Marcuspaints Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 I'm just returning to OO gauge in my retirement, after deciding that the winter weather these days is getting too wild to enjoy my G Scale Garden Railway as much as I used to, so needed a small indoor project that I could do in the comfort of a centrally heated room ! I know most of you will be familiar with the Rev P.H. Heath's "Piano Line" and like many others I'm using it as the starting point for a 5' x 2' OO gauge shunting layout and have come up with the following plan. .. I'm from the westcountry so this will loosely be based on a small harbour with goods traffic and the local autocoach, a layout more for fun than true to prototype and with the slightly deeper 2 foot format I have a little more scope for landscaping and detail modelling. In the front is the low harbour area rising up to the tracked area, station, goods and station facilities with the line exiting top right through a tunnel where a hidden cassette system will operate... OK, so that's the rough idea and below is the track plan and I'd be very grateful if you chaps could pass your eyes over it and see if I've made any obvious gross errors or whether you can see where it could be improved... It's a fairly standard design concept I know but this is where I'd rather make the mistakes, rather than when I've got track down ! Oh and nice to be here, as you can see this is my first post... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted June 7, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 7, 2014 The space available to run round looks very tight - how much will it hold? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcuspaints Posted June 7, 2014 Author Share Posted June 7, 2014 I suppose the answer is , not a lot ! I can try to pinch a bit from the staition and that depends on measuring acurately what room the autocoach will take up, but that bay will also hold outgoing freight so I need it as long as possible. It's all a question of swings and roundabouts I suppose but I dont really need a large passing loop as I wont be ruuning around long carriages.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire2865 Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 I would increase both the runaround and the headshunt. Does the track to the upper left go anywhere or does it end there? If you have more space, you may want to extend it to the right, increase the headshunt and runaround and maybe put another siding to the right? That could give more use for the runaround and would force you to use the runaround more efficiently. (Better shunting puzzle, I think). Looking at the plan again, you may be able to fit another point in the headshunt which would give something to the somewhat empty right side. Would be a better spot for an engine shed I would think. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcuspaints Posted June 7, 2014 Author Share Posted June 7, 2014 The track terminates upper left, so that bay length is determined really by the autocoach or possibly just an 0-6-0 with one coach which I think would still fit in that runaround . Squeezing an extra siding to the right is a possibility though, I will have a play with the design and see what I can come up with but I'm hoping to leave some room for some scenic work.. ... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidH Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 It's a nice compact little design, and you haven't done what happens to my plans all the time ... get more and more ambitious until you scrap it as unworkable and start again. But if I may make a few suggestions - - do you need a tunnel? The extent of the facilities you have doesn't really suggest a line where the expense of tunnelling would have been worth the bother. Why not disappear between buildings, through a narrow street perhaps? The sort of thing Iain Rice advocates. - then the cassette can be behind buildings not difficult to access under a hill - the station is so small a signal box might be overkill. You could replace it with a platform lever frame, or something quaint like the Daggons Road box (there are images online) - your runround could go through where the signal box is, and join the line where it dives into the buildings - curve the front of the layout to follow the quayside Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
11B Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 Hello Marcuspaints, and welcome. I quite like this plan in the small space available, and given the advise/thoughts so far..... You may be able to get a few more inches of track by adjusting the angle of the track on the board i.e. move it up at the left hand corner, and down at the right hand corner, so you use the diagonal length of the board to it maximum. I look forward to seeing how this will develop. Kind regards Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted June 7, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 7, 2014 My suggestion would be to consider replacing the engine shed with an additional goods facility of some sort, as engine sheds don't offer as much operational value as you might think they're going to. You can always assume that the engine was shedded at the other end of the branch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frappington Jct Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 I like the plan, looks like it will be a lot of fun! However, as the entry/exit line comes directly into the platform, any trains wanting to access the goods facilities are going to have to be shunted around a lot and -because of limited head shunt space - are going to be fairly short. Perhaps to overcome this you could rejig the layout slightly so that it's at more of an angle as suggested above and then use the current head shunt on the right as the entry/exit road? This would mean you could extend the passing loop and them maybe use the current entry line as a stabling point to open up space for a goods shed or similar where the current engine shed is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Grafarman Posted June 7, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 7, 2014 I would move the platform to where the signal box is, putting the station at the back of the layout, getting rid of the box as suggested already, and move the runaround point a foot to the left to give more length. This gives much more room towards the front of the layout for goods etc - the yard looks a little cramped at present IMO... David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
