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My 00 Gauge layout - Oldmoor Junction Model Railway

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MotCO

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Haha :D I thought Oldmoor was a nice little quite town too - turns out the population get up to all sorts!


Oh yes - I forgot that last bit. ;) This being FGW, though, the delay repay was about 5p - or as Mrs Miggins calls it, a shilling.

-Peter

Don't worry - in about 18 months' time, GWR fraud department will be asking if you are certain that the particulars of the delay repay claim were correct, or if not, pay it back with a £10 fee. :D
 
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Cowley

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Don't worry - in about 18 months' time, GWR fraud department will be asking if you are certain that the particulars of the delay repay claim were correct, or if not, pay it back with a £10 fee. :D

God I’m sticking with the 1980s and surly BR staff. You knew where you were then (broken down in the middle of nowhere behind a class 50 usually).
 

Peter C

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Don't worry - in about 18 months' time, GWR fraud department will be asking if you are certain that the particulars of the delay repay claim were correct, or if not, pay it back with a £10 fee. :D
Haha - brilliant :D
Mrs Miggins doesn't seem to like decimalisation though, so that would be about 200 shillings (I think that's right).

God I’m sticking with the 1980s and surly BR staff. You knew where you were then (broken down in the middle of nowhere behind a class 50 usually).
Love it :)
Although broken down behind a Class 50 would still be nice I suppose - better than stuck in a 153 or IET...

-Peter
 

reddragon

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Haha - brilliant :D
Mrs Miggins doesn't seem to like decimalisation though, so that would be about 200 shillings (I think that's right).


Love it :)
Although broken down behind a Class 50 would still be nice I suppose - better than stuck in a 153 or IET...

-Peter
Peter

You really do not know how great it was pottering along in Marks 1s or sometimes Mark 2/2As behind a 25,26,27,31,33,37,40,45,47,47,50 on some lightly loaded X country train with a buffet car
 

Peter C

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Peter

You really do not know how great it was pottering along in Marks 1s or sometimes Mark 2/2As behind a 25,26,27,31,33,37,40,45,47,47,50 on some lightly loaded X country train with a buffet car
Now that sounds like a great day out. The engine and the buffet car being the main things for me! :)


-Peter
 

Cowley

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Now that sounds like a great day out. The engine and the buffet car being the main things for me! :)


-Peter

They certainly were good times. It’s really nice to see people like yourself taking an interest in both the old and the new with your love of steam and old diesels as well as the modern stuff.
 

Peter C

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They certainly were good times. It’s really nice to see people like yourself taking an interest in both the old and the new with your love of steam and old diesels as well as the modern stuff.
I've always had an interest in steam - steam came before diesel for me (and to be honest, it still does - I'd prefer steam over diesel on, say, a railtour). Older diesels are more of a recent interest of mine - I blame 50042 at Bodmin!

===========

In other news, the Oldmoor Junction Model Railway is now ready for the Summer railtour season as 50007 has been brought back into service following a motor replacement. I swapped out the motor bogie from the green Class 55 from @reddragon with that from the Class 50 as they're the same thing and the latter needs re-soldering; it's worked well so far! My plan is to eventually somehow fix the chassis frame of the BR green Deltic (I say green, it's actually the chassis originally from the blue one - I swapped the bodyshells around as I prefer the blue bodyshell to the green one), fix the Class 50 motor, and then sort them all out so I have three working engines.
The blue Class 55 has developed a small issue in terms of the motor and running sounds; it seemed to be running slowly in reverse the other day and so I set it running on the wheel cleaner to try and run it in (or something like that), and then it started making a sort of grinding sound and it's now slower in both directions. Currently it's a story of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it': can anyone help? It's a Lima Class 55.

