davidge

Very nice layout - certainly given me some ideas, in particular in repurposing old stock.

Call me mad, but I prefer your C44 before it was repainted! To me it had real character as it looked like it was rescued from (or more likely heading for) the scrap yard, and just needed some weathering to tone it down a bit.

Lovely layout ... just love micros! Very inspiring ... got my creative juices going again.

I am planning a micro layout in the 'James Hilton' style but cannot decide whether I will need to include any signalling or not. I've ready many threads and a couple of books (including Bob Essery's), looked at some actual signalling diagrams but still find it confusing so any advice would be most welcome.

The scenario is a small south London single platform terminus and a yard at the the end of a single line branch that probably has a one or stations with passing loops further up the line.

Era late BR/early NSE.
Coloured light signals.
Traffic: 2-car EMU/DMU for passenger trafic and short freight/parcels trains (e.g. Class 33 + a few wagons).

The schematic is below. Total length of layout as shown by dotted box - only 1100mm (fits onto a Scale Model Scenery baseboard).

A = single line in/out which also acts as headshunt (see below) for shunting between B and C
B = platform
C = yard
D = short headshunt - probably hold a Class 08 or perhaps Class 33 for shunting purposes
S1 to S4 show where signals might or might not be positioned - perhaps no signals are required at all!

Typical movements:
- EMU/DMU arrive/depart into/from B
- Freight arrives into B and gets shunted to C by loco in D
- Could have some subsequent freight shunting between B and C to assemble train

- Loco arrives form A to collect freight
- Freight departs to A from B or C (could have rule that all freight departs only from B but I don't think that would be likely as freight would then always need to be shunted to B first - but it may simplify things from a signalling perspective).

Ideas I had:

- assume there is an advanced starting signal further up A and visible from train in B (have banner repeater if not?) then ground signals at S1 and S2 to control shunting moves using A as a headshunt between the station and the advanced starter. Any train in B could depart if starter and ground signal at S1 allowed. S2 would allow freight train to depart to A (which would then have to obey the advanced starter once it got there.

- starter with subsidery 'shunt on' signal at S1 but then how would departure of freight from C be controlled?

Or perhaps I simply need a ground frame (yet another confusing topic) near the station throat?

Any help would be much appreciated! Apologies if my terminolgy is somewhat dodgy...

Here is a link to my (very old) thread about my first APA box layout - East Barnes Lane Depot. (I've noew reinstated the missing photos).

The reason I ask is that my thread (from 2013!)   ...

It does not appear to be returned in searches and I want to edit it to restore the missing photos and subsequently refer to it from another thread I am considering about my latest modelling. However, when I manage to find the thread (using Google) and open it I cannot edit any of my posts even though I am logged in (there is no edit button) in order to reinstate the missing photos.

Me too...all over the place. I've tried Firefox, Chrome and Edge with all cookies and cleared and all I see are a lot (actually most) image links to a JPG or GIF with a 'throbbing' light blue background highlight.

An example of the error that is returned when I try and view an image is:

This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.
<Error>
<Code>AccessDenied</Code>
<Message>Access Denied</Message>
<RequestId>HP9NJMFJB2A27YB6</RequestId>
<HostId>uKUmeSVhdMz2Qd9HdEwUAWoDiM28yGlQGW3EHnFOOIGi8+/cxPHaYgbUC5hoE9coi98C7MTiJzg=</HostId>
</Error>

I can see some images but most I cannot - and I'm including recent posts not just old ones. 

I'm now considering abandoning RMWeb because of this - images are crucial to understanding and appreciating many posts and responses.

Yes...thinking about a goods depot and have started a few doodles.

This will not extend the existing 'layout' but be a different scene which I can attach to the other end of the fiddle yard (see earlier photos of the fiddle yard and you will get the idea).

Depot will be same era/setting and use Scalescenes bits and pieces as I like working in card.

Thanks all for very kind comments. As I said I still have some more scenic details to finish off - including adding some figures as it is looking rather deserted at the moment. I also need to work on rolling stock weathering, installing Kadee couplers and catching up on fitting DCC decoders - and of course 'playing trains' as this is being constructed as an operational 'layout' rather than a diorama. Only after that can I turn to East Barnes Lane Part 2 - a goods+PW depot - again in an APA box.

At night....

Front view:

Helicopter views:

General views:

Here are a few more photos. Still some detailing to finish off and stock to weather...

Overall view posed with a 2-EPB so you get a sense of the size:

Some views with and without various items of rolling stock:

Couple of views from a helicopter:

Next...night-time views....
 

JDW - no reason why you could not use a piece of perspex as you suggest - infact quite a neat idea for when it is not in use as the layout could then be on permanent display (other half permiiting) rather than just be wooden box.

I hoping to post some more pics later this coming week as I have been working on the 'layout' quite a lot over the last week or two whilst we have been having this terrible wet weather

Summer nearly over so soon will resume the project shortly. Have made a small amount of progress over the summer months and will post some more pics shortly so wach this space....

Few more photos with a few bits of stock - work progressing - but slowly...

Looking across the fueling point (still working on the roof, oil drums,signs, weathering etc.):

The fuel tank:

Looking inside the diesel depot:

General view towards depot end:

And towards the fuel tank end:

I was planning at some stage to use the APA box front side or a piece of MDF to complete the box for transportation but not by simply slotting it in down the slots that you can see in the photo. The reason being that I have extended the scenic part beyond the front slots (look at some of the photos and you can see a small fence there for example - and there will eventually be a small store and water tank as well).

