pgcroc

Hi All Attached is my latest track plan. To get things moving I thought, as I said before, I would do the green and blue lines first. I have redone the station throats as per Chimer. A little bit of jiggling might still be required due to 2 points being very close to baseboard bracings. I put in a trailing point on the east side of the blue line for 'future' use. Do you think that this is ok and worth doing? Cheers Pete

I Knocked all the 'bumps' off the concrete floor, gave it a good clean and laid good quality carpet tiles. I just stuck the tiles at the edges down after it was laid. As it had skirting boards the tile were slid under to give a good finish.

Hi Jack. I am only going to lay the green and blue lines for the moment. Then I will have a look and a think! When I look at my baseboard there is a lot of room there. It just does not seem like that from the drawing. I have looked at the Westerner link you supplied. TBH I would like to see at least 2 trains running around. I know it is a bit 'trainsetty' but at least there is something moving. Yes Keith, I understand that but as I am not modelling a real railway in a time, (OK 1950's to 1965), or place then I could get away with more unsafe practices. Thanks Chris. If I can get your trackwork in as per your post yesterday then that would leave me with 2 connections local to P4 to decide what to do with later. As I said above I will only lay the green and blue tracks for now, (and not permanently either), and see where to go next. I dare not tell you any of the wild ideas I have in my head Just think, one day this will all be finished, almost. Thanks everybody Pete

@Keith Addenbrooke& @Chimer Many thanks again for your ideas. I will try and redraw my plan again tomorrow. No hardship. Will get back to you with is, what I hope is, the final plan??? (Perhaps except the branch station area). Is it correct that the main goods yard and turntable were typically near to the station? It looks that way from all the layouts, pictures and videos I have seen? Cheers Pete

That's nuts!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Guys Just seen you posts. Busy day yesterday. Chris, this looks very much cleaner, however, I am struggling to get it in. 6 feet from the station ends to just the start of the curves south. I attach a quick plan showing your suggested track layout at the west end of the platforms. There could be a problem with platform lengths. With 6' needed for your track suggestion, 5', (minimum), for the platforms then that only leaves less than 5' for the curves at both ends to turn south. Nowhere as neat as yours but I think you can see what I mean. Are you saying that the branch line should run from a platform to the industry and go back the same way, i.e. no continuous circuit? I was thinking about this after seeing a couple of videos and looking at some pictures. I will probably go back to the wall on the north side of the storage yards. Keith, you have done well to use all the points that I have but I did say I would be willing to get more if required. It's not a deal breaker. For the money have I spent so far it's a small percentage. Many thanks Pete

I assume you mean the loops marked 1-6. To be honest I have not really thought about it. Initially when they were at the top of the layout I was going to have a wall between them and the station area. Now I don't know whether to have anything at all. Something to ponder. Thanks Pete

Gentlemen Yes Keith, I realise that your drawing was an amalgamation of the input given by all the other guys. How did I forget @Flying Pig? You don't get many of those around! I think that the high level line is now a non-starter. It has been wiped from my brain. Zomboid, I have no idea what you mean by this . This shows my ignorance of things railway. I was going to join our local railway club but for obvious reasons this is not possible at the moment. They have quite a few layouts. Cheers Pete

Hi Guys I have not gone away! ( I can hear the groans) The plan has been redrawn al la @Keith Addenbrooke ideas. I have removed all the temporary tracks and am busy levelling, bolting together and finish painting of the boards (underside). Even my wife has 'mentioned' lack of progress on the layout! Must now get on. There are a couple of points that foul baseboard bracings but I think I can overcome that. In the image below I have left out the grid and all the other stuff so it can be seen more clearly. A couple of days ago I put a connection from the green line into the end of P1/P2 for a parcels line. It went in but I don't know how typical this was in the 1950/1960's so took it out again. I intend to get the green and blue tracks down first and test it out before even thinking about the rest. There is a bit of faffing around to get to/from the green line to the purple line. Might need to change something Many thanks to all of you that have helped out, @Harlequin, @The Johnster, @Chimer, @Zomboid. Hope I have not left anybody out. If anybody can see major errors on this n layout or operating I would be grateful to know. Cheers Pete

Hi Guys Not ignoring you but ........ Had another rough day. A Heljan 0-6-0 which I have just received as a replacement for a duff one has blown it's decoder. I think the puff of smoke from the cab was an indication. It was running fine on the rolling road. At the same instant, I assume, my Hornby Elite came up with an error. Can't clear it. Returns to Rails and Hornby are on the cards! Great stuff Keith. I will modify my layout to suit but I think there will be a problem with the points to the north east of the TT. May need changes there. I would probably like operating fun JT. Cheers Pete

Hi Guys I knew it was a little more complicated than a Hornby train set but the workings of a real railway are very complicated, (for me). I never knew it was the deep end! I hope you realise that that was tongue in cheek Keith. Licensee? Had a poor day so far. Lent my car to one of my daughters until she got her new one, (4 kids). Got a phone call this morning, car would not start. Got there, called out RAC, battery finished! It was 9.5 years old. Managed to get to my local garage after a jump start. Relieved of £85. But better than RAC - £140. Then battery died on my phone. Had to set up one of the wife's old phones. Also we are are being locked down at 18.00. Bit miffed today. However tomorrow is a new day. Cheers Pete Now where did I put that corkscrew........................?

