You spin me right round

I've always said that it is important that the layout should be used at home, rather than just sit waiting for the next exhibition.  Thus, upon moving it to the loft (and all that entails in terms of rafter insulation etc), I have two new problems:

1) the so-called 'question mark' board is a very tight fit through the new loft hatch, requiring the removal of the hatch hinges and retaining mechanism to get it through (not ideal).  This is beacuse it is 6 inches wider than all the other boards.
2) the layout as displayed at expoNG does not fit in the loft because of some fiendishly placed chimney breasts, roof ties etc

So, this got me thinking, how could I remove the need for the wider question mark board and also reduce the total footprint of the layout?  It is particularly difficult as I want to retain the 'round and round' setup and a single (central) hidden sidings.  Indeed the Ffridd Isaf curves board also means that the line is headed away from the station in a difficult direction to solve without the need for even more space.

Well one idea (the leading idea of many) is presented above.  This is quite radical (!) but could work really well I think. 

The idea is to place the layout and hidden sidings back to back, removing the need for an operating well.  In order to do that successfully (here's the radical bit) I will change the viewers' view of the layout - instead of looking at the station from the car park side, you'll now view it from the hills!  As you can see above this delivers a close to 40% reduction in the total layout footprint, but (bizarrely) requires an EXTRA board (3 ft x 2ft)! 

It would allow the fiendish tie in my loft to sit behind the backscene and thus become inobtrusive (although it would be in the way if (when) boards A and B are made scenic. 

I actuallly think there is something quite fun about having the layout viewed from the other side... it's like looking at the station from the hills and it means trains disappear from view and reappear in an interesting way. 

So, in order to create this I need to cut back the current backscene to just retain the hillsides etc, build a new board and install a new backscene on the other side.  Board H (the small triangle) may not now be required, it might remain, we'll see. 

I can now make plans for what I shall model on boards A and B too - something north of Rhyd Ddu...ummm

Houston, we have a problem

Above is how the layout should appear at expong.  Below is the first hidden sidings board (Beddgelert end) coming along nicely…

and the first of the wixroyd catches installed (as suggested by JdF of county gate).

Now the other hidden sidings has to feed the Ffridd Isaf end via a small aperture 2 and a bit inches from the edge (sorry about the shocking carpet – it lines the garage!).

 

Here’s that hidden sidings board.  Except that I noticed (it took me a while!) that the board in its current state would only allow one of the traverser roads to feed the layout!  ah.

 

Really the feed needs to be central to the hidden sidings board (where the pencil mark is below).  The problem there would be that a good foot of the Ffridd Isaf board would then not be visible.

 

So I had a good think and have decided to add a board (!) which will swing the line back 180 degrees and feed the hidden sidings in the middle. 

Luckily I had already created two four feet boards for another project so the top was taken off, sawn in half and reattached.  Then another piece of 9mm ply hanging around the garage was cut to overlap the edges (the 180 degree turn more than 2 feet width to swing around). 

A small gap between the two was filled with polyfilla (and will be sanded) and then I used my 12 and 15 inch radius tracksettas to mark out the new line.  As it happens the overhang on the other side is not required and can be cut off.

I will also now need an extra trestle and 2 extra legs(!).

However out of all this, there is some benefit, which is that the layout is now not as long.  It would have been 16 feet long and is now 14 feet but will be slightly wider by 150mm.

Home setup thoughts

The above might look like lego, but I can assure you that it's not. These are some diagrammatic representations of how the layout could be set up. I need to think about this before I finish the hidden sidings!

The top one shows the layout as complete, with hidden sidings in dark blue, Rhyd Ddu boards in light blue and potential future boards (for the Ffestiniog layout) in grey. The total footprint is 8 x 16 feet or 128 square feet.

The second one shows the Ffridd Isaf section as set up for a small home test track. The red box would be a new 2 road board, a hidden sidings board being used at the other end. This would be approximately 10 x 8 feet (80 sq feet) depending on the length of the new sidings. Potentially two smaller hidden boards say of 2 feet length could be used, making this a tighter 7x6 feet footprint (that's just 42 square feet).

The third shows how the layout would look if the Ffridd board was replaced by the hidden sidings board. This makes the footprint 6x12 feet or 72 square feet.

