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Ideas for future model railways that you’ve had and would like to make.

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Cowley

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Hello all.

Here’s my list in no particular order:

1) A closed station a la Seaton Junction in Devon.
We actually made a couple of field visits to the place to have a look around and it’s an interesting old place, originally there were two loop lines for the platform and a couple of concrete footbridges (which are still there) over all four tracks.
In 1988 there was still a yard (although disused) and in my modelling fantasy that yard would still be being used for permanent way trains that were needed on the West of England route around Devon.
Lots of SR concrete stuff everywhere, all overgrown crumbling platforms and buildings with peeling paint and trains rushing through non stop...
Here’s a few photos that I’ve gathered including a couple from our very own @John Luxton showing the site when they still used one of the platform roads as a headshunt.
I wouldn’t slavishly follow it to the millimetre, but it would definitely try and capture the essence of the place:

716F3F75-BE04-498C-8AD1-02C132C36EBC.jpeg

11D89404-4E47-447A-8211-71C3B5577B8D.jpeg

7D36335C-98CE-4C05-AB22-3D808DC5AB63.jpeg

E9B6C1E3-9490-471F-B73A-236E4AD9A56C.jpeg

2) The Scottish highlands, again in N gauge.
I’d have to sell nearly all my stock and start again, but I’d love to capture some of the mountains, bridges and wayside stations and have 37 hauled 1980s services with the odd 20, 26 and 27 on mixed freight and passenger services.

3) This is a bit off the wall but my dad said he’d pass on a load of G gauge LGB stuff to me one day and I have in my mind an idea of turning a corner of the garden into a slate mine (don’t know what Mrs C will make of it yet but she’s pretty game for that kind of thing thankfully).
It’s large garden railway stuff anyway but I’d like to weather it up and have it looking work stained and rusty with all the track disappearing into the weeds.
I think a pond might have to be involved too...

So those are my three. Do any of you have ideas like these that you occasionally go back to and start imagining what you could create one day?
 
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Ianno87

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Too many! Never the time, money or space. My favourites so far:

-Hest Bank (WCML North of Lancaster) in the 1990s. Childhood trainspotting memories, and modelling the shore.
-French High Speed "Parkway" Station, as an excuse to run a mix of high speed trains of sorts.
 

Cowley

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Too many! Never the time, money or space. My favourites so far:

-Hest Bank (WCML North of Lancaster) in the 1990s. Childhood trainspotting memories, and modelling the shore.
-French High Speed "Parkway" Station, as an excuse to run a mix of high speed trains of sorts.

I like the sound of both of those, especially the Hest Bank idea.
Mind you, could imagine how much stock you’d need? o_O
 

Ianno87

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I like the sound of both of those, especially the Hest Bank idea.
Mind you, could imagine how much stock you’d need? o_O

I've never been one to let practical realities get in the way of my layout daydreaming!
 

Journeyman

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I fancy doing something that captures the spectacularly grotty nature of much of BR in the seventies and early eighties, before investment kicked in. I fancy doing a grand but crumbling main line station with disused platforms, a roof with loads of glass missing, and two-car blue DMUs chugging in and out. Think the GCR Rugby to Nottingham shuttle, Broad Street and Tunbridge Wells West in their final days.
 

Gloster

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Milk traffic at Seaton Junction ceased in 1973 (so I believe) and most of the sidings were lifted. However, the Ground Frame and a couple of sidings were left, presumably as they were only recently installed. I think that they were regarded as engineering sidings and would normally only have seen use for the stabling of engineering wagons when work was taking place in the area.
 

John Luxton

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Hello all.

Here’s my list in no particular order:

1) A closed station a la Seaton Junction in Devon.
We actually made a couple of field visits to the place to have a look around and it’s an interesting old place, originally there were two loop lines for the platform and a couple of concrete footbridges (which are still there) over all four tracks.
In 1988 there was still a yard (although disused) and in my modelling fantasy that yard would still be being used for permanent way trains that were needed on the West of England route around Devon.
Lots of SR concrete stuff everywhere, all overgrown crumbling platforms and buildings with peeling paint and trains rushing through non stop...
Here’s a few photos that I’ve gathered including a couple from our very own @John Luxton showing the site when they still used one of the platform roads as a headshunt.