maunsel Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 I like this idea. A small harbour side terminus nestled somewhere in GWR territory by the feel of it. There may be some mileage in a mirror image station, as currently the bay platform is a bit of a pig to get into. I've had a bit of a play on AnyRail with Peco OO Setrack and have come up with this:- Apart from that, and moving the engine shed it's basically the same trackwork. I'll be watching with interest. Regards Eric Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcuspaints Posted June 7, 2014 Author Share Posted June 7, 2014 Thanks chaps !... Lots of ideas there, some that I really think make important points.... Back to the drawing board and then I'll be back with a revised plan, if I can get itto work ... :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivercider Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 Welcome to the forum. That looks interesting, scenically are you taking inspiration from the Plymouth area? The Cattewater/Turnchapel/Yealmpton branches offer small trains, tight curves and tunnels and quays, cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJS1977 Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 Maybe "disappear" the headshunt behind a building or ship - it would suggest that the line goes on further to another part of the docks or some other industry. You might even be able to put a cassette there as well or just use a Peco loco lift - long enough for a small shunter and two wagons. As regards the loco shed - I'd keep it. Given the short platform road and runround loop I'd suggest it would be useful to have a dock shunter based there which can collect the wagons once the train engine has brought them into the bay platform. The train engine can then park on the "main line" (i.e. back in the fiddle yard) until the shunter has assembled the return working in the platform. In fact,if you're happy for all passenger workings to be autocoaches or railcars, you could forego the runround loop altogether! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcuspaints Posted June 7, 2014 Author Share Posted June 7, 2014 The Cattewater/Turnchapel/Yealmpton branches offer small trains, tight curves and tunnels and quays, It's certainly that sort of feel that I'm after, nowhere specific but it should be possible to get it looking like a small part of Devon that had typical coastal traffic coming in and out and then perhaps turned Preservation, so as to allow an eclectic mix of stock . :-)... It's why I've gone for two feet wide, unlike the original Piano Line, so as to get more scenics in to set the place as Devon.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcuspaints Posted June 7, 2014 Author Share Posted June 7, 2014 As regards the loco shed - I'd keep it. Given the short platform road and runround loop I'd suggest it would be useful to have a dock shunter based there which can collect the wagons once the train engine has brought them into the bay platform. The train engine can then park on the "main line" (i.e. back in the fiddle yard) until the shunter has assembled the return working in the platform. That's exactly what I had in mind, a resident small dock loco busying itself making and breaking trains interupted by a local small passenger service running an infrequent timetable to a larger mainline station, for tourists and locals going to a larger town. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJS1977 Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 Also - not to sure about the position of the buses - there doesn't appear to be a reason for them to be parked there. I'd be tempted to move the loco shed to the right by about its own length and park the buses where the shed used to be so that they're convenient for the railway passengers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcuspaints Posted June 7, 2014 Author Share Posted June 7, 2014 Also - not to sure about the position of the buses - there doesn't appear to be a reason for them to be parked there. ..... You're right and I had already made up my mind to substitute a boat park there.. typical of the sort of small boats found on some quays.. So that looks like a lot of small boat modelling I've go to do... :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJS1977 Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 A few pictures here of a harbour line (disused track beyond Fishguard Harbour station) if they're any use: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53027759@N05/14318254895/in/set-72157644540386298 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcuspaints Posted June 8, 2014 Author Share Posted June 8, 2014 Thanks for that, great photos and those two buildings are impressive pieces of architecture ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
clecklewyke Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Very nice, but think the run-round loop is too short. Why not try one of the tricks advocated by Iain Rice, which is to only model one end of the run round, the other end being "In" the fiddle yard - i.e. have double track to the fiddle yard, with both tracks ending on a traverser (or my choice) cassettes? I wish I could remember the name of the layout where this was first used. It'll come! (I wish there was an emoiticon for senility!) Otherwise I like the feel of it - very like my Humber Dock, except my track plan was simpler and I left out the passenger station. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcuspaints Posted June 8, 2014 Author Share Posted June 8, 2014 That's a great layout Ian and very evocative, I'm hoping that I can get the same "feel" of a Devon harbour on mine... I've done a fair bit of boat modelling in my time so I'm hoping to produce a fair facsimile of an inshore fishing boat to pop against the harbour wall, but that could take a fair bit of time in itself !... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted June 8, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 8, 2014 I do wonder whether a 3 way point could be the way to give yourself extra space here. Either using one at the end of the loop to extend the head shunt a fraction, or combining the 2 points for the sidings / engine shed in to one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcuspaints Posted June 8, 2014 Author Share Posted June 8, 2014 I did have a bit of a fiddle about with a three way point bu couldn't come up with anything that worked properly though I'm happy to have another go as I do see your point.... watch this space,, :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
clecklewyke Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 I wish I could remember the name of the layout where this was first used. It'll come! (I wish there was an emoiticon for senility!) Llanastr! The memory is fine - it's just the recall I have problems with! Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.