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My 00 Gauge layout - Oldmoor Junction Model Railway

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Cowley

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It’s all reminding me very much of Acorn Antiques you know. :lol:
I can picture the walls wobbling whenever someone shuts a door and people giving faraway looks but at the wrong camera...

Coombe Junction is definitely an interesting set up, I don’t think there’s anywhere else quite like it really.
I suppose you’re right about the station having multiple short platforms. One interesting thing to model could be a station like Exmouth where the original platform remains, although it’s been shortened and there’s a more modern station building plonked on the end? You could probably get away with having a couple of platform faces (maybe either side of a central platform) if needs be too.
 
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Peter C

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It’s all reminding me very much of Acorn Antiques you know. :lol:
I can picture the walls wobbling whenever someone shuts a door and people giving faraway looks but at the wrong camera...
Haha :lol: I must admit that's where I got most of the inspiration for the little stories from. I've got all sorts of stories planned - they'll be produced in a bumper box set called Macaroons and more...

Coombe Junction is definitely an interesting set up, I don’t think there’s anywhere else quite like it really.
I just happened to watch a video about it a while ago, and thought it might work for the layout. I've done some trial-fitting of the depot buildings in the Oldmoor-on-Sea area, and it looks like the idea of having the T&RSMD there and then the Coombe Junction-esque reversal bit would work. Here's what I've got:

Oldmoor-on-Sea T&RSMD 1.jpegOldmoor-on-Sea T&RSMD 2.jpeg
Left: the taller of the two depot buildings I made - it works quite well in the space which would be otherwise occupied by Oldmoor-on-Sea station. The small shed is a Hornby one and would be alright for a depot shunter or two.
Right: the longer of the two scratchbuilt depot sheds would only fit in the area otherwise used by the kickback siding serving the Railway Inn. In its current form, though, it would hang off the edge of the board and would need a bit of rebuilding at one end.

With the depot over by Oldmoor Junction station, it can fit about nine engines - this one can fit about seven or eight at a push, and it's probably more like six in practice with longer engines. I do quite like the amount of scenic space given over for the town with the moving of the depot, and having it over in this bit of the board would also mean getting engines into and out of it would be easier. There's still the issue of storage space, though: and that's an issue I haven't quite solved yet. Losing space for two or three engines, but gaining 'ease of use', to use a technical term - quite the Countdown conundrum.

I suppose you’re right about the station having multiple short platforms. One interesting thing to model could be a station like Exmouth where the original platform remains, although it’s been shortened and there’s a more modern station building plonked on the end? You could probably get away with having a couple of platform faces (maybe either side of a central platform) if needs be too.
That sounds interesting with regards to Exmouth. Having had a look on Google, it looks like the kind of place I could easily fit into the given space. I'd probably have to add another platform, given my seeming obsession with having plenty of track :)
I did try playing around with a completely different trackplan to the one currently on the board yesterday, and this was the result:
1622117336837.png
(I hope you appreciate the effort I put into this - I made it yesterday, but changed it before taking a photo, and so I've just spent ten minutes putting it all back today)

This idea was based on a photo I saw of Blue Anchor, WSR, Signal Box: http://www.hondawanderer.com/Blue_Anchor_Signal_Box_1998.htm
The idea of having the signalbox right next to the station building and all right next to the road which points towards the sea looks really nice I think - especially with the sun on it in that photo. In the trackplan above, there are a couple of sidings which aren't there at Blue Anchor station: I've included these to add a bit of interest to the area, but they could easily be removed and (slightly) more of a town scene could be added in.
The level crossing going over the points is something we talked about a while ago on this thread, and the end result was that there were examples of level crossings going over points. However, the trackplan here is a bit more extreme than real-world examples, with the switchblades actually in the crossing. An easy way of getting around this would be to make the road over the crossing a single-track road, but just over the tracks. The bits of paper used to mark the road are 63mm in width - 4.8m in the real world, which is apparently the minimum road with for a car to pass a rigid vehicle according to https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39860

The platform on the left can hold a Class 153 unit, and the one on the right can hold a 2-car Triang DMU (Class 101?). Given this station is supposed to be at the other end of the line to Little Piddling, and that station is only big enough for a Class 153, I don't think having fairly limited capacity is much of a problem here. It also adds to the charm of the station I think :)
The cottage building, otherwise used for the Railway Inn, is used as a simple pair of semi-detached cottages here. However, it wouldn't be out-of-the-question to add a small platform next to the siding closest to the building, and then to keep the cottages as a small B&B or something similar. Could make for a fair amount of shunting too.