And for the childish railway modellers out there (myself included) - the OJMR is also ready for the Summer 'Day Out With Thomas' season; I tried to fix my model of Thomas today but couldn't get anything to work and so in the end and so decided to remove the motor so the engine could function as a rolling chassis at least. Thomas is going to have to run with another engine on trains now: probably the pannier tank. I'll call him Barry for the purposes of the event; heritage railways are very good at coming up with fake Thomas characters :D

-Peter
 

Cowley

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Hm. I’m wondering if your Deltic is suffering from worn brushes? They can sometimes wear right down and become uneven so that the armature doesn’t spin cleanly in both directions.
Have you ever changed the brushes on a Lima motor? It’s not difficult assuming you can still buy the things.
 

Peter C

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Hm. I’m wondering if your Deltic is suffering from worn brushes? They can sometimes wear right down and become uneven so that the armature doesn’t spin cleanly in both directions.
Have you ever changed the brushes on a Lima motor? It’s not difficult assuming you can still buy the things.
Ah OK - I'd not thought of that. I'll have a look today and see what condition they're in.
I've never changed the brushes but I have taken quite a few Lima ringfield motors apart so it should be straightforward. I believe the accepted method is to take the motor apart and then spend the next hour searching for the springs and brushes on the floor? ;)

-Peter
 

Cowley

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Ah OK - I'd not thought of that. I'll have a look today and see what condition they're in.
I've never changed the brushes but I have taken quite a few Lima ringfield motors apart so it should be straightforward. I believe the accepted method is to take the motor apart and then spend the next hour searching for the springs and brushes on the floor? ;)

-Peter

That’s exactly right. Make sure that as they ping past your ear you’ve got some suitable dark coloured thick carpet for them to land on and a free afternoon to spend cursing while you look for them. ;)
 

reddragon

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Ah OK - I'd not thought of that. I'll have a look today and see what condition they're in.
I've never changed the brushes but I have taken quite a few Lima ringfield motors apart so it should be straightforward. I believe the accepted method is to take the motor apart and then spend the next hour searching for the springs and brushes on the floor? ;)

-Peter
Peter.

You need a suitably sized cardboard box. Paint it white inside & seal all the edges. Cut a hole for your head and hands with suitable seals. A head torch is essential. LOL

Actually, I used to use a glass over the motor as I did it.
 

The_Train

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Loving the latest episode of the Oldmoor Saga :lol: it's part soap opera / part comedy - if only all the soaps had that element of humour to them, they'd be much more appealing :D
 

Peter C

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Peter.

You need a suitably sized cardboard box. Paint it white inside & seal all the edges. Cut a hole for your head and hands with suitable seals. A head torch is essential. LOL

Actually, I used to use a glass over the motor as I did it.
I hadn't thought of that - I normally use an old towel (white in colour to make bits easier to spot) on top of a cutting mat (which I put on the table just out of habit now), which seems to work. :)

Loving the latest episode of the Oldmoor Saga :lol: it's part soap opera / part comedy - if only all the soaps had that element of humour to them, they'd be much more appealing :D
Haha - thanks very much! :D I try to make it funny and it's nice to know it works (sometimes at least). A lot of the humour comes from Victoria Wood; to the extent that one of the shops on the layout is to be named 'Acorn Antiques' when I get around to it.

===============

I've made a couple of changes to Oldmoor-on-Sea today. I say 'a couple', but really it's just adding two sidings. This diagram explains the changes (this is like a government briefing, isn't it?):

1617124470150.png
(Don't worry about Thomas - he's there because he put sugar in the engine of the Fat Controller's car this morning and he's being kept off the rails until a tunnel can be found to brick him into)

The new siding, shown with the green line, is going to serve the yet-to-be-built railway hotel. It'll be long enough to hold a small engine and a few wagons containing supplies for the hotel and should hopefully add a bit of interest to the station. I can keep the curved loop as I can just park trains on top of the points leading into the new siding. To allow for the hotel to fit on the walkway, I'll need to add a couple of extensions to the latter - these are shown with the red triangles. The actual sand area is going to be a lot smaller on this version of the layout than that without the new siding, but I think (or hope) it'll work. :)
The new siding to the top of the picture started the changes I've made today; the idea for this bit of the layout was, before Oldmoor-on-Sea, to have a heritage railway station with a two-track engine shed, and this is something I wanted to try and replicate in some form here. I like the idea of maybe being able to have even a tiny heritage operation running from the station, even if it is just an old Class 121 or 14xx and autocoach. Moving the end platform section, it turns out, has allowed for an extension to the pre-existing platform as well: only by a small amount but it should make the difference between having, say, four wagons in the platform and five.

