Anotheran

Since that point, which was reached in mid March I've further refined the plans and added in the correct signalling together with getting the landscape closer to the real location. I have no pretensions of being a rivet counter, but have a feeling that the closer my plan to the originals the easier it is going to be to make it look right. And if it looks right to me, then I'm happy! So at the moment I have a 9' scenic section plan that looks like this: While the mill is off-scene bottom right, the master's house and the start of the race are on scene (but more of that later!). The signals are all correctly placed and I've marked the lights on platform and approaches to cattle dock and good shed. Please forgive the use of some stock items from AnyRail, but I have created the station building, cattle dock and goods mill owners house properly! The track plan (and indeed the buildings) were pretty much the same from the time the station opened in 1895 to 1966 then the road to the turntable/shed at top right and the stub siding from the run around bottom left were removed. The only change in the meantime was in the 1940s when the third siding from the top was truncated to about half its length and a storage building built in it's place. I may look to engineer a way of making that capable of being changed on the model, but for now I'm happy to accept that single compromise and say that I have 80 years of time to play with!

Having realised that I shouldn't make too many compromises I again considered my requirements. I wanted the river back. I also wasn't completely happy with removing two of the sidings. So instead of trying to reduce further I looked at expanding. The line would never have seen particularly long trains, so a cassette based FY of just 3' would be enough. By extending the scenic area to 9' and making it just 3" wider I realised that I could get all of the sidings in, have a full length of river along one edge and make the platform and cattle pens their correct lengths (though still overlapped, so the passengers will still have to put up with the smell!) This also meant that my overall compression on length would be to 67% and on width almost no compression at all. Suddenly I was a lot happier. So I've settled on three scenic boards, each 3' x 2'3" plus a single 3' long FY board, which will be cassette based with a mixture of 3' cassettes for the trains and 1' cassettes for the traffic that has gone off scene to the turntable and shed.

I'll state now that while I appreciate the look of hand built track and turnouts (and I even have an unbuilt turnout kit in the cupboard that was bought in a moment of madness!) I'll be building this layout using Peco code 75. My main reason for this is that I plan to build all of the control electronics from MERG kits and that will take a lot of time that could otherwise be used to build track. Having seen the output of Jason, Jeff and many others with hand built track I do intend to give it a go, but probably on a small diarama to start with. For this layout though, it will be Peco 75 (though I'll probably take many of the hints and tips from this site on improving its looks as I go along!) And before anyone tries to change my mind on this one point, I've bought the stuff and it's going to get used.

The move to Newcastle Emlyn... So my original desire, and still long term goal, was to model Builth Road with the GWR crossing the LMS lines, high and low level stations and connecting loop with all it's engineering buildings. But that would never have flown in the sort of spaces I had available. Hence the new restriction to 12' (and here I'll beg your indulgence as I'll move back and forth between measuring units. I'm a metric man, but it's hard to stick to when we're modelling in a scale that’s referred in the mixed way of 4 mm to the foot!) So I hunted around for a suitable location and somehow came across Newcastle Emlyn. Fairly static track plan over a long period. Coal and cattle requirements as well as a local dairy. Four long sidings together with a separate siding with a loop to the shed and livestock ramps. It even had a turntable and small shed with an allocated loco! Stood next to the Teifi river with a mill complete with race there was a lot of scope for modelling and also plenty of shunting. I drew it out using AnyRail on over a 1906 OS map and liked what I saw… My initial plan was to have two 4' x 2' scenic boards and a 4' FY. The turntable and shed would be off scene (served by a cassette system). 2' of width meant that I would need to drop two of the four long sidings. But I thought that was a valid compromise. From the furthest points out (that lead to the goods shed and cattle pens) to the buffers is almost exactly 1000' so I'd also need to compress the length to 60%. But with the length of sidings and platform I was happy with that (as long as the passengers would be ok with the pens being alongside the platform!) I actually realised that I could reduce the footprint further, to 18" wide by rotating the plan somewhat and losing the road. But this was a compromise too far. It would mean losing the river as well as the road, and I wanted to be modelling, not just building a track layout. So that was quickly abandoned.

