 

Although I am using DCC for contolling the locos I shall be using a conventional control panel for operating the points and eventually the signals, there will be 39 wires from the control panel to these 4 tag strips which will provide the power to the track and also the facility via the diodes to have one button press to set up the road into any 1 of the 14 storage roads.

 

I am also going to divide the DCC power into 5 areas each fed via an on/off switch on the control panel so if a short occurs I can isolate which section the short is in and make it easier to trace.

 

I should have added that doing it this way also enables me to work on the wiring while it is flat and then attach it under the baseboard later

 

Ian

[ianwales]

Hi all

 

Just a quick update- last night I completed wiring the feeds and point motors back to the tag boards, next job starting this evening will be to link them back to the control panel. 2 lessons learned, 1. wiring doesn't get any less boring the older you get and 2. don't look away when reaching for the soldering iron, you will get the hot end first!!!

 

Ian

[ianwales]

Hi All

 

I have been working on a trackplan for the station part of the new layout for quite some time while the ongoing construction and wiring of the storage yard has been taking place and after a lot of correspondence with Gilbert of Peterborough North fame, for which he has my grateful thanks for answering my many queries and looking at trackplan after trackplan, I think I have at last come up with a plan I can work with and refine, A list of the things I wanted to begin with were-

• ECML southern end late 50’s early 60’s
  
• Continuous run
  
• Largish Station
  
• Interesting timetable operation
  
• Enough to involve my friends as operators,but, also capable of single handed use
  
• Trains of 8 coaches and wagon equivalent length
  

First thing I discovered when going through track plan after track plan and looking at the stations I liked was that I really didn’t have room for any of them! Nothing new in there then, however, the more I looked at Grantham the more it seemed like my ideal station even though I knew it wouldn’t fit in 22ft, but could I get the essence of Grantham in the space I had. So what constitutes the essence of Grantham? Gilbert came up with the following list-

• The Mainline sweeping in on the correct curve from the north
  
• The Up platform with the bay at the north end
  
• The Down platform with and inset bay at the north end
  
• Frequent engine changing
  
• The Nottingham branch running out alongside the main line
  
• The engine sheds
  
• Lee & Grindling’s maltings
  

As I said trackplan after trackplan were drawn and sent to Gilbert for comment and each one suffered from trying to get everything in which I couldn’t! However when I realised how much of Peterborough North is missing from Gilbert’s version that I realised rather than trying to cram an apology for the loco facilities in perhaps I should leave them out and just model the station area and satisfy criteria 1 to 5 and 7 above. The plan below is the result. It is the best I can come up with in the limited space I have and it looks workable, but, can I call it Grantham?

[davidw]

Looking forward to seeing this develope!

 

I've a space 16' by 13' to play with oh for 10' more length!

[workev2000]

Ian,

 

Glad to see that you persisted with Grantham. Just a thought, and I dont know whether its feasible but could you introduce engines from the north anywhere so that you have a pseudo shed? This allows you to still have the engine changes, but without having to model the shed?

 

I know that Gilbert gets frustrated with not having the space fo the Midland lines, so before you finalise the trackwork I wonder whether there is space for a storage facility for engines to run into the station area? Looking at the diagram above you would have scope to move the engines down the Nottingham lines out of the fiddle yard complex. I've yet to find anybody who says locos exited the shed area to the south when taking over southbound workings. Gilbert's use of Loco lifts may also be useful here!

 

I will email you offline, but looks good so far and you are actually starting to build it!

 

Ian

[workev2000]

I just realised that you jave planned for the engine changes! It pays to look a little closer before commenting doesn't it!

 

I can really see Gilbert's influence on the plan. I have halted any thoughts of building until I complete the reseach and planning. I am now pouring through WTTs, STNs and asking lots of questions about freight train formations and loads!

 

I actually went backwards with my date from late 1950s/early 1960s to 1956/57 purely because of the engine changes.and workings.

 

This is starting to look good; well done.

 

Ian

[ianwales]

Hi All

 

Slow but steady progress continues to be made with my layout, I had planned to get one end of the storage yard wired back to the control panel, but, then I read the Haymarket Cross thread on here and the OP mentions having the plan for his panel done professionally, well since we have a couple of graphics shops in Llanelli I thought I would take the sketch plan along and make enquiries, it turns out I can have the plan done at a very reasonable cost and it will look a lot better than the original idea of using car tape from Halfords. the only drawback is I have to finish the tracklaying on the lower level first in order to have a final plan for the shop to work from, so I have got on with a bit more tracklaying and finished off the first 9 roads of the storage loops.

 

[chris p bacon]

I wish I had thought of having my control board plan printed, would look a lot better than how it's turned out.

 

I always find out too late......

[pete_mcfarlane]

This looks like it could be very good.

So what constitutes the essence of Grantham? Gilbert came up with the following list-

• The Mainline sweeping in on the correct curve from the north
  
• The Up platform with the bay at the north end
  
• The Down platform with and inset bay at the north end
  
• Frequent engine changing
  
• The Nottingham branch running out alongside the main line
  
• The engine sheds
  
• Lee & Grindling’s maltings
  

I'd say that the other Grantham essentials are:

• The ramshackle collection of station buildings on the up platform (current platform one). They seem to have started out in 1850 with a small building, and then extended over and over again along almost the length of the platform (rather than knocking it down and starting again as happened with most other large stations).
  
• The viaducts at the North end of the station, where the line crosses Wharf Road and Harlaxton Road and then heads through the town on an embankment. Watching an express race through the town centre is one of my main impessions of Grantham;s railways.