dseagull

Sounds like you had a good day. I'm fascinated by the research side of planning and building a layout as much as the physical side of it. I have some time off next week and hope to fit in both a trip out towards Litlington to take some general photos, and a trip to Lewes library to leaf through some old trade directories to give me some more ideas for further potential goods traffic.

A couple of days ago I mentioned that I had finalised the plan, at long last. Of course, a layout is much more than just a track plan, something which I feel is sometimes missed - that's why I've generally tried to call it the plan, rather than the track plan, as whilst the track is obviously important, it is how that it fits in with the 'minds eye' vision I have for the layout as a whole, that is more important to me. That leads nicely onto the change - the bay. Most of the variations of the Litlington plan have featured one, as I've long wanted to replicate the rather attractive feature of Hailsham Station, that saw, up until 1885 at least, the cattle dock on the same siding that led to the engine shed. Unfortunately, despite many attempts, I couldn't fit this in how I wanted - it looked too cramped, so it had to go. I then tried taking the bay out completely, before going back to it, and then again trying to fit cattle pens and a shed into the space. That's where that word comes in again - plan. It's easy to draw out a plan on XrrkCad, or even on the back of an envelope, but sometimes, somehow, that doesn't translate well when you have track on baseboard. In my last post, as well as the bay, I mentioned skewing the platform roads slightly. As usual, a picture paints a thousand words, so here then is the final track plan (word chosen deliberately that time!) for Litlington. Apologies for the somewhat ropey quality of this, it was difficult to fit it all in with the tablet camera, but I hope it shows the general arrangement well enough. I've added to this a first mockup of the platform in finest printer paper, - which, now I've cut back the bay line can be extended a little. There is also, just about visible, the floor plan of the station building. This is, as has been mentioned previously, the Station Building from Hailsham. Hopefully it will look something like this photo from the excellent Disused Stations website. The 'bible' for the Cuckoo Line, on which Hailsham station stood, is a book by Alan Elliott, printed by Wild Swan - well worth keeping an eye out for if you have an interest in railways in this part of the country. For the modeller, it has plenty of inspirational photos and also plans of nearly every structure along the line. Unfortunately I have misplaced my copy - but in a moment of foresight, I did scan in the drawings of the station building early on in the Litlington project, so have been able to print it and tape to some scrap cardboard as a mockup to test if it 'fits' in with the plan. You'll have to excuse the 'wonkiness' - the card is really too thin for the job, but it is at least the correct dimensions. I'll be building this from scratch - an early attempt was started before, but looking at it with fresh eyes, I'm not happy with it and will start again. As I mentioned the other night - no rush! Finally for tonight, I've now secured all the wiring to the underside of the board, and hopefully installed the frog juicers correctly, so when I can locate a suitable DCC decoder for the C Class next week, I can have a proper testing session. Once I'm content it works, it'll be ballasting time!

Well, as predicted in my last update, the first running over the layout did occur the following evening, using the bus wires temporarily lashed up to an old Hornby controller. Much to my pleasure, and a little surprise, the whole thing worked perfectly, with my new-to-me (a £60 secondhand bargain!) Bachmann C looking very smooth as she coasted down the gradient into the station, before exploring all the sidings. I fitted the feeds to track through the bottom of the baseboard, using some cut down drinking straws as wiring conduits to avoid potential problems with the foamboard. These were installed by the high-tech method of a large screw driven through the cork, taken out again, and then the hole cleared of any residual foam by poking a screwdriver through it. I then spent the weekend in ponderous mood, namely the thorny issue of point control. I'm undecided whether to power the points or not -I sold off my stock of Tortoise Point Motors a while ago, but if I do, it will be those again - but with the small size of the layout Wire in Tube operation is also a possibility. This also led me on to powering the frogs to aid reliability. This is something I've been particularly lazy with, and haven't done before - causing the unintentional opening of a can of worms on the subject of Frog Juicers, a rather nifty looking (to me!) product from the States which handles most of it for you. It seems to be something of a Marmite product, some love them, some think they are the work of the devil. I've looked into them, and for me, it seems they make a job I'm not keen on (wiring) a lot easier, of course at a cost, but equally so, it's no use having a layout full of beautiful stock if it won't run properly... Late last night I decided to press ahead, and made the simple modification required to one of the points in the yard, so now will need to order a couple of the aforementioned Juicers to get things up and running again. Of course, this morning would be the time the car decides it needs a new cambelt as the water pump is rapidly failng... (and you can't change one without the other) - it may be time to dig through the boxes to see what can be sold off to booster the modelling coffers. These changes have also seen me - finally -finalise the trackplan. I did some mocking up on Saturday - quickly knocking together the shell of a station building from some card from the recycling bag, but when placed in its intended place on the layout the platform looked a little narrow. So - the dock is to be shortened, which rules out an engine shed but will allow for the more realistic livestock pen, and the platform road and runaround have been pulled to the right, rather than going straight on. This has three of outcomes - firstly it buys a tiny bit more space at the front for something to block the scenic exit, the 'skewed' platform road enhances the nicely flowing look, and also it will allow space for a 'proper' station building. I'm at work at the moment, but will add a photo next update to show how this looks. So - continuing to step in the right direction, and a change made which will improve reliability and in all honesty I should have been doing long ago. It's a marathon, not a sprint -there is no rush, and I intend to enjoy the journey

