Method in the madness

For a few weeks now I have been approaching work in the loft with something of a heavy heart. Family events have a lot to do with that, but I have also been disheartened by the apparent lack of progress. Time spent in the loft was leading to no real visible change.

Well, yesterday I think I managed to break out of that cycle, and I can now start to see an endpoint to all the chaos. I had a day off and was able to spend several productive hours working on the railway. I finally got some kind of process going, and results were relatively quick to come. What has appeared for a while to be a disorganised pile of wood has now begun to look something like a model railway.

This picture shows the three baseboards completed thus far with, at the left, the access road from the storage sidings emerging. The boards are not fixed yet as there is still work to do underneath them - not least, laying and wiring the track for the storage sidings. But the top is pleasingly level and should, when fixed, provide a good running surface. The sections are also completely detachable - they will bolt together eventually, but for now they can be taken out; this makes for much easier working.

Those of you paying attention will notice that the right-hand board in the picture, which is actually the central back section and the first one I made (see this previous post), is lower than it used to be. In fact, it is precisely 2cm lower. After some fiddling with the board design, I decided that the present height (8cm above the storage sidings) would be sufficient. It softens the gradients into the storage sidings and improves clearance near the roof purlins along the sides of the layout. It also happens that 8cm is the height of the standard Hornby R657 girder bridge, so we'll be well clear of any loading gauges. I am building all boards to this 8cm clearance and have reduced the height of the middle board to compensate.

Access to the storage sidings will still be an issue. I continue to think that I will have to make a detachable section on the top station, but I am also thinking about some kind of cassette dock on the LH approach road (near where the coach is in the above picture), to allow me to add and remove trains easily. More on that in the future.

Below is the same area with the tops removed, showing how the plywood risers fit around the track bed for the storage sidings. I am adding some horizontal batten to provide more support for the top boards - these are yet to be completed.

(I am very grateful for the power screwdriver I was given for Christmas. This has already saved me a lot of effort.)

Next to do is to complete the other two baseboards along the back wall. I now know what I am doing and should be able to complete these relatively quickly, although both have their unique problems. Once the back baseboards are completed I can finally think about laying some track.

Over the past few weeks the track plan has also changed somewhat. More on this in the next post.

The track dilemma

Well, very little has happened over the past few weeks. This is not for any reason other than the pressure of other commitments. As soon as I can, I will be back in the loft and resuming progress.

But this seems like a good point to discuss the track issue, which I have obliquely hinted at a couple of times in previous posts. At present all my track is Hornby sectional track, mostly rather old and dirty, not especially reliable, and rather cheap-looking. I have always thought that Hornby do track grudgingly (they seem to make it because they have to, not because they want to). And in my experience, their pointwork, especially the curved points, can be unreliable. My Hornby curved points tend to derail all but the heaviest of stock unless manually set with some force. One of them was the cause of my prize GWR Castle class loco derailing at speed and crashing off the tabletop layout onto the floor earlier this year. Repairs were needed, although I have to say that thanks to the excellent repair service at Boswells in Oxford, the cost of this was far less painful than I feared at first.

For these reasons I have decided not to use Hornby track unless necessary, and to opt for Peco instead. From what I can tell, Peco track has a much better reputation, and there is also a wider range of track styles and point designs to choose from. For example, they do a very nice code 100 flexible track with concrete sleepers. I think I will use that for the main running rails: it's appropriate to the era, and the clean rails will be good for reliability. Christmas money is already earmarked to cover the cost of that. Because of the inherent expense of buying points (especially the double-slip point I need for the station throat) the new trackwork will probably have to be bought over an extended period. So in the interests of progress, I may need to use some of my old Hornby track for a while.

Many people recommend code 75 track instead of code 100, and it's easy to see why; the rails are in better proportion and you get a more satisfying appearance. But the gauge compromises of OO scale mean that you won't ever get truly realistic track in OO. Having better proportioned track doesn't ever quite compensate for the reduced gauge when running OO-scale models. And besides, much of my rolling stock is 1970s Hornby and Airfix, whose wheel flanges would, I think, struggle with the smaller track cross-section. So I think code 100 will suffice for now. Maybe I'll use code 75 for the branch line, where the allowed rolling stock will be limited to my more recent acquisitions, mainly short DMUs and some light freight.

Storage sidings

The storage sidings are almost complete...














In this picture, the track beds are fixed but the track itself is not. The design for the storage sidings was finalised at the start of this week after some playing around in XTrkCAD. Five sidings is not that many but I think I will probably have about five trains. There will also be some sidings topside that can be used to park trains if I end up with more.

Concerning the track itself, I have still to decide whether to use my existing Hornby sectional track. The reason why I wouldn't is because it is very grimy and contact is sporadic at best. I tried cleaning all the track a few months ago, but the grime has returned already. For the hidden storage tracks I don't want to be worrying whether the rails are clean enough; trains have to enter and leave the sidings smoothly and under their own power. So I might have to invest in new trackwork. It will probably be flexible track just because the straight lengths and curve radii are not exactly standard according to Hornby geometry.