Just like to point out those are not my photos of Seaton Junction!

These are mine!

Seaton Junction Station - JHLPHOTOGRAPHY (jhluxton.com)
 

hexagon789

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As with others - too many, I'll list some ideas I've had below.


) A closed station a la Seaton Junction in Devon.
We actually made a couple of field visits to the place to have a look around and it’s an interesting old place, originally there were two loop lines for the platform and a couple of concrete footbridges (which are still there) over all four tracks.
In 1988 there was still a yard (although disused) and in my modelling fantasy that yard would still be being used for permanent way trains that were needed on the West of England route around Devon.
Lots of SR concrete stuff everywhere, all overgrown crumbling platforms and buildings with peeling paint and trains rushing through non stop...
Here’s a few photos that I’ve gathered including a couple from our very own @John Luxton showing the site when they still used one of the platform roads as a headshunt.
I wouldn’t slavishly follow it to the millimetre, but it would definitely try and capture the essence of the place:
I like the sound of this, lovely part of the world Devon - I could consider modelling down that way but it's the idea of starting from scratch as regards stock.


2) The Scottish highlands, again in N gauge.
I’d have to sell nearly all my stock and start again, but I’d love to capture some of the mountains, bridges and wayside stations and have 37 hauled 1980s services with the odd 20, 26 and 27 on mixed freight and passenger services.
See I'd go Scottish Highlands but the sparse service on the rural lines puts me off really. The Highland Main Line is as far north as I would go as you have (for the 1980s) a generally more frequent service, sleepers, London day train(s) etc.

I fancy doing something that captures the spectacularly grotty nature of much of BR in the seventies and early eighties, before investment kicked in. I fancy doing a grand but crumbling main line station with disused platforms, a roof with loads of glass missing, and two-car blue DMUs chugging in and out. Think the GCR Rugby to Nottingham shuttle, Broad Street and Tunbridge Wells West in their final days.
Sounds divine, all the grot and rot - what an atmosphere that could produce :)

Too many! Never the time, money or space. My favourites so far:

-Hest Bank (WCML North of Lancaster) in the 1990s. Childhood trainspotting memories, and modelling the shore.
-French High Speed "Parkway" Station, as an excuse to run a mix of high speed trains of sorts.
I have thought about the WCML in either the 1970s or 1980s but the frequency and length of services is a bit daunting - the stock list would be epic! ;)

For my own ideas I have considered -

1) Somewhere on the Glasgow South Western set in the 1980s with WCML diverts adding interest
2) Somewhere on the Highland Main Line, again 1980s - either a station or one of the passing loops
3) Limerick Junction, Ireland 1980s - I'd love to reproduce this famous station and crossroads of the railways but the space required is off-putting. The main platform alone was over 1/4 mi long!
4) Dunblane 1980s, I considered this would be an easier smaller station and it would fit better with my rolling stock.
5) Rural Irish branch terminus, 1980s. Something like Tralee, Kilarney, Galway or Westport among contenders.

My mixed stock led to the adoption of a deliberately more ambiguous location. However as I'm back to just 'Scottish' stock I'm thinking of more firmly adopting Perthshire, maybe Blackford or thereabouts, as the location.
 

Journeyman

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Another idea I've had is a small station in a rural area with a service of DMUs, freight etc passing through, but with a disused yard and freight-only line in the process of being rescued by preservationists. They could have a bay platform at the station, and a few sidings with stock in various states of repair. If it was a present-day layout, you could even justify a Pacer! So, as well as the main line trains, you could have a shunter with a couple of carriages trundling in and out, or some industrial tank engines on brake van trips in the yard.
 

hexagon789

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Another idea I've had is a small station in a rural area with a service of DMUs, freight etc passing through, but with a disused yard and freight-only line in the process of being rescued by preservationists. They could have a bay platform at the station, and a few sidings with stock in various states of repair. If it was a present-day layout, you could even justify a Pacer! So, as well as the main line trains, you could have a shunter with a couple of carriages trundling in and out, or some industrial tank engines on brake van trips in the yard.
You can pretty much justify a Pacer from the mid-1980s onwards - which is quite a period to chose from!
 

