Midnight-Freight

*** Status update (with a not very exciting pic) *** Most of the track is now laid and glued down and looking good with the increased sleeper spacing. The only track which hasn't been laid yet is the tmd area as I plan to fit Peco inspection pits and I haven't got as far as buying those yet, or the lights I plan to use in them. As the pic shows I have started the wiring process on board 3 with all droppers soldered to the bus wire apart from the only point on that board which needs the Autofrog wiring in, which again I haven't yet bought. So steady progress is being made but I strongly suspect a check of my bank balance will confirm what I already know in that two weeks before xmas isn't the time to be buying stuff for the layout... Hopefully it won't be long before I can start running trains though...

Loco's and IOA's look really good. Once you've perfected your technique on the IOA's and you have the urge to do some more I will hopefully have some I could send your way!

Maybe I am misunderstanding the scenario with these older points. I don't want to rely on the switch blades for feeding power to the rest of the point. I understand the concept with the newer type and have cut the wire links, soldered a link across from both stock rails to the corresponding closure rail and intend to use Gaugemaster DCC80 autofrogs to switch polarity as they will be manually operated. I just want to achieve the same thing with these 2 sets of points.

I've just discovered a couple of sets of points I have are the older style Peco items without the links to cut to isolate the frog and no frog wire. I have attached a couple of pics for reference. To alter these to use with frog polarity switches and not rely on the switch blade for conductivity would it just be a case of cutting the closure rails roughly where I've drawn the red line and then soldering on a frog wire to the underside and then soldering a link across from the stock rails as usual? I'm guessing the wire that can be seen on the underside of the point at the frog just connects the various parts electrically and needs to be left as it is?

Just a quick update with a couple of dodgy phone pics. Excuse the mess! Track is all temporary laid on a bed of 1.6mm cork and held down with drawing pins. Next step is to get some temporary power to it and see if everything works with hopefully no derailments. Once I'm happy all is ok I will glue the cork down and then start fixing the track. This is where the fun starts and I expect to lose my sanity as I start the sleeper spacing exercise.

Great looking depot layout. You're clearly a 68 fan!

Some more track turned up today so I was able to lay it out and get a bit more of a feel for how it will all go together. I'm very pleased and don't think it looks too cramped at all. I think I'm going to lay the track on cork to give a shoulder to the ballast when complete so need to work out how much I will need and get some more track ordered, then I can get everything in place and lash up my controller and see how it all runs. Exciting times...

Thanks for that. It was just me being a plank and thinking the links you break are between the switch blades and closure rails and that the closure rails are permanently connected to the frog, hence my confusion about linking across from the stock rails to closure rails and then feeding the frog from the DCC80. Now that I've taken the time to look at a point it's all become clear.

Thanks, I'm enjoying planning and building this one which is the main thing. That's all a bit beyond my expertise at the moment. I'm sticking with off the shelf track for this one but I'm sure you will make a good job of it will with all the knowledge available on here to help.

I like the idea of busy sidings with not much space. My first layout was a bit like that which in itself wasn't a problem. The issue was that I didn't plan what I was going to do with the scenic space I had left and so ended up trying to fill it with things that didn't really fit. Also in my experience things can look very different once you start playing around with actual track. I look forward to seeing things develop though, it's just my kind of layout. Joe

Glad I saw this as I was thinking about it and about to pose a similar question. Just for clarification in my mind if using the Gaugemaster DCC80 would the best way to wire from the bus to the DCC80 then from there to the stock rail, across to the closure rail and then cut the link on electrofrog points? Is the DCC80 purely for switching polarity and not for supplying the power to the point via the frog wire?

I've started loosely laying the pointwork as a starting point. Once that's in place all the tracks that lead off will be pretty straight forward to lay. I've also started playing around with sleeper spacing on a couple of lengths. Whilst this will be an incredibly fiddly and mind numbing job I do think it greatly improves the look of the track. I just hope the combination of wooden sleeper points with original spacing and wooden and concrete sleeper track with increased spacing doesn't look odd. One other thing I can't decide on is whether to use point motors. They aren't really necessary on a layout like mine but would be a nice feature and with the modified wiring would mean I wasn't relying on switch blade contact for electrical conductivity. Much to ponder...

