Lacathedrale

I bought the 'Building a Layout' digital edition with Phil a little while ago and was tempted by this issue for the 'vintage' view, and with that deal above I can't help but subscribe. One question :where is the "60 years of TT" shortcut please?

Hi guys, I've been mulling over the Cannon Street MPD for a layout design element for a while now, but other than maps and that one view of the shed wall from Stoney Street, I can't seem to find any pictures. I'm happy to crib details from other sheds and sites as my own version isn't going to be a total reproduction, but I'd be very interested to see what that cramped little depot actually looked like! All the best,

Excellent, a sacrifice must be made I'm having real trouble sourcing track with the delays on Shop1, so I'm moving onto more scenic work. Following the Modbury thread around using printed textures rather than plasticard, I think since I'm still starting my first tentative steps this makes sense. I don't have a colour printer nor any access to photo quality paper, etc. and I'm going to need a fair bit for a brick viaduct. Is eBay the natural choice or is there a supplier or shop who's good to get it from? (yellow brick, asphalt, paving slabs, etc.) All the very best,

I'll try tea towels first, thanks! And on models where I've already lost parts? Fabricate? I'm very grateful for all the help and advice here - while the two wagons I'm building now (Stephen Harris kits) are basically write-offs with all the parts I've bodged, bent, broken and lost - I do feel at least as though I'm getting the hang of what is expected off me. If I just had another few hands, I'm sure I'd be able to get the bloody wagon sides square.

Hi all, I'm struggling through my first tentative steps with kitbuilding in 2FS (and should have some photos for specific questions shortly), but generally how shall I deal with the carpet monster. For example, the fret of brake gear for a 16T mineral, one complete spring and axlebox assembly and several other things that aren't consumables (like wheelbearings). Is it just something I'll take for granted that i'll end up with spares for at some future date? Is there some specific methodological process I can use that I don't keep losing the blinking things? I don't even notice they ping away, they're just... not there anymore. Best,

Hi Jim, I keep coming back to your ingenious layout plan, but I was wondering if you had an overall system diagram (as opposed to track plan). It seems as though the mainline runs from fiddle-yard to fiddle yard across the back, with one end representing the platform ends of a through station. A branch diverges centre-left and exchange sidings for the branch are lower left. Middle and lower left are the goods yards and MPD for the station itself. Is that about right? The space used seems to be a hair under 10' and it's amazingly impressive how much you've fit in. Can I ask what kind of train lengths you're using? All the very best,

Is there a reason for that double-leaf fiddle yard?

FWIW I've found a problem - the pilot loco can't shunt the carriage roads directly without a runaround. Looks like platform 3 and the siding need to have a connection to make that happen. Replacing the points below the loco spur and the entry into platform one compresses further, but I don't really like the look of it (to say nothing of my ability to build such pointwork!)

Hi Woodenhead, that was most definitely just a pastiche to show the overall platform lengths, etc. I would most certainly run the lower siding down the full length of the layout - as you can see there's a bunch of room all around. I've shuffled around a bit as you can see below, but really I was just using it to elaborate the trackplan rather than the specifics. I think given the choice I would set the whole layout on arches (like Cannon St, London Bridge SECR,etc.) and have that Grande Vitesse style continental freight depot infront of the fiddle yard: i.e. grand plans but ultimately ending up as an infrequently used area for perishables and an overflow carriage/loco stabling area. I visited the Beckenham MRC open day earlier and had a really hard look at their 7mm, 4mm and 2mm layouts and I think that this really does deserve 4mm:ft, but I really don't know how I can justify the practicalities of it - a rake of five mk1's in 4mm looks like a train. The same rake in 2mm looks... not much like a train.

I've drawn up a plan as mentioned earlier around your extra runaround posited and it does look good. In 4mm:ft it the whole shebang can fit into 20' with space left over, using six 57' carriages or five MK1's: In 2mmFS the same plan would fit on my wall as a semi-permanent fixture without any issue at all, which does appeal to me even with the cubed cost of N-scale! If I look at pre-BR steam then it seems most modern carriages were 57' long? It seems a 6' rule of thumb would work in 4mm and 3' would still be broadly plausible in 2mm. Anything longer than that would have to reside purely in Platform 1 as a special of some sort. So from what I can gather the backbone of Minories is incredible solid as it pertains to both design and operational work; the question is merely how one adorns it with freight or engine workings. One one hand a Cannon St. style turntable and engine shed crunched up against the riverside seems very appealing, and on the other a Grand Vitesse freight depot (and associated carriage siding) could operationally give a little more - both of which do have fairly plausible applications and would end up with a very different scene.