Currently I have two small pieces of MDF painted black that go in the slots to give some 'framing' to the scene (again see photos). I planned to do something similar for a front cover but attach it to two new small peices of MDF by some wood blocks as spacers so that it can in effect 'slot in' but extend over the front of the APA box.

Yes, if the scenery in your APA box does not extend beyond the slots, you could simply do as you say and glue the top member to the front side and slot in it in place and then attach the screws to lock it in place.

Currently to prevent dust getting in I am simply slotting a thin piece of card down the front and leaving the APA box lid on.

A few more photos of progress.  Note that loco shed is not yet in place and will block the view of the entries from the fiddle yard. Still some work to do on the ballast.

Overall views of complete 'layout'.

Some further views from different angles. Inside the carriage shed at the back is a photo of one of my EPBs printed full size and stuck to the backscene. Apart from the carriage platform (Knightwing) everything else is scratchbuilt  from Scalescenes textures. The railings on the carriage shed roof are those from the Knightwing carriage platform kit. I am also experimenting with some CG Textures photos of office blocks etc. as additions to the backscene to give a 'distant' townscape.

Spent the weekend shoveling snow (had to clear our drive 3 times + road outside as council never come around and do it) so have not had much opportunity to take many more photos. However did a snap a couple off.

This is the lighting unit - a very grand title for four bits of spare timber and a fluorescent light. It simply rests on top of the APA box.

A few bits and pieces I knocked up from various spares, bits of wood, card, plastic etc. for use inside the loco depot. The cabinets are bits from various Scalescenes kits suitably dirtied up, the tools, oil cans and bucket from a set of Springside loco bits, boxes are made from bits of brown envelope with rags from tissue paper dirtied with black artists pastels and scrunched up (technical term), coils are soft copper wire wound around a plastic sprue then painted . Can't remember where the rest came from - I found them in the bottom of my spares box.

Yes, the stabling sidings have a 3rd rail.

I'm hoping to take some more photos over the next few days as the 'layout' has moved on a lot since the set that I posted as I took those some time ago. For example, lighting unit constructed, 3rd rail and ballasting is done, backscene and low relief carriage shed (with internal lighting) is in as is right had end wall and very low relief factory. I'm currently detailing and weathering the loco depot building and installing its lighting.

Part 2...

Before I did anything and even bought an APA box, I mocked up some ideas using bits of card/track etc. Interestingly I reversed the layout in the plan from the mockup. I initially planned to have railway arches at the rear to represent tracks running on a viaduct as is common on south London, but felt I was trying to cram to much in so in the final plan settled on a low relief carriage shed.

The photos below show the APA box 'in the raw' with track laid and sprayed. I decided to leave the top front wooden spar off the APA box as it would be easier to work on the layout without anything in the way and I planned to build a simple lighting unit (four pieces of timber in a rectangle with a fluorescent tube attached) to rest on top. Even without that additional spar the APA box is very sturdy. For the deck I did not use the slot in fibre board provided but cut a piece of 3mm MDF to fit on top of the wooden spars and braced it with a small beam underneath. This gives a flat raised surface that extends right to the front, enables tracks to be extended outside of the box and gives useful space underneath for wiring (or point control if I had any).

The underneath with adjustable feet added. Note the extensive wiring required! I have yet to install the wiring for the lights.

The fiddle yard/traverser. The APA box attaches (well butts up to) the right hand end. The tracks extend to the left so that I can attach a second APA box module there. To give a sense of scale the tracks on the right can hold a Class 47 or single Mk1 carriage.

Some mockups using the APA box module. The loco shed is a cut down Scalescenes diesel depot and I am using Scalescenes stuff for most of the scenic side. The carriage platform is Knightwing with a new base as I could not get the one supplied to stay flat. Knightwing also for fueling point and tank.

Paths/hard standing etc. areas (apart from between shed tracks) laid ready for ballasting.

...to be continued

I posted sometime ago in the micro layout threads about building a series of working ‘layouts’ in IKEA APA boxes…so I thought it about time I started to post up some progress. I stress that I am not a rivet-counter nor am I slavishly accurate about everything – to me it’s the enjoyment of modelling and running trains – but any suggestions/corrections would be appreciated. In other words there is going to be plenty of prototypical errors in all of this!

The overall vision is a series of three NSE scenes based in South London, a TM/carriage depot, a parcels/works depot and a station scene. I decided to locate these scenes around the Raynes Park area – because I used to live close by and I like the idea of modelling something loosely based on Raynes Park Station.

Because this is all fictional, I have decided to call the station Malden Park (a combination of New Malden – the next stop – and Raynes Park), with the TM/depot being East Barnes Lane Depot and the parcels/works depot being Malden Park Depot. I chose East Barnes Lane as a name because the actual road in Raynes Park where I ‘pretend’ the depot is located is West Barnes Lane. You may be starting to get my drift now!

Below is a map (based on the actual Raynes Park area) to set the scene:

Here is the track plan for East Barnes Lane Depot, the ‘scene’ I am (very slowly) working on  first:

(Yellow squares are yard lights, red squares buffer lights.)

To the left is a traverser. The roads connecting the traverser to the ‘layout’ are each long enough to hold a long loco (Class 47) or a Mk1 carriage. This gives extra storage to avoid man-handling stock too much, and more importantly enables 3 carriages to stand in the carriage roads with only two and a half on show (thus giving the impression of a longer train than would fit in the length of an APA box) and locos to be poking out of the loco shed.

Scale is OO, PECO code 75 track with sleepers respaced using the PH Design tool, and DCC.

I’ll hopefully post some photos of the construction soon.