That's it - that and to say that I didn't get around to having a look at the Deltic at the weekend: I need to get that done at some point. I've found a YouTube channel called 00Bill, and the guy on there fixes engines like that all the time so hopefully I can use his videos as a base for my own servicing.

Well done for making it through all that; it's the model railway equivalent of 'what I did on my holidays' (reason being I've said a lot without actually saying much - see, I said it was like government), but hopefully of at least some interest to someone.

-Peter :)
 

Cowley

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I quite like that little corner now. I reckon you should set it properly and start detailing it Peter (you know that you’ll have to do it one day... ;) ).
Are you going to have an overall roof over the platforms? Hornby still do one don’t they?
 

reddragon

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I hadn't thought of that - I normally use an old towel (white in colour to make bits easier to spot) on top of a cutting mat (which I put on the table just out of habit now), which seems to work. :)


Haha - thanks very much! :D I try to make it funny and it's nice to know it works (sometimes at least). A lot of the humour comes from Victoria Wood; to the extent that one of the shops on the layout is to be named 'Acorn Antiques' when I get around to it.

===============

I've made a couple of changes to Oldmoor-on-Sea today. I say 'a couple', but really it's just adding two sidings. This diagram explains the changes (this is like a government briefing, isn't it?):

View attachment 93363
(Don't worry about Thomas - he's there because he put sugar in the engine of the Fat Controller's car this morning and he's being kept off the rails until a tunnel can be found to brick him into)

The new siding, shown with the green line, is going to serve the yet-to-be-built railway hotel. It'll be long enough to hold a small engine and a few wagons containing supplies for the hotel and should hopefully add a bit of interest to the station. I can keep the curved loop as I can just park trains on top of the points leading into the new siding. To allow for the hotel to fit on the walkway, I'll need to add a couple of extensions to the latter - these are shown with the red triangles. The actual sand area is going to be a lot smaller on this version of the layout than that without the new siding, but I think (or hope) it'll work. :)
The new siding to the top of the picture started the changes I've made today; the idea for this bit of the layout was, before Oldmoor-on-Sea, to have a heritage railway station with a two-track engine shed, and this is something I wanted to try and replicate in some form here. I like the idea of maybe being able to have even a tiny heritage operation running from the station, even if it is just an old Class 121 or 14xx and autocoach. Moving the end platform section, it turns out, has allowed for an extension to the pre-existing platform as well: only by a small amount but it should make the difference between having, say, four wagons in the platform and five.

That's it - that and to say that I didn't get around to having a look at the Deltic at the weekend: I need to get that done at some point. I've found a YouTube channel called 00Bill, and the guy on there fixes engines like that all the time so hopefully I can use his videos as a base for my own servicing.

Well done for making it through all that; it's the model railway equivalent of 'what I did on my holidays' (reason being I've said a lot without actually saying much - see, I said it was like government), but hopefully of at least some interest to someone.

-Peter :)
Is that a barber shop by the buffers in front of Thomas?

1617126978966.png
 

Peter C

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I quite like that little corner now. I reckon you should set it properly and start detailing it Peter (you know that you’ll have to do it one day... ;) ).
Thanks very much :)
I'd love to be able to start working on it now but the main issue is I need to buy quite a few things to make it look like how I want it to look. The actual track has been pinned down - it's just the paper that isn't fixed (obviously). I'll have some free time soon so the layout will hopefully progress. The ballasting is the main thing putting me off at the moment - it's so slow!

