Harlequin

Whoa there! Spoiler alert! I will read no further until I've caught up.

My favourite layout was "Spirit of Swindon". It was the most fully realised with a proper proscenium arch framing the scene and clever, variable lighting that went through sunrise, day, sunset, night cycles. The modelling is superb (as far as I could see) and there seemed to be multiple operations taking place whenever I visited. Apologies for the quality of the last photo but it was the only reasonable one I got of sunrise/sunset (oy). I had to erase someone's arm and then drop the JPEG quality right down to upload it.

Here are some moving pictures for you!

Here's my attempt to get square on through the glass: Fuzzy, but close up. (Look at the horribly scuffed cylinder cover! As per the real thing???)

Dapol told me that the parcels railcar is on track to arrive in the country in December or January.

Hi Bill, The island platform being on that side of the tracks causes a few logistical problems, such as the two footbridges. If the station is not very busy then just a pair of trailing crossovers, like David said might be better. Then either abandon the loop or convert to a Bay platform facing the branch? Looking at your plan and the map, I see that the small spur to the right of the station building was for end loading. That usage would be blocked by the SB in your plan. So, suggestion: Assuming that the outer platform is no longer an island, Why not put the station building on the outside of the double track circuits? That would free up the inside to be entirely goods, give room for the end loading, and give a natural connection between the town and the passenger side without the special footbridge.

Here's an interesting new facet: I just found out that my distant relative, Albert Pibworth, "Old Pib", was the driver of LNER 4474 when it worked the Cornish Riviera Express during the exchange trials in 1925. I'm away from my books at the moment so I don't know if Hannet Purney would have existed in the proposed form at that date but it would be really interesting to run a surprise LNER pacific through the scene occasionally! I have written a Blog post about Driver Pibworth here:

I wonder if Dapol will twig that there's somethign funny going on tomorrow when loads of people turn up and try to take the same photo? If we take enough photos from different angles we could stitch together a 3d model of their model using photogrammetry!

Have you seen any signs of Auntie Beeb folding Climate Change into the story yet? I wonder if, instead of succumbing to bacteria, the Martians might consume all the planet's resources in a reckless and wasteful fashion!?

Two volumes, remember...

Only needs a single slip for the right hand goods connection, of course. SImpler and more prototypical. It just adds that extra bit of flexibility so, personally, I would do it. The way the goods sidings are arranged now means that the goods loop is long enough for shunting. So there's less need for any headhsunt extension. But, having said that, the way the loco shed connects now looks very logical to me so I'd keep it as it is. The crossover protects the running line from both goods and shed movements. I'd suggest adding a small fillet in the top right inner corner so that the wharf siding could be taken off the goods loop nearer the top.

No, that's me too! Then the next day I look at the floor plan and realise there were all sorts of things I should have looked at and questions I should have asked... I'll be there on Sunday too, wearing my RMWeb badge, of course...

There are a lot of subtle variations across the Peco OO/HO range, aren't there! No wonder peopole find this all so confusing. Roll-on Unifrog, I say!

It should be pointed out that some of these mods relate specifically to the older Code 100 turnouts. (Most) Code 75 turnouts already have the insulating gaps in the closure rails with small bonding wires underneath to be cut and gaps already left in the webbing to solder on the new bonding wires.

By “spurs” I meant the 4 sidings at the four corners of the station, running parallel to the running lines.

Hi Antony, I found this on the S-R-S website: https://www.s-r-s.org.uk/html/gwa/S2807-2.pdf This beautiful diagram shows the exact layout of Haddenham including the slips, how the goods yard headshunt is normally trapped and the very careful trapping and signalling of all the spurs. Do you know what the spurs were used for?

Haddenham is nice and simple and the platform loops mean that you can have quite a lot going on - so it should make a good pattern to model. I think you have Haddenham's single slip crossing the main line into the goods yard the wrong way round. It would have been used to create a trailing crossover between the main lines, not a facing connection into the goods yard. That's why there's a separate set of points further along into the platform loop on the goods yard side of the station. Those two formations could be combined in the model. Not quite prototypical but it would save some space. The spurs parallel to the track should probably be made longer so that they are useful or reduced just to stubs. The longer spurs can follow the main line as it curves for a certain distance. The spur kicking back from the goods yard is especially important because it will allow you to shunt the goods yard while mainline trains are running.