The fourth shows this same arrangement, but also without the 2 foot square board at the Pitt's Head end, with the station board continuing straight on to the hidden sidings. This is thus 14 x 6 feet or 84 square feet. This option could of course also include Ffridd Isaf but this seems pointless really as it makes the layout longer, but the same width as the full layout setup.

The idea is to install holes for baseboard alignment in enough places to make all of the above possible.

PS I've left off teh triangular section at the corner of Ffridd Isaf as I couldn't find a quick way of adding it in MS visio!

Much to blog about

PART ONE: Progress on FR carriage 100.

I am preparing to complete the second end, using a compass cutter to create the radius at the top.

The first side has had its second stage detail almost completed.  It's hard to take an image, so here's one which has had its contrast maxxed up in photoshop.  The banana bend is normal apparently, caused by the lamination.  Most of the strip is 15 thou by 20 thou.  It's not perfect, but for a first go I'm quite pleased with it.

PART TWO: Plans for second side of the layout - or what shall I use my 2 new 4ft x 2ft baseboards for?

I've been thinking about this a lot.  One of the new problems with Rhyd Ddu is that, with most FR stock (and any heritage WHHR trains) terminating at Beddgelert, I'm stuck with just being able to run WHR trains.  Luckily some of the timetabled trains do indeed pass at Rhyd Ddu, so that's something.  So, I was looking to make the second side of the layout into an area where the other stock I'm building could be used.  The obvious choice is therefore something south of Beddgelert.

One thought was Pen-y-Mount.  Here I could model all the mainline WHR trains (current WHR stock and the FR third set trains too).  Indeed the WHHR stock can also be used (whether they run past Pen-y-mount or not) and even the Cambrian if I chose to model Cae Pawb as well.  This could be the usual DMU stock, but also class 37s and even steam specials.

However, the flat crossing may be a problem: to quote from Brian Meldon on the 009 society forum:

"the ready made standard/009 crossings that I have seen have dead frogs...This makes it virtually imposable to achieve good running on the 009 track. The gap in the rail is also a problem as the 009 wheels will tend to drop down in to the space required for the standard gauge flanges. You could always build one yourself but even then the gap required for the standard gauge flanges can be a problem.

One way round this is to only use fine scale 00 wheels with tiny flanges and build your entire 00 track and all the 00 locos and rolling stock to this standard. 
On real railways the difference between narrow and standard gauge wheel flanges is quite small and crossings, like that installed at Porthmadog in the photo linked below, have very small flange gaps:
http://www.isengard.co.uk/images/JPEGS/S14_NF2-11-06Cambrian%20Crossing.jpg

This is not easily achievable in 4mm scale and certainly not using ready made crossings. A 90 degree crossing is not a good thing at all because both wheels will hit the gap at the same time, on the real railways these are normally avoided as is the case at Porthmadog, by being on a slight angle. At the other extreme crossings at acute angles will increase the length of the flange gap and the resultant hole." 

Ummmm...doesn't sound hopeful really.  I'm going to talk to a track guru first, but it seems a bit unlikely.  Also I'd need to build the unusual catch points and some method for running standard gauge trains at 90 degrees to the narrow gauge and then folding back to sit alongside the back of the baseboard on both sides.  It might make the baseboard impossibly wide?  

So, other possibilities...?  I still like the idea of 2 or 3 scenes on this side, with Tyler's curve and Plas halt a major contender for the first section, partly as the curve is correct.  The other contenders are:

- Tafarntrip and Garnedd tunnel (tunnel at end is useful for scenic break, bit boring?)

- Barlwyd Terrace near Tanygrisiau (river and rhodos are lovely here plus gentle curves)

- Aberglaslyn (obviously wonderful, but how to model to make the scale look right - the hills at the back are huge)

- Rhiw Goch (provides a passing place, but might also be a bit boring)

- Dduallt tank curve (a lovely gentle curve with interest (old tank))

- Nanmor bank and Nantmor cuttings (gradient, rock cuttings, road bridge)

- Nanmor river bridge and Hafod y Llyn loop (Hen Hafod).  -  see below.