Overall, I like this trackplan, and it would only require buying two more right-hand points, which is alright. Do let me know what you all think - you're knowledgeable people! :D

Thanks for reading,

-Peter
 

Cowley

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I forgot to reply to this and I’m at work at the moment so I’ll do it properly later but I like some of ideas you’ve had. Have you had any more thoughts on it?
 

Peter C

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I forgot to reply to this and I’m at work at the moment so I’ll do it properly later but I like some of ideas you’ve had. Have you had any more thoughts on it?
Thanks for putting a message here - it's almost as if you knew I had some updates to share... ;)


Are we all sitting comfortably? Good - this is going to be a long one...
When moving various buildings around the layout the other day - particularly the depot buildings - I noticed that there was the possibility that Oldmoor town centre could be expanded to have two roads instead of just the one. I was quite taken by this idea and so I've spent the last few days trying to work out a way of getting more scenery into the town centre.
The first step was to move the depot buildings away from Oldmoor Junction station. This would allow for scenery to take over that area. My initial idea was to move the depot over to where Oldmoor-on-Sea used to be (as in the previous update): however, this idea fell apart when I realised that having the depot over there would, whilst nice, would be a bit impractical and would need quite a bit of reworking to be done to the buildings I'd made.

So now the first step has become a lot harder. To add to the issue, I'd decided that I didn't want to get rid of a station in the Oldmoor-on-Sea area - meaning another idea I'd had, whereby the depot would move to where the railway centre was, and the railway centre would move to where Oldmoor-on-Sea was, wouldn't work. I'm sure you can see what a pain this has been!
One thing which made life a bit easier was changing the trackplan of the railway centre. I'd decided I wasn't overly happy with the strange track layout, and after a visit to Banbury station at the weekend, I wanted to include some sort of depot with sidings long enough for storing a small rake of coaches (or a normal-length train, i.e. four/five carriages, split up over multiple sidings). Changing the railway centre trackplan to have four long sidings made this possible, and here's the result:
Oldmoor T&RSMD.jpeg
As you can see, the depot has been moved back to where it used to be before it was swapped around with the railway centre. As the caption in the photo says, the depot should be able to hold around twelve engines if there aren't any units in the sidings, which is a step up from the depot as it was by Oldmoor Junction station. I've decided to not use the longer of the two depot buildings, as it's too long and covers too much of the track - a lot of depots/stabling points have sidings out in the open, and so I've tried to replicate that here.

You can see the new design of Oldmoor Junction station in this photo too - so let's have a look at that properly.
Oldmoor Junction.jpeg
I'm fairly sure I shared my idea to remove a platform at Oldmoor Junction and replace it with a siding - and here's the result. The end result is a bit different to what I'd planned to begin with, but I'm happy with it. The idea is that having a couple of sidings for coach/engine storage in the station removes the need to have more sidings in the depot (and it also helps to break up the repetition of platforms a bit too).
The siding with the Prairie at the end also serves as the access road to and from the railway centre, which is now located where the depot used to be (but takes up a lot less space). The slightly strange design with the crossover and the junction came about purely so that I could include the crossover piece, which I bought several months ago and didn't want to waste.
This design reminds me of some of the larger terminus stations around the country in the pre-Beeching/modernisation era for some reason - a screenshot of a Train Sim route with an old Reading station on it reminded me of this to an extent as it had lots of carriage sidings at one point.
A potential change I might make before I pin the track down is to connect the Prairie siding to the one on the right, which might allow for the siding to hold coaches when not being used as an access point for the railway centre.