The next job is to test the running height along the sides of the layout. I want to do that over the weekend if there's time.

First baseboard completed

Quick update: the first baseboard is now finished...

It took a while to do, although the results don't appear to justify the time spent; Karen's reaction was "you spent 2 hours in the loft and it doesn't look any different!"

I am a trifle worried by the height of the board, especially at the sides near where the roof meets the purlins. I'm not sure whether there will be clearance for tracks along the edges of the board at the full layout height. Some tests will follow.

Of fiddle yards and gradients

Finally, I have laid the first track bed. OK, so it's only 60cm long and doesn't go anywhere yet, but it's progress.















This is a close-up of the centre rear baseboard section, now complete with trackbed. The anatomy of this picture is as follows:

• The plywood section at the front is exterior baseboard - this will be the front of the station and will probably have a road, or a bus stop, or something such. Maybe even a tram stop eventually.
• The vertical plywood risers form the supports for the main board which will sit on top of them
• The five track sections sit on an MDF trackbed which is the central section of the storage sidings which will be underneath the station board.

To have arrived at this configuration has required some redesign, a lot of rethinking, and an ounce of hope that it will all work. I had originally planned to have the storage sidings lower than this - below the main frame in fact - but the gradients required and the mass of existing woodwork in the way proved problems too difficult to overcome. So I have alighted on this configuration, which raises the station a few cm higher but makes the storage sidings easier to construct and keeps the entire system portable. Even so, there is not much clearance in the storage sidings and accessibility might be an issue (hence I'm not officially calling it a fiddle yard). At first I think I will have to make the station platforms detachable so I can get at the trains parked underneath. Eventually I could think about a slide-out section.

The layout design is still evolving but is beginning to settle into a stable pattern. Just as well, given that all of the next steps will involve cutting wood to the shape required by the track design. The total height range of the layout is about 14cm - the storage sidings have the lowest elevation and the branch line bridge over the mainline the highest. There are some places where the gradients are tight - notably the 14cm drop in about 3m, including a station, for the branch line from the bridge down to the storage sidings. One possible solution is to swap the bridge orientation so that the mainline runs over the branch line. I am still thinking about that.

Here is the same view as above but with the top board in place. The station board will be 3cm higher than this in the end to provide clearance for the storage sidings.

Next task: to finish putting this frame together and then repeat nine more times with different configurations. But first I think I'll lay out the entire storage sidings (sub-surface) track bed, so that I know where I can and can't put risers for the top board.

Needless to say, I've given up trying to estimate when it will all be finished.

Ready to add height

It's been a while since my last post, but finally I can report that all ten of the baseboard frames are completed.















It has been a slow process because of existing commitments and the usual constraints, but I am glad to have arrived at this point. From now on I will be doing work that reflects the final shape of the model, rather than foundation work. So the next task will be to make and attach the risers on which the final baseboards will rest. I'll start at the back (the station) and work round the sides.

The baseboard frames are all detachable, and fix to the primary frame using bolts. Small lengths of batten on the primary frame act as guides to ensure that the baseboard frames sit where they should. For the time being I expect to exploit the ability to remove the baseboards from the primary frame, for example by doing some work in our garage rather than in the loft itself.

I've made a few tweaks to the layout design, particularly simplifying the sidings. This should help to making sure that the entire board is not swamped with track, thereby leaving space for scenery.

Somewhat worryingly, I have discovered a leak in the roof up by the chimney breast. When I went up to the loft on Saturday morning so start work, I found a puddle of water on top of some damp plywood sheets. I guess I should be grateful that the plywood was where it was, otherwise the effect could have been a lot worse. The leak is under control for now but it might require attention, and there's no doubt that that would hold up progress.

Layout test #1

A layout test already? Surely some mistake!

Well, no, because I need to check that my planned alignment fits on the baseboard, and work out where the track beds will run, before I commit to chopping up lots of expensive plywood to make the complete frame.

So yesterday evening I got out all my old sectional track and assembled something approximating to the left-hand end of the station. Here is the result...















I laid out a few more ply sheets than I have built frames for yet, just to get a better sense of the station area. And I'm pleased to say that the layout does fit, the only problem being that the chimney breast sticks out a bit further than I had it doing in the plan, so the track for platform 3 (yes, they already have platform numbers in my head!) might need to be moved inwards a little, thereby narrowing the platform itself.

The train standing at platform 1 is none other than my very first ever train set, augmented by a couple of coaches from my brother-in-law who very kindly bequeathed me his old set of very similar vintage. It's good to confirm that the station will be able to accept a five-coach train - that is about the minimum length that I consider looks good on a model.

For the interested among you, here is a close-up of the alignment in the station throat. The diamond crossing in the middle of the picture will be replaced by a double-slip point in the final layout.















PS Karen has commented that the gap above the hardboard sheets on the back wall looks unsightly, and she is right. I will fix that when I next have the opportunity to make lots of noise in the loft.