David makes good points about the BLT and the fiddle yard. Rethink: Good idea. Through station: If you flipped the track plan over you could give the goods yard trailing access off the line nearest it rather than the farthest line and that would make things a bit easier. Joseph says the plan is not typically GCR but if you want to keep it I think you need to make the loops and the spurs off their ends do something useful for you, for your operations. Regarding your fiddle yard: I know lots of people hide their fiddle yards but to my thinking it needs to be accessible so that you can fiddle with stock while it's off-scene. If you don't have a turntable you need somewhere to lift and turn tender locos. And you need somwhere that you can safely move stock by hand to vary the make up of trains without the danger of knocking buildings or ripping out trees and telegraph wires. Since you have a continuous double track circuit you need somewhere to perform un-prototypical moves such as reversing trains and crossing over. For example a main line train that runs through your station on the Up line can later appear with the loco at the other end (or a different loco with the same rake) heading Down. The crossing over, running round and turning wouldn't normally happen in your little station so the best palce to do it is in the fiddle yard, which represents everywhere else on the network. If you can arrange the fiddle yard to be near the lifting section(s) then the lifiting section will be easier to build, safer to use and you won't have the problem of trying to disguise it in the scenery. That suggests locating the FY in the middle of the room and if you did that then you would avoid dividng the room up with a backscene. I see lots of small advantages in that arrangement: The space would be more open, there's less to get knocked, the scenery would be more protected against the walls, easier to move tools, rolling stock, cups of tea in and out of the operating well. How about this basic pattern: Double track circuit as proposed above FY across the diagonal with lifting section at one end Through station along top wall Branch junction top right with branch line rising behind the station, heading along the top wall always rising, turning down to... High level BLT in the bottom left corner, partly over the double track circuit.

Here are the things that immediately come to mind: I don't understand what the lifting section at top left is for. It doesn't seem to give you access to much more than you can reach from the operating well. A lifting section with a gradient on it is going to be very tricky to keep aligned properly. The gradient to the BLT seems to be pointless. There's only about 915mm length in which a gradient could be establised (probably less) and at the steepest recommended rate of 1:35 that would give you about 25mm height difference. With the BLT where it is, how will you reach anything in the top right corner of the room? Maybe you've planned an access hole behind the BLT but it would be very tight and a real chore to get into. The branch line is quite short and so any shunting that you do in the BLT will mean the loco gets very close to the junction with the mainline - possibly even passing the junction signals and obstructing the main line. A train running on the inner circuit basically has nowhere to go. It can't get up the branch line and there are no crossovers in the fiddle yard to allow the loco to run round and haul the train onto the outer circuit (which would then eventually let it go up the branch). You could use the loops and crossover in the through station but they are a bit cramped and it would mean that every change of direction would take place on scene - as if the through station were the terminus for every train on the inner circuit. The loco release headshunt in the BLT is only long enough for an 0-4-0 shunter. The lifting section in the scenic area will be difficult to disguise. I think the facing crossover near the junction is redundant. BTW: A reversing loop would be really useful, and you might have room to squeeze one in with a bit of thought. (Top right or bottom left, maybe?)

Hi Jack, I know that you were considering using Bullhead turnouts at one stage, probably for the diorama you're now talking about. You didn't say explicitly in the OP what type of turnouts you are proposing to use. If the idea is still to use Bullhead turnouts then remember they are "Unifrog" which is completely different from "Electrofrog", electrically speaking.

Now you're talking! Do you want to join the PRATS? If someone reading this models that company in that period perhaps they'd like to post an image of what the train should have looked like.

Hi Steve, It's precisely because you're relying on the blade contacts for electrical switching that you don't need to modify them at all. You could feed the tracks beyond the frog end if you wanted - you'd just need some isolating joiners on the frog rails. The above applies to both DC and DCC.

I suggest we set up a Period Railway Advisory Team Service to advise TV and film production companies. They would submit a request to the PRATS and we'd be able to get back to them within a mere say, two or three years, after we'd argued out exactly what the coach bogies should look like and other such esoteric details.

Oh, the irony!

That is probably exactly the producer's frame of mind but they have double-standards because they take great efforts to get other period details right- costumes and props in particular. If they applied the same standards to costume as they do to railways you'd see a character turn up in a nylon anorak. But hey, it's just a coat, end of! P.S. I'm not really that bothered! It was just something I noticed. The lack of a Richard Burton voiceover was an even bigger disappointment to me!