DGF, is that THREE double slips and a scissors crossover?

Simon, I've put your plan down using P4 sized turnouts and the whole throat comes to around 5' (needing the extra length for diverging lines between platform roads 2 and 3 for the width of the platform. One of the deciding factors it would appear in the layout dimensions however is the size of the trains. Six 57' coaches and a tender locomotive end up about 6' in 4mm/ft which means that with that much capacity either end of the throat a minimum size of 17', plus some space either end for a station building and a gap between the throat and the fiddle yard means we're looking in the 17' to 18' range. Of course that would again be totally feasible in 2mm:ft but just for the sake of conjecture!! So, for a minories-type station running mainline steam tender locomotives, what is a reasonable train length? Bradfield Gloucester Square is only 14' and looks MASSIVE, but I'm aware that the video cuts of operating sessions do preclude seeing a whole rake in one view. TheLaird also makes extensive use of view blocks to chop the scene up - bridges, signal gantries and the station building itself, and so on.

Justin, if you're going with DCC there's really no reason why the whole train table can't always be live without this extremely complicated wiring, is there? This isn't a case where an errant voltage is going to slowly edge your stock off the precipice!

Simon, taking that in the spirit it was intended - can you think of a reason why one wouldn't substitute a double slip for the back to back points Freezer uses on his inbound? With regard to point #3 - I thought one of the big problems with Minories is that it only permits a departure from the rearmost platform concurrent with any other movements? Certainly there are additional points, but would an extra platform road a three road carriage siding not justify? I ask with an air of genuine curiousity. It does seem like a winner regardless, although I'm somewhat dismayed that Bradfield Chronicles basically does exactly the kind of thing I was thinking albeit far better than I could...

That is a good point - actually it may provide a tipping point because if there's not enough space for ~4' clear on the platforms and the staging then the M.O. for 2mmFS in the space is somewhat lost. I'm not sure how I managed to calculate 4.75" per - certainly a fudge. Anyway, while I'm always up for some planning chat and throwing numbers around really I was hoping this thread could be something more along the lines of a general discussion of the plan as opposed to my specific implementation Thank you very much!

DGF, unless I'm mistaken, trains are driving on the left, so while technically it's "the straight leg" it's a trailing connecting to the outbound mainline? That being said, your suggested plan does look good - I would imagine it flipped 180 degrees and mirrored, with a Grand-Vitesse style continental freight depot masking the mainlines as opposed to a goods shed but the principle works. I often come back to our discussion of Acheaux on the SNCF many years ago, but I'm not sure I could distill that far enough. I do think the layout would have MORE than enough space in 2mm:ft in either permutation, but the fact that it will require a cubing (as opposed to doubling) of stock, scenery, areas of interest, etc. is a little worrisome. On the other hand, the equivalent in EM/P4 would need ~15' or so, necessitating an entirely separate fiddle yard and being unable to perform any operation in-situ in my home office.

After a slight learning curve coming from XtrkCAD I've found this software easy and fun to use, certainly quicker than whacking a layout up in XtrkCAD, then exporting to photoshop and then into SketchUp. I'll still perform actual track planning in Templot, but to get a gist of how things will lie this is perfect. I'm very happy! The only thing I could possibly suggest is some anti aliasing?

I'm chuffed to see this progressing - good luck with the bridge board!

My plan would be to use 32mm on plain track and 31.5mm on turnouts - my understanding is that any reasonably modern set of wheels/locomotives/etc. will run on it without modification but as mentioned have better running qualities around turnouts. Speaking to someone who would prefer not to be named they suggested plasticine or alternative, around the bottom of the crossing vee to effectively create a running surface for the flange itself. That sounds like a reasonable solution if points were in-situ but for the sake of £20 of gauges I can use forever and otherwise everything else being exactly the same - a bit of a no-brainer to go ahead. I'm trying to figure out how I can fit the layout in now, having found my room mostly decorated and looking good I'm not sure if I can face mounting a layout across three walls!