Thanks Gary - I've used them before and they certainly help. My last post may have given the impression that I am somehow proud of lack of soldering ability, and it certainly wasn't intended that way. I would describe myself as aspirational but realistic!

Tonight has seen a productive session on the layout, after a frustrating evening with the soldering iron on Sunday. Soldering is one of those things I cannot seem to get to grips with (that's blown any pretensions of being a Finescale modeller!) and after some soul-searching, I have decided to go with the Peco pre-wired fishplates, at least initially. If I somehow develop the ability to connect a piece of wire to a piece of track using hot metal in the future, I will change it. These though have made life a lot easier for me - tonight I have put all bar three of the feeds in place (modelling time was slightly shortened by a non-sleeping baby this evening!), so tomorrow, all things being equal, could see the first trains trundle across the layout. Talking of the layout, it looks a little different from the last plan... I'm not sure what, but something didn't quite sit right with me about the last variant, so tonight, using the trusty map pins and some boxes rescued from the recycling bag, I went back to mocking up. You can see the gradient has already been put in place, the Woodland Scenics polystyrene profile is, in my opinion superb - it is nicely flexible but strong, and is cut very accurately. It cost less than £6 - and the box contained 6 2' sections. For that price, it is worth the 'time cost' alone to use it! So - what's new. Well, from the Alfriston direction, trains still coast down the gradient but now run into what was previously the runaround loop and is now the platform - the Frubes box represents the station building for now. As before, the loco can cross over the level crossing to run around if required. Goods workings, however, are propelled back into the siding, which has seen a separate siding for coal pens reinstated. The white card (the folded innards of a Mini Rolls packet!) represents a loading platform, on which will sit a Goods Store, as preliminary research has revealed nothing in the local area which could possibly justify a large Goods Shed. The siding running behind the platform will serve either cattle pens (certainly more than plausible as a distinctly agricultural area), or perhaps an Engine Shed with the platform side wall being used to hold up a canopy (as at Hailsham, where the engine shed went in 1885 but one wall lasted until 1968!), or possibly even both (again, at Hailsham Station the cattle pens were on the approach to the engine shed. As before, shortly after the station building is a level crossing, crossing over the lane. By far the biggest change though is the viewing side - it is now switched, giving more space at the 'front' of the layout to play with scenically, although in keeping with the 'rural idyll' master plan, think Greenery rather than industry! I hope I have explained my reasons for yet another change well enough, and thanks for continuing to stick with me throughout the process. You never know, this time next week you might see some trains!

Ready for the Paint shop - the first item of stock built specifically for Litlington. This is a Cambrian (C98) kit of an SECR Van, purchased on something of a whim earlier in the week. I intend to use mostly LBSCR stock, however a fascinating discussion in the Pre-Grouping section on 'Foreign Wagons' - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/92231-foreign-wagons/ - has given me a few ideas, so when I saw this I couldn't resist. It went together in around an hour, and I'm really quite pleased with it. The detail doesn't show up very well here, thanks to poor lighting for photos over my workbench (or our dining table, as the Mrs refers to it ), but I was impressed with it, especially the locking mechanism for the drop-down door. It'll need three-links (in stock) and a coat of paint, but for £7.40, I think it was an hour and the price of a packet of fags and a paper, well spent!

