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Who’s Stan?

After my last rambling post I’ve not done much more, other than occasionally stare at the track plan. I’ve also got the base boards 99% complete.

I now have the two 700×300mm boards, which are bolted together in the middle by two M6 bolts and wingnuts. Originally I was going to use M8 bolts, but I drilled the holes a bit off-centre from eachother. M8 bolts resulted in an un-even join. Enlarging the hole was a bad idea. However, the M6 bolts have just the right amount of play to make everything fit nicely. The three leg pairs I’ve built are also attached with the same bolts. I’d messed up building them, and spaced them the same width as the frame. This means the legs didn’t go nicely under the frame. However, one side will go under, and the back will go outside the frame. It still fits, so it works for me! The M6 bolts again allow for my wonky drilled holes to align properly.

Both boards are topped off with cork now, and align beautifully. It looks like one piece until turned over! I know from last time that as long as I make sure to include a spacer between the boards when laying the track join, it’ll all fit spot on once cut through. I’ve also made sure to mark up on the top side where the screws are holding on the ply, so I don’t try fixing through them (another thing I encountered last time).

As base boards go, it’s not going to win any prizes, but I think it’s a vast improvement on the last ‘attempt’.

Pictures will follow…

As for the track plan, this is what I have so far:

The blue shaded section is a hidden ‘off-scene’ section for a fiddle yard. It uses code 80 track. I intend making one or more of the tracks go off onto a cassette storage system. That can come later though.

The section in front of it will be a fuelling area probably. A through line will probably end at a dead end for now, with a view that it could be extended off-scene in future.

A bridge viaduct provides a scenic break to allow trains to disappear into the non-scenic area, or move into the fuelling area. This will feature under-arch shops.

Next at the back right, we have a small motive depot of some description. It has no headshunt visible – we can pretend that’s off scene or something.

On the far right we have a bridge/retaining wall thing. The bridge will cover over the end of the platform, and hide the fact the tracks don’t go anywhere (yet). It provides for future expansion again.

As mentioned, there’s an island platform. I’m considering a bay platform on the lower track, turning it into a siding. A station building could then sit in front of it.

The white areas are, as yet, undecided in terms of function. Indeed, the area above the blue fiddle yard will probably end up with something on top of it. I’m considering a retaining wall along the front of it (to hide it) so something sitting on top could be plausible.

I think it’s a pretty workable layout idea. It’s not exactly prototypical, but I think it gives scope to play around. I came to the realisation I don’t have the space to run long trains at speed. Short trains shuttling in and out will have to do! Besides, this is small, and very manageable. It gives room to spend lots of time on small features, without the feeling of having a lot to do to attain a good result.

I have a tendency to lose interest in some things if it drags on too long, as there was just too much to do on the previous plan. This is a lot more manageable. So much so I can break it into halves and work on part at a time.

Tomorrow I’ll lay out the track as much as possible, and make sure things fit. All going well, I’ll get on with laying track properly next. I just have to be happy with it.

I’ve been off work the last couple of weeks. One of the main things I intended on doing was spending a week on the model railway, catching up on things and getting it going. The other week was to be spent tidying up and doing random jobs.

I joked to a colleague before I went off on leave that my ‘plan’ wouldn’t come to fruition. My first week was spent tidying and clearing out rubbish as I’d planned. The second week was spent buying a new TV and other random things.

A couple of times I looked at the base board and every time I did just considered it a big job I couldn’t be bothered with. I quickly realised the layout was far too big for a ‘re-beginner’ like me. I should have started much smaller. Because I’d based the initial layout plan on the size of the sheet of ply I’d purchased, it’d started off far too big anyway, and just snowballed from there.

Plan B formed quickly after deciding I couldn’t be bothered with doing the work I’d planned. The idea was to create a small-ish diorama with some Scalescenes bits, which I could cut my teeth on. I drew a quick ‘impression’ of what it would look like.

A simple viaduct with a couple of tracks running along it, and various backdrop buildings.

I set to work hacking up some spare ply to make a base. The resulting base was 700mm wide, and 300mm deep. The under support was the simplest I’d built, being simple butt joints, screwed and glued. I also simplified screwing the top on, as previously I’d been faffing about trying to screw up into the ply, rather than down into the wood.

Having built a base, I set to work building the viaduct and shops. Having built a couple of arches and the shops to go under them (a bit of kitbashing was required for this), ideas started forming about building a whole new layout, using this base as a starting point.

Out came the tape measure, and I’d quickly settled on the idea of having two identical boards side by side. These will be bolted together in the usual fashion, but also free-standing. The previous layout had no decent support, and was warping and sagging all over the shop. It was causing trains to derail when I ran them.

So basically the new layout is going to be 1400mm wide, and 300mm deep. Granted, that’s not a lot! But it will include a hidden fiddle yard, and I’m considering building in a cartridge fiddle yard as an addon. The whole thing will be capable of storing out of the way though, so it should keep clean, and it’ll be small enough to work on and look after.

I have track plans coming, and layout design on the way, which I’ll post up soon. Tomorrow I’ll build the second base board and the legs though, so I’ll be ready to start.

The original design was doomed to fail really. Poor planning, and my over-enthusiasm were my own undoing. If I’d spent a while longer working up a plan, and deciding what I actually wanted to do, then I’d have been OK. Having seen so many other layouts since, and read various bits and pieces, I spent a lot of time thinking ‘why didn’t I do that?’.

Still, it’s a new beginning. Exciting stuff!