Halton Boy

Hello everyone Thank you for your replies. The engines that he has in his collection are all steam GWR and LMS and one GWR railcar. There is no platform by the warehouses. Passenger services terminate at the halt. I assumed it was goods only from the bridge to the warehouses. The rest of the line is passenger trains. I thought that it was a ground frame but it may be a small signal box. The lady has two goods signals so I put them where I thought they would go. I think the reason there is no trap point is because of the curved rail. If there was more room it could be put into the middle of the curve. I have remade the plan inline with your answers: I have added the trap points to the plan, but we cannot change the track. June wants yard B to be a small local coal yard. Shunting yard B will be awkward. Would the train travel to the warehouses, run around the wagons , then go back up the track and reverse into the yard? I do not know if the numbering of the signals and points are correct? Thank you for your help. Ken

Hello Everyone Here is more information on the layout: My friend lives in Birmingham so I do not have any photos of the layout. The track is complete with ballast and the buildings are complete. There is no static grass or trees etc. The roads, bridge and yard are in place. The signals will not be operational. The lady wants to fit the painted signals in place and complete all the scenic work. Thank you for your help. Ken

Hello everyone I am helping my friend June with her late husbands layout. The layout in the garage is mostly complete except for the signals which he made from brass and are unpainted. Here is a plan of the layout: The other night I was watching a You Tube video of a drivers eye view of the Looe to Coombe Junction line. The layout above looks very similar. I have added signals to the plan based on the diagram for Coombe Junction. On the plan 4 and 18 are detection bars. Signals 1 and 21 are goods siding signals. We have two of them. We have more signals than needed to signal the layout based on the plan above. The problem is at position A, point number 17 and yard position B. How would this point be signaled and operated. Thank you for your help. Ken

Thank you for your reply. As you say if done correctly a shed can work well. Security is an issue in rural Oxfordshire. I will need to address that. I would have to keep anything of value in the house. Ken

Thank you Andrew Ken

Hello everyone I understand what you are saying. The shed has to be done correctly. I am not a carpenter so I will need to purchase a building that is suitable. I realise now that it will be expensive for the base and the building. I can wire the shed and do the insulation myself. It was not until I asked the question on here that I realised all that was required. I will price everything up and consider other options like extending the garage. Thank you all for your help. Ken

Hi everyone I only read part of the post on log cabins as I did not think this was about sheds. I have looked at more sheds and information. I think that a large shed would need a concrete base. One of my near neighbours runs a concrete pumping company. The roof needs to have a stronger covering than roof felt. Insulation, heating and ventilation would be needed. I am an electrician so the mains supply would not be a problem. O gauge is a pain because of the size required. Maybe a shed for the fiddle yard with a garden railway is the answer. I have a tool shed by Tiger Sheds and it is only small with no windows. I partly insulated it with kingspan. Everything has stayed dry and not rusty. I will keep looking, but when you buy a shed with all the things you need then the price soon goes up. There is also the question of security. Thank you for your help. Ken

Hello everyone I have been looking at using a garden shed to house a model railway. To fall under the rule of permitted development the shed must not be more than 3mtrs x 5mtrs (9.8' x 16'). The height must not be greater than 2.5mtrs (8'). The shed must not cover more than half the garden which includes any existing outdoor buildings. 3mtrs x 5mtrs is not that big for an O gauge layout. Will a garden shed be suitable for a model railway in this country? Will damp be a problem? The only company that I can find that supplies sheds for model railways is Crane Garden Buildings. A large shed is very expensive so I would like to know if it would be suitable. I have seen people on you tube saying that sheds are not suitable for workshops because everything will go rusty unless there is full time heating and ventilation. Does anyone have experience of using a shed for a railway? Thank you for your help Ken

Hi John Thank you for telling me about evergreen. I have found suppliers of evergreen in the UK. I will be watching lots of You Tube video's on building with styrene. Ken

Hi John I think I will purchase one Skytrex building without side walls and roof. I will use this as a pattern to make the other buildings. I am thinking of using 5mm thick foam board and Plastikard. The foam board will be covered by plastikard. I spoke to Plastikard who where very helpful. They told me to use Plastruct for all the gutters etc. The other option is to use LCut parts braced inside with wood. I could use Plastruct for the gutters and door entrance. Thank you for your help. Ken

Hi John I have just priced up the Skytrex buildings and they will work out expensive. I do not have a printer that would print downloaded buildings. I know some people will say that it is best to make your own from foam board and Plastikard. I will keep looking to see what I can find. Ken

