RobertFrench

What a fabulous scene you’ve set. I particularly like the way you’ve compressed a lot of visual interest without overwhelming the eye – it feels right and believable despite potential prototypes likely having quite a bit more space between… well… everything really! Im at the earliest of early stages in thinking of building my own layout and trying to strike the balance between a larger but not unlimited space, a desire to model somewhere familiar to me, whilst allowing everything to ‘breathe’. You might be deliberately retaining the mystery by not showing it, but I’d love to see how you’ve factored in the fiddle yards at the extremities – you’ve obviously got a lot of stuff and I’m interested in how you’re making that work too. Thanks for sharing, Robert

So, er, lots to digest here, thank you! I've had a rough go at @Flying Pig and @The Johnster's suggestions to shift everything Eastwards a bit, to see how it works and check I'm understanding it correctly. This creates the headshunt, towards the Gas Works in the Cranleigh prototype. I'm guessing freight would either arrive from the Horsham direction and 'wrong line' into the siding, reversing back as necessary, or arrive from Guildford, run around, then as before. Looks fiddly in real life but probably quite fun in 4mm. Arguably you could push the whole thing further East to leave some of the platform 'off scene', use the footbridge (if it wasn't obvious, the blue blob is a footbridge!) as a scene break. Might be a bit odd having the east-facing loco 'off stage'…? I think the downside of this approach is losing the level crossing and Knowle Lane, which I've got some connection with (a sad incident in Mum's Mini Metro pulling out from what's now a car park Sainsbury's loading area and in the model will be the platform exit/line to Horsham) and the back scene of Cranleigh High Street… equally rotating it 180º would lose the village setting I'm quite keen to retain. I suspect at the very least I need to get the tape measure out again and see how much space I've got in total. Things to ponder on before I start building. Thanks @AndyB – I've got a copy of the Branch Lines book, which is good for setting the scene, and I'm getting lots of ideas for prototypical rolling stock from shots along the line. I've also got the Pryer Signal Box Diagrams booklet, and have been raiding the Bluebell Railway photo archive! Very few pictures in colour, unsurprisingly but somewhat unhelpfully! Also agree the sidings are probably over complicated – I think I'll remove one of the sidings around the Goods Shed, which will provide a bit more space for loading/unloading/turning lorries. I like @stivesnick's backscene mounts. Will definitely investigate those, as making the backscene removable definitely resolves the access challenges for the return loop… @Innerhome I think the shift and creation of a long headshunt should remove the challenges of shunting on a tight bend, but I clearly need to do some practical work on the off-scene curves to make sure they're not a derailment waiting to happen. On the fiddle yard, this is definitely the least developed area so far, but I suspect creating an additional scene isn't going to be a runner – saying that I might operate it like a terminus (ie consider a platform with run around + some sidings) for the 'play' value, but without dressing it up as such. That said, an earlier sketch of the fiddle yard area did include a turntable to avoid doing the 'crane shunting'… but I suspect all of that will come out in the wash. Thanks for reading, and thanks for the ideas… I can see this activity is in danger of becoming an addiction already… Robert

Wow, that was quick! Thanks folks – instant great advice on the reverse loop – I knew that 'C' I got in O Level combined sciences would bite me on the backside at some point… will investigate further. I was planning on sticking with analogue, as I do have a bunch of stuff that might not be DCC compatible, but I'll definitely give that choice more thought. The non-scenic curves are actually radius 2, so I think would be OK, but it's definitely tight. Possibly a nice-to-have rather than fundamental part of the design… When I first unearthed Dad's old collection – ranging from 70s/80s Hornby/Lima/Mainline stuff through to more modern Bachmann/Heljan/Hornby locos – I bought the Peco radius 1 starter track kit for fun, which instantly caused problems for the newer, higher quality locos, which are the ones I'm most likely to use, so I've avoided anything tighter than 2nd radius anywhere. As @tjf4375 correctly pointed out, I'd figured it would be best to keep the 75 track for just the scenic area to save money – points in particular are much more expensive with the fancy bullhead track. Robert

I've found my way back to model railways, digging out my late father's rolling stock collection, and now having a great space to build something in. I'm really looking forward to learning some new skills around building boards, laying (OO) track, wiring it all up, and then (probably in collaboration with my wife) creating a hopefully realistic scene. Like others, I've been playing with a planning tool (SCARM for me, on a Mac) and feel that a representation of a rural 50s/60s station, currently based on Cranleigh which I know well, fits my ambitions. I've got a large-ish, square-ish office at the back of my garage, that would allow a decent sized 'l-shaped' layout, with a scenic side and a small fiddle yard. The scene would include station, small goods yard, with the high street in the background. I had a brainwave that instead of a 'there and back' (a through station with a dead end, rather than a terminus) I could include a hidden 'return' route… but can see lots of potential issues with access in the event of derailments or whatever, behind the backscene where I won't have easy access. I'd welcome any thoughts/suggestions on how to optimise this set-up (and am robust enough to accept any number of 'don't do that, it's a dumb idea' comments too). If it matters, likely to be a mix of Peco 75 Bullhead for the scenic bits and 100 Streamline for the return and fiddle yard. Platform length is currently dictating overall proportions, trying to accommodate a 3/4 coach train + loco + space to run-round… Thanks in advance for your thoughts, Robert

That's fab thank you! I'd rummaged around the SRS site, but thought the Cranleigh diagrams were in volume 21, which didn't seem to be available and I couldn't find a second hand copy. But I can see that volume 24 includes Christs Hospital to Bramley, which is perfect, so I'll order a copy now. How did your model go? EDIT Scratch that, I've just read about your unfortunate warped boards incident… sorry to hear that! I shall read up on your subsequent exploits with interest! Thanks again, Robert

My first post here, so apologies if this is inappropriate. I’m also planning to model Cranleigh Station, and was over the moon to discover this thread which contains a ton of useful information. BUT. It’s quite hard to interpret some of that information without the embedded images, which appear to have been swallowed by the internet. Is there any way to recover them, or could some kind soul ( @Nick C ) possibly repost them? No worries if it’s not possible - the thread’s 5 years old after all, but I thought I’d ask. Thanks, RF