Latton Street

I’ve spent months deciding which wall the new layout would sit against.

I finally decided that the back wall, (left side of the plan below) was best, as although it meant the layout was a bit shorter it’s got more light as there is a fluorescent tube directly above, and the layout can sit back against the wall which it can’t where Latton Fields was situated, because of the gas pipe.

The blue outline is the current/old base boards and the new layout boards will sit on top.



I’m going to try cassettes for storage, as although my back problem prevents lifting too much, I should be able to just slide them around on the old base board, which effectively becomes a cassette table.



The track plan is just another version of the late Cyril Freezer’s Minories track plan with a three way point. Hence my ‘Thoughts on Minories’ thread a few months ago.

As before, the black line/left hand side of the road bridge is the join between the two boards.



The brown block on the road is where I’ve been measuring up some Scalescenes low relief flats.

The 3D views show the station building suspended in mid-air above the end of the tracks with the entrance onto the road that runs along the back, but that may change to just a facade at the end of the tracks, or something low relief elsewhere.







I’ve salvaged all the electrofrog points and a lot of the track from Latton Fields, so track work will be code 100 and theoretically I only need to buy a Peco SL-E99 three-way point and one L/H SL-E92.

I’m moving away from WIT and rods for point control (sorry Gormo) and this time it will be solenoid point motors and DCC control. It seems sensible to get two Peco PL-10 motors for the three-way point as they will clip to it and avoid any alignment problems. I might try Seeps for the others but motor size will be a consideration, as the distance below the board is only the height of the battening of the new boards sitting on top of the old.

I also hoping all the points and necessary electronics will fit as planned on one board, which will cut down on the plugs necessary for wiring to cross the boards.

Available time and funds are going to make this a very slow build, but I’m not in a hurry and I’d prefer to get this all working as I want, and not use cheaper alternatives just to get the layout operational.

More as and when it happens.

Ed

 

Might try some plastic guttering for the cassettes Pete, seen someone use in in O gauge.

Turntable is a nice idea Gary, but it would have to pretty big for a four coach train and I'd have to keep swapping trains on and off the turntable to get enough different trains in and out of the station.

Sorry Toto, had to look up Sydney Devine, but I am a sasanach

Ed

 

One of the members of YMRC mentioned problems with the Peco 3 way point, and as I was just about to order one yesterday (and I don't want to build a potential problem into the layout before I've even started), I thought I'd do some more investigation.

There are quite a lot of posts on various forums regarding derailing when turning left from the toe, and also possibly having to move the switch blades in the correct order when setting the road, or both sets of switch blades will be trying to be moved by one point motor.

Interesting posts on cs.trains.com (Model Railroader), where people have resorted to filing the end of one of the switch blades amongst other things.

Therefore thought last night it might be a good idea to see if I could replace the three way with two points, without shrinking the layout too much and I came up with this.



It does mean moving the Y point on to the left hand board and makes the head shunt slightly shorter, but the platform lengths are more or less the same.

Also makes positioning the supporting batten under the middle board (as indicated) without fouling any point motors, a bit easier.

Think this may be a safer option and two points are cheaper than a 3 -way.

Ed

 

All traffic would then have to got through the left hand point next to the cross over Toto, creating a bottle neck.

As it's set up, a train can arrive at the longest (lower) platform, at the same time one leaves either of the two shorter platforms.

Ed

 

I'll duplicate my post as well, in case anyone has any ideas/suggestions.

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Still haven't decided what the three sidings will be yet Jeff.

DMU storage, maintenance/breakdown train storage, carriage sidings, or maybe find an excuse for a few short freight operations.

Ed

 

Kimbo wrote:

It's a nice idea Kim, but I haven't physically got the space.

The blue outline of the old baseboard is only roughly 10' x 9' (3m x 2.8m), these uk integral garages ain't very big.

Ed

 

I've checked and it does fit, but I don't think it would work operationally Gary, as any freight train would have to arrive at a platform and then be shunted back down the 'up line' to get into the headshunt.

Ed