A New O gauge Layout Project

Well now that LSD has gone it has quite literally left a huge hole in the railway room. I’ve spent the last few weeks sorting through and disposing of long forgotten projects and old stock, and some oo gauge left overs all stored in boxes hidden under the old layout.
The remaining round track loops still operate but are some what restricted in size, so it’s time to remove these as well and look at building something bigger.

Looking at all the layout related articles on the forum, Gary posted up this article, https://platform1mrc.com/p1mrc/inde...lway-design-planning-building-operating.5324/
There are in deed some interesting layout plans that the American modellers build, this search then took me to find the “Louisville O scalers” page and one layout plan “Hinton Yard” got me thinking.

would it be possible to go around the railway room add a station on the long wall with an added incline to a goods area on the opposite wall, a lift out bridge across the doorway …the other considerations are storage of both long trains which I like to run that do not get broken down, (only an engine change every now and again) and the option to shunt goods as per the old layout. The above plan is approx the same curved width on my room but the length is much shorter. The yard in the plan is accessed from both sides which obviously can’t happen in my available space but it does give me the idea of longer runs with good storage potential

Storage is always an issue. The two spare sidings attached to the current loops allow for 12- 18 small wagons which is a good sized train, but I’ve got about 5mm gap to play with to allow the adjacent train to pass. Forget coach stock, I’ve one GWR set which consists of 7 coaches at an eye watering 3.2m long plus the length of a locomotive.

so I’ve started doodling and come up with a very basic idea.

yet to be confirmed but it should give me 2x 4m hidden storage loops hidden behind a scenic board behind the station. 2x station platforms approx 3.5m long. On the door access wall, two passing loops with the option to change direction to access the lower level via the inner loop and a cross over.

This should allow me to have my coach stock out on the layout and be able to hide it in one storage loop. The Q1 , 9F or 8F on a long goods / coal train hidden in the second lane, plus two further long trains on the main loops and a further two trains in the passing loops.

Now as I can’t get to grips with computer planners, I will try and draw out a plan on graph paper and check to see if this is a feasible idea.

 

Now all you computer wizards out there, no laughing, I like the old planning methods, ie compass, HB pencil (remember them? ) steel ruler some A3 graph paper (lots of) a rubber (safety first kids!) and some nice coloured felt tips ! and the all important thinking juice….Yorkshire tea!

So here’s where I’m at today.

lefthand curves,

centre section ,

right hand section

so my personal brief for this layout…..

Storage of at least two long trains of approx 4m - 5m MUST BE HIDDEN.
An incline to reach a long goods area (to be planned at a later stage) Incline HAS TO BE 1:100 (no compromises on this one this time)
A station platform to accommodate my 3.2m GWR rake of coaches plus a locomotive with tender.
Running line curves have to be as close to 6 feet min radius as possible (1850mm approx)
Removable access to sliding door way. (My limbo days are now well and truely over.)


So the plan as drawn so far.

Outer Brown running line.
I’ve managed to achieve 2mR lower r/h corner changing to 1.85m on the upper right hand curve, the left hand curve has had to drop to 1.8m but as part of this is covered I think it will look ok. Right hand lower Orange inner curve is 1.940 - 1.780 which again as this will be mainly a good line I think will be acceptable. The reason I’ve had to reduce them (first plan had outer curve at 2m, inner at 1.920) is because to achieve the 1:100 Blue incline line, I’ve had to bring the start of the incline point all the way around this curve.

Incline.
So to achieve 1:100 incline , which should allow me to pull a decent length train up from the yet to be planned goods area, has been successfully planned by bringing the start point all the way around the r/h curve. From this point to the upper left hand curve is an eye watering 12m which gives me 120mm drop, just enough to allow the line to pass under the running lines on the left hand side.
I would have really liked to have the incline on full view to be able to see the 9F banker doing its thing, but as much as I’ve tried it’s not possibly in the “small” space. The original scribbled plan had the start of it in the upper right hand curve so by having to extend it around it will at least allow me to have the banker on view around the long curve, plus it will be on view as it pushes up the incline from the end of the goods area where it will be stabled.
The other change this option has made is the removal of a curved cross over (2x curved points). This means using a double slip to the left of the sliding door, which originally was going to be a single slip. This also means that goods train wanting to access from the inner line will have to travel over the access door section wrong lane for 1.5m to reach the incline point… is this prototypical any where?

Station Area.

on this plan, I can move the main platform further left to give in excess of 4m if required, the smaller platform will be a maximum of 3m which again for a small push pull loco and two coaches or my GWR Auto coach set should look ok (the large coach set will only ever run on the outer loops) access by road to the station may be an issue, but I might be able to model either a crossing or a road bridge on the right hand side (I’ve drawn two black lines ) This would help to partly disguise the point leading to the light blue twin storage lines. Your thoughts and any ideas please.

I think I might be able to add a small goods shed as well here plus I would like a loading ramp area to display my horse box wagons…..any thoughts ideas welcome.

Passing loops.

Outer loop has a nice long passing loop starting to the left of the door, 6m long, this will easily accommodate the coach set or more than likely a long heavy goods train. The inner loop has a loop of 3m long and a siding in excess of 3.2m to shunt back into, with a small siding at the opposite end for a change of locomotive.

Still to plan.

Station area needs some more planning out for sidings, building etc.
Main goods area on the lower level needs plans for displaying my stock. As drawn the board will be 5.6m long by 500mm deep with the option to curve around a further 2m on the lefthand side……oil storage depot, blue circle cement, coal ??? Diesel engine shed, steam shed.
With the use of a peco set track tight curve I could build a small board on the inner section as this is approx 2.2m between proposed board dimensions….

ideas, comments, thoughts always welcome, as specially as this is a very big project and at todays track costs of £102 per box needs to be right. As drawn I’m at approx 10 boxes of peco (12 per box).

 

Cheers Pete , Brian , yes I’ve printed off a few peco point plans to check some of the junctions, and all looks well so far.

LSD used Marcway track and a 3 way point, which I was really happy with, and is my first choice.
Marc was my first point of contact to order 10 boxes for this project, but there’s a few issues trying to order from him to Australia.

1) no vat deduction.
2) for 10 boxes he wants to charge me £158 postage plus £25 insurance.(I’ve emailed him re Hattons postage costs but he won’t budge)
3) there’s 40-50m of hidden trackwork.

‘Hattons have quoted me vat off the track and they have suggested sending 5 boxes in two orders for a total cost of £100, including tracking, signed for and insurance.
So I think for stage one of the build, ie the main running loops will be peco and I’ll try and salvage as much track from the loops section of the existing layout plus I’ve just over a full box of Marcway to use on the lower level goods area.
Kim