Now that the baseboard is built, things are moving on, and tonight I have been able to get the track out and see if it all fits together as planned. This is always a worry, especially when you are converting an electronic plan to a full-size one, but on this occasion all seems to have gone has planned. As mentioned last night, I'd like to include a gradient, and with a 3/4 inch rise decided on, I was quite pleased to find a CD box (Driving Rock, inevitably! ) which matches the correct height. This then is the layout 'as planned' - on all of these pictures you will have to use your imagination a bit and ignore the detritus around the edge! - the white strip (Peco point instructions!) represents the road, whilst the aforementioned CD box creeps into the scene holding the track at the relevant level. The problem is though, to me, it looks a little cramped. The gradient leading offstage was supposed to be at a visibly different height, but the proximity of the headshunt means, to me, this looks a little silly. Something had to give, and the next incarnation saw a more simple affair with the removal of the engine shed. I was quite happy with this, if a little disappointed with the loss of the shed - which prompted another look. This version moves the set of points leading to the engine shed into the goods shed road - with the headshunt running behind the engine shed as originally planned. I really quite like this version, which is one I hadn't previously considered. I dug some stock out for this one too - the van is sitting on the stop blocks with the siding finishing before crossing the road, the coaches sitting in the platform road and today's purchase of a Bachmann C Class sitting 'on shed'. From the end on view: The advantage of this plan is that there is more of a gap between the main and the sidings, meaning I should be able to make something more of it, from a scenic perspective. As always, I'd be interested in your opinions and thoughts!

Certainly looks very smooth to me Gordon. Currently planning a gradient of my own, but in a smaller space, and as my woodwork isnt a patch on yours I am looking at the Woodlands Scenics incline kits. Talking of little white balls, I've just taken up golf too, but as I am still at the 'driving range and pitch & putt' stage, I wont trouble you for advice on that!

Thanks. The Bachmann model I picked up this morning is about 10 years too late for my intended period, so wondered if this might be an easy way around.

I clocked the 'C Class' in the newsagent on Monday, and then had almost forgotten about it. Until I picked up a secondhand Bachmann C this morning in The Hobby Box, Uckfield for what I considered a bargain at £60. Is it overly difficult to swap the GBL partwork body for the Bachmann one?

Another one now, I thought I had followed long ago though!

I mentioned a few days ago altering the track plan to include a run round, whilst hopefully maintaining a sweeping curve (well, as 'sweeping' as you can get in a 6' Scenic section!) into the station platform. That track plan is, again, below. One thing I've never tried before, but have always wanted to, is to incorporate a gradient into the plan. I tend to plan my layouts and schemes on XtrkCad to avoid the 'optimistic pencil' that I know would result if I tried to draw the plan out freehand, and whilst it gives the opportunity to raise or lower the track, I haven't worked out how to do it properly yet! Inspiration for this is, as usual for me, from a couple of places - firstly the real life location, which gently undulates towards the coast, and from Iain Rice. On page 70 of his 'Layout Design' book (Haynes), Iain discusses Gradients, and shows the plan for his Cade's Green layout, which features a 1 in 42 rise from the end of the platform off-scene. The 'hook' for me was the following couple of sentences: Whilst I didn't want an incline up and over the road crossing, as this is the exit to the coast, where if anything the gradient should be downwards, I quite fancy it in the other direction, putting the main higher than the headshunt/engine shed area. A few calculations later have given me three options. If you look at the above plan, you will see the start of a curve at the 28" mark, which gives me a good starting point. A 1 inch raise would give a steep gradient of 1 in 28, which might be asking a bit much of small locos hauling what, in reality, would be rather heavy loaded shingle trains up from the coast. I next had a look at a 1 in 56 gradient - or a 1/2 inch rise, which would be considerably gentler, but perhaps not give enough of a difference from a scenic perspective. The solution then, is somewhere between the two - 3/4 inch over 28 inches gives a gradient of 1 in 42. This would give a shallower gradient than that ehi h I have previously deemed "too steep" yet also enough of a gradient to make a visible difference. I then decided to look into how I would go about this from a practical perspective, and quickly came across the Woodland Scenics Incline system. As luck would have it, they produce a '3% Incline/Decline Starter', designed to give a smooth rise of 3/4 inch over 24 inches. This would take most of the hard work out of the terraforming using polystyrene blocks, already cut to size. This can be seen here -http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/item/ST1415, and a cursory Google has revealed plenty of UK Stockists at around £6. It would still leave me with 4" to build myself, but as I have an idea for a curved but removable back scene and need a locating point for cassettes, this could be more of a help than a hindrance. I intend to dig the box of unopened SMP track I know is in the cupboard out tomorrow and mock it up, but I would be interested in any thoughts on this or experiences with the Woodland Scenics system. This may also cause a slight alteration to the plan, swapping out the Y Point for a standard medium radius, to draw the headshunt away from the main line, and allow for an embankment, perhaps topped with a hedge or wall, to further enhance the visual separation between the levels. Edit 28/1 10.03; Whilst on the computer paying some bills this morning, I decided to have a quick play to see what changing the point would look like. The resulting plan is below, and I've also marked the gradient in Red to make it clear where it starts.