PART THREE - Hen Hafod

and then yesterday came the announcement that the WHR will open to Beddgelert on 7th April and will be extended to a temporary terminus at Hen Hafod (old Hafod y Llyn and just short of the river bridge) on 21st May. 

The line will not now open to Porthmadog until after the summer peak season.  

So, the question now is what will happen to the third set of FR carriages?  Will they run on the FR as in 2008, or will they be used on the WHR.  If so, will they run a shuttle from Beddgelert, or Rhyd Ddu/Waunfawr or even Dinas/Caernarfon?  If so, then Rhyd Ddu will see the use of the FR stock after all!  

We'll have to wait until that becomes clear...

Colin

Masterplan

[click to enlarge]

Hi all,

In May on hols I got thinking about the other side of the layout...the Ffestiniog side.  Finally I've had time to draw it up into a kind of long-term Masterplan.  Of course the short term plan is to 'finish' Rhyd Ddu, but you will have noticed me building much FR stock too.  This is with one eye on the future of my train set (cos that's what it is really!).  

The idea is to feature something different.  I remain to be convinced that 009 shunting layouts really work (maybe County Gate could prove me wrong, I don't know), but I have plenty of evidence that through running layouts can work well (e.g. Dduallt etc) and the extra benefit of 009 is that the scenics can be extensive within a manageable space.

So, I thought of putting together 3 boards of scenic Ffestiniog vistas and if possible, a passing loop in the middle to add operational interest.  The three I have chosen are:

- Tylers Curve and Plas Halt (a beautiful peaceful halt in woodland next to the tightest curve on the railway, which itself resides in a rock cutting.

- Rhiw Goch loop and signal box for the passing loop, encouraged by a recent article in Narrow Gauge and Industrial Railway Modelling Review explaining how to model the fabulous new box there.

- Dduallt tank curve leading to Campbell's Platform - a gorgeous swinging curve.

The only issue I have yet to find with this is that the scenes are in the wrong order.  Rhiw Goch is just after Penrhyn, whilst Plas Halt is just before Tan-y-Bwlch, so really those two should be the other way around.  However Tyler's curve, as you can see, really fits with the necessary sharp bend out of HS1.  Also having Rhiw Goch in the middle helps operation.  Because of this I might add plywood backscenes between the three boards to separate them into discrete scenes...?

For those struggling to remember what these scenes look like, here's Rhiw Goch box:

Plas Halt and Tyler's curve:

and Dduallt Tank curve leading to the small halt of Campbell's Platform:

I would genuinely be interested in your comments on this plan, and by the way it is the layout with no name at the moment: perhaps Plas Rhiw Tank?

Colin

Principles

A recap over some of the guiding principles for the layout that were first posted on my initial blog site at yahoo:

- I will use commercially available trackwork (PECO), even though the gauge is technically wrong (2ft 3", rather than 2") and the sleepers are wooden style rather than SAR metal. This is beacuse I am much more interested in the overall effect of the layout, rather than the utmost detail. I believe time spent messing about with gauge could have been much better spent building more locos or getting the layout finished sooner. Also it means that other people's 009 locos/stock can use my layout too - a big downside to finescale (8mm) modelling.

- There is not room to fit the whole of a scale model of Rhyd Ddu in my garage or a sensible space at an exhibition, so it's a case of chop and cut where necessary to fit, whilst maintaining the look of the real thing. Although the layout will be firmly based on plans received from the WHR, if it looks right, then I'll do it, even if its slightly wrong. For example, the platform is 3ft , whereas a scale version would be 8ft long!

- I want to give an impression of the isolation of the general site and therefore the baseboards are designed in such a way as to eliminate nearby buildings such as tan-yr-wyddfa at the north end of the station and the toilet block in the car park.

- Trees will be commercially sourced but pruned to as close to the actual thing as possible.

- The water towers and platform shelter will be scratchbuilt to as close as possible emulate the real thing.

- The layout (a pictured above) will eventually have 2 hidden sidings, with two controllers able to pass trains in the loop. I have yet to build these boards and it may be that the Pitt's Head end HS will be turned through 90 degrees, which will require a smaller 2ft square board with a curve to bring the track around and into the HS. This would not be visible to the public as it not prototypical. Still debating this....

Colin