Harlequin

Deleted duplicate post...

I'm thinking of something akin to a crossbow mechanism: A rubber band stretched across the launch track between two pegs with a hook on a threaded bar to pull it back. Pull a pin out, the hook falls away and the rubber band is released. The screw thread would allow fine adjustments to find the right launch speed and, once set, should give repeatable operation. Remember that, as @Flying Pig suggested above, the slip coach would be destined for Devizes, or the equivalent place in my universe where the gradients would allow better slip coach working than in our world. So it would normally glide through the station and only need a pilot if something went horribly wrong. I fully admit this is all a bit silly but: It's novel, it simulates a bit of railway practice that's rarely modelled and it won't cost much time or effort to set up - so no great loss if it doesn't work!

Can we ask who you bought from, in the end? And were the delivery costs reasonable or ridiculous?

Here's the latest update: Smoothed out some trackwork here and there. Added a slipcoach catapult launch road (top right). This is semi-serious now! The perfect space was just waiting to be used and although it sounds like a silly idea at first, I think it would work and would be a great talking point. (It's all your fault @The Johnster!) Revised the reversing loop bridging board to only connect to two other boards rather than three. Converted the top storage loop into a cassette connection loop and created another optional cassette connection point for the branch line. Altered the backscene curve on the left so that the scene doesn't try to go round the corner so much - more definitely faces forward. That means that the secondary backscene, the bit that you see through the holes in the main backscene, is on the same board, making things a bit tidier. You might ask, why do you need a reversing loop if you've got cassettes? I think it is still useful for turning locos and trains without having to handle them and, crucially, it allows whole trains to be shuffled between the storage loops without appearing on scene. That's a very important part of the process of injecting trains from the cassettes - so both are needed.

Or just select the word "here", click on the chain link icon in the toolbar, paste the address into the URL field and click OK. here

Hi Paul, I think I would be running in some sort of accelerated time but I take your point: A long enough elapsed time between the same train appearing, ideally with a different loco, should obscure the repetition - so long as the train is not particularly memorable. The strategic changing of a few vehicles and, as you say, being able to reverse the train would also help. Since this layout has the ability to reverse entire trains maybe wagons with different liveries on each side would be a good cheat! (Only joking!) Couplings are a thorny issue, aren't they? As you say, with the pre-war GWR you can't really run fixed formations of coaches, you need to be able to really mix things up. I have a long list of features that the ideal coupling system should have and when I can't sleep at night my mind turns it over and over, trying to work out a way to satisfy all the major points on that list... I hope Lower Thames Yard is still coming together somewhere!

You could move place 4 further round the storage loops to make path 2 to 4 long enough but remember that path 4 to 1 must still be shorter than a train length.

"Frog Juicer" or "Auto Reverser" - pretty much the same thing except that the Auto Reverser is specifically designed to switch the "polarity" of two rails at the same time. If the OP is talking about Y points then the old Code 100 electrofrog Y point does indeed need to be handled differently because the point blades don't have isolators built into the rails with links underneath that can be cut. So if you want to feed the frog from an external switch you have to cut through the rails. There might be other points in the Peco electrofrog range with the same issue.

"Ah, but think how much more more would be!" - Frasier Crane I totally agree that it's a bad idea to pack the boards with track, and goodness knows 6ft by 1ft is a pretty small box ;-) but the description of Mary Tavy and its signal box got me thinking about just showing one end of a passing loop as mentioned earlier. I came up with this: Maybe I've gone too far (in many ways!) however: Small signal box Passing loop completed off-scene in fiddle yard - you can legitimately have two trains on scene at once! Staggered platforms with 2ft visible of 4ft long Up platform face Access to tiny goods yard trailing off the Down loop (the BOT would be proud!) Tricky-to-shunt kickback end-loading bay (going too far???) traps the goods area It's a little bit lumpy because of the baseboard joint and having to use only large radius points but it's not too bad... Still room for scenery behind.

Sorry, I'm not trying to push my idea at you but if you're interested, I managed to improve it a bit: Moving the point in the running line 30mm to the right allows things to open up: the siding is more curvy, more flowing and the platform is longer and squarer.

Thanks! I use Xara Designer Pro but most drawing programs could do the same job. Affinity Designer would be a good alternative, much cheaper than Illustrator and better in many ways. I created a "brush" that simulates two light pencil lines about 5mm apart, filled in with a colour wash. Once you have such a brush you can apply it to any line or curve and use it in the points and crossing symbols. Then you use snapping to snap the lines and the symbols together to make the diagram. The signals and discs are simple little drawings which are copied and modified as needed because very few signals are the same. I made a little library of parts which I keep off the page, ready to be dragged into the diagram:

My vote is for image #4 because of the lower eyeline and the clearer outline of the loco.