Thanks Mikkel, I am pleased with the way its gone!

So after posting last nights update I was feeling pretty pleased with myself - I had a nice, flat and solid baseboard which looked good. Impatience, however, then took over - I was keen to fix the end pieces to the boards, so took out a couple of the screws as the sides seemed to be secure. Of course, allowing a couple of hours rather than the 24 recommended on the tube of Gripfill was too soon, and I quickly found I had to put them back. Luckily, no damage occurred and this morning I was able to attach the side pieces and also, again taking the "belt and braces" approach, purchased 4 angle brackets to secure each board to its neighbour on the corners. As per Buffalo's comment on the previous post, I have also added three battens to act as further bracing underneath - two at equal lengths and one at the somewhat roughly-cut end. There is enough wood - purchased for a long since abandoned scheme and discovered today resting in my parents loft, to add more once the track is down and I can avoid points etc. Tonight I have also been able to add cork to the top of the board - this is a personal preference and also I was unsure if my usual method of weathering track - blasting it with a rattlecan of Sleeper Grime - would be suitable on a foam baseboard. Wickes again seem the only local supplier for cork tiles, and they sell them in packets of 9. I'd calculated a total of 10 would be needed, so rather than buy another packet for one tile, I used the offcuts to fill most of the gaps, just leaving space where there will be no track and than can easily be covered with scenery. To go from paper dreams to something physical always feels like a big step, and one I have sometimes struggled to take in the past, so this will go down as a very productive weekend!

Thanks Nick, thats very helpful - I think it is a sensible idea to add some bracing, just in case.

Thanks Don! Changed accordingly!

After the diversions caused by the slight alterations to the plan, the weekend landed today and with it the chance for me to properly begin Litlington (again!) As mentioned I have decided to go along the foam board route, and this afternoon purchased the required parts. The foam board itself is Knauf Space Board Eco - which I recently found out is now discontinued in the UK, however fortunately our local Wickes still had some in stock. They now have two less! General consensus is to add timber around the edge of the foam board, in order to protect it from knocks etc, and I decided the easiest way of doing this was to buy some suitable PSE at the same time. The material itself is nice to work with, certainly easier than the Celotex I used in landscaping on a previous layout. The Space Board came in a length of just shy of 4', hence the second board which was cut to size using an old bread knife. Freehand cutting like this is not my forte, but by the time the PSE is in place and after a little tidying up, it has gone OK this time. Below is the two boards cut to size, with the PSE offered up to it for marking out. Excuse the mess on the lounge floor, I've tidied up now! (One advantage of the wife working evenings is I can get away with this kind of behaviour - well, 4 nights a week anyway!) In order to attach the PSE to the foam board, I've used Solvent Free Gripfill - it needs to be Solvent Free as the typical impact adhesive will do the foam no good whatsoever! As recommended by Re6/6 in his blog here I've screwed the timber to the foamboard too, whilst the Gripfill sets, to save having to use clamps. This final picture then shows the current state of play I'd love to claim it is complete, but for the want of 4 screws, unfortunately the end pieces are still awaiting fixing. Opinions are mixed on if bracing is required - the board itself is 60mm thick - but I think for safety's sake I will add some 2x1, just to be sure. Despite the minor annoyance of running out of screws meaning it won't be finished tonight, I'm very pleased with the way it has gone - this is my first experience with foam baseboards, and so far I would highly recommend it.