We're almost finished - on to the town centre. :)
Oldmoor Town Centre.jpg
Apologies for the messy state of it all at the moment!
Here you can see the two-road format of the town centre, which I think is a massive improvement over the single-road design I had before. As it says on the photo, the original idea was to put a park in the bit with the static grass bottle, but I'll probably swap the park area with the bit in-between the two roads, if that makes sense, there's one road of shops and then another just running between the railway centre and the park/green space. The main reason for doing this is to remove the problem of having to detail the backs of the shops facing out onto the road - you don't often see that (or at least not in the places near me), so I'm going to try and keep the roads running alongside the shop fronts only.
The railway centre has been reduced down to three sidings, but it looks more like a goods yard than it did before - which is a good thing. I had been trying to work out ways of fitting the goods shed into the railway centre in terms of history, but now it makes sense to say the railway centre was originally a goods yard - hence its proximity to the town centre, and the sidings - and has been preserved with a selection of displayed engines on rotation.

And finally - the end! Here we have what I've done to the old Oldmoor-on-Sea area:
Former Oldmoor-on-Sea.jpg
It's a very similar trackplan to that of Oldmoor-on-Sea, but slightly elongated. There's still a kickback siding, and a run-around loop. However, the run-around loop now has the ability to hold two coaches, if a train is being held in platform 1 as the engine runs around it, or a single coach, if the train is being held in platform 2 as the engine runs around. Fairly simple, but more like a standard heritage railway station.
This station is going to be a simple two-platform design, with a single siding. I had tried to fit in a small goods yard to the left of P2, but it wouldn't work with a goods yard and a station platform. The station will have a footbridge going between the platforms, and will be situated next to a small village green with a small cricket ground. The pieces of cardboard in this area are to mark the dimensions of the Metcalfe pavilion kit, which looks to be perfect for what I'm aiming for with this area. Peco make a set of cricketers - they're £27.50 though: https://peco-uk.com/products/cricketers
I might just have a set of generic people sat around the place instead ;)

So - that's what I've been getting up to on the layout over the past few days. Do let me know what you think, or if you have any other ideas. There's still quite a bit to be finalised!

Thanks for reading,

-Peter :)
 

Cowley

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That’s definitely much better Peter. The main station with centre storage roads look more realistic to me and is a bit like what I had on my old 00 railway. These aren’t great photos unfortunately but you can see the through lines nearest the camera, then I had another terminus platform and two long siding (one of which has the ballast wagons on it). Those sidings were really useful for storing spare trains and I’d use an 08 to pull them out and reverse them into a platform when they were needed.

8A508030-A555-4E5B-9604-A746A815E5B0.jpeg915CD47C-6F20-4887-9415-A7FAA552ACC2.jpeg

The railway centre made out of a goods shed works as well. Is that similar to what they’ve got at Yeovil? The whole thing slightly reminds me of Yeovil Junction actually. Have a look at some photos of that place.
 

Peter C

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That’s definitely much better Peter. The main station with centre storage roads look more realistic to me and is a bit like what I had on my old 00 railway. These aren’t great photos unfortunately but you can see the through lines nearest the camera, then I had another terminus platform and two long siding (one of which has the ballast wagons on it). Those sidings were really useful for storing spare trains and I’d use an 08 to pull them out and reverse them into a platform when they were needed.

View attachment 97540View attachment 97541
Thanks very much for the kind comments @Cowley - I'd been wondering if the changes worked and to hear that someone else thinks they work well is really nice. :)
That station of yours looks to have a really interesting layout. I'd mostly been thinking about using the sidings at Oldmoor Junction for just general storage but holding spare coaching sets is definitely a good use for them too. It gives a use for the Class 09 on the layout - that, and the various shunters I've got sat around!

The railway centre made out of a goods shed works as well. Is that similar to what they’ve got at Yeovil? The whole thing slightly reminds me of Yeovil Junction actually. Have a look at some photos of that place.
I hadn't heard of Yeovil Railway Centre before but the one on the layout does look similar - especially in size and location. Having had a look at photos of Yeovil Junction, it gives me a couple of ideas of ways to improve/change bits of the layout! :)

-Peter
 

Cowley

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Yes it’s quite an interesting place. The chopped off station footbridge and disused platforms have always fascinated me too.
Plus it’s been used as a servicing point for mainline steam at times which I still think could be useful little thing to incorporate on your layout. You could bring a railtour in, release the stock with the shunter which could put it into one of the centre roads while the loco goes to the centre for coal and water.
That’s quite an interesting little operating conundrum there (yes I did just use the word ‘conundrum’).
 

