Somewhere SW of London. Somewhen before today

It has taken a while, over a year in fact, since moving back to the UK before I have been able to start work on a new project.  The down-sizing exercise has been significant.  From a 34-metre outdoor layout to a single room which has to function as bedroom, office, workroom and now layout space as well.  

Waddlemarsh will represent a fictional small freight transfer yard with a backwater SR electric passenger service located somewhere in the SW of London / Middlesex and drawing some inspiration from the likes of Feltham, Morden milk depot and others.  There will be a nod to Waddon Marsh though there is no intention to represent this location.  The time period will largely be mid-1960s with a little flexibility either way.  

That will permit the operation of SR steam and early BR blue side by side though green will be the dominant colour scheme.  Freights will arrive from and depart to all other areas changing traction in the yard and bringing in classes familiar to the ER and LMR plus, of course, my large fleet of WR types. There will also be appearances from types more closely associated with Scotland as the class 26 locomotives were originally delivered to the ER before migrating (or being banished) north of the border.  Class 17 locos never ran in London but under Rule 1 they will appear at Waddlemarsh on days when other personal favourites are also in operation.  Electric passenger services will be in the hands of 2Bil units with the occasional appearance of 2Hal and 4Cep types.  There will also be guest appearances from the Brighton Belle in 1967 guise alongside the as-new 4TC in early BR blue which also appeared late in 1967.

The layout is under construction after a very tricky exercise in logistics.  The fiddle yard is the upper surface of the library book shelf upon which it has been possible to fit nine sidings.  The two baseboards which were built, powered and tested with another project in mind around 12 years ago in Australia form the main scenic areas.  These were track-laid to fi end-to-end but are now at right-angles to each other around the room with a new board between to accommodate the corner.  This will result in some slight alteration to the originally-laid tracks but not much.  Everything has been squeezed in and fits by a millimetre here, two there and with nothing spare.  The cat won't let me swing him but he assures me there is no room to do so in any case.

Operation will be straight DC on a layout which is intended to only be a rather temporary thing set up in a rented room and which cannot be fixed in any way to walls or floor.  It relies for its integrity upon the tight fit around the L-shape and some basic bracing and support.  Track as laid is code 75 electrofrog which, because much of it is already wired and proven, will be retained.  The fiddle yard, and a hidden storage behind the goods yard for two electric trains, will however be in code 100 because I hold stock of both plain track and points so further expenditure is not necessary.  All that has been required was the very modest purchase of some SL-113 transition track pieces which will be / are fitted where the code 75 viewing area runs off-scene to code 100 storage.  Frog witching is by Peco standard accessory switches mounted beneath the usual clip-in motors.

In order to accommodate a 4-car train in what will be an SR-style halt the passenger station will be on one board and the goods area on the other with a 90-degree curve between them.  I intend to minimise the effect of this through careful use of scenery and by hiding the passenger line through the curve and taking it to the two-road reversing sidings mentioned above behind the main scenics.  

Control will be from a front-mounted controller, the Morley Vortrak reclaimed from Penhayle Bay, and an array of point and signal levers.  Those who saw my previous layout will find that set-up familiar.  A small number of functional Dapol signals will be included.

Now to arrange for some pictures.

The pencil-sketch track plan I am working to.  It has been possible to fit nine sidings in the main fiddle yard of which four will feed the passenger line and five the freight.  The twin-track hidden storage for electric trains behind the freight area is clearly marked.  As track laying progresses I am making on-the-fly changes to minimise the effect of the right-angle bends around the room although one track, on the tightest curve, will be restricted to short wheelbase shunting locomotives only.




 And a trio of views showing the general placement of tracks in the main fiddle yard (occupied by a Maunsell twin-set and three Brighton Belle trailers), the future site of Waddlemarsh Halt occupied by the 4TC unit and with some representative freight movements apparently taking place.










What appears to be an angle-poise lamp is exactly that.  It illuminates my desk and work area and will illuminate the fiddle yard when the scenic break eventually goes in.

A short video showing the general arrangement of things around the room including how the layout, desk and bed are all interlaced.  There really is very little space indeed and I am asking a lot to get this much layout into so small an area.  

It's taking shape, Rick. Once you can run that first train, the inspiration should flow even more.

:doublethumb

Hey great to see you've started on a new project Rick.  I only saw the trailing end of Penhayle, so will be great to see your progress on your new layout. You have a real knack for capturing the "real" aspect and bringing it alive.
Penhayle was easily my favourite layout on here is a massive inspiration to Teasel bay (I hope that is ok?). I look forwards to watching Waddlemarsh grow.

Chris

Yes, good to see you back into it Rick.

And good to finally be using those points you helped wire up all those years ago Sol. And also the ones I bought from Max are finally being put to use. 
If anything I do inspires others then that is indeed very satisfying.  There is certainly no copyright on that so go forth and model! 

There has been progress.  Not all of it forwards.  I have started wiring the new points and crossover which required the purchase of a new soldering iron.  It worked perfectly for 30 minutes and then died.  I have not been able to return to the shop and exchange it until today but exchange it they did without question.  More wiring can now take place over the Bank Holiday weekend.
 
The track plan has been modified slightly from the original sketch and no doubt will continue to be modified as I fit things in.  The two-road shed area on the goods yard board will now be a single road serving the merchant's store as had been intended when I first designed and built this board for another project years ago.  It will instead gain a kick-back siding to a small servicing shed.
 
The goods line has been pinned into its final position and has the N-class standing on it in the photo below.  The goods headshunt remains in its final position, as built previously, but now singled. This has the Warwell leading the freight parked on it in the picture.
 