So what were/are my requirements? Having initially looked at a roundy roundy I realised that I wanted something that could be more realistic but in a smaller space than was required for that (though I'm still going to have to build a simple oval for running in and chip testing etc.) I came up with a number of requirements before I started browsing this site and visiting shows for inspiration. The requirements were: End-to-end in no more than 12' (either branch terminus or through) Real life location where some compression won't wreck the plan Breakable into sections to move around in the (small) car Passenger and goods traffic A reasonably wide variety of freight Scope for some interesting shunting moves Some interesting buildings, some water and some trees! Scope for a few signals to be modelled working

Having not been doing anything at all on the model front for about six months, and coinciding with a move that has resulted in all the modelling stuff in boxes, and a garage full of those boxes and others, I have been inspired by this forum to get back to it, start a thread, and use it as one of the motivators to get things going. It's also here, of course, as a record for me of how I got to wherever I get! But it's not that simple. I'm actually going to start two threads! This one is where I hope that my primary (for now) Newcastle Emlyn layout will see the light of day. This will be a 9' x 2'3" (later 12' x 2'3") plus fiddle yard layout in OO. The second, though the first layout to be started, will be an 8' x 1' test plank layout that will allow me to test out ideas in the fields of electrics, track laying, and other scenics before using them on NE. So that's the plan. I'll kick this one off with a couple of topics outlining my requirements and why I've made some choices that I have made. Then get on with what I've got so far in the way of a plan. I should point out that this thread has come before I've cut any board, so it may be a while in the growing. But I'll welcome comment and suggestion as I'm going along. Index to the following pages giving page and post number: Requirements - Requirements - Detail: 1/2 - complete Planning - Planning - From original map: 1/3 - complete - Planning - Improvements: 1/4-6, 1/21, 2/26 - Planning - Engine shed extension: 1/9 - Planning - Compression details: 1/13 - complete - Planning - Mimic diagram: 6/133, 6/139 - Planning - Adding details: 6/134 History - History - Timeline: 3/58 - History - Newcastle Emlyn 1896/97: 16/387 - History - Timetables: 3/59 - History - Timetable charts: 6/135, 6/146, 8/187-192 - History - Could have been (broadgauge): 6/136-7, 7/171 - History - Coracle: 7/172 - History - Beer: 8/197-9/202 Prototype inspiration - Prototype inspiration - Bodmin visit: 2/42 - complete - Prototype inspiration - Videos - B&R 94 - Steam North of Swansea: 1/7 Rolling Stock - Rolling stock (Locomotives) - Locomotive roster, by year: 16/380 - Rolling stock (Locomotives) - Cader Idris (from L&Y 2-4-2): 3/70, 4/91 - Rolling stock (Locomotives) - Class 517: 4/82, 5/110-11 - Rolling stock (Passenger) - Coaching stock - initial thoughts: 4/95-5/105 - Rolling stock (Goods) - BR 22-ton tube wagon PD kit: 11/269 - Rolling stock (Goods) - BR 16-ton mineral (riveted) PD kit: 11/270 - Rolling stock (Goods) - GWR Mink D PD kit: 11/270 - Rolling stock (Goods) - TPO traffic: 7/161-2 - Rolling stock (Goods) - GWR Python A PD kit: 9/203-220, 225, 231, 11/253, 260-1 - complete - Rolling stock (Goods) - BR 16-ton mineral PD kit: 9/224-5, 10/228-38, 11/258-9 - complete - Rolling stock (Goods) - Cambrian Railways 2-plank (Cambrian kit): 16/387 - Rolling stock (Goods) - V6 Iron MINK (Ratio kit): 16/387-99 - Rolling stock (Goods) - 1886 TOAD: 16/387-9 Buildings - Buildings - Main station building: 14/327-15/359 - design - Buildings - Engine shed - Design in Silhouette Studio: 15/360-372 - Buildings - Engine shed - Cutting: 15/372-16/378, 16/383 Scenic work - Scenics - trees - Woodland Scenic start: 2/35 - Scenics - multi-era - Replacable people: 8/185-6 - Signals - Signal diagram details: 5/121-6/130 People - People - Dylan Thomas' grandfather: 6/142-4 - People - A C Stadden figures: 6/145, 7/164-170