Hi Guys Believe it or not but one of my earlier 'designs' had a high level station in the top left corner with 2 tracks running down and eventually coming to baseboard level about a third of the way west of the east wall! It got a bit complicated then to get up and down from the stations I had so gave up on it. Thanks for the explanation Chimer. I shall leave them in, but see what I have asked below. I'm OK with that Zomboid. Keith, you have put a lot of time in on this, but I never thought about throwing a tram into the mix. On the other hand....................... ! So to sum up: I keep both the platforms. The high level automated line is scrubbed. I leave the points, (maybe move the ones on the lift up), and storage tracks at the south side as they are. Look at moving the engine shed to the top right. But wouldn't the TT be near the engine shed? Together with water, coal, ash..? Not a lot of room for all that, or is it OK to have the TT and all the rest elsewhere? I leave room for 'something' to run down from a high level station terminus/tram terminus at a later date. If it is a train track it needs to connect to the main lines. What have I missed? I never thought this was going to be so difficult and complicated. This is enough to turn a man to drink. Cheers Pete

Gentlemen It seems to be the general consensus of most of you to scrub the high level line. Consider it scrubbed. I just thought it would be a fun thing to have trains going backwards/forwards automatically. I did wonder to myself why these trailing points were there on the lift out section. There are trailing points in the bottom right of the storage sidings that, to me, do the same thing. Perhaps I am missing something? Do they have to be anywhere else on the track as @Chimer suggests? I am OK with this TJ. Maybe the TT can go there as well. You are obviously well versed in railway practices so I bow to your knowledge. I always look at all the suggestions I receive. To be very honest this looked very simplistic. Hope you are not offended. I am down to 2 main lines running and would like some shunting 'action somewhere'. Looking at videos, books and pictures there are some very good designs out there but most of them are very small layouts which only contain that or large ones that would not fit on my boards. Is it worth only having one main platform? Been looking at this. Perhaps I want too much at the moment, but it's just because I will never do another layout. Maybe there is a way to do something of interest that lends itself to expansion in the future? If it has to be completely redesigned from scratch I would happily (?) do it. Cheers Pete

Hi Keith Yes, Chester was good. Nice to see daughter and granddaughter again. Weather was excellent. As you probably know, Cardiff is now in lockdown. I live in the Vale of Glamorgan so am not affected yet! But I think it's coming this week. Of course I don't mind. It is very kind of you to take the time and trouble to do this. As I said initially, I know nothing about how a real railway works. That's why it is difficult for me to sometimes understand things. What you have done is very good - I'm impressed! I will print this out and give it some serious thought. You have even put space for a couple of tunnels at the bottom left. SWMBO will be happy. At first glance I am not sure about the high level automatic train line with the extra loops near each station. I know my MERG kit can handle a siding at each station so 2 trains, (railcar and a small loco with a carriage), can take turns on it , automatically changing the points. Not sure about the extra points. I will have to investigate. I am not against buying more points if required. I will draw this up in SCARM as soon as I can. (F1, MotoGP and the ironing beckons today). I assume you are using Anyrail, (which I have a licence for). Once again, many thanks. Cheers Pete

Hi again Guys Sorry, been a bit pushed today with life. I have read and reread the posts that arrived from last night. It is obvious that I cannot change my layout to suit all of them, as good as they are. I do not have time now to redraw and try to fall in line, as best as I can, with many of the suggestions given. I am off to Chester early Sunday morning to see one of my daughters, Covid permitting of course. I will not be back until Tuesday evening. This will give all you guys a rest! What I can tell you is that the blue siding from P1 has been scrubbed. Also the tunnels will be deleted. Just need to make up a reason for my wife. Most of the high level area at the top left will go as well, just leaving enough for my auto trains. I had a road with a 5% slope going up to the high level terminal. Forgot to add the layer it was on to my posted plan. It will now be a road with a bridge over whatever lines are there. This road also goes to the Goods Shed. It was my impression that branch lines were connected to the main lines 'somewhere'. It does not have to be a passenger line but then the access to the Factory/Industry needs to come from somewhere. Another road? Bridge with a bus on top? I have just copied this, turned it through 180 degrees and then mirrored it so I can look at it in relation to what I have. Had a quick stab at drawing it but did not finish it. The difficulty was, as it's a bit complicated, I did not know exactly what points to use, curved, wye, straight, slips........... a bit of trial and a lot of error! I will get there though. Not sure I know what you mean here Chimer. Had to look up kickback sidings. I will have to finish on that note. Possibly a few days away from this may help. Many thanks again, have a good weekend. Cheers Pete

Here you are Zomboid. I have to go out for a couple of hours. Will reply to all the recent posts on my return. Cheers Pete