Peter C

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Yes it’s quite an interesting place. The chopped off station footbridge and disused platforms have always fascinated me too.
Plus it’s been used as a servicing point for mainline steam at times which I still think could be useful little thing to incorporate on your layout. You could bring a railtour in, release the stock with the shunter which could put it into one of the centre roads while the loco goes to the centre for coal and water.
That’s quite an interesting little operating conundrum there (yes I did just use the word ‘conundrum’).
This all seems to be coming together - the engines could bring the railtour in, the stock is shunted into the sidings or a bay platform, and then the engine is serviced at the railway centre.
Would definitely give a reason for facilities such as a road access point, for things like fire engines to re-water (is that the term?) engines. A diesel fuelling point wouldn't be a bad addition too I suppose.
(Conundrum is a brilliant word - I've used it more times than I can count on this thread alone!)

-Peter
 

Cowley

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:lol: I think just watering is probably enough...
A diesel fuel point could be useful too if the Western’s out on railtour duty. All of this gives things a reason for existing and I think that’s where realism starts to come together.
 

Peter C

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:lol: I think just watering is probably enough...
A diesel fuel point could be useful too if the Western’s out on railtour duty. All of this gives things a reason for existing and I think that’s where realism starts to come together.
It's all coming together - slowly (in the words of British Rail, "we're getting there")!
It could well become a miniature Tyesley: filled full of stuff and a hub for seemingly every railtour ever run!

-Peter
 

Cowley

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I think you could easily justify all kinds of things at a railway centre.
One thing that’s interesting to think about is how clean preserved stuff is. It’s immaculate though and even very clean locos still have coal dust around the tender, grease on the motion etc.
 

Peter C

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I think you could easily justify all kinds of things at a railway centre.
One thing that’s interesting to think about is how clean preserved stuff is. It’s immaculate though and even very clean locos still have coal dust around the tender, grease on the motion etc.
I've been running my railway on 'anything goes' rules since I started, and I'm not going to start getting overly prototypical, but it would be nice to have some more realistic operations. A railway centre could easily add to this side of things I think! :)
Preserved engines are almost always in superb condition. You do get some medium weathering on railtour engines after a day or two, but apart from that they're normally clean. I only have the one weathered engine at the moment, but I would like to get some other weathered models at some point - but probably lightly-weathered as I like seeing the colours of the engines :lol:

-Peter
 

Peter C

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"I'm speaking to you from the cabinet room at 10 Downing Street next to the OJMR..."

Conundrums, real life, and indecision - oh my! (Or, how to build a railway at realistic speeds)

I thought I might as well make a quick post to say that work has been continuing on the layout, but just like Network Rail with Didcot-Oxford electrification, it's not winning any races at the current pace. The bit of the layout getting the most attention at the moment is where Oldmoor-on-Sea used to be - it's large enough of an area to warrant at least some track, but it's too small to fit anything big. Quite the problem.
The main issue I've got at the moment is what to base the track layout around. I've come up with two ideas so far:
  • small heritage setup, with various small facilities such as an engine shed, station, carriage and wagon works, maybe a couple of generic sidings
  • go back all the way to what used to be in that space - the 1980s/1990s station I named 'Eastfield Road'
The heritage layout idea appeals because it would work well with Little Piddling station at the other end of the branch on the outer edge of the board, but it would have a few limitations - the main one being any run-around loop would only be big enough to hold a two-coach train. However, I could drop the run-around idea and use a station pilot and a pair of platforms to get the engine onto the right end of the train instead.
Eastfield Road was quite a simple station, with two platforms and a station building at the end. It was based vaguely off of the superb South Central model railway on Twitter, and was set in a kind-of South London 3rd-rail area, with various other stock making an appearance from time to time, such as a Class 110 or maybe even a Class 50 if the local enthusiasts were lucky. The station mainly existed to serve my Class 423 VEP, which is an anomaly in the OJMR fleet in that it's the only one to be 3rd-rail powered. A new version of this idea would have a few extra bits, including (maybe) a third platform and a couple of sidings.