Are you going to have an overall roof over the platforms? Hornby still do one don’t they?
I did think about that, but I'm wondering if a GWR canopy on the rightmost platform and then a central canopy on the triangular platform would work better. Hornby still make an overall platform canopy but knowing them it'll be £20 for a bit of plastic!

Is that a barber shop by the buffers in front of Thomas?

View attachment 93365
Haha! Considering many signallers had other 'jobs' during the steam era, I wouldn't be surprised if Oldmoor-on-Sea 'box did sometimes become a barbershop... ;)

-Peter
 

Cowley

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I like the idea of a canopy. I think if it was me I’d give it a go at making one... Start with an easy bit and see what comes together with a bit of patience.
There’s so many different types of station roof out there and it doesn’t have to be complicated.
 

Peter C

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I like the idea of a canopy. I think if it was me I’d give it a go at making one... Start with an easy bit and see what comes together with a bit of patience.
There’s so many different types of station roof out there and it doesn’t have to be complicated.
Thanks :) I had thought of making my own, but Metcalfe seem to make quite a nice canopy kit: https://www.metcalfemodels.com/product/po340-00-h0-platform-canopy/
They're sold out on their site but you can get them for around £1.50 more than RRP on eBay or Amazon. There's also these http://www.lcut.co.uk/index.php?page=pages/hub&title=GWR Kits&gauge=OO, which are based on Shipton on the Cotswold Line - even better.

========

In other news, I've got the first of two sidings done for Oldmoor-on-Sea:
Oldmoor-on-Sea with siding.jpeg
(This isn't the best photo, apologies)

It was quite an easy job really. The Hornby left-hand curved point I used has the same radius, on one of the curves, as the single curve pieces which were in the same place on the board last time I shared an update (if that makes any sense at all) - thus making the whole thing possible. I used some of the flexitrack from @reddragon to plug the gap between the two sets of points and also to make the siding itself. As you can see, the track has been laid directly on top of the paper used to plan the siding: I glued the bits of paper down with a bit of glue from a Pritt stick to make sure I got the right shape. It looks like the join between the points and the siding is a bit dodgy in that photo, but it isn't on the real thing. The siding terminates with a modified Hornby set of buffers: the modification being to remove the back legs, therefore giving more space for usable track and making an interesting-looking end to the siding. This is what I'm using on all but one of the sidings on the layout at the moment - you can see the Class 50 in the depot is standing next to the buffers which haven't been changed yet.


Talking of the depot, I've made a change to that as well:
1617375694487.png

It's a small change, but a very useful one in the long run. I realised a while ago that having the set of points (marked on the picture) so close to the depot building didn't work; the third siding was too short and the clearances just weren't there. Moving the points one section of track back has allowed for the storage of two engines in that third siding, thus making it usable. This means I can now store seven engines/units (assuming units are single-car) in the depot - including the track the Class 153's on - which is a big improvement.
I'm planning to change the depot building as well: at the moment, it's a very short design and quite thin as well. Having watched the Severn Valley Railway's video about their May diesel gala this morning, I thought I should think about redesigning my diesel depot to look a bit more realistic and more like the one they have at Kidderminster. The plan is to make a new building which will be quite a bit taller than the current one, and also a bit wider - but only by an inch or so - to allow for a bit more detailing inside. The new building will only cover the two tracks as it does now - mainly because clearances around the curve for the third siding would make the building look a bit odd. I might go for a sort-of canopy design over the third siding, like Didcot Railway Centre has for their Carriage Shed (not my photo - (c) Richard Moxon:
1617376185039.png
(The track on the far right has always looked to me to be almost like an afterthought; it's as if they built the shed and then thought to add another bit on at the end. When I went, there was quite a bit of, shall we say, greenery around the edge of the carriage shed - could be quite fun to replicate.)