Hello everyone I am a bit wary of Fair Price Models as their web site is down and they are only available in small numbers on e bay. If there is a problem with a kit this may be difficult to resolve. I cannot find a suitable building in the Lcut range. Scalescenes do a warehouse T027 but that will be too tall. Skytrex looks like the best option, but the most expensive. There is a company called Purple Bob's that have a factory in card which is 300 × 229 × 6.5 mm and the price is £18.95. The kit is sent by post and not a download. Has anyone used this supplier? I am building a layout made from three 1200 x 400mm plywood baseboards. Then I will add three 900 x 200mm homemade baseboards for the scenic part. The total width of the layout will then be 600mm. These scenic sections will locate on the sides of the baseboards. Once I have added the buildings they will look like this: This means I can have different back scenes with the same track layout by building more scenic boards. The whole layout will be easy to take down and move/store. I can work on the scenic boards without leaning across the layout. I am not going to fit lighting inside the buildings, so do I need to model or stick a picture of the interior on the backboard, in buildings with windows facing forwards? Do I need to brace the buildings on the backboard, by putting packing fitted to the backboard, inside the building ? I may add lights to the outside of the buildings above doorways. Than you for your help. Ken

Hi everyone I am building three different back scenes. This Skytrex gable end is perfect for one of the back scenes. I would need six to model a site that I know. The other two back scenes just need a warehouse and or factory back drop. Scale Model Scenery do a 1930's factory for £45.99 but this is too tall at 274mm. Fair Price Models do a warehouse/factory for £14.99. It is Length 395mm x Width 60mm x Height 190mm They also make a archway warehouse which I could use as a lorry entrance. It is Length 430mm x Width 75mm x Height 240mm but this taller than the other unit above. This is £14.39. They make a shop warehouse kit; The warehouse is 220mm Width x 67mm Depth x 175mm height. The shop is 112mm Width x 77mm Depth x 115mm height. Together they are £13.99. All of these kits are a basic shell. LCut do a B 70-02 O gauge lineside warehouse low relief version which is 128mm deep. I do not have the time or skill to scratch build these buildings. They are all too deep as well. I may have to increase the scenic space from 150mm deep to 200mm deep. Has anyone used Fair Price Models? Thank you for your help. Ken

Hello everyone I am building a O gauge layout and have a question regarding the use of Skytrex low relief buildings I have seen a number of layouts where people have fixed the low relief buildings to the backboard using just the front of the buildings. The low relief buildings with end panels and roof panels are 61mm (2.5") deep. As I want them to be about 20 to 25mm deep I would have to cut away a lot of the end panel and roof panels. On a row of buildings this would only mean two end panels which is not too bad. The roof panels come with the ridge, gutter and drain pipe. I do not see how I can avoid buying the roof panels as I need the ridge, gutter and drain pipe. I think I will need to add packing inside the buildings so that they can be glued to the backboard. Any ideas are welcome. Ken

I think it is best if I start a need post in general baseboards Ken

Hi everyone I am now sure of the plans. I have decided to build three different layouts by using different scenic boards. I have a question about using Skytrex low relief buildings. With the roof sections added the buildings would be 61mm (2.5") deep. This is deeper than I would like them to be. I could cut the roof sections in half and make a new fillet piece. That way I would only need to purchase half the number of roof sections and some drain pipe. Could you recommend a packing material that I could mount each low relief building to so that I can stick them to the back board instead of using the roof sections. 15mm material would be good. I would be using a row of these low relief gable ends. Thank you for your help Ken

Hi Phil I understand what you are saying. If I increased the size of the boards it would be to make them longer. I would add more 1200 x 400mm boards to the layout if I had the room. I am thinking of the future when I retire. I will need to move the boards and store them safely. Perhaps lifting them up onto racking for storage. I do not know where I will be living when I retire and what space I will have. I may have a garage or a very big shed. Then my railway will not be in the way. I will tell the estate agent that's on my wish list. I would like to build these boards now which would give me a break from working. My long term plan is to have an oval of track with a small station or halt in a fixed location like a shed or garage. I would keep this portable layout and put it up in the garden on a sunny day. I can get the 1200 x 400mm boards in my car. Maybe I will join a model railway club and take the layout along on club nights. I could certainly take the scenic boards and work on them. I would like to thank everyone for helping me get this far. Regards Ken

Hi Everyone The scenic sections. 5.5mm x 1220 x 2440mm (4'x8') plywood sheet is £23.00 at Wickes. There would be a cutting charge for this to be cut into 150mm and 300mm sections. I could cut the plywood sheet with my track saw to save cost, but it is not worth setting up the saw. 28mm x 2440mm pine dowel is £11.00. Enough for nine pieces and one spare. 20 x 20mm x 900mm pine strip wood is £4.00. £16 per scenic section. Total £48.00. The strip wood and dowel are high quality used for joinery. Regards Ken

Hi Phil It is the weight of the boards and moving them through the house to the conservatory. Everyone said that 1200 x 600mm 6mm ply boards would be too heavy and awkward to move through the house. Hello everyone I have started on the build by ordering some buildings and an Atkinson eight wheel flat bed lorry. The forklift is a preorder. Here is the scenic box section: The 28mm wooden dowels will locate in holes in the sides of the baseboard reinforced with wood blocks. There will be three dowels per 900mm section. The dowels will pass through wood blocks glued to the 6mm ply. This will locate the section to the baseboard and add strength to the section. The baseboards and scenic sections will sit on the trestles. I have a cunning plan! More cunning than a box full of weasels? I am going to make two completely different scenic sections to fit the baseboards. The track plan will remain the same but the industry will change allowing different trains to be run. I could change the industry and or the time period. If this works out the my next layout will be the same track plan reversed on new baseboards: This will work out cheaper as I will have the traverser. The new scenic section, dark grey, could be made as anything, but not a station. How cunning is that? Regards Ken