So - to sum it all up: I've got too many ideas (it seemingly doesn't take much to baffle me) and my indecisiveness (that's a good word - we should make sure to use that more often) has made the whole thing much harder than it might otherwise have been. You're all a knowledgeable bunch, so I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the matter? If you know of any stations in the NSE era which had 3rd rail stock as well as loco-hauled stuff and maybe some DMUs, then that would be particularly useful. You can try sending answers on a postcard but Oldmoor's not a real place so good luck with that one. ;)

Thanks for coming to my Christmas lecture - and good evening. :)

-Peter
 

Cowley

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I’m going to have to reply properly tomorrow as I’m a little (ahem) emotional after the England game…
But I hope you’ve noticed that your post hasn’t merged with the last one..? ;)
 

Peter C

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I’m going to have to reply properly tomorrow as I’m a little (ahem) emotional after the England game…
But I hope you’ve noticed that your post hasn’t merged with the last one..? ;)
Haha - I watched a bit of the football but not a lot. Not really my sort of thing :lol:
I did notice that, yes. I assume by your comment that you've done some sort of gubbins and got it working how we wanted it? ;)

-Peter
 

Cowley

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Haha - I watched a bit of the football but not a lot. Not really my sort of thing :lol:
I did notice that, yes. I assume by your comment that you've done some sort of gubbins and got it working how we wanted it? ;)

-Peter

I haven’t technically done anything (wouldn’t have a clue :lol:) but something is now altered in this section which is good news.
 

Peter C

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I haven’t technically done anything (wouldn’t have a clue :lol:) but something is now altered in this section which is good news.
Haha :lol: - that is certainly good news. It brings to an end all of our psychic powers though - we almost always know when someone else wants to make a post...

-Peter
 

Cowley

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"I'm speaking to you from the cabinet room at 10 Downing Street next to the OJMR..."

Conundrums, real life, and indecision - oh my! (Or, how to build a railway at realistic speeds)

I thought I might as well make a quick post to say that work has been continuing on the layout, but just like Network Rail with Didcot-Oxford electrification, it's not winning any races at the current pace. The bit of the layout getting the most attention at the moment is where Oldmoor-on-Sea used to be - it's large enough of an area to warrant at least some track, but it's too small to fit anything big. Quite the problem.
The main issue I've got at the moment is what to base the track layout around. I've come up with two ideas so far:
  • small heritage setup, with various small facilities such as an engine shed, station, carriage and wagon works, maybe a couple of generic sidings
  • go back all the way to what used to be in that space - the 1980s/1990s station I named 'Eastfield Road'
The heritage layout idea appeals because it would work well with Little Piddling station at the other end of the branch on the outer edge of the board, but it would have a few limitations - the main one being any run-around loop would only be big enough to hold a two-coach train. However, I could drop the run-around idea and use a station pilot and a pair of platforms to get the engine onto the right end of the train instead.
Eastfield Road was quite a simple station, with two platforms and a station building at the end. It was based vaguely off of the superb South Central model railway on Twitter, and was set in a kind-of South London 3rd-rail area, with various other stock making an appearance from time to time, such as a Class 110 or maybe even a Class 50 if the local enthusiasts were lucky. The station mainly existed to serve my Class 423 VEP, which is an anomaly in the OJMR fleet in that it's the only one to be 3rd-rail powered. A new version of this idea would have a few extra bits, including (maybe) a third platform and a couple of sidings.

So - to sum it all up: I've got too many ideas (it seemingly doesn't take much to baffle me) and my indecisiveness (that's a good word - we should make sure to use that more often) has made the whole thing much harder than it might otherwise have been. You're all a knowledgeable bunch, so I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the matter? If you know of any stations in the NSE era which had 3rd rail stock as well as loco-hauled stuff and maybe some DMUs, then that would be particularly useful. You can try sending answers on a postcard but Oldmoor's not a real place so good luck with that one. ;)

Thanks for coming to my Christmas lecture - and good evening. :)

-Peter

Portsmouth Harbour is one that springs to mind as having DMUs, EMUs and loco hauled trains back in the day. Although it may be a little large for your requirements? Only two platforms though.

Haha :lol: - that is certainly good news. It brings to an end all of our psychic powers though - we almost always know when someone else wants to make a post...