As a final point, does anyone know of any decent OO gauge turntables? I've heard of the Dapol one, but apparently it's not brilliant: the Peco one seems to be preferred by a lot of modellers, but requires making a hole in the baseboard for the well to sit in. I've been wondering if incorporating a turntable into the railway centre on my layout would be a worthwhile addition, and I've come to the conclusion that it would be, if I could find a suitable one. In a perfect world, I'd like more of an 'overbridge' design of turntable but they're either rubbish kits or stupidly expensive from my little bit of research. If anyone has a Peco turntable, I'd be very interested to hear of your experiences with it. I'm not really interested in motorising one if I did add it - I'm quite happy to push it around :) - so adding motors isn't an issue. Adding extra roads wouldn't be an issue either - if I added a turntable, it would have one road.

Thanks - and apologies for such a long post. Well done for making it through; it was tough but I think we managed it!

-Peter
 

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I’m not really sure about a turntable having never had one on any railway. They can make a good talking point for a depot or a railway centre though because you can get rid of a load of points and just have short sidings leading off it.
 

Peter C

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I’m not really sure about a turntable having never had one on any railway. They can make a good talking point for a depot or a railway centre though because you can get rid of a load of points and just have short sidings leading off it.
I'd not thought of that as a benefit of a turntable: certainly makes the idea much more appealing considering the RRP of Hornby points! I've done some research, though, and turns out the Dapol turntable kit is really quite poor, the Hornby one needs too many modifications to work on DCC and to work properly at all, and the well of the Peco one is too deep to fit on my layout; it's some 30mm deep whereas my baseboard is about 20mm and there's a table underneath it which I'm not prepared to drill through.
This is a long way of saying that I've dropped the turntable idea; one of the many compromises of model railways I suppose!

===========

Readers may have seen my post in the What's your latest acquisition? thread about a new arrival to the OJMR - a Lima Class 09:
Lima Class 09.jpeg

It's been repainted into BR Green by a previous owner, but I think it's been done with some sort of spray thing as it's really well-done and I wouldn't have noticed if it hadn't been pointed out in the description on eBay. It was just £30 including postage, and included glazing which the base Lima models didn't come with (meaning I get to save a few quid on the glazing parts from elsewhere on eBay). I went for this model following a discussion on RMWeb (I hope it's alright to share a link to that on here?) about if the models were any good: I've had a Hornby Railroad Class 08 for a few years now but have never been happy with it due to the many inaccuracies it has. This model isn't perfect - it's a bit too tall I think - but it's got the correct outside frames so it's good enough for me. :)


Having talked about changes to the layout in a previous post, I thought I'd ask once again for ideas/thoughts. I've been trying to work out if there are any changes I can make to the layout, particularly the Oldmoor Junction/railway centre area. I'm wondering if the current five platforms - mainly the three terminating platforms - is a bit over-the-top for a station which is supposed to be about as well-served as Oxford, which has four platforms (two of which are bay platforms).
I played around with bits of paper yesterday and came up with this sort of idea:
1617532984356.png
It essentially involves just removing one platform and using the space for an extra siding, which would allow for two sidings; a bit like Worcester Shrub Hill, where there is a siding between the two platforms. This idea seems quite appealing as it gives more track space and makes the station a bit more realistic.


The final change I thought about making yesterday was moving the T&RSMD from its current location to where the railway centre is going to be, and therefore splitting the railway centre area in half; one half would stay as the railway centre, and the other half would become a modern depot. The area where the depot is now could then be devoted to some form of freight - maybe like the tarmac plant just beyond Banbury station, which is a freight site right next to the mainline. I think the current depot on my area could act as quite a nice little freight hub as it's got plenty of track space and good mainline access (blimey, this is like a proper railway proposal now - I'll stop).
The main issue is that I've struggled to get a trackplan which would work for both a railway centre and a TMD. I'm happy to reduce the size of the former to allow for both as that could still work but there would need to be some sort of heritage aspect (and mainly space for the Goods Shed). Does anyone reading this have any idea for how I could achieve this? Examples would be very useful (i.e. from other layouts, if possible).

