Newmodeller96

a few more tweaks to the layout have come up with this this. The writing is just me making ideas about scenery.

I know people say the well in the middle is too small but I’m not going to be operating from there just for access.
 

Any comments would be greatly appreciated!

H

Ok so I think I have cracked what I want on the layout and where I want it. All it took was actually sitting in the space and a visualising it. 
 

so I am thinking of a 4 car EMU depot with 2 main lines next to it.

the top of the layout will have a TMD  and then on the other side of the U shape will be a small branch line terminus. The 2 lines next to the EMU will hopefully go of scene to a helix and under the board to a fiddle yard. 
 

would be great to hear what people think. 
 

thanks

Henry

8 hours ago, Glob-Ally said:

Hi Henry, I’m also a relative newbie (you can see my own thread a page or so further down this board) and so other people are far better qualified than me to comment on your space. But your thread title jumped out at me! Mainly because I can empathise! That’s exactly how I felt a couple of months back. In case it helps the way I broke through feeling overwhelmed was to focus less on the list of features I wanted on my layout and more about how I wanted it to operate. I’ve then been able to work backwards from this in planning. In your posts I don’t think I’ve seen anything about what you think on this front. Will it just be you operating or with others? Do you want to set things rolling and then sit back and watch? Or be actively involved in driving/signalling/shunting? Does it matter to you if something doesn’t look prototypical? Do you mind seeing the same train repeatedly or do you want things to move on and off scene? Do you want a sense of trains going places? Even how long at a time do you want to operate for in one go will be relevant to how small a gap you’re willing to squeeze in to! Based on my own experience I think if you’re able to add a bit on these questions you’ll be better able to get the most out of the fantastic expertise on this forum. I hope that helps some. Good luck!

Thank you,  this has been a great help.

Have done a bit of work this week on how to fit the layout better in the layout. 
 

I have come up with this U shape board that has just enough space in the middle for me to move around. I guess I could also close off the bottom part of the board so that I have space for a full loop layout.

any ideas for how to use the space would be amazing. 
 

22 hours ago, Flying Pig said:

 

Very nice - I wouldn't have thought it would fit the space here but it pretty much does.  Could perhaps be reworked with cribs from Colin Parks' lovely Newhaven Harbour which had a relatively simple trackplan but loads of Southern character.

 

 

 

 

@Flying Pig this is definitely closer to what I was thinking in my head but with a medium sized TMD live on the layout. Thank you :) H

5 minutes ago, Chimer said:

Given your reply to @Zomboid, the whole of the left hand side of the plan is completely out of reach, and there isn't enough room for a sensible operating well down the middle.  I would say the sensible max width for the boards down the left is 750mm ...... the obvious follow-up question is to enquire if there is any possibility of at least a narrow shelf down the far right hand side of the plan to enable you to complete a roundy-roundy, if that features in your thinking at all.  If not, we're looking at a fairly simple 3.3m x 2m L shape with an extra bit (1.1 x .3) tacked on in the hardest-to-reach top left corner.

 

Hope that makes sense ....

Unfortunately I can’t add anything on the right hand side as that is the other side of the loft where we still have storage.

19 minutes ago, Zomboid said:

Do you have access all round that whole space? Or does it have to house both the layout and you?

I have attached another photo of the areas I can access from. The layout doesn’t have to fill the whole space as I haven’t yet made the baseboard.

Hi Everyone. I am very new to modelling but have had a Hornby set for about 10 years. I now have the space to build a layout in my loft. 

However I have had so many ideas that I don't know where to begin with putting it all together to create my layout. 

I have attached a picture of the size of the space that I have. I am modelling in OO gauge.

I think I have narrowed it down to the following that I want to include:

- Period - 1980s - modern south england 

- Mixture of small freight and passenger

- Medium Size TMD / Goods Yard

- Small station big enough for 2/3 car EMUs. 

In terms of location I am easy and just willing to learn all the modelling techniques that I might need. 

Maybe a multi level layout could work? 

Please help as my mind is scrambled at the moment with so many ideas. 

Many Thanks

Henry

12 minutes ago, Zomboid said:

Personally I wouldn't have a perfunctory halt as a terminus for MU trains next to a huge shed. I'd focus on the shed. But that's just my opinion, you don't have to please me.

I’m just happy to hear other people’s opinions as it gives me things to think about.

2 minutes ago, Zomboid said:

How many locos do you have? That looks like it'd house about £20k worth of modern RTR.

 

It's also nothing like Orpington station. So the question i think you should address before playing with Anyrail (or whatever program you use) it's what do you want to do with your model railway?

 

The big shed with tiny station is a modellers cliché that is almost unheard of in the real world. The only one I know of is at Corkerhill, and that's a through station by an EMU depot. I'd avoid it personally.

If you follow through the posts I had decided to move to a TMD. yeah it is going to hold a lot of stock and something I hope to do over the years it takes to build and create. I have modelled this on Finsbury Park and I have stuck the small station on the front for something different. Do you think just stick to the TMD then? 