-Peter

Yes. We’ll have to use those skills for something else now
 

Peter C

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Portsmouth Harbour is one that springs to mind as having DMUs, EMUs and loco hauled trains back in the day. Although it may be a little large for your requirements? Only two platforms though.
Ah yes - I'd completely forgotten about that one. I went there a few years ago, so I should have some photos of it somewhere - and there's always Mr. Google on-hand. This site seems to have some interesting photos of it through time: http://www.starzina.com/Starzina Z Railways Portsmouth.htm

Yes. We’ll have to use those skills for something else now
Haha :D

-Peter
 

Cowley

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I think if you put a fairly dark canopy over the platforms it would be hard to tell that it was quite short. You could make it removable for access?
 

Peter C

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I think if you put a fairly dark canopy over the platforms it would be hard to tell that it was quite short. You could make it removable for access?
I might just try that - there isn't a canopy on any of my other stations so it would be nice for a change!

-Peter
 

reddragon

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"I'm speaking to you from the cabinet room at 10 Downing Street next to the OJMR..."

Conundrums, real life, and indecision - oh my! (Or, how to build a railway at realistic speeds)

I thought I might as well make a quick post to say that work has been continuing on the layout, but just like Network Rail with Didcot-Oxford electrification, it's not winning any races at the current pace. The bit of the layout getting the most attention at the moment is where Oldmoor-on-Sea used to be - it's large enough of an area to warrant at least some track, but it's too small to fit anything big. Quite the problem.
The main issue I've got at the moment is what to base the track layout around. I've come up with two ideas so far:
  • small heritage setup, with various small facilities such as an engine shed, station, carriage and wagon works, maybe a couple of generic sidings
  • go back all the way to what used to be in that space - the 1980s/1990s station I named 'Eastfield Road'
The heritage layout idea appeals because it would work well with Little Piddling station at the other end of the branch on the outer edge of the board, but it would have a few limitations - the main one being any run-around loop would only be big enough to hold a two-coach train. However, I could drop the run-around idea and use a station pilot and a pair of platforms to get the engine onto the right end of the train instead.
Eastfield Road was quite a simple station, with two platforms and a station building at the end. It was based vaguely off of the superb South Central model railway on Twitter, and was set in a kind-of South London 3rd-rail area, with various other stock making an appearance from time to time, such as a Class 110 or maybe even a Class 50 if the local enthusiasts were lucky. The station mainly existed to serve my Class 423 VEP, which is an anomaly in the OJMR fleet in that it's the only one to be 3rd-rail powered. A new version of this idea would have a few extra bits, including (maybe) a third platform and a couple of sidings.

So - to sum it all up: I've got too many ideas (it seemingly doesn't take much to baffle me) and my indecisiveness (that's a good word - we should make sure to use that more often) has made the whole thing much harder than it might otherwise have been. You're all a knowledgeable bunch, so I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the matter? If you know of any stations in the NSE era which had 3rd rail stock as well as loco-hauled stuff and maybe some DMUs, then that would be particularly useful. You can try sending answers on a postcard but Oldmoor's not a real place so good luck with that one. ;)

Thanks for coming to my Christmas lecture - and good evening. :)

-Peter
Peter

The conclusion that you have reached is that your 4'x8' base is too small. You now need to work out how to build a bigger railway within the space that you have, using 2'x8' boards, drop in sections, fold up sections, tunnels behind wardrobes etc. A railway all around your room with a drop in section for the door; a fold up section above your bed and a tunnel under your desk will take you to another level.
 

Peter C

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Peter

The conclusion that you have reached is that your 4'x8' base is too small. You now need to work out how to build a bigger railway within the space that you have, using 2'x8' boards, drop in sections, fold up sections, tunnels behind wardrobes etc. A railway all around your room with a drop in section for the door; a fold up section above your bed and a tunnel under your desk will take you to another level.
You're describing my dream railway there @reddragon - but unfortunately that's how it's got to stay for the time being. The baseboard is the largest I can fit in my room with the other furniture in there - desk, bed, bookshelves - and even then it's a little bit on the big side. I've often thought about a layout in a shed, but I wouldn't be comfortable with the idea of it being outside, no matter how well-protected and weather-proof it might be.