Two suggestions: It might be better to have the points off the running line more central so that a loco and one or two wagons remain on scene when preparing to set back into the siding. If you flexed the running line near the centre of the layout then the curves would naturally send the siding diverging away from the running line and the whole plan would have a natural arc to it. Something like this:

Any good drawing program gives you the flexibility to draw a signalling diagram exactly how you like but they don't, of course, have any signalling logic embedded in them to help with the actual signalling design. You can also decide whether to create a purely functional diagram or something that looks more like a real signal box diagram. E.g. (I haven't looked at that drawing for a few months now and I can immediately see lots of things that I would change. Oh dear.) Edit: To make it easier to see I turned off the Track Circuits layer and zoomed in on the left hand side:

You might need even more than you think because I'm sure you know that crews used to stow spare lamps on the footplate. The Hattons/DJM 14XX even has extra lamp brackets as per the real thing. Depending on your timeframe there might still be some red-bodied lamps in use - especially on the lesser routes. Main line services made the change over to white lamps very quickly as far as I can see.

Well, you definitely need some sort of trap for the siding and that could either be in the form of a long headshunt, a short stub siding (to use the Peco point unmodified) or something more like a simple trap by hacking the Peco point. I agree about the extra interest another siding would provide but a headshunt doesn't seem like a very common arrangement in this context to me (unless the good Cap'n can come up with an example). If it's a real siding then how would it be operated? Because there's no run round, each siding could only be shunted by trains heading in each different direction. So one's an Up siding, the other a Down siding and to get anything in or out of the headshunt siding the other siding would have to be half empty. (I think that's right...) Would operation then be interesting or annoying? It occurs to me that you could have a run round loop if you were prepared to have one end of it off-scene. The roundy-round plan makes that easier to do and it would open up quite a lot of possibilities. P.S. I found this: http://www.gwr.org.uk/layoutswhitchurch.html

Hi Nick, How are you going to arrange the fiddle yards? You will need two in some form or other and with point work they will add considerably to the width. Where will the platform be? The siding and headshunt seem to suggest it might be in front of the running line which is very close to the front of the baseboard. What is the rationale for the headshunt? Wouldn’t a simple siding just be shunted from the running line? You might consider ignoring your old code 100 track because it would be easier to connect the bullhead track to code 75 flat bottom.

Yep, also: The two screws under the cab are partially obscured by the brake rigging so you have to approach them at an angle (not good if you need to apply force). Alternatively loosen the base plate so that the brake rigging can be gently eased up to give you a better angle. The vacuum pipe at the front needs to be eased away to let the chassis and the body shell part. It's flexible plastic so it deforms and springs back without any problems.

Software would be your friend in all these issues. You could adjust probabilities, add to the number of "cards" at any time, ensure balancing movements, have Sunday workings when more exotic stock is allowed to run, replace out of service wagons with stand-ins, etc. etc...

Sorry, did you just say that when you photograph from behind there's always a problem with your butt? Well yes, there would be! But your face doesn't look that bad...

No problem. I'm not familiar with the structure but if you believe the map it seems to be slightly lozenge shaped on plan: BTW: Our size estimates for the down platform building are straddling 9ft by 27ft - in other words exactly three times as long as it is wide... Significant? I don't know.

Hmmm, no idea but I note the very tight curve and the guard rail. I'll let someone else have a stab. BTW: I pondered whether to say "mainline" or "main line" but since the title of the book is "Mainlines in Modest Spaces" I went with that.

For what it's worth I used the same map as above to measure the down platform building and I get 2.75m by 8.36m.

I would say that the relationship between the line and the viewer is more significant than to the baseboard edge. Convex: Exaggerates the perspective of the trains passing by - like looking through a fish-eye lens. The train rushes towards you, flies by very close and finally you see the tail-lamp disappearing off-scene. It's a dramatic event and the train is the star. Concave: Flattens the perspective as if you are standing on a distant hill watching through binoculars. The train moves in a measured way through the scene and gives you time to contemplate it and the landscape. It's an ensemble performance. Of course, roundy-round layouts mainly have concave scenes when viewed from the inside but if the viewer is outside and you want to give him/her the concave experience then you have to adjust the curves, which is exactly what Hannet Purney does. Rice's Recipe for Mainlines in Modest Spaces in summary: A mainline doesn't have to be double or quad track but it must connect places of importance with regular services including long-distance passenger trains. A mainline has a distinctive ambience: The track and lineside are immaculate, the structures are solid and strong, cuttings and banks clean, fences well maintained, many telegraph wires. Curves are essential, straight lines are boring. Curves place the railway in the landscape more realistically (for Britain). Transition curves give smoother running at main line speeds. Hide severe radii wherever possible and hide the unrealistic effects of any tight radii that are on scene. Choose a location or period where shorter trains were authentic or reduce the vehicle count to compress train length. Avoid locations that require a vast stock list or a monster fiddle yard. He says other interesting things about scales, realistic track layouts and DCC (inc. DCC Sound).