Journeyman

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You can pretty much justify a Pacer from the mid-1980s onwards - which is quite a period to chose from!
Yeah, the early sectorisation period is an interesting one, and makes for a colourful and varied layout.
 

Cowley

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Milk traffic at Seaton Junction ceased in 1973 (so I believe) and most of the sidings were lifted. However, the Ground Frame and a couple of sidings were left, presumably as they were only recently installed. I think that they were regarded as engineering sidings and would normally only have seen use for the stabling of engineering wagons when work was taking place in the area.

Ah yes. I ended up doing a lot of research on the place before I settled on doing something else but this was pretty much where I got to with the remaining sidings in the 80s which I remember racing past building up speed for Honiton Bank (something else I’d like to incorporate a bit of).

Just like to point out those are not my photos of Seaton Junction!

These are mine!

Seaton Junction Station - JHLPHOTOGRAPHY (jhluxton.com)

Sorry John, I got a bit mixed up there but thanks for the link. Very evocative photos. I find them very inspiring.

Some great replies on here from everyone, I’m really enjoying picturing some of these!
 

Peter C

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This is a brilliant idea for a thread @Cowley - I've got quite a few ideas so here goes... :)

1) Oxford, ~2019
This is the pipe dream to end all pipe dreams: the size of the layout and the cost of the rolling stock would be prohibitively expensive but that doesn't stop me dreaming. I've been to Oxford loads of times, and with the sidings at the Banbury end of the station, and the four-platform design of the station itself with the through lines, makes for an interesting combination. There's a wide range of trains which run through Oxford - Chiltern 168s, 172s (and the occasional 68), Cross Country Voyagers, and GWR IETs and 165s (and in 2019, HSTs as well but uncommon).
Some of my photos, showing the stock and the buildings:
20191229_143142.jpg20181005_131924.jpg20190106_105837.jpg
(The last photo is of the old swing bridge over the canal, to the north of the station. I'd have to model this if I did Oxford as it's a fairly well-known bit of the railway)

2) Worcester Shrub Hill, ~2018
Another project which would be difficult to make. Shrub Hill is at the other end of the Cotswold Line (with the Cotswolds & Malverns Line extending beyond to Hereford), and is a large station. Modelling the location in 2018 would give a nice range of stock: 172s, IETs, HSTs, 150s, and 158s IIRC. It's another station I've been to a couple of times and I really like it. There are fewer 'interesting' workings through Worcester as it's only a passenger hub really, but you do get an occasional railtour heading up there. Railtours ending at Worcester can turn around using the sidings at the end of the station, allowing for some operational interest.

3) Birmingham Moor Street/Banbury, ~2019
I've grouped these two together because if I did one, I'd have to do the other (I suppose this would be the case for Oxford and Worcester as well actually). They're on the Chiltern Mainline and yet more locations to which I've been several times. Banbury has already been modelled in N gauge, but I've not seen an OO gauge version, or a version which is reflective of Banbury as it is now. There's a depot at the Oxford end of the station, and the station itself is quite an interesting design, dating back to the 1950s with the station building being a footbridge over the platforms as well.
Moor Street is a modern station but could easily be operated as a steam-era layout as well, thanks to the GWR steam-era design it exhibits. It's been restored to a really good condition and there's plenty of trains which could run through.
Some of my photos:
20190907_170542.jpg20190505_180349(0).jpg20190505_180339.jpg
(The above four are all of Banbury, with the last one being taken from a small park area next to the railway)

20190829_175703.jpg20190829_174101.jpg20190829_180909.jpg
(These three are from Birmingham)

-Peter :D
 

Iskra

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I'm liking a lot of the ideas mentioned above already. A couple from me that are very unlikely to ever come to fruition;

1) Brightside (closed) and/or Meadowhall in the post-privatisation era. A nice combination of decay and shiny new, plenty of services; fast or stopping plus freight, Supertram and a decent mixture of rolling stock can feature.
2) I like @Ianno87 's idea for Hest Bank, but I think I would probably do Oxenholme station instead to include a station section and to include a sweeping curve which I think is very 'Northern WCML.'
 