 
Another view looking into the office / workstation area with the fiddle yard on the shelf behind the computer and the bed base above.  This will not be the layout operating area however - that will be installed on the edge of the baseboard in front of Waddlemarsh Halt.
 

 
And another video clip which shows that some progress is indeed being made even if it looks like spaghetti everywhere.  It's at that stage of things!  This is also a full 360-degree view around the room and gives perhaps a better idea of how everything is squeezed in both on the layout and in the room in what has been generously described as "Masterful use of space".

What to do on a wet Bank Holiday weekend?  Fix the two hidden sidings which will form the run-off for the electric passenger trains.  These two sidings will be concealed behind the backscene of the freight facility and will give the impression of a through route without the need to run the same train out and back every time. 

The required length was for a five-car unit or loco-plus-four which as can be seen has been achieved.  The closely spaced tracks and the very tight clearance behind the upright posts are of no consequence as these are hidden sidings.  

Four views which show the overall track plan taking shape on this board and which is surprisingly close to being completed, the twin run-off tracks for electric trains which are occupied here by the three trailer cars of the Brighton Belle (the motor coaches are due for release any day now) and a 4TC unit with a class 33/1 loco tucked away at the far end.  Apart from the length of the board it is these two 5-vehicle trains which require the given length of siding though for the most part 2-car or 4-car trains will be the rule on passenger workings.

The proximity to the window is apparent and trains moving along the outer siding will brush the net curtain but in tests have not snagged it.  The back scene will be a pre-printed photographic panel mounted on MDF and simply slotted into position.  Of the three posts only the two outer ones are fixed while the third will be glued to the MDF and allow the back scene to be lifted in or out as required and located between the outer posts.  As this layout is being built almost entirely from materials already to hand the posts are simply random offcuts from the baseboard legs and their differing heights will not matter in this situation.

The slim pole, visible where the net has been drawn back in order to show it, which alters the angle of dangle for the venetian blind must be accessible limiting the height of the backscene but not severely so.  I will also need access to those hidden sidings should anything go awry.

Rick I presume this is 00 gauge as you had before?   (Being an N gauger myself I can't help thinking this might have been more suitable for you in this much smaller space).Anyway, whatever scale it is it looks great!
Ken.

Yes this is OO.  I considered N gauge but the boards were already built and part-wired from years ago, I have most of the rolling stock required already and I have a stock of track and parts for OO.  So the new layout will be built at fairly minimal cost as opposed to going for the smaller gauge which would have required significant outlay and the scrapping of some work already done by myself and a couple of others.


 I'm not an oldie by any means but I do notice a slight deterioration in eyesight and a definite lack of hand-eye co-ordination practice with some of the tasks so sticking to a larger scale helps there too.

I should probably add also that since this is my first venture into the land of electrofrog points, though still driving DC, that some of the track will not be pinned down until it has been electrically tested and I am happy with the operation.  That should avoid any need to undo work later if I find things are wired / insulated incorrectly.

That first moment at which the tracks are connected end to end. Only this inner curve for now and nothing is yet firmly fixed until the electrics can be tested. 

This will be the shunting line and theoretically open only to short wheelbase locos. However with a radius of slightly more guesstimetres than I had anticipated it seems even a Merchant Navy can cope. 



Although the bogie swing on the Bulleid diesel is a bit unrealistic this too happily runs through the curve.  It’s green and never wore that livery while based on the Southern but it will appear at times on freights to or from the LMR. As such it has its headsignal discs set for the route via Kew Junctions and Acton (one end) and via the West London Line and Willesden (other end). 

An afternoon session today saw track laying completed on this board, which is the freight handling area, though not the wiring which is still some way off.  
I have allowed for realistic shunt and shed moves with DC operation by installing insulating joiners and will have switchable current as required.  The kick-back siding which will lead to a shed has three separate electrical sections and the far right siding next to the upright posts has a section at its dead end which can be isolated to retain a loco in place and allow a train to be drawn out by another at the leading end.

The main arrivals road has a loco-release facility and that in turn has a short headshunt to accommodate a tank engine or diesel shunter as required. The other long road, second from the left, is intended to be a departure road with stock placed by the duty shunter then the train collected by its loco; this therefore does not require a dead section at the far end.

Coming on great Rick,
I think all the thought into dead areas for shunting is brilliant. Going to give you lots of little switches to control!

Might not comment on all your posts but definitely reading them!

Chris

Nice to see some progress Rick.
Following along.

ATB

It’s alive!!!  With a temporary power supply rigged up the first train has moved under its own power at Waddlemarsh.

The controller is the Morley Vortrak salvaged from Penhayle Bay and which has spent 15 years outdoors (and suffered a little for that) though three of its four independant outputs still work.

I have also been able to check that everything purchased since Penhayle Bay closed actually works. It does. And I am particularly impressed with the little Heljan class 07 dock shunters of which two are now in my collection.

Model railway videos - gwiwer

A rolling start is a very important event then Rick - well done so far.

The most important part of any layout is to get something moving.
Doesn't matter what & how long the track is.
Just to get something moving is an achievement & gives confidence going forward  :Happy

[user=710]amdaley[/user] wrote:

The most important part of any layout is to get something moving.
Doesn't matter what & how long the track is.
Just to get something moving is an achievement & gives confidence going forward  :Happy

Yeah, wot 'e sed!

Good progress, Rick, and I agree that once you get something moving, the inspiration should keep flowing.

:doublethumb