This is one of my favourite layouts to look at. The attention to detail is amazing. I love the virtual quarry sidings and am hoping to come up with something similar on my own layout. I just hope it finishes up somewhere close to how yours looks. I also think that re-spacing the sleepers makes a big difference to how the track looks and is something I know deep down I will need to do. Was it just a case of removing all the webbing between the sleepers and then spacing them out correctly? Did the track become fragile without it? Given how much of your detail is stuff I would like to add you may find me asking more questions in the future. You can't complain too much though as you did say that's what you have done

Finally some visible progress. Not terribly exciting but at least proof that something is actually happening. I've taken my time building the baseboards so that everything lines up properly to avoid problems further down the line and I'm pleased to find it's about 95% spot on. There's a slight difference in height between two of the boards but nothing a bit of plasticard won't fix. So the layout will be on three boards joined together using clamps on either side and 8mm precision dowels to ensure alignment. The boards measure 2 x 900x400mm and 1 x 1200x400mm. The back scene boards which I've yet to attach will be 200mm in height. As can be seen in the two other pics I've started playing around with pieces of track to get an idea of how everything fits in and I'm reasonably satisfied so far. Just need to order some track now...

I'm looking to purchase at least some of the track soon. I have salvaged all of the points and a few straight pieces from the previous layout but not knowing any better back then bought Peco code 100 wooden sleeper track. I don't want the expense of buying all new track so was thinking of using code 75 concrete sleeper track for the line running through and the run around loop and then transitioning to the code 100 for the sidings and tmd area. Some parts of both will be concrete hard standing so won't matter. The mix of wooden and concrete sleeper track isn't too concerning as I know it's quite common, especially on point work I'm just not so sure about the change from code 75 to code 100. There will only be two points of change and one of these may end up on a board join so hopefully with careful ballasting it should look ok?

Just had a quick browse at your pics. Most useful, anything involving point motors, cable trunking, relay boxes etc will be of great use to myself and many others I'm sure.

Thanks, I can't 100% settle on a track plan but hopefully when I start playing around with track it will all fall into place. Look forward to seeing more of yours.

Will be watching this one closely. I am just putting the baseboards together for my second layout which is of a similar length but only 400mm wide so will be keen to see your track plan etc. Mine is also modern image with a tmd and good length sidings. Also look forward to seeing your lineside pics which will hopefully help with the modelling side of things.

Well I've gone from having one large sheet of ply to lots of smaller pieces. My plan of clamping two lengths of wood either side of the cut to act as guides for the jigsaw somehow failed and within a few inches the jigsaw blade had started to veer off course. I immediately aborted and broke out the trusty handsaw. This was far more effort and I have a suspiciously muscular right arm but I managed to keep on the straight and narrow and initial thoughts are that everything matches up as it should. Hopefully start screwing bits together tomorrow.

I've pretty much finished dismantling the old layout and managed to salvage all the sets of points as well as a few straight sections of track so won't need to purchase too much new stuff. I've also bought a large sheet of 9mm ply and some long sections of timber so I can make a start on building the three sections of the layout. Hopefully my plan will work for using a jigsaw to get perfectly straight cuts...

Whichever route you decide to go definitely use led. Be wary of the very cheap stuff though, they may look very similar to the better stuff and the led's may be ok but it's usually the drivers that fail and depending on the type of fitting aren't always easy to replace. Most common colour temperatures are 4000k (cool white) and 6000/6500k (daylight) on the commercial style fittings such as 600x600 panels. Daylight can be a bit harsh for some with cool white being a bit 'warmer'

Another updated plan... I've removed one of the tmd sidings as suggested. I've also swapped the point at the bottom right for a Y point which I think gives a better flow to the curve. The orange square is rough position of a signal box and the red lines possible routing for the concrete trunking leading to each set of points. I've not yet decided whether to take on the task and additional cost of using point motors. One thing I'm really not very clued up on is signalling. It's something I would like to include albeit on a basic level and obviously this will affect positioning of cable trunking and relay boxes so needs to be considered at an early stage. If anyone has any suggestions of how many, what type and positioning of these it would be most helpful. Failing that I will make a separate post in the signalling section. I'm really enjoying the planning phase of the new layout, I just hope I enjoy building it as much...

Just had a quick read through at work. Looking great.

Yep, that's what I thought when I looked again and one siding has been removed. Thanks

All good questions. As much as I would like to think the layout may be good enough to exhibit one day realistically it will be built in my spare(ish) bedroom in the available space so it will be end to end with no fiddle yards. I know I could reduce the scenic area and have a fiddle yard one end, or both but it will be built with the possibility of adding them should I find myself with more space in the future. The other option would be to add a loop. The focus will be on shunting wagons around in the sidings and light engine moves around the tmd. The viewing and operating position will be from the bottom with a back scene at the top. As for the off-scene on either side I am not 100% sure, possibly an angled motorway style bridge to the right and just general scenery to the left. Buildings to the right will be general offices and hopefully a small car-park, sidings maybe adjusted to allow more space if required. The space at the top still needs planning but was thinking maybe to include a small construction site with a steel frame building under construction.