Ianno87

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2) I like @Ianno87 's idea for Hest Bank, but I think I would probably do Oxenholme station instead to include a station section and to include a sweeping curve which I think is very 'Northern WCML.'

Back in the mid-1990s, one of Bolton Model Railway Club's layouts was "Howgill", which perfectly captured a curvaceous section of the electrified northern WCML.

I believe at some point it was partially dismantled and made into another layout
 

Cowley

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I fancy doing something that captures the spectacularly grotty nature of much of BR in the seventies and early eighties, before investment kicked in. I fancy doing a grand but crumbling main line station with disused platforms, a roof with loads of glass missing, and two-car blue DMUs chugging in and out. Think the GCR Rugby to Nottingham shuttle, Broad Street and Tunbridge Wells West in their final days.

I love the idea of this. All missing windows, graffiti, rubbish strewn track and filthy DMUs rattling in and out. Maybe the odd 31 on a parcels train as well?
It would have to have grey sky for the backscene, maybe the odd puddle on the platform, mmm...

This is a brilliant idea for a thread @Cowley - I've got quite a few ideas so here goes... :)

1) Oxford, ~2019
This is the pipe dream to end all pipe dreams: the size of the layout and the cost of the rolling stock would be prohibitively expensive but that doesn't stop me dreaming. I've been to Oxford loads of times, and with the sidings at the Banbury end of the station, and the four-platform design of the station itself with the through lines, makes for an interesting combination. There's a wide range of trains which run through Oxford - Chiltern 168s, 172s (and the occasional 68), Cross Country Voyagers, and GWR IETs and 165s (and in 2019, HSTs as well but uncommon).
Some of my photos, showing the stock and the buildings:
View attachment 95432View attachment 95433View attachment 95434
(The last photo is of the old swing bridge over the canal, to the north of the station. I'd have to model this if I did Oxford as it's a fairly well-known bit of the railway)

2) Worcester Shrub Hill, ~2018
Another project which would be difficult to make. Shrub Hill is at the other end of the Cotswold Line (with the Cotswolds & Malverns Line extending beyond to Hereford), and is a large station. Modelling the location in 2018 would give a nice range of stock: 172s, IETs, HSTs, 150s, and 158s IIRC. It's another station I've been to a couple of times and I really like it. There are fewer 'interesting' workings through Worcester as it's only a passenger hub really, but you do get an occasional railtour heading up there. Railtours ending at Worcester can turn around using the sidings at the end of the station, allowing for some operational interest.

3) Birmingham Moor Street/Banbury, ~2019
I've grouped these two together because if I did one, I'd have to do the other (I suppose this would be the case for Oxford and Worcester as well actually). They're on the Chiltern Mainline and yet more locations to which I've been several times. Banbury has already been modelled in N gauge, but I've not seen an OO gauge version, or a version which is reflective of Banbury as it is now. There's a depot at the Oxford end of the station, and the station itself is quite an interesting design, dating back to the 1950s with the station building being a footbridge over the platforms as well.
Moor Street is a modern station but could easily be operated as a steam-era layout as well, thanks to the GWR steam-era design it exhibits. It's been restored to a really good condition and there's plenty of trains which could run through.
Some of my photos:
View attachment 95435View attachment 95436View attachment 95437
(The above four are all of Banbury, with the last one being taken from a small park area next to the railway)

View attachment 95438View attachment 95439View attachment 95440
(These three are from Birmingham)

-Peter :D

There’s some interesting ideas there Peter. I’ve always liked Banbury station but I don’t think I’ve been there since the 90s, actually I think I was there for a bit when the 47 I was travelling behind failed and I remember there being semaphores still.
 

