railwolf

The platforms at Penhayle Bay are both 90cms long. The three main faces at Treheligan are 190cms and the branch bay is 130cms.

That is a surprise! They all look quite a bit longer in the photos.

The short platforms are served by local trains often formed of a loco and 3 or 4 coaches (of which 3 fit in the platforms) and by dmu sets. An HST stopping there can pull right around through the tunnel to the advanced starter on the cliffs with coaches 5 - 7 in the platform; up trains can draw up to the starter if required which is a couple of coach-lengths beyond the platform.

Thank you, Gwiwer, for such a comprehensive answer with detailed information on typical consists and station prototypes. It's very helpful having reference points when just starting out and I was curious how small stations dealt with long passenger trains. You answered all my questions and more, many thanks. Oh, and... gnarly kombi, dude!

...a few modellers use another approach to modelling stations too long for their layouts; they model only a small part of the station and have the rest disappearing under a scenic break (say, a road overbridge or a large shopping centre).

Sounds very promising, I shall research this technique further. Thank you for the suggestion, SRman.

Hi, Gwiwer!

Thank you for the excellent photos of a truly inspirational layout. After following Penhayle Bay's progress on Railpage, a site I could never join, I'm here to ask a question on the topic of your latest post.

At both stations, please tell me how long are each of the platforms and what determined the length they should be? Various plans of my own seem to end up all station and little else so I'm wondering what's the minimum platform length a supposed mainline stop can get away with?

Keep up the great work and know your efforts are highly appreciated. I'll be stoked if my layout turns out half as good as The Bay!