Seeing shots such as those really open up the challenge of model railways. As so many people point out, the railway is a relatively small thing that passes through the landscape, which is a hard effect to achieve in any but the smallest scales, or largest of layout rooms. But inspiring shots of some real landscapes (with the odd train here and there) nonetheless. Thanks for those Andy.

Small world! My parents live top right near Baswich church while I am sadly not in the pic being off top left... in Doxey!

Really useful videos Andy. I'm now looking forward to playing with photos of my modelling as much as the modelling itself! Please ignore my "funny" remark... the peril of using a touch screen with the funny button right next to "informative"! btw... nice shot of the Radford by the canal on your desktop... I came along the line in the picture from London to Stafford only this morning! Regards, Neil

One of my shots has almost a whole window visible! Having seen the cottages come together on the thread it is a shame they're so hidden. Maybe the canal water under the bridge should be incredibly still... almost mirror like... maybe even a mirror... so you can see the lower part upside down from there. I was disappointed when I got home to find that the shot I'd taken of the box at an angle was out of focus. So I'll try to do better at Peterborough.

Was very pleased to see BCB in the flesh for the first time. Took a few photos. Sadly the presentation on layout photography was cancelled due to ill health... so I had to make do with my own ideas on how to do it! Some of them aren't particularly good pictures (I had to include the one of the bloke sat in the office!) but I think they catch the atmosphere. Just wish I'd managed to catch the layout when some of the proper (steam) locos were running on it that have been pictured by others rather than these nasty blue boxes on wheels! Looking forward to Peterborough now!

Looks great to me and I look forward to seeing it at Ally Pally tomorrow!

I must say that the colouring is fantastic. Well, it's actually quite nasty, which is why it's fantastic as it's realistic. As Mikkel says above, it's inspirational as I have to admit I probably wouldn't have dared go that wild with colours until seeing how effective it is. Great piece of work.

It wasn't actually quite so messed up as far as bonds go as I thought!

I may be far too late as you may have finished by now but after a family berievement and a bout of illness I'm back to (almost) answer your request. The below is as much that I can identify of the left hand side and front of the building (the right hand side is the same bonds from the front right wrapped around the corner as far as I can see. The white bits are areas that I can't make out for sure in the photographs, but I believe they are also Flemish stretcher bond, which would fit with the rest. I've split the frontage in two (I'm sure you'd have worked that out!) and I know that the horizontal to vertical scale (along with just about every other dimensional scale you can find) is way out. I've also missed off the slope of the ground. Hope that it does help and isn't far too late! Regards, Neil

Bits are English bond, but it's more complex than that. If you look at the wall to the left of the bay you see 3 rows of stretchers separated by a row of alternating stretcher and header. If that 4 row was just headers it would be English Garden Wall bond, but with the alternates I don't know what it's called!

Thanks Damian. I'm more of a wires person myself, but having seen the detailed step by step approach (and fantastic workmanship) on this thread (only brought to my attention by this month's BRM) I've decided to give the baseboards a go myself following this approach completely rather than part with more cash to get someone else to do them for me!

Looks really good, though I too am looking forward to seeing the curved one. What are the fascia boards actually glued to? I only see the PS, or are there some ply "tabs" in there or something like that that gives the fascia a harder link to the boards?

Would very much like to see station signage for the Big Four (1923-1947) in the same way that you already have the post 1947 regional signs. My personal wish is for LMS, but I'm sure that the other three would also be in demand. I guess these would actually just be additional textures for R001a.