-Peter
 

reddragon

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You're describing my dream railway there @reddragon - but unfortunately that's how it's got to stay for the time being. The baseboard is the largest I can fit in my room with the other furniture in there - desk, bed, bookshelves - and even then it's a little bit on the big side. I've often thought about a layout in a shed, but I wouldn't be comfortable with the idea of it being outside, no matter how well-protected and weather-proof it might be.

-Peter
Perhaps it is now time for you to start designing a solution as I suggested, working out how it could be built and eventually getting a Transport & Works Order approved by the relevant authority!
 

MotCO

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You're describing my dream railway there @reddragon - but unfortunately that's how it's got to stay for the time being. The baseboard is the largest I can fit in my room with the other furniture in there - desk, bed, bookshelves - and even then it's a little bit on the big side. I've often thought about a layout in a shed, but I wouldn't be comfortable with the idea of it being outside, no matter how well-protected and weather-proof it might be.

-Peter

When I were a wee lad, I had my train layout on a board hinged to a bedrom wall; when I wanted to play with it, I just lowered it down. (I think I got the idea from Blue Peter :D.) Could you do similar in your room - this could then cover your bed, desk etc. and allow you to have a larger layout.
 

reddragon

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When I were a wee lad, I had my train layout on a board hinged to a bedrom wall; when I wanted to play with it, I just lowered it down. (I think I got the idea from Blue Peter :D.) Could you do similar in your room - this could then cover your bed, desk etc. and allow you to have a larger layout.
Like!
 

Peter C

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Perhaps it is now time for you to start designing a solution as I suggested, working out how it could be built and eventually getting a Transport & Works Order approved by the relevant authority!
There are all sorts of ways it could be done - definitely - but the main issues are space and cost (and I suppose the amount of work involved too). I'm happy with the layout as it is and wouldn't want to go around changing it all now considering I've started making some progress on things like ballasting track.

When I were a wee lad, I had my train layout on a board hinged to a bedrom wall; when I wanted to play with it, I just lowered it down. (I think I got the idea from Blue Peter :D.) Could you do similar in your room - this could then cover your bed, desk etc. and allow you to have a larger layout.
I saw a very old clip from Blue Peter on YouTube not too long ago which covered all sorts of ways you could store a layout and that was one of the ideas. It looked nice but wouldn't be practical for my situation really.


Here's a quick MS Paint drawing of the room, to give you both an idea of what's going on:
1625414100874.png
A layout on the wall to the right of the frame wouldn't allow for a layout much bigger than the one I've got now - it would be a few inches deeper but not much more. Having the layout stored up on the left-hand wall wouldn't allow for a layout much bigger than the one I've got at the moment either: there's a TV (which I use as a second screen when using my laptop) in the bottom left-hand corner of that picture which would mean that a layout that long would have to sit above that when lowered down - and this would mean the layout would actually have to be less deep than it is now.

Another issue is the fact that the baseboard is currently supported on top of an old dining table which isn't going to be the easiest thing to move downstairs again (it was enough of a pain getting it up here). There are three bookcases surrounding the outside edges of the baseboard (the left-hand side and the bottom - the other two sides are against walls), with the two on the left-hand side holding rolling stock and the one at the bottom holding books. The layout also serves as a way of hiding the boxes of things stored underneath it, which can't be moved as there isn't an easy - or practical, for that matter - way of moving and storing them anywhere else.

Yet another problem would be that of buildings and rolling stock. The aforementioned bookcases underneath the baseboard which are used to store the rolling stock used on the layout are full as they're not the largest of things: hence me trying to get so much storage space on the layout itself as some stock just needs to stay on there permanently. Having the layout stored on a wall would allow for further rolling stock storage to be put along the right-hand wall, yes, but I'm not prepared to keep moving engines and stock onto and off of the layout every time I want to use it.
The buildings on the layout would be a big problem too. A few of them are low-relief card buildings which are easy to store, but quite a few are resin buildings and there are a handful of Metcalfe card kits too. Having to put them all on the layout every time I wanted to use it would be a real pain (and I'd want to have the buildings on there, or else it might as well be the standard Hornby 'TrakMat'). Signals would also fall into this category of buildings which would have to be removed from the board each time the layout was stored.

