AngusDe Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 All, Whilst I'm holding out for our soon to be "spare room", my default layout site is probably the cupboard under the stairs that is normally inhabited by me, my PC and my books. This room is L shaped and 6'x5'ish in size, it is full height and my PC/desk is in the alcove with book cases down the length/height of the two longer walls. I often sketch out various layout ides that might be squeezable into this space and hopefully more or less following the footprint of the books/desk etc, and if ever built would be built into the bookcases and near standing eye height above the desk. Glasgow/Scotland of the 70s/80s, corporate blue, etc is what tends to float my boat so here is another favourite of mine, a Glasgow Queen Street(ish) idea in N. The station is recognisable as Queen Street, albeit with 5 platforms instead of 7, and the scenic fiddle yard gives a potential flavour of Cowlairs/Eastfield, well, if you use a lot of imagination.... The big idea, that gets this into the space, is that there are no crossovers in the tunnel outside Queen Street, and I run the 2 track reverse loops as visually up/down lines as the trains come in/out of the station "wrong line" so to speak. The Cowlairs end of the tunnel and the sidings entrance is obscured under a road overbridge to help disguise this slight of hand. Anyway, to me at the moment it seems to be a clever wheeze, but I wonder if any of you think there are too many restrictions in such a layout? The big restriction, for me, is running a HST in/out of platform 5/7!... As always, this is just a quick sketch in the hope it might help or inspire. Angus Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Flying Pig Posted February 18, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 18, 2012 It looks like fun and has a whiff of CJF about it (unlit pipe and hand-knitted sleeveless pully over shirt and tie mandatory attire in the train cupboard ). Siding length at Cowlairs means most of your trains are going to have to be significantly shorter than the platforms which is probably a good discipline, providing you like DMUs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngusDe Posted February 18, 2012 Author Share Posted February 18, 2012 Simon, Yeah, there is often more than a whiff of CJF about my plans. As a schoolboy I'd often run my sketches past the great man on the Railway Modeller stand at Model Rail in the McLellan Galleries in 70s/80s Glasgow, lol! As to train lengths, my idea is that there would be several 3 coach rakes, and singly these would be West Highland services, and in pairs Aberdeen/Inverness services, with a few parcels and catering vehicles to add variety and extra shunting. All of which I'm guessing is made more practical by Dapol's new couplings - I'm also guessing 27s are coming eventually.... ideally in powered/unpowered pairs for push pull sets...... Although the sidings at Cowlairs are rather more indicative, I think there is scope for a few more, the big restriction is the lack of a headshunt, but as strictly a one man cupboard operation, its perhaps not that much of an issue. Angus Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Flying Pig Posted February 18, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 18, 2012 Operationally no issue at all, as you can shunt locos off the short siding into the tunnel to drop onto their trains in the longer ones or in the station (you can even do that simultaneously with a "wrong line" arrival if you've enough hands). If you're concerned about the appearance, this might work: the bit in red now looks like the headshunt it is and the bridge and tunnel hide its short length. Edit: could you engineer a small height difference between the return loop and the sidings for a bit of visual separation where it curves round the end of them? I'm only thinking of a quarter of an inch or less so as not to cuse running problems. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted February 18, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 18, 2012 Put the main line on a gradient and the sidings on the opposite gradient and you might get enough hight to run the sidings either under of over the main line. I don't know about the station in question but if you are running coach + loco stock would a run round facility in the station be handy? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngusDe Posted February 18, 2012 Author Share Posted February 18, 2012 Kris, Despite the 1966 remodelling of Queen Street removing what loco releases there were, operation in the 70s/80s remained much as it was in steam days, because of the steep gradient through the tunnel, there was always a pilot loco on the buffer stop end of the train, on the heaviest trains this loco would bank the loaded train up to Cowlairs. I think that, in theory at least, you could mimic this operation with DCC/autocouplers (a la Dapol) the banking engine pushing the train out of the station and droping back and entering the sidings at Cowlairs.... Angus Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted February 18, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 18, 2012 Ah, fair enough Angus makes sense now. As I said I know nothing about the station in question Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngusDe Posted February 18, 2012 Author Share Posted February 18, 2012 Kris, I'm sure the removal of all those light engine moves with the wholesale adoption of 158 and 170s etc DMU operation has near doubled the capacity of Queen Street, but it makes for a pretty boring station these days, lol! Angus Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngusDe Posted February 18, 2012 Author Share Posted February 18, 2012 Simon, I've had a play with your headshunt idea, and I've also linked the up/down running lines in one direction to enable the longer trains to use platform 5/7 for arrival/departures. I always got the impression the Cowlairs carriage yard was pretty cramped as it was closed in by the vee of Cowlairs (?) Junction, so perhaps the fiddle yard (Cowlairs/Eastfield) catches the area mood a bit more than I first thought. In Anyrail I used concrete sleepered flexi in the recently remodelled single lead junction, lol! In my minds eye it is the only freshly ballasted stretch.... I've also added a few more sidings... I like the idea of making it more three dimensional by letting the mainline rise slightly at the back and fall slightly in the foreground and catching itself up in the hidden section. Scenically I reckon the hidden sections are scrub-land rising from low retaining walls to tenement backs either painted or low-relief, easily removed for track cleaning, etc. Angus Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Flying Pig Posted February 18, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 18, 2012 Hi Angus A few remarks on your latest: - I think your depot headshunt will be more useful if you join it to the main line under the bridge (red below); this needs some sleight of hand to maintain the fiction that it's a dead end, so I've moved the crossover back a bit (below) to give a bit more space. You could move the bridge a wee bit to the left to hide the join better as well. - in the alterations I posted above, I intended the track I've marked in blue below to be hidden, but I see what you mean about a single lead junction and it does suggest the triangular junction very well. - clearances between sidings where I've circled look a little tight. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngusDe Posted February 20, 2012 Author Share Posted February 20, 2012 Simon, I had a eureka moment and finally realised what you meant about the "dummy" headshunt, lol! Great idea! My latest iteration of the plan looks like this:- The blue blob is the Peco Manyways OO overall roof to add to the Queen Street flavour. The "Eastfield" shed is possibly the Bachmann or Peco modern 2 road job and I can't help thinking the Bachmann Art Deco Signalbox has a passing resemblance to the "Cowlairs" box of old, but as yet there is nowhere obvious to fit it in. All just a (CJF?) pipe dream of course, I've the DIY/decorating in daughter #2s house to finish before I can turn my attention to my post redundancy/early retirement hobbies.... But, if there are any Dapol 26s in blue at Model Rail next weekend who knows! I might even need to take a rucksack..... Angus Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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