Model Railway Forum

Thanks for the very generous comments guys - it is appreciated.

It’s a combination of factors really, I’ve spent the last year or so building Low Ghyll and learning and trying many new skills. It is a source of frustration that many of these skills simply don’t transfer easily to the smaller scale.

Low Ghyll, for all its own limitations, has shown what I can achieve but serves as a reminder of what I can’t hope to achieve on Shaddeholme and highlights all the mistakes I made on the layout when I built it - baseboards to large, too much track, too many points, too difficult to clean - it’s a long list.

I have also worked out that nothing has run on the N layout for almost 18 months - not really a good reason to have a layout in the first place.

I was actually in the shed today looking quite critically at the layout - even starting to plan where to put the saw cuts! I was asking myself which bits could I reuse and drawing some conclusions as to which bits were a waste of space.

I came to no conclusions and watched F1 instead.

Thank you for sharing again. I think there is so much to be positive about, even if you are no longer happy with the layout. Its given a lot if people ideas and inspiration, I am sure.

Thanks Tri. I re-read my post - reads as if I need to phone the Samaritans. In reality I just need to redefine what I want the layout to 'do' and lose the superfluous bits.
My thoughts are turning towards a dumbbell style if I can work out how to convert it from an inverted figure of eight.

Oops. Just caught myself laying out some curved track sections to see if change is possible.

Steve M wrote: ↑Mon Sep 02, 2019 12:46 pm Oops. Just caught myself laying out some curved track sections to see if change is possible.

Go for it.

Well, I know who to blame -
West Orton station has gone, leaving a blankish canvas at this end of the layout.

20190902_163938 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

From the picture in the last post, you’ll see I had envisioned this end as a ‘crossover loop’ but that effectively made the layout a single track twisted and convoluted into a double track.

Multiple loco running would be no issue with DCC but I wouldn’t be able to run two locos in opposite directions without having to do a lot a actual driving.

So a slight change means no bridge but at least I can set two trains running and just sit back and watch - should be better for the grandkids to watch as well.

And actually I think I have realised why this layout had fallen out of favour - it was built almost as if it were three separate layouts, a round round, shunting in the engine yard and a small terminus. Irregular use meant that the shunting aspects never really worked so much of the layout was unused.

The terminus at West Orton has gone to make way for one end of the dumbbell and once the other end is finalised (I’ll lose part of the area behind the harbour) I can then look to see if the sidings and engine yard need to be trimmed back.

It might just end up as a railway running through a landscape.

Some minor progress this morning - finished laying the double track down the incline and into the loop where West Orton used to be. The only hiccup being the need to cut the three droppers on the high level section as this section has been reversed.

I’ve not yet reconnected them but the new section has been tested and seems to be ok even, at this stage just relying on the track joiners (that will change).

So far I’ve only cleared the track that was on the way of the loop so the entry line to the station is still in place, as is the helix which may well be removed as well.

No real thoughts have been given to scenery yet - that will be a separate and quite extensive piece of work once the loops at the other end of the dumbbell are done.

20190904_143607 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

Made a start on the other end of the dumbbell at the back of the harbour. Once the old scenery and track were lifted the baseboard was in a bit of a state - evidence of how often this section has been changed.

I have to deal with a change of level at the end of the long incline so a sheet of 3mm ply was cut to achieve this and cover the butchered baseboard underneath.

The new track does cut into the back of the quayside but I hope to disguise this with fish huts or warehouse fronts - not much room though.

20190905_105333 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

Finished off the last couple of missing track sections, added a raised edge to the end of both boards where the loops get perilously close to the edge and locos have successfully completed circuits of both loops.
Next job is to add a few dropper wires to complete this stage of the remodelling.