I do like the cart, looks very nice. Is it one of the Dart Castings kits?

Is of course, not money, not beer, but Google. In my last post, I mentioned the runaround. All was well and good. I then had an idle moment at work (we have had some IT issues over the past couple of days where our system has stopped working at times!) on Thursday and googled 'run round in goods yard' to see if any inspirational, real-life examples came up. The eighth link was to these virtual hallowed halls, where member jamest of this parish asked for a critique of a layout plan. You can see his thread here; http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/75783-branch-line-terminusgoods-yard-advice/ One of his questions was; The following two responses, from members very knowledgable about these prototype matters were fair, reasonable and balanced - but made it quite clear that this would be considered a major "no-no". So, I stomped my feet, wailed a little (in my head at least ) and tried to forget all about my brief googling session. Of course, I couldn't, and tonight decided to have a quick play to see if I could make a slight adjustment to that 'final' (we've been here before, haven't we?) plan. After a short while, Version 5 was finalised; It adds another point, adds a new platform road, the old platform road becomes the runaround loop and the goods yard now stops short of the road. This is supposed to be rural Sussex, not the ECML, no three-track level crossings here please! This though all looked a little too 'clinical' to me - too clean, too neat, too... straight. So I altered it again. Have a look and see what you think of this. I think of all the plans I've come up with so far, it's my favourite. You'll note two things. Firstly, the separate siding for the coal pens is gone (as it was in v5), but also that I've put the goods shed road at more of a 'natural' angle. Bringing us full circle, and back to the solution - Tonight's amble through Google also took me to Geoff's wonderful Llangullo blog, where one sentence pretty much summed up what I've been aiming for all along. Less (in this case less exotic trackwork and less sidings) can be more. PS; Grammar note - should that be lifes or life's in the title? - That time, Google was inconclusive!

As promised, I've been playing with various plans for a week or so now. This is the latest and, hopefully, final iteration of the smaller 6' Plan. This is the basic version - I've printed out the plan a few times and have been drawing the structures etc on to get the best fit. Starting from the right hand side, the branch curves in, crossing to the left hand side of the board and then heading offstage over a level crossing. The track below this is the headshunt for the goods yard. Heading to the left, we run through two sets of points. The first leads off to the engine shed - this helps to hide the stage exit. Continuing to the second set of points, a 3-way, the right hand exit leading to the platform road, whilst the road straight ahead heads past the goods shed, continuing over the crossing where it joins back.up with the single line to the coast and the shingle loading. The left is a short siding serving coal pens. Three points make it a fairly simple affair, with the oft-used trick of the runaround being completed 'off-stage' to save more space. Passenger services run into the platform, the loco uncouples, crosses the lane and runs round using the goods shed road, runs into the headshunt then back onto.the train before leaving back the way it came. I've borrowed the 'running round in goods yard' idea from Iain Rice's excellent 'Witheridge' plan in the Finescale in small spaces' book. General goods - much the same. What is effectivley a 'double ended' goods yard, albeit one where one end is off the modelled scene, makes life a little easier for shunting. Goods trains run into the platform, are reversed back into the headshunt, and the loco then hauls then into the goods shed road/loop. Loco decouples, crosses over the lane and then runs back through the platform and into the headshunt before taking off any coal wagons and moving them to the shorter siding via the headshunt. Shingle from the coast is simply hauled into the platform road, the private shunter uncouples and runs back via the goods shed road and offstage. By making the board smaller, I've obviously had to make some compromises, and with a desire to keep an open feel to the layout, the river crossing has had to go. I've also had to lose the bay/cattle dock to avoid an overly cramped look. Any thoughts would be welcomed - for now I have an appointment with a sketchpad and some coloured pencils - to try and get some of the visual ideas I have in my head down on paper!

Many thanks - thoroughly enjoyed it