Peter C

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There’s some interesting ideas there Peter. I’ve always liked Banbury station but I don’t think I’ve been there since the 90s, actually I think I was there for a bit when the 47 I was travelling behind failed and I remember there being semaphores still.
Thanks :)
Banbury is one of my favourite stations as I've been there so much, so building a model would be good fun. The semaphores lasted until a short while ago I think - they were removed in 2015/2016 IIRC.

-Peter
 

Journeyman

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I love the idea of this. All missing windows, graffiti, rubbish strewn track and filthy DMUs rattling in and out. Maybe the odd 31 on a parcels train as well?
It would have to have grey sky for the backscene, maybe the odd puddle on the platform, mmm...
You're totally getting the vibe I'm going for here. I'm also thinking vast scrapyards, Brutalist tower blocks, demolition underway...pure, unadulterated, miserable grot!
 

Cowley

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You're totally getting the vibe I'm going for here. I'm also thinking vast scrapyards, Brutalist tower blocks, demolition underway...pure, unadulterated, miserable grot!

Depressing deep seated urban decay!
Oh god I need a cold shower. :lol:
 

Journeyman

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Depressing deep seated urban decay!
Oh god I need a cold shower. :lol:
Hahaha!

I was inspired in all of this by the release of the Bachmann class 105. Those trains were harbingers of doom. If you browse the Disused Stations website for any closures in the late sixties and early seventies, I guarantee you'll find a 105 in there sooner or later. They're the circling vultures of the railway world. If they appeared on your line, the closure notices weren't far behind!
 

Cowley

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Hahaha!

I was inspired in all of this by the release of the Bachmann class 105. Those trains were harbingers of doom. If you browse the Disused Stations website for any closures in the late sixties and early seventies, I guarantee you'll find a 105 in there sooner or later. They're the circling vultures of the railway world. If they appeared on your line, the closure notices weren't far behind!

That’s a very good analogy I must say.
 

hexagon789

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Yeah, the early sectorisation period is an interesting one, and makes for a colourful and varied layout.
I like sectorisation, but I also like the run down, muckiness of plain ol' Blue/Grey as well.

This is a brilliant idea for a thread @Cowley - I've got quite a few ideas so here goes... :)

1) Oxford, ~2019
This is the pipe dream to end all pipe dreams: the size of the layout and the cost of the rolling stock would be prohibitively expensive but that doesn't stop me dreaming. I've been to Oxford loads of times, and with the sidings at the Banbury end of the station, and the four-platform design of the station itself with the through lines, makes for an interesting combination. There's a wide range of trains which run through Oxford - Chiltern 168s, 172s (and the occasional 68), Cross Country Voyagers, and GWR IETs and 165s (and in 2019, HSTs as well but uncommon).
Some of my photos, showing the stock and the buildings:
View attachment 95432View attachment 95433View attachment 95434
(The last photo is of the old swing bridge over the canal, to the north of the station. I'd have to model this if I did Oxford as it's a fairly well-known bit of the railway)

2) Worcester Shrub Hill, ~2018
Another project which would be difficult to make. Shrub Hill is at the other end of the Cotswold Line (with the Cotswolds & Malverns Line extending beyond to Hereford), and is a large station. Modelling the location in 2018 would give a nice range of stock: 172s, IETs, HSTs, 150s, and 158s IIRC. It's another station I've been to a couple of times and I really like it. There are fewer 'interesting' workings through Worcester as it's only a passenger hub really, but you do get an occasional railtour heading up there. Railtours ending at Worcester can turn around using the sidings at the end of the station, allowing for some operational interest.