Hi everyone You are right about the layout being more important than the boards. I have come up with a logic for the layouts existence. The fact that my late brother was at college there makes it all the more real. I am going to use resin or laser cut buildings on the backboard sections. I have a Skytrex oil tank model as shown in the picture. This is the type of building and walls I am looking to use: The platform needs to work as an edge protector for the layout. I was thinking of making the platform from 25 x 25 x 300mm lengths of balsa wood block. This is £7.25 per block. Straight, planed square-edged timber Stripwood PSE mouldings 20 x 20 x 2400mm is £8.20 each strip. I could glue two strips down to the baseboards and fill the gap between with strips of wood every 300mm and expanding foam. The other way is to fill the gap with polystyrene. I would use a small piece of wood for the slope at the end. I could then use Slaters Plastikard to cover the top. This I hope will make it strong enough to take any knocks. The reason that I have not modelled the station building is because it is too wide: With the platform added this takes up too much space. The viewer is standing on the platform watching the shunting for the factory. Please can someone tell me if they had forklift trucks in the 1960's. Woodland Scenics do this model: Thank you for your help. Ken

Hi Phil This is a layout to use until I retire and can build a fixed layout. The boards will be moved from a spare room into the conservatory for operation. We agreed that each board cannot be larger than 1200 x 400mm as they would be too difficult to move and set up. The boards would be 6mm ply. But I have a new plan: I will purchase three 1200 x 400mm baseboards and a 1200 x 400mm traverser. Along the front of each board, parallel to the front edge, I will fit a 75mm deep platform edge. This will be painted to resemble a platform. I will construct four box sections with a raised backboard from 6mm ply. The box sections will sit on the trestles holding the main boards and have temporary fixings to hold them to the baseboard edge. I will fit single story low relief warehouse buildings to the raised backboards on these box sections. I can work on the box sections individually away from the main baseboards. As the box sections are 900mm long and 150mm deep they will be easy to move around. Because I have a platform I can run a push pull passenger service. This means I can have some signals. The logic behind the layout: This is a short branch off the main line serving a main manufacturer making wooden furniture, mostly chairs, in a town outside London. My late brother went to art college there. Timber and consumables come in and chairs go out. There is a passenger service to London via Gerrards Cross. Please let me know what you think everyone. Ken

Hi Phil Yes you are right, not enough space and the boards need to be narrow which is the biggest problem. Layouts like Liscombe and Llanidris are very good, but I cannot do that. Bradstock is a good layout and would fit I think. Metalsmith make a turntable in 7mm. Hornby Mag's Seven Mill depot is 11' x 3'. It is the depth of the boards that are the problem. I have an idea which may work; Ken

Hi Rich Thank you for the information. I am not worried at the moment Michael as I have come up with a new idea. I have a Lionheart 2-6-2 and I have a 3mt on order. These are expensive and fragile. I do have some metal cassettes that I purchased years ago and I was going to use them. But I will keep them for when I can build a fixed layout. The idea is to operate the layout without picking up the engines. This is the new idea: Using standard boards I would use the traverser as storage. Two problems here; It takes up a lot of space and it is costly. Plan number 2: Using standard boards again. Less space (1950mm 6.5') and less cost. I am now thinking of designing the layout so that the run round is on the scenic boards and only the engine and two vans are removed to storge each time. The vans are not a worry as they are easy to move by hand. I could place them on the layout at the start by hand. I am not sure about this idea. Ken

Hi Rich Thank you for information and photo. That is very clear. I see that the traverser and turntable will need to be mounted on a baseboard of some type so that they line up with the scenic boards. I have remeasured the space and can fit the turntable on the end of the traverser. This gives me 12 foot of scenic section. As advised I have added a short piece of track between the points. The traverser moves downwards allowing an engine on track B to move down onto track A. Wagons on track C can be moved down onto track B. This plan uses three standard sized boards a traverser and a short turntable. The turntable has been moved upwards slightly to line up with the middle track. Do I need to buy baseboards to fit the traverser and turntable on? I would make adjustable legs for all the units myself. Regards Ken

Hi Taigatrommel That is a good point you have made. How far does the traverser slide in one direction. This is the 1200 x 400mm traverser: I will have to find out how much the top moves. With my present plan it will need to move at least 139mm. I might remake the plan using a turn table one end and a traverser at the other end. This is a 400 x 400mm turntable: I could always mount the turntable or traverser off centre to the main boards. Lots more to think about. Ken