Visit to Darren's Place

Yesterday a group of us had the pleasure of visiting Darren's place to see the updates on his layout.  All I can say is that his modelling work is just incredible!  The part of the layout he has worked on looks absolutely beautiful and it's just a pleasure to look it.  He has some real talent!  The non-scenic and scenic parts are like night and day!  His layout is going to be a ripper when its done and will be a pleasure to operate on or to just walk round and admire.

I took a passenger from the branch to the mainline and back again.  Initially a steamer was on the pointy end, but being typical of a steam engine, one of the wheels fell off ! ( I think it was a 32 class) and a more reliable form of power was called for (diesel off course!)



Here is some footage, which unfortunately does not do any justice to Darren's modelling work.

Drop Cows

VR T333 on Trials

Thanks for Bob from SouthCoastRail fame, I was able to purchase a Flat Top T class and some RY wagons as well as some other VR wagons.  Here is a small video of the T doing some rounds on my layout (on DC), with the RYs.  The video will also show you what the layout looks like now, warts and all.

Unfortunately I don't ever remember seeing a Flat Top T all those days I was train spotting at Sunshine Railway Station back in the mid 80s, even though traffic was nice and frequent.

Initially I didn't like the look of them, but now their unique flat hood has grown on me.

NSWGR Passenger Cars

Anyone know what these passenger cars were used for?  I photographed them near Gunnedah back in January.  Click on photos to increase size.

Plan of Layout

Here is a very rough sketch of what I ended up with and I am very happy with it.
As I was saying previously, I now can enjoy a nice long mainline run and also do some shunting.  The major breakthroughs were 1.  Reducing the height of the layout 2.  Incorporating the concept of the line bending back onto itself, 3.  Convex and Concave curves rather than a layout doing laps 4.  Departing from a strictly prototypical VR plan 5 Investing in a JizSaw to get away from the flat look and 6, Placing Staging under the bench-work.

This has resulted in a layout which is both scenic and operational.

Unfortunately I couldn't incorporate a reverse loop as it was just not possible, however I have staging underneath and could only have three tracks which are easy to get too - at arms length.

How do I intend to operate the layout?

Since 99% of the time, I will be working the layout, I intend to run a train from staging, to the main station, then break up the train, shunt the required industries, replace engines, make up a new train and then depart back to staging.  This could take up to 45 mins.  All train lengths are a maximum of 13 wagons (Bogie wagons are calculated as two wagons) plus the guards van at the rear.   Some wagons are purposely left in the yard as Melbourne Yard have not called for them as yet.  Priority traffic gets made up on the train (max 13 wagons as mentioned).  Some wagons sitting in the yard get going on the next service.

 Since I have three trains ready at staging, the industries don't always get worked every-time.  I do have an extra which is the wheat train which is currently using the track marked in Blue - this allows me to have a continuous run if I feel like it, however most of the time I intend to operate point to point.

I even managed to shoe-horn a turntable which I really wanted so I can turn such locos like the S Class or even a X.

I enjoyed a session this afternoon, and having a seat whilst shunting makes for a really relaxing and a very enjoyable experience.  Note the operators chair on the diagram.  Not only can i reach most things, some of the view points I get from that angle makes for some very delightful rail-fanning!

Increasing Mainline Run

Over the last few weeks I have been busy laying out a few ideas and concepts.  Lowering the height of the layout has been very positive as I can now sit down and enjoy the trains roll by.
I have also worked on getting away from the round and round feel which I had previously and caused me no end of grief no matter how much I changed the schematic - the round and round feel killed the enthusiasm after a short well.  

To increase the length of the mainline, I have now a glorified loop of track which actually goes into a lower level with a few twists and turns.   Basically the main line comes back onto itself.  I have also moved staging to a lower level.  Currently as things sit, I have one stub ended staging and still need to work on the other side.  Both will be lower level and out the way so to speak.

Unfortunately this involves quite some steep inclines and declines to get to the lower levels given the space. So far, all locos have been able to negotiate the incline, but I am not sure how well a steam loco will go, not that I have any, but have to think about the future just in case.

Currently, I basically have a small station with three roads, Road 3 having a Goods Shed and a Silo, with the possibility of a small .  The intention is to have some crosses or meets here, with the occasional RoadSide goods doing a shunt.   It is also possible to have a list of trains that will run on a given day and have some of them cross and/or meet.  This will be good when I have running sessions.

With this layout, I get maximum mainline run, can have some scenery, and can run a variety of locomotives.  The question remains however, how will I handle the issues faced with stud-ended staging now underneath.

X Class Shots

I put together some shots of the X Class I bought recently.  Running on DC.

Auscision X Class

Gave my X Class from Auscision a spin.

A very beautiful and detailed model, however the drivers need some clothes and I think the side handrails are plastic.  Now I need to get a DCC Decoder.