Drayton Goods - EM or P4

[josh993]

“Drayton Goods †A project that could well be my next, Based around the former Goods Yard at Drayon on the Great Northern with a loop for added interest, and designed to be a trial in EM or P4. Using primarily Class 31's however there may be a slight scope for an 08 (as I want to try re-wheeling an outside crank so it doesn't seem I'm taking the easy option by doing diesels) and possibly a few steamers, but this will be decided later on.

 

For the period I'm modelling the yard was mainly used for sand Traffic with the odd addition of coal, however as the yard didn't change much, this could be modelled earlier if I wanted to.

 

The plan has been altered slightly from the prototype to include a run-a-round to add to operational interest.

 

 

The fiddle yard, although not totally convinced yet will probably be a traverser around 3ft long, left from the line on the above diagram around 1/3 of the way in from the right hadn side

 

The main Reason of this project is: Personally I don't think you can knock something until you try it.

I would like somewhere to try out DCC and possibly sound,

 

There is a small place within my room which I believe the model could fit into which is 8ft 3 wall which means one end can be 2ft wide and the other end up to 3ft, I am still not totally decided on which gauge to go by but I'm sure over the next few weeks this will become clear the more I look into it.

 

I think this plan Could fit into the Challenge Entry requirments, however I am not going to chnage things to make it fit the entry requirements, it will just become a layout thread. With the scenic section being 5ft by 2ft (excluding the curved backscene) and the traveser being 3ft long by the width of two tracks - it should fit.

[Allegheny1600]

Hi Josh,

Looks like it could be an interesting project - go for it!

As to gauge, i'm just slowly starting out in EM myself and its really good and enjoyable but i went to Scalefour North yesterday and what those guys do is amazing and would probably suit a "challenge" layout very well.

Wishing you well with it,

John E.

[James Hilton]

Good luck. So far I've found P4 to be good fun - yet I've not actually built any point-work yet! I have re-wheeled a Hornby Pacer (for one project) and started building my first etched brass kit (for the other). I like to push my abilities from time to time and found the idea of EM/P4 to appeal in this respect... I ended up with P4 as I thought if I'm going to give fine-scale a try I may as well go the whole hog!

[chrisf]

"I don't think you can knock something until you try it"

 

Wise words, Josh! The plan you have posted looks to be relatively simple to build but interesting to operate, an ideal combination. Even in that small set-up there is plenty of scope for trying different ideas.

 

James and 6026: P4 can be good fun in my limited experience but sometimes it depends how easily you are amused. I was at Scalefour North on Saturday and came away with some inspiration and a wee bit of reality check. I'm having "fun" with a ply and rivet point at the moment and after what happened yesterday - don't ask - I feel a lot better about trying the P4 Co turnout kit that is sitting there looking at me defiantly.

 

Chris

[Sam '43003' Tanner]

That's a decent, achievable project to aim for Josh. Nice one.

 

From the various times the question has been asked, "EM or P4.?", EM seems to be a decent first step into the finer scales. The 3-way turnout looks like it will have to be handbuilt whichever gauge you take, so I'd use that as a reason to try something new. If it does put you off however, an albeit expensive option would be to contact Marcway. They produce R-T-R turnouts in EM and can make turnouts to your own specifications. As I say, it's an expensive route to take, but worth it if your not quite ready to attempt hand constructing them.

 

After your previous layout (I apologise, I forget the name.! ), I shall be watching this with interest should it be constructed.

[josh993]

Thanks for the comments guys,

 

Good luck. So far I've found P4 to be good fun - yet I've not actually built any point-work yet! I have re-wheeled a Hornby Pacer (for one project) and started building my first etched brass kit (for the other). I like to push my abilities from time to time and found the idea of EM/P4 to appeal in this respect... I ended up with P4 as I thought if I'm going to give fine-scale a try I may as well go the whole hog!

 

Hi James,

 

Always found your projects very interesting even though I'm not a modern image man but they still seem to inspire me

 

As for " I ended up with P4 as I thought if I'm going to give fine-scale a try I may as well go the whole hog!" this is still what I seem to think, as if I do EM I feel that once I've finished the project (if it goes ahead) I feel like I've only half A**ed it

 

 

That's a decent, achievable project to aim for Josh. Nice one.

 

From the various times the question has been asked, "EM or P4.?", EM seems to be a decent first step into the finer scales. The 3-way turnout looks like it will have to be handbuilt whichever gauge you take, so I'd use that as a reason to try something new. If it does put you off however, an albeit expensive option would be to contact Marcway. They produce R-T-R turnouts in EM and can make turnouts to your own specifications. As I say, it's an expensive route to take, but worth it if your not quite ready to attempt hand constructing them.

 

After your previous layout (I apologise, I forget the name.! ), I shall be watching this with interest should it be constructed.

 

As for Point work I've tried the Copperclad method and Timber sleepers with C&L chairs on my test track, so I'd feel fairly confident on building it with this second method.

 

 

At the moment I am currently trying to work out baseboard designs, I have read a few books on the topic from Iain Rice and there seems to be many methods of doing so, and would like to make them as light as possible and was wondering if anyone here had any advice or suggestions before I post a help topic. I plan to have the back scenes as tall as I can get them around a 1ft or higher with curved corners. I am also planning on having slightly curved baseboards as you can see from the original diagram and wondered what people would suggest for lengths of boards, the scenic at the moment works out at 5ft; would this be too long for the main board? (as I'd prefer not to put a break in the scenic board.) I was also wondering if anybody had any suggestions/pictures/diagrams etc on how to make baseboards portable including folding away legs for car transport and storage (I have trestles if not, but would save room in storage or transportation.)

 

The final thing I’m looking at is the fiddle yard as it will be a Sector plate or traverser. This is because I would like to keep stock handling to a very minimum. I could have a 3 or 4 road turntable(360) fiddle yard or if I choose to use a 1 or 2 road sector plate or simple traverser I will make storage sidings under the back left of the layout as this will be a hill and plenty of height and width for 2 sidings. To be able to have trains facing the right way for this method I would make the back siding under the hill as a removable cassette to turn stock around.

 

Any suggestions would be most appreciated