3) Birmingham Moor Street/Banbury, ~2019
I've grouped these two together because if I did one, I'd have to do the other (I suppose this would be the case for Oxford and Worcester as well actually). They're on the Chiltern Mainline and yet more locations to which I've been several times. Banbury has already been modelled in N gauge, but I've not seen an OO gauge version, or a version which is reflective of Banbury as it is now. There's a depot at the Oxford end of the station, and the station itself is quite an interesting design, dating back to the 1950s with the station building being a footbridge over the platforms as well.
Moor Street is a modern station but could easily be operated as a steam-era layout as well, thanks to the GWR steam-era design it exhibits. It's been restored to a really good condition and there's plenty of trains which could run through.
Some of my photos:
View attachment 95435View attachment 95436View attachment 95437
(The above four are all of Banbury, with the last one being taken from a small park area next to the railway)

View attachment 95438View attachment 95439View attachment 95440
(These three are from Birmingham)

-Peter :D
Banbury would be quite interesting, or Oxford, good intensive varied traffic levels at both.


2) I like @Ianno87 's idea for Hest Bank, but I think I would probably do Oxenholme station instead to include a station section and to include a sweeping curve which I think is very 'Northern WCML.'
Oxenholme would be nice as a simpler WCML compromise but still with the interest of the third platform and branch.
 

raetiamann

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If I were starting a new layout and depending upon the space available, I think I'd do a preserved line with the station linked to he main line, which would allow a freedom to run any stoic I fancied along with a sprinter type service feeding the site.

Failing that, if space was tight, I'd have to return to the RuB and have a helix spiral to one side of the station. I still have some HOm track, so would be on the way quite quickly. The drawback though would be the cost on the rolling stock now.
 

Iskra

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If I were starting a new layout and depending upon the space available, I think I'd do a preserved line with the station linked to he main line, which would allow a freedom to run any stoic I fancied along with a sprinter type service feeding the site.
That’s one of the possibilities with Fort George for me, it basically means I can run anything I want. Although I do usually just use it as a normal branchline, but it’s good to have the option/flexibility.

The only thing that I can’t do that is regrettable, is have a roundy-roundy due to a bulkhead and door-positioning in the room. Sometimes I think it would be nice to watch the trains pass by, but I do like the added operational interest of an end-to-end layout.
 

EveningStar

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Want to model Achnasheen. Say about late 1950's, so Black 5s plus all the steam age formations, including the daily restaurant carriage swap from westbound to eastbound service. Will sneak in a defiantly out of time period class 37 purely because of the oldest rule for railway modelling, 'my model, my rules'. Track layout was typically economical Highland, and actually quite compact all things considered, which provides some of the operational interest. However, the appeal is somehow capturing the setting. Have sketched out how to fit it onto a circular baseboard in N with minimal train lengths, and the result would be so small one could wheel the layout around. However, it would lose the appeal. What is cries out for is a massive space and build in O ... perfection. Realistically, never going to happen .... sigh ...
 

Peter C

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Want to model Achnasheen. Say about late 1950's, so Black 5s plus all the steam age formations, including the daily restaurant carriage swap from westbound to eastbound service. Will sneak in a defiantly out of time period class 37 purely because of the oldest rule for railway modelling, 'my model, my rules'. Track layout was typically economical Highland, and actually quite compact all things considered, which provides some of the operational interest. However, the appeal is somehow capturing the setting. Have sketched out how to fit it onto a circular baseboard in N with minimal train lengths, and the result would be so small one could wheel the layout around. However, it would lose the appeal. What is cries out for is a massive space and build in O ... perfection. Realistically, never going to happen .... sigh ...
Having just looked it up online, certainly sounds interesting. I agree with the use of O Gauge - very good for things like shunting, apparently, as the models have so much more of a 'presence' to them. There's always OO gauge, but whether that would be ideal for such a situation I don't know. I like the idea of the "my model, my rules" principle in action :)

-Peter
 

Gloster

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Once I have moved, the first priority will be to get something running, even if a fairly simple oval, using the odd items of N-gauge stock I have: too many locos, too few wagons. It will basically be BR-blue with TOPS numbers on locos but only on a few wagons. It will probably be vaguely Scottish outlying lines, but it might be connected to a Devon/Cornwall might-have-been. Use one as the access to hidden storage for the other, or even as the storage, is a possibility.

