howardb

Sunlight rarely is from straight above, so standard down lighters don't replicate this & will make the layout look dead, You would be better using something like these tracked lights from Amazon - the other advantage is that they can be wired direct to the existing ceiling rose. https://www.amazon.co.uk/SEARCHLIGHT-WHITE-TRACK-LIGHTING-LIGHTS/dp/B0168TBGLS/ref=sr_1_1?s=lighting&ie=UTF8&qid=1509715040&sr=1-1&keywords=track+spotlights They want to be aimed in the same direction so the shadows match on the layout & probably just behind the line of your head. A typical beam angle is 30-40 degrees so if the distance from the centre of the spot to the aiming point on the layout is 2m then the lights should be at about 1.2m apart. Also think about the colour of the lamps. I suggest something between 3800 & 4800k, but this will depend on the time of year you are modeling. Something colder, 4800 - 6000k would probably be suited to a snowy winter scene. Fluorescent strip lights are probably better if you prefer an overcast, shadow free model

Chimer and SG. Thanks for your ideas and I needed to redraw the fiddle yards before replying. The dead end sidings are shown the wrong orientation on the "original" layout sketch but this has no effect on the dimensions As you will see from the drawing below, based on the suggestion by SG the fiddle yard lines are about 25mm shorter than the original design however by moving point "A" off the main board onto the lift off section across the door, it gains about 200-250mm by allowing the point to form the first part of the curve . This is worthwhile even though I will need to be very careful in the construction and location dowels for the removable section.

I didn't fully understand SG's suggestion at first but have looked at it again and unfortunately the overall effect is to reduce the fiddle yard length of all the loops by some 290mm, so a good idea but not suitable for my application The main service on the line was by H class tanks plus C / O class for the goods trains. P class, D/E/L class appear to have been used on specials and there is also a picture of a River Tank! However during emergencies when the lines at Folkestone Warren or Smeeth were closed trains were diverted through the Elham Valley, which gives me an excuse for an occasional running of Schools / King Arthurs. The loco lifts are for the H class tanks which run most of the services, and any other engines will use the turntable. Its not ideal but it allows me to reduce handling. I agree that the roads from the turntable need to be as long & as many as possible & this will be finalised after I sort out the turntable. The scenic area will be tweaked to ensure that the engines do not appear on stage .... Cheers Howard

Many thanks for the ideas and I have modified the fiddle yard design considerably based on your suggestions. Here is my final plan which shows the complete layout

Thanks for all the comments. My real concern is the throat design at the entrance to the yard as my experience using double slips (not Peco I should make clear) has resulted in a lot of derailment problems. I hadn't considered using loco lifts - there is a stock lift at the bottom of the drawing (the length of line surrounded by a purple box) which will take three carriages and a tank engine - but I will have a close look at loco lifts at the end of most of the lines as this would be much easier to operate than the complex controls required for automatically moving the engines around the trains. The number of lines in the yard is matched to the service on the line. On a normal day there were 12 services which require a reasonable amount of stock & from the timetable this required at least three carriage sets. The 4 no red lines are for the daily passenger services - 2 x 3 car birdcage stock pulled by H Class tanks, a separate shuttle service Dover/Elham which only runs first thing in the morning. This was a steam railcar originally, but by the mid 20's this had been swapped for separate carriages. In the absence of any records I plan to use the P class with a two coach push pull service. I may use the final line for the odd light engine movement or Wickham trolley (a recent Southern Way article shows that the Elham valley line was the first SR line to use them, but unfortunately there are no photos) The 2 no blue lines are for the up and down goods which are likely to have quite different composition. The up service will collect sheep from the local market loading bay which, unusually, is located on the main up line about 200 m before the station itself. The up service will also include the coal deliveries. The down service will usually include the horse boxes since the horse bay can only be accessed easily from the down line. The 2 no green lines are for two typical specials that regularly operated. The passenger specials were 5/6 coaches long and sometimes included a Pullman car pulled by a 4-4-0 D1 or similar, but just as important to this line were the annual sheep sales when a dedicated train of cattle trucks would collect the sheep. Records show that this could be more than 40 trucks long, but I will make do with the 20 or so that will fit in the fiddle yard. The suggestion of a second turntable is a very sensible idea, but not possible due to space restrictions. I will probably keep the single turntable shown, but mainly for engine storage Cheers Howard

I am working on a fiddle yard design using CAD so would appreciate a review by all you experts. The station is a small two track line in the Elham valley & I am trying to get the best of both worlds - a roundy round plus the ability to operate it as a point to point layout with trains changing direction in the yard. My main concern is the use of a double slip at the entrance to the yard in both directions. Fiddle yard track will be Peco OO

My plea is for John to produce a version of the TX37 cream clapboard in Southern Railways / Southern Region yellow. Most most Southern stations there were wooden building made from this so it would be very much appreciated by all us Southern modellers.

I am building model of Lyminge Station as it was in the 1920's before the line was singled by the Southern Railway. I used Xtrcad to assist with plotting the curves, and so far have completed laying the track. I am posting regular updates on the Southern sub-forum.

This is a link to my 4mm model of lyminge station http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/59547-elham-valley-railiway/