Thanks very much for reading all of that - sorry it's a long post again but I do quite like rambling :)

-Peter
 

reddragon

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I'd not thought of that as a benefit of a turntable: certainly makes the idea much more appealing considering the RRP of Hornby points! I've done some research, though, and turns out the Dapol turntable kit is really quite poor, the Hornby one needs too many modifications to work on DCC and to work properly at all, and the well of the Peco one is too deep to fit on my layout; it's some 30mm deep whereas my baseboard is about 20mm and there's a table underneath it which I'm not prepared to drill through.
This is a long way of saying that I've dropped the turntable idea; one of the many compromises of model railways I suppose!

===========

Readers may have seen my post in the What's your latest acquisition? thread about a new arrival to the OJMR - a Lima Class 09:
View attachment 93781

It's been repainted into BR Green by a previous owner, but I think it's been done with some sort of spray thing as it's really well-done and I wouldn't have noticed if it hadn't been pointed out in the description on eBay. It was just £30 including postage, and included glazing which the base Lima models didn't come with (meaning I get to save a few quid on the glazing parts from elsewhere on eBay). I went for this model following a discussion on RMWeb (I hope it's alright to share a link to that on here?) about if the models were any good: I've had a Hornby Railroad Class 08 for a few years now but have never been happy with it due to the many inaccuracies it has. This model isn't perfect - it's a bit too tall I think - but it's got the correct outside frames so it's good enough for me. :)


Having talked about changes to the layout in a previous post, I thought I'd ask once again for ideas/thoughts. I've been trying to work out if there are any changes I can make to the layout, particularly the Oldmoor Junction/railway centre area. I'm wondering if the current five platforms - mainly the three terminating platforms - is a bit over-the-top for a station which is supposed to be about as well-served as Oxford, which has four platforms (two of which are bay platforms).
I played around with bits of paper yesterday and came up with this sort of idea:
View attachment 93784
It essentially involves just removing one platform and using the space for an extra siding, which would allow for two sidings; a bit like Worcester Shrub Hill, where there is a siding between the two platforms. This idea seems quite appealing as it gives more track space and makes the station a bit more realistic.


The final change I thought about making yesterday was moving the T&RSMD from its current location to where the railway centre is going to be, and therefore splitting the railway centre area in half; one half would stay as the railway centre, and the other half would become a modern depot. The area where the depot is now could then be devoted to some form of freight - maybe like the tarmac plant just beyond Banbury station, which is a freight site right next to the mainline. I think the current depot on my area could act as quite a nice little freight hub as it's got plenty of track space and good mainline access (blimey, this is like a proper railway proposal now - I'll stop).
The main issue is that I've struggled to get a trackplan which would work for both a railway centre and a TMD. I'm happy to reduce the size of the former to allow for both as that could still work but there would need to be some sort of heritage aspect (and mainly space for the Goods Shed). Does anyone reading this have any idea for how I could achieve this? Examples would be very useful (i.e. from other layouts, if possible).

Thanks very much for reading all of that - sorry it's a long post again but I do quite like rambling :)

-Peter

My Lima 09 026 could hauled long passenger trains better than any of my Hornby locos! Until that it, the gears wore down :(
 

Peter C

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My Lima 09 026 could hauled long passenger trains better than any of my Hornby locos! Until that it, the gears wore down :(
Not surprising given the bomb-proof mechanism in those Lima engines :) I expect my engine probably won't get as much wear as that though as I've only got a small layout.

-Peter
 

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I'd not thought of that as a benefit of a turntable: certainly makes the idea much more appealing considering the RRP of Hornby points! I've done some research, though, and turns out the Dapol turntable kit is really quite poor, the Hornby one needs too many modifications to work on DCC and to work properly at all, and the well of the Peco one is too deep to fit on my layout; it's some 30mm deep whereas my baseboard is about 20mm and there's a table underneath it which I'm not prepared to drill through.
This is a long way of saying that I've dropped the turntable idea; one of the many compromises of model railways I suppose!