Longer term, if I have the time, the aim is to move up a scale and start with a simple layout set to the west of Inverness (in the Lentran/Clunes area) at the end of a section of double-track from Clachnaharry (which really existed) with a public siding or two and an army depot, or a former army depot now a rail-using factory. Same era as above. There are also various ideas for might-have-beens of the former SR in Devon, also in the same era. OO-gauge, but I would like to move up to EM (not too strictly), but I will probably never get around it.
 

Peter C

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Once I have moved, the first priority will be to get something running, even if a fairly simple oval, using the odd items of N-gauge stock I have: too many locos, too few wagons. It will basically be BR-blue with TOPS numbers on locos but only on a few wagons. It will probably be vaguely Scottish outlying lines, but it might be connected to a Devon/Cornwall might-have-been. Use one as the access to hidden storage for the other, or even as the storage, is a possibility.
I think that's a compulsion with railway modellers - move to a new house, and the first things to get set up are the kettle and the layout! I like the sound of that.
Certainly sounds like an interesting idea for a layout. I saw a layout a while ago - in Railway Modeller, if I remember correctly - which was essentially two layouts, with one acting as a fiddle yard/storage area for the other. I think one was BR Southern Region 1950s, and the other a continental-style set-up?

Longer term, if I have the time, the aim is to move up a scale and start with a simple layout set to the west of Inverness (in the Lentran/Clunes area) at the end of a section of double-track from Clachnaharry (which really existed) with a public siding or two and an army depot, or a former army depot now a rail-using factory. Same era as above. There are also various ideas for might-have-beens of the former SR in Devon, also in the same era. OO-gauge, but I would like to move up to EM (not too strictly), but I will probably never get around it.
An army depot would be good fun to model, I reckon. Interesting little engines and wagons, with maybe a larger loco delivering a handful of wagons from the mainline? EM gauge looks really nice I think - the only issue might be converting stock from OO to EM, but loads of people have done it (and I think some manufacturers even design engines with it in mind now?) so it's not impossible.

-Peter
 

Iskra

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That sounds
Want to model Achnasheen. Say about late 1950's, so Black 5s plus all the steam age formations, including the daily restaurant carriage swap from westbound to eastbound service. Will sneak in a defiantly out of time period class 37 purely because of the oldest rule for railway modelling, 'my model, my rules'. Track layout was typically economical Highland, and actually quite compact all things considered, which provides some of the operational interest. However, the appeal is somehow capturing the setting. Have sketched out how to fit it onto a circular baseboard in N with minimal train lengths, and the result would be so small one could wheel the layout around. However, it would lose the appeal. What is cries out for is a massive space and build in O ... perfection. Realistically, never going to happen .... sigh ..

That sounds awesome, I hope it can come to fruition one day :)
 

Cowley

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A bit of thread bounce folks…

This is from the first part of this post talking about Seaton Junction.
A possible change around of our rooms later this year may mean that I either spend a lot of money building an insulated cabin in the garden for Lapford or I look at selling it and starting a new project in the loft which is already insulated, carpeted and crucially isn’t really used (unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to get Lapford up there due to the size of the hatch).

Below is a first sketch of a reimagined section of the West of England line in Devon.
The scenic section would be 4 metres through my version of SJ (which I’ve called Lyme Junction) along the back wall and then another 2 metres after the railway turns 90 degrees and passes through East Devon Parkway (which will be a copy of Tiverton Parkway but with Network Southeast signage) on the climb towards Honiton Tunnel.

Anyway here it is:

80E4D902-52A5-45D0-BDC1-0C51EFF447A1.jpeg

I’ve drawn the fiddle yard more squashed up than it needs to be but hopefully you’ll get the idea.

Any thoughts/feedback welcome. :)
 
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