Opinions sought on my first UK layout plan

[Ben P]

Hi,

 

after recently developing an interest in modeling a British railway prototype (I live in Australia and have previously modeled SA, Vic and NSW railways at various times) I have found a geographical area of interest and chosen a time period to model with help of members of this forum.

 

The area is East Anglia (Colchester/Ipswich) and the time frame early/mid 1950s.

 

I have never attempted and British layout plan before or a steam era one for that matter. The layout fits a space 6.6mx3.65m it is based around a double track oval with through station. The station has a bay platform to accommodate a  local branch that is off-scene to the left. There is also a small goods yard. The main feature at the front of the layout is an incline that runs from a loop alongside the mainlines and reverses onto a quayside that serves a large maltings and warehouses etc. (inspired by Mistley) and also joins a tramway that runs to a gas works off scene (inspired by Colchester Hythe).

 

Basically I would like to know if there are any glaring mistakes particularly in regard to steam era layout design or British practice any constructive criticism or suggestions would be appreciated.

I am also considering a small loco depot (two roads and turntable) possibly in the top left corner above the tramway but am unsure of how to join it to the mainline.

 

Please let me know what you think.

[Gwiwer]

A well thought out plan in my opinion which requires very little modification.  

 

Trap points should be included.  One at the foot on the incline between the point at which the two sidings become one to enter the double-slip (or otherwise one on each of those two sidings) to divert runaways clear of the main line.   I would place another trap on the quay line just before it reaches the headshunt which would divert any runaway before it entered the headshunt without authority.  That gives you the option to work the quay lines independently from the incline and goods shed if required, whether under fixed signals or the control of a yard-master.

 

I'm not sure where the space would come from for your shed and turntable in the top left; those take up a surprisingly large area.  Have you measured it out?

 

A modest loco shed would also have a coaling / watering and ash-disposal / rake-out road (which can be all the same short siding) as well.  If it's only for tank engines no turntable is required.

 

The entry to a main line is much as you have it for the good sidings namely through a trailing crossover (unless facing cannot be avoided for operational requirements)  and again with a trap point to divert any runaways before disaster strikes.

 

My only other area of thought is the crossover within the platform limits.  This existed at a good many stations in reality but take care on "train set curves" that you can accommodate the swing and overhang without having to shave half your platform away in the process.  Some platforms had a small cutaway to allow this and a good many model layouts also represent such a feature.

[Ben P]

Thanks for that Gwiwer here is what I have been been toying with in regards to an engine shed, the turntable is 90feet because that was what was available on SCARM in fact I would be looking at a 55 or 60 foot one. I will have to ponder it for a while as I don't know if I want to clutter things up any further.

I have added the trap points as suggested but I may have caused confusion be labeling the incline where possibly it should be decline it runs from down from the loop to the headshunt then down again to the quayside. Here is mk1b anyway. 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

Incline / decline might both be better replaced with "gradient" and an arrow indicating which is downhill.  I inferred (correctly) that the quay would be lower than the main lines therefore the gradient falls towards the headshunt and quay area.

 

The trap point at the top of the gradient is correct.  That on the quay line needs to face the other way in order to derail runaways from the quay before they enter the headshunt and not as you have it to derail items heading towards the quay.  I can't see it (but it may be because of monitor resolution) but there could also be a trap at the exit from the loco shed area.  You can in fact omit this because the point to the dead end by the signal box fulfils the same function namely anything running away from either of the shed roads will be directed up that stub and hopefully stop before demolishing the 'box!

 

A small shed would be lucky to have had as much has a 65' turntable.  Many had none.  60' handled the great majority of smaller tender engines such as a typical goods 0-6-0.  No need to go larger than that.  I don't think anywhere in the UK had a 90-footer as nothing bar the Garratts was built that big.  In the US and in China yes but not in l'il old England

[Kris]

A couple of points.

 

I would be surprised to find a turntable at a station the size of which you are showing. 

 

As you have the plan the gasworks tramway would be unreachable if wagons are left to be filled at the warehouses. I would suspect that the gas works would be more likely to be served from a siding in the area you have placed you engine shed. 

[Nick Holliday]

A few points:

As others have said, having a turntable is very unlikely at this sort of location. It doesn't appear to be a passenger terminus, so the only originating traffic might be from the relatively small goods yard and wharf, which could easily be handled by the passing goods trains. I would go with a simple two road shed for stabling the tank(s) required for the wharf.