I quite like the ideas purported in Modular Minories, and the layout shown in Bradfield above is something beautiful. AFAIK it has the carriage roads accessed via a runaround loop on the throat, and also extends the pilot spur into a platform road, which has a switchback across a diamond into aforementioned carriage roads. Certainly some spectacular pointwork. Here's my rough approximation of the plan, albeith without that gorgeous diamond around the throat. Essentially Minories with three changes: 1) Back to back plain turnouts in the up road replaced with a single slip 2) An additional road added on the station to act as a headshunt for the carriage sidings (see below), accessed via another single slip (maybe some end loading dock at the extremity? I'm aware I've got it flipped the wrong way in the plan below!) 3) Trailing pointwork on the up line to access carriage sidings. Two single-slips, five regular turnouts and a threeway - seems like a great introduction to point building too. Of course in this version I've not got a turntable and engine shed, but the Bradfield video does show there's a good amount of operation without one. I do potentially have space bottom-right for a wider board but I don't think it'd fit there at all - maybe best to just have the loco pocket and call it a day? I'm of course building castles in the sky, but I foresee Black fives, Coronations, Royal Scots with a Jinty as the pilot - maybe a 4MT hauling some suburban services. Quite how I'd handle that in my 3' x 6" fiddle yard I'm not sure but it's quite mouth watering.

Interesting, so it seems that there does need to be some kind of timetabling/scheduling (rather than just piddling about) but otherwise the track arrangement is flexible and engaging. I've whacked it up in XtrkCAD and even with various operating problems (is it me or has the program got progressively more buggy recently, despite no updates- time to switch to SCARM), it was alot of fun. What a wonderful link, thank you so much! I'm really fascinated by how every video shows a particular train. I gather they're fictional, but certainly have me convinced they could be real. I appreciate that Minories re-works are somewhat of an RMWeb trope but do appreciate the point, and well taken. Fitting another 3' parallel line for carriage sidings might be impossible if I want a turntable/shed on-layout (which I think I do?) but the Bradfield Chronicles link above does show some interesting options with sidings and a branch parallel to the fiddle yard tracks... Maybe a centre road between the platform roads? The only goods I could foresee would be parcels, newspapers or express fruit - all of which would be served from a platform, right?

My 2mmFS cameo layout Godstone Road is pootling on slowly, but finally being in the last furlong for decorating my home office I've realised I've got a nice space (approx 10' x ≤1'6") for a layout on an otherwise uncrowded wall. It would appear this is a fine space for a Minories-a-like layout. I've always wanted to do a layout of a station set up on arches (as can be seen by my layout planning thread on 'Spa Road'), so it's something of a no-brainer as it pertains to "plans that have stood the test of time". However, I've never operated Minories and I don't know how it would actually pan out for interest after it's all built! Though my space is 10' long, I've provisionally marked my longest train (in 2mmFS) at 3' which should cover six full length carriages and a pacific tender loco i.e. the longest I could conceivably want to run. I won't have space for a full ladder of turnouts in the staging yard (I need to taper one end of the layout down to 6" or so) but could probably deal with a sector plate (not sure I'd want to handle cassettes that big!). I was thinking of taking inspiration from Cannon Street in modelling the station with an overall roof after the throat pointwork/start of the platforms, and using a mirror to hide the truncated nature. If I can get away with it, a small MPD like that at Cannon Street (either just the turntable, ash pit and water tower of the up side, or the full turntable and engine shed of the down side) masking the exit to the fiddle yard. Operationally I imagine the layout will revolve around accepting passenger trains (setting signals, etc.) and having the loco pilot move and remove the carriages, sending the locomotive to the depot for either turning and watering or replacement by another engine on the outbound journey - and repeat. THis is going to sound like a really stupid question -but is this FUN? I ask because my layouts in the past have always been very much aligned to an in-depth operational practise as per American switcher layouts where there's always definite purpose and progression. This sounds like it'll be a super fun layout but I'd be really grumpy if after 15 minutes I'd exhausted basically everything that was to be done!

Looking GREAT!

AH I see - but even in that case how did you keep the sleepers aligned? were you reliant on the friction/gripping force of the chairs ?

All the hand-built track I've made in the past has been done with the paper template stuck to a piece of board and constructed, but I've never actually done a whole layout - so those single boards have existed by themselves and all has been well. Now I've got my pieces finally for some track laying (C&L O-scale materials) and I'm looking to build some track, but I really want to ensure that I can move and remove it onto a layout board in future. I'll be using functional plastic chairs and sleepers so they will have a bit of 'give' in them if unstuck from the board. Is the general gist to use something like pritt stick/double sided tape to get the sleepers onto the template, and only something like sellotape to get the template onto the board? How do I keep the turnout 'proper' while I'm moving it from place to place? Many thanks,