Hi Keith I don't know very much about Insulfrog points either. It will be looked at. What I meant is that, (sorry I did not make it clear), if the Factory was a Brewery for instance, then the casks would travel by train to the siding North of P1 and be loaded onto trucks that come in on the road from the East. I was not intending to supply the Workshops. Apologies. Stuff for the workshops, (might even have a chip shop there), can come by road. I could change the facing point to a trailing one at the other end of P1. (?) The road will not be straight anyway. I am carp at forming curves with polygons! Thanks for pointing that out. Stuff in the Goods Shed can go by road up to the town in the left hand corner. I could also move the Auto Train line up close to the back wall and flip the siding over. Gives a bit more room North of the stations. You guys make me think. (And it hurts !!!!!) Cheers Pete

Right Guys, I have been into the garage and the first 2 things are: 1) I can move the baseboard bracing at the top left by up to 9" to the left. This is shown by the dotted red line. 2) I can reach the NE corner if a train derails there albeit with, possibly, one hand on the baseboard. A mug of coffee was consumed whilst I sat down there contemplating things. This is what I came up with: Starting with the Branch line station. My main idea to have this was (i) to add a bit more interest, and (ii) for the transport of workers from the big town near the main station, (from P3 or P4.) They will work in the Factory or whatever else I can think of. The short trains arriving there will carry them. At the same time there will be goods trains arriving empty to carry away whatever is made there, (or bring raw materials for production), that is why there is a point near the station. (No idea on what I will do here yet but that's not important at the moment). I am happy with any trains coming from the Branch Station travelling East to just go to P3 and P4. There is no real necessity to go to P1 and P2. Now, the Main Platforms. I think that the only thing here as I have a road coming from the East side towards the Workshops is that there may be freight that needs to be transhipped by road, from the Branch Station, (or raw materials to be delivered to the Factory). This would need the Goods Train to also be able to access P1 travelling West from the Branch Station. I do not think it needs to access P2. Perhaps a short siding off the line to P1 towards the Workshop area may be needed to keep it away from the main UP line. I have put one in, (blue), just to have a look at but it all looks very crowded there so it might not be a good idea. Therefore I think that only the left hand of the main platforms need sorting out. What do you think about that for a story? I have added labels and numbers to the plan to try and make it clearer. Thank you Flying Pig, this is what got me thinking about all the above. All comments, brickbats and criticism accepted with good humour. If it was not for you guys I would not even be this far. Cheers Pete

I've got 27 points on the layout as it is at the moment. This will undoubtedly change. At last count I have 36 points of different persuasions, not all of which will be used. The extra will be sold off as they are brand new. I have around 28 Tortoise motors. Hopefully may not need all of them also. Bought a lot of this stuff over the last 4 years when the layout was just a hope if space could be released by SWMBO. Car sold, space grabbed! Now to the garage! Cheers Pete

Thanks Mr Chuffer I did not search the internet for cheaper ones. Just wanted to get a rough idea of price from Peco. If you have followed this thread you will see that nothing has been finalised yet for my layout. Work in progress. Cheers Pete

Did not know that Chimer, thought Peco only made them in code 75. Read that somewhere. Should have checked! Just looked it up on the Peco site, the code 100 double slip is cheaper than the code 75. Insulfrog though. Thanks Pete

Hi Keith, Chimer and Zomboid A lot of things to consider! No need to apologise Keith. Hopefully with all the suggestions being put forward a final plan can be done. I will print them all out once I can get access to my printer. (My wife is working from home and has bagged it for her 'office' in a spare bedroom). Once I have finished my coffee I will go to the garage and see if that pesky baseboard bracing can be moved at the top left corner. If it can then some woodworkery will have to be done, (at some time), about which I know less than I know about trains. Did I mention somewhere that I am using code 100 and electrofrog points. A Peco single slip, SL E180, is code 75 so you have to use the SL 113 transition piece at each end point. Plus this single slip is over £40 !!!!!! A double slip, SL E1490, is the same, code 75 and over £50! This 'hobby' is very expensive. Back later. Cheers Pete

Hi Harlequin Do you mean these 2 points and the crossing? Cheers Pete

Hi guys This modification has already been done. It's a bit tight in there. I have already taken one section out of the platform. Down to around 5 feet. Should take 5 coaches and the loco. The platforms are from the standard Hornby range that I get in SCARM. They are there as a guesstimation. The intention is to make my own to a width that suits. The track centres going through the stations is 68 mm. This could be reduced to around 55 mm I suppose allowing a bit more width if I extend the other sides as well. While thinking of this I realise that as the station will be an overhead one then the platforms I will probably have make them a bit wider anyway. I will make copies of the layout and apply Keith's second suggestion and then another one with Zomboid's idea. As I said, I will have to look at moving the cross bracing mentioned above to try and give a bit more clearance for the point motors. Can I assume that you are all happy with the tracks and points at right hand side of the stations? Do you know, when I first started to think about doing this, I had NO idea of what was to come and what I needed to know! It certainly is an eye opener. I am grateful to all that have helped me As always, many thanks. Cheers Pete

Thanks Keith, Zomboid and Chimer I will have a look at which suits the layout. Investigation has to be carried out to see if I can move the top left hand bracing under the baseboard first. There are a lot of points in that area. Cheers Pete