===========

Readers may have seen my post in the What's your latest acquisition? thread about a new arrival to the OJMR - a Lima Class 09:
View attachment 93781

It's been repainted into BR Green by a previous owner, but I think it's been done with some sort of spray thing as it's really well-done and I wouldn't have noticed if it hadn't been pointed out in the description on eBay. It was just £30 including postage, and included glazing which the base Lima models didn't come with (meaning I get to save a few quid on the glazing parts from elsewhere on eBay). I went for this model following a discussion on RMWeb (I hope it's alright to share a link to that on here?) about if the models were any good: I've had a Hornby Railroad Class 08 for a few years now but have never been happy with it due to the many inaccuracies it has. This model isn't perfect - it's a bit too tall I think - but it's got the correct outside frames so it's good enough for me. :)


Having talked about changes to the layout in a previous post, I thought I'd ask once again for ideas/thoughts. I've been trying to work out if there are any changes I can make to the layout, particularly the Oldmoor Junction/railway centre area. I'm wondering if the current five platforms - mainly the three terminating platforms - is a bit over-the-top for a station which is supposed to be about as well-served as Oxford, which has four platforms (two of which are bay platforms).
I played around with bits of paper yesterday and came up with this sort of idea:
View attachment 93784
It essentially involves just removing one platform and using the space for an extra siding, which would allow for two sidings; a bit like Worcester Shrub Hill, where there is a siding between the two platforms. This idea seems quite appealing as it gives more track space and makes the station a bit more realistic.


The final change I thought about making yesterday was moving the T&RSMD from its current location to where the railway centre is going to be, and therefore splitting the railway centre area in half; one half would stay as the railway centre, and the other half would become a modern depot. The area where the depot is now could then be devoted to some form of freight - maybe like the tarmac plant just beyond Banbury station, which is a freight site right next to the mainline. I think the current depot on my area could act as quite a nice little freight hub as it's got plenty of track space and good mainline access (blimey, this is like a proper railway proposal now - I'll stop).
The main issue is that I've struggled to get a trackplan which would work for both a railway centre and a TMD. I'm happy to reduce the size of the former to allow for both as that could still work but there would need to be some sort of heritage aspect (and mainly space for the Goods Shed). Does anyone reading this have any idea for how I could achieve this? Examples would be very useful (i.e. from other layouts, if possible).

Thanks very much for reading all of that - sorry it's a long post again but I do quite like rambling :)

-Peter

I think that you’re right in that you don’t need too many platforms.
Has there been anything you’ve found that you enjoy operating the most - ie freight, passenger etc?
 

Peter C

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I think that you’re right in that you don’t need too many platforms.
Has there been anything you’ve found that you enjoy operating the most - ie freight, passenger etc?
I've got a substantial freight rolling stock selection (all four or six-wheel wagons) and I do quite enjoy running a freight service around the layout. I've got my eye on various container wagons to make a modern freight train for my Class 66 (or 68) and I've seen others' freight depots which all look really cool.
My main focus at the moment is trying to get as much into the space as I can so as to provide plenty of operational interest and plenty of scenic interest; even with lockdown and restrictions easing I'm still finding myself with a lot of time for the layout and even when we get back to normal it'll be quite nice to sit and just 'play trains' of an evening. If people can get a couple of hours' fun out of a small shunting layout no larger than a couple of box files, I can probably get the best part of an afternoon/evening's enjoyment from a layout the size of the OJMR - if that makes any sense.

-Peter
 

Cowley

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That does make sense. I can’t run anything at the moment because the railway is completely covered with tools and bags of stuff while I’m doing the new bits around the back.
 