Along with the issues already given, there's also the matter of the DIY skills needed to construct such a storage system whereby the layout could be stored vertically on a wall. I don't have the skills necessary and no-one else in the house does either. To get something safe, secure, and useful made would cost quite a bit of money which simply isn't available. A further cost would be that of upkeep of the system - what if part of it breaks, or is worn down and needs replacing? I don't have the ability to head down to B&Q to buy the bits I need and then fix it all myself.

The final issue is that of appearance. At the moment, the layout looks like your standard model railway - a train set on a table. Having that big board on the wall would considerably negatively impact the look of the room as a whole, even if I painted the underside to match the colour of the wall.

Sorry to keep rambling but I hope this explains why such a system wouldn't be possible - I know you're both trying to help. :)

-Peter
 

Cowley

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There’s only one solution. The bed’s got to go…
 

MotCO

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There are all sorts of ways it could be done - definitely - but the main issues are space and cost (and I suppose the amount of work involved too). I'm happy with the layout as it is and wouldn't want to go around changing it all now considering I've started making some progress on things like ballasting track.


I saw a very old clip from Blue Peter on YouTube not too long ago which covered all sorts of ways you could store a layout and that was one of the ideas. It looked nice but wouldn't be practical for my situation really.


Here's a quick MS Paint drawing of the room, to give you both an idea of what's going on:
View attachment 99229
A layout on the wall to the right of the frame wouldn't allow for a layout much bigger than the one I've got now - it would be a few inches deeper but not much more. Having the layout stored up on the left-hand wall wouldn't allow for a layout much bigger than the one I've got at the moment either: there's a TV (which I use as a second screen when using my laptop) in the bottom left-hand corner of that picture which would mean that a layout that long would have to sit above that when lowered down - and this would mean the layout would actually have to be less deep than it is now.

Another issue is the fact that the baseboard is currently supported on top of an old dining table which isn't going to be the easiest thing to move downstairs again (it was enough of a pain getting it up here). There are three bookcases surrounding the outside edges of the baseboard (the left-hand side and the bottom - the other two sides are against walls), with the two on the left-hand side holding rolling stock and the one at the bottom holding books. The layout also serves as a way of hiding the boxes of things stored underneath it, which can't be moved as there isn't an easy - or practical, for that matter - way of moving and storing them anywhere else.

Yet another problem would be that of buildings and rolling stock. The aforementioned bookcases underneath the baseboard which are used to store the rolling stock used on the layout are full as they're not the largest of things: hence me trying to get so much storage space on the layout itself as some stock just needs to stay on there permanently. Having the layout stored on a wall would allow for further rolling stock storage to be put along the right-hand wall, yes, but I'm not prepared to keep moving engines and stock onto and off of the layout every time I want to use it.
The buildings on the layout would be a big problem too. A few of them are low-relief card buildings which are easy to store, but quite a few are resin buildings and there are a handful of Metcalfe card kits too. Having to put them all on the layout every time I wanted to use it would be a real pain (and I'd want to have the buildings on there, or else it might as well be the standard Hornby 'TrakMat'). Signals would also fall into this category of buildings which would have to be removed from the board each time the layout was stored.

Along with the issues already given, there's also the matter of the DIY skills needed to construct such a storage system whereby the layout could be stored vertically on a wall. I don't have the skills necessary and no-one else in the house does either. To get something safe, secure, and useful made would cost quite a bit of money which simply isn't available. A further cost would be that of upkeep of the system - what if part of it breaks, or is worn down and needs replacing? I don't have the ability to head down to B&Q to buy the bits I need and then fix it all myself.

The final issue is that of appearance. At the moment, the layout looks like your standard model railway - a train set on a table. Having that big board on the wall would considerably negatively impact the look of the room as a whole, even if I painted the underside to match the colour of the wall.

Sorry to keep rambling but I hope this explains why such a system wouldn't be possible - I know you're both trying to help. :)

-Peter

That's a no then, is it? :D
 

Peter C

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There’s only one solution. The bed’s got to go…
Bingo - it all makes sense now. Why didn't we think of that before? ;)

That's a no then, is it? :D
Haha :lol: - sorry for such a long (and quite grumpy-sounding) post. I thought it might be worth just writing it all in one go than extending it all over several posts by giving one reason after another!

-Peter
 
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