21 hours ago, ikcdab said:

Now I've seen the dimensions,  I agree with you. Think of the length of (say) a 6-coach train and loco, 1.8m. That's more than half of your longest, 3m, length. I'd have a bit of a rethink and look for a smaller ststion,  or evern just a locoyard or set of freight sidings.

I have had another play! Which do you think would be better?? 

17 hours ago, ikcdab said:

Now I've seen the dimensions,  I agree with you. Think of the length of (say) a 6-coach train and loco, 1.8m. That's more than half of your longest, 3m, length. I'd have a bit of a rethink and look for a smaller ststion,  or evern just a locoyard or set of freight sidings.

So I have had a bit of a play and have come up with this!

The main shed is based on Finsbury Park depot, with the single line station modelled slightly on seaford as it mainly takes 2 and 3 car emu/dmus (that I know of) 

I could do with some help with the fiddle yard and what to do with the bottom of the layout at the end of the lines into the depot.

thanks in advance

Thanks @ikcdaband @RobinofLoxleyany chance you would have an examples of something I could fit in this space?

21 hours ago, ikcdab said:

Very few layouts are built to scale, so suggesting the OP needs 12m is a bit unfair. He was asking for advice on how best to fit the layout into the space he has. A lot of compression will be required, but then virtually all layouts are like that. 

For the OP, i think first you need a plan of the station at the date you are modelling.

Then can you give us a sketch of your baseboards with clear dimensions?

Hi @ikcdab here is a better picture with the dimensions on! I’m really not sure I am going to fit what I am hoping for with getting Orpington on here. I think I am going to have to change my ideas! See what you think. Also thought of the possibility of having a fiddle yard under the layout? 

The dimension in the top left is 820mm

Hi Everyone, as @ikcdabmentioned I was never looking to directly model Orpington but more how I could compromise the plans so that I can make it work in the space I have. 

Sorry for a couple of omissions i made in my original post. Yes I am modelling in 00, and no I don’t have access from both sides just from the end and the “inside” edge of the layout. 

Thanks

H

Hi Everyone,

So I have decided to model Orpington Station in its 1980s-1990s British Rail / Network South East running period. 
 

I am wondering if anyone can help me to fit as much of the attached plan as possible onto the attached baseboard plan? I keep trying but am struggling. I was thinking of putting the stations on a curve so that they finish at the top right of the baseboard, also I wasn’t going to include the area around the turntable on the left of the picture.

Also does anyone have any imagery of that era in orpington would be amazing! 

Any help much appreciated.

H

So, I have spent a bit of time on the plan for this over the afternoon and have come up with this and wanted to get some opinions. I have take a bit of Folkestone harbour, ramsgate TMD and the aggregate terminal at Newhaven!

This is rough and by no means final just I have so many ideas that it’s hard to bring what I can together!

just wondering what people thought! 

13 minutes ago, phil_sutters said:

Newhaven now has two aggregate terminals - one at North Quay beside the line to Lewes and a new one at East Quay, served by a line running through the former Marine station. Both have 66-hauled rail services. I have seen but not photographed the East Quay train. Newhaven has a ferry service with roll-on-roll-off lorry traffic. There is no general goods traffic carried by rail. Unfortunately its EMUs are mainly 313s, with 377s only used when when the Seagulls have a home match (with spectators!) at Falmer.

Here are photos of the North Quay operation.

Thank you so much Paul, tad much as I don’t think I will be replicating a specific place now as I want too much in a space this is soo close to that I want to be modelling. 
 

thankks

h

@Geep7 thank you for your tips.

I can’t get to the back of the layout unfortunately as I am in a loft space. I was thinking of somehow having a fiddle yard under the layout? Is this possible?

I like your idea to switch the harbour to the back and mix Folkestone and rampage together, this is something I hadn’t thought about but is exactly what I want.

in terms of era I think I’m going to be looking at more modern/present as I have a class 66 freight train that I want to use and am looking to buy a 4 class modern EMU. 

Ok so I have come up with this. It is a fictional industrial harbour scene with a small terminus station. I’m hoping that it will take a 4car EMU unit into the station if I have planned the sizes correct.

there is a large sorting yard next to a container ship. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. 
 

Loft harbour yardlayout.pdf

Hi Everyone, So this is the space that I have to model on. Any ideas for what i could fit in the space in 00 would be great. H

New track designlayout.pdf

Wow this decision making is harder than I thought

Thank you all. I really need to do more research before making a decision.

I think my biggest problem is I don’t know if I want to model a station or goods yard, and what era I want.

Any more tips still welcome

Hi, 

I am new to serious modelling as I now have a new space that I can create a proper model. 
 

I am based in Kent and originally wanted to create the Ramsgate maintenance depot however I just don’t have the space.

Any tips on a Kent location that I could model in a l shape loft layout 15 ft x 3 ft roughly. The L will be about 6ft. I am modelling with 00 gauge.
 

I am thinking Sevenoaks could work.

Looking forward to any tips.