Peter C

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That does make sense. I can’t run anything at the moment because the railway is completely covered with tools and bags of stuff while I’m doing the new bits around the back.
I've had that same thing with my layout more times than I'd like to admit - although I'm rarely adding new bits; it's normally because I've moved things and can't be bothered to tidy them away! :D

-Peter
 
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The_Train

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Haha! Considering many signallers had other 'jobs' during the steam era, I wouldn't be surprised if Oldmoor-on-Sea 'box did sometimes become a barbershop... ;)

-Peter
That reminds of the fantastic 90s comedy "Oh Doctor Beeching" with the Hi-de-hi cast and the late, great Stephen Lewis as the grumpy signaller Harry Lambert cutting hair, growing and selling tomatoes and repairing bikes to name a few side jobs :D

Just caught up on the recent changes you've made. Love the idea of a little branch siding specifically to serve a seaside hotel - hotel's are the big part of any seaside location so important they are kept well stocked with sausage, bacon & eggs for those ,traditional full English breakfasts :)
 

Peter C

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That reminds of the fantastic 90s comedy "Oh Doctor Beeching" with the Hi-de-hi cast and the late, great Stephen Lewis as the grumpy signaller Harry Lambert cutting hair, growing and selling tomatoes and repairing bikes to name a few side jobs :D
Haha - I'll admit, that was my source for that comment :D It really is a fantastic show: it's a real shame that it wasn't really as popular as Hi-de-Hi and others like it (for the general public at least).

Just caught up on the recent changes you've made. Love the idea of a little branch siding specifically to serve a seaside hotel - hotel's are the big part of any seaside location so important they are kept well stocked with sausage, bacon & eggs for those ,traditional full English breakfasts :)
Thanks very much! I don't have any food-carrying wagons yet, but I'm sure the people of the hotel will be very happy with limestone, coal, and newspapers? ;)

==============

[originally posted in post #388 - edited as auto-merge didn't notify people]

After an afternoon of messing about with bits of paper, I've come up with this trackplan for the railway centre/Oldmoor Junction area:
1617563183330.png

I know there's an awful lot going on in this diagram so hopefully I can help explain it here.
  • The railway centre has been squished into a smaller area to allow for the larger area it once occupied to be taken over, in part, by the mainline depot. The railway centre is now comprised of three sidings, but this won't be a massive issue as I've got an idea to store some heritage stock in the Oldmoor-on-Sea area as well so heritage stuff will still be on the layout. The way for visitors to access the railway centre hasn't changed; there will be a service, probably formed of an autocoach with the 14xx, running from Oldmoor Junction platform 1 to the goods shed (which has a platform, hence why it's being used as a makeshift station), where people will alight and start their railway centre visit.
  • The Goods Shed for the railway centre will still have a form of road access. There will be a small road going along the side of the building which will connect to the main road as marked on the diagram: this smaller road will end in a gate preventing random people gaining access to the railway centre. The road will be fenced off from the mainline depot and will form part of the railway centre site which visitors can walk around.
  • Siding 4 on the diagram is a shared section of track between the railway centre and the mainline depot; I felt that it was a bit silly for the mainline depot to expand to be so close to the railway centre and the railway centre would be too close to the depot if it was to be expanded. This section of track is also necessary for engines to enter and exit the depot: because of the track design, engines need to run into Oldmoor Junction platform 1 before reversing and heading into the depot.
  • The depot (I'm also calling it a Traction & Rolling Stock Maintenance Depot (T&RSMD) - apologies for any confusion) will be comprised of three sidings, with one large shed covering them all. Each road in the shed will be a different length depending on the length of the siding it covers: this seems to happen at a few depots and so it's not totally unrealistic.
  • From a realism perspective, all of the pointwork in the railway centre/depot area will be hand-operated; I did think about having a small signal box at the end of Oldmoor Junction platform 1, but that seemed a bit silly considering the station already has a signal box at the left-hand end (on the diagram) of platform 5.

Please do let me know what you think of this: I quite like it as it manages to work in everything I wanted - the only issue is the cost of all those points!

-Peter
 
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