I am assuming that the bay platform is intended for passenger traffic, and so the line running parallel to the main lines will be passenger handling in both directions so (theoretically) most turnouts will require Facing Point Locks.

The exit from the goods yard looks excessively over designed.  Normally such a passing station would probably not have direct access to both running lines from the yard, but if the bay is for passengers this makes sense, but it probably would be simplified as per the attached sketch, with a single on the main line and a double slip incorporated instead of the two points..

Similarly the entrance at the right hand end would also be simplified using a single slip to create a trailing crossover on the main line, with access to the goods yard achieved by the train reversing into the loop, rather than there being a facing connection.

If it weren't for the possible passenger bay I would suggest two pairs of trailing crossovers, with all goods trains reversing into the yard. 

In the absence of a run-round loop in the upper yard, any goods trains travelling in a clockwise direction will have to run around their train using the main line, but those travelling in the opposite direction will be able to shunt the yard easily, although given the probable presence of a dedicated shunting loco this might not be a problem.  Often in real life an intermediate station like this would only be serviced by trains running in the one direction, particularly if the main line is busy with passenger traffic.

I don't see too much of a problem with your gasworks siding, unless the traffic is very heavy.  I am sure the real thing managed to get round this with a little bit of co-ordination, some bad language and plenty of movements of rolling stock!

[Ben P]

Thanks Gwiwer, Kris and Nick

firstly in regard to the trap points, the confusion I had was down to the one at the headshunt being at the top of a 1 in 36 gradient I have now reversed it, thanks for pointing it out to me.

As for the turntable I was wondering if it was warranted, I had been looking at the small one at Saffron Walden (I particularly like the shed there) but with an avoiding line. I imagine this station as the second station on the industrial outskirts of largish town and was considering the shed to have developed originally for the quay and branch engines but later to taken the overflow from the cramped shed at the main station (light engine movements) I considered this after reading about how difficult Colchester shed was to work. However I am not overly keen to have the turntable hard up against the back scene and if it is unlikely for a small through station I may leave it out. On the flip side I don't particularly want a turntable in the fiddle yard and would prefer to turn locos without handling them. 

 

The gassworks has a bit of a backstory which influences the placement of the tramway. Coal is primarily delivered to the gassworks by ship, originally at the quayside where it was hauled by horses to the gassworks, later the gassworks built its own quay closer to where it is located downstream. Small amounts of coal will be delivered by rail but the byproducts coke, tar etc. will leave via the tramway. A loco will also have to run off scene to shunt the gassworks wharf. I am thinking of a sentinel, J70 (as per Ipswich) or industrial engine for the job.

This will allow me to build an ex-GER stables next to the maltings and prevent me from dealing with any derailments on a gradient at the back of the layout that I will have to reach over 1m, the maltings/wharehouse buildings and the mainline to get at.

 

The bay will indeed be used for branch line passenger trains (probably a J15 with 2-4 Thompson/Gresley non-corridor coaches) the information and diagrams on simplification is very useful and is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for on this thread. I took a very cautious approach with the design but simpler equals cheaper and frees up some more space so I am happy with that.

To the right (East) of the layout, the line would ultimately run to an offscene seaside terminus not unlike Clacton-on-sea, Walton-on-the-Naze or Felixstowe etc it will have a regular service to Liverpool Street plus excursions. Goods  going in an anti-clockwise direction (from the seaside town) would possibly be sand from a sandpit or maybe fish and of these would run strait through my station. A local pick up goods picking up at stations between mine and the seaside terminus could collect good from the yard.  Coal and some goods would go strait through to the seaside.

Goods entering the yard would mostly be for the quay, the branch or for the good shed, it would come in from the left (South/West) which is the direction of the main station and the rest of the railway network. Goods exiting the yard/quay would go to the left also.

I am still tinkering with my plan, I probably should change the station name to reflect that it is not the main station of Ithancester (which is incidentally the name of a lost city off the Essex coast).

Thanks for everyone's contributions so far they have all been useful and thought provoking.

[61658]

Hi Ben,

I can certainly see the influence of Colchester Hythe, particularly around the station and yard. It was a station that I had looked at modeling but there is no way I could do it in 7mm. I have a drawing and plan of Hythe station buildings given to me by someone in the Great Eastern Society if you would like a copy. Also have a look at the dutch HO company artitec they have a suitable range of boats for your warf, but beware the sailing barges as they are only marginally suitable for a UK layout although a couple of quite good modelers have used them on warf layouts.