Hello everyone. My name is Peter and I am a dabbler!
I dabbled in 009 back when I was a student and Brian Clarks "Peckett / Bagnall" kit was a new thing, a favourite prototype and just about affordable. I got nowhere. All the usual issues of life got in the way and no layout ever appeared and ultimately my mottly collection of stock and bits got sold. The itch to run a railway albeit in 009 never really went away though.
I'll gloss over the countless years reading around the subject and the countless layout plans doodled during endless work meetings etc. I'm sure we've all done it. The thing that has clinched it for me to have another go is the advent of 3D printing and the production of favourite prototypes at a cost I can bear and being offered with chassis, a one stop shop so to speak.
So. Here's the plan.
I get side tracked and discouraged easily so by this email I am going public with a plan to build a very basic layout and a set fleet of stock to run on it. I am hoping to report my progress and hope that in doing so I might have the incentive to keep going.
Set very strict criteria for what I want to achieve so I have a bench mark to know when I have arrived. The grand plan for the perfect layout can follow later.
Offcut Lane will be very simple indeed. Way back when Roy Link wrote his "Art of Compromise" article there was a subsequent "Limit of Compromise" article cut out and kept but now long since lost that quite captured my imagination at the time. The limit was a simple terminus layout comprising a simple loop around an island platform and one siding. It all seemed very simple and "doable" though it never actually happened.
I have apiece of leftover ply to hand (hence the none too original name). I think it will accommodate a loop long enough for a train comprising loco, coach and brake van and a siding long enough for a few wagons, together with a minimal off scene fiddle yard. I have an old gauge master controller that will provide the juice and enough other scraps of ply and timber to construct a frame and backscene.
The stock will be:
Loco 1 a Narrow Planet Bagnall side tank
Loco 2 a Narrow Planet Bagnall saddle tank
Both as favourite prototypes. I have the side tank kit to hand an reckon even with my ten thumbs I should be an,e to make a reasonable fist of building this tiny delight and I do like the fact that NP will sell me the chassis and body together. To my mind it just makes life so much easier.
Coach 1 a shortened Vale of Rheidol bogie coach
Brake the matching VoR brake van
(possibly a third piece of passenger stock, a kit bashed VoR brake composite , to release the brake van for goods use!)
Wagons, 6 "Bag' Wag's" with different loads (for easy ID for shunting puzzles)
Scenery will be generic and simple. Offcut Lane is a makeshift terminus of a line intended to run further. Think in terms of a light railway that ran out of money, or a minor league preservation scheme saving up for the next extension.
Track will be off the peg Peco with minimal wiring (I still live in fear of soldering!)
Alongside the above, the main criteria is to produce a small test track of a layout with simple reasonably complete scenics that allows loco sand stock to run smoothly and reliably including basic shunting.
So how long to allow myself? I thought six months so 30th June, 2019.
Sorry. Very wordy. Will post pictures as we go. I would welcome comments from those who have trod this path before. Watch this space.
Peter
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Hi, Peter, and welcome to the forum.
There's nothing wrong with doodling layout plans in work meetings, or indeed ever. Your scheme should be easily achievable but don't set your sights too low - an extra point/siding or two and won't involve much more work. But I get the impression it is mainly the stock which is the driving force for your plan.
Hopefully you'll find lots of ideas and encouragement on here. We'll all hold you to the June deadline and look forward to seeing some pictures of your progress soon!
David.
(P.S. Don't forget the Society Sales as a source of rolling stock etc.)
Peter,
You wouldn't happen to have a drawing or doodle of the track arrangement you could post, do you?
Also, I like the name of your proposed layout. It seems fitting.
Jeff S.
Hi Peter, and welcome to the Forum and back to 009!
It sounds a good plan to me, people can easily set off with grand plans for the first layout and they lose the momentum with the layout half built. I am a fan of small layouts, they are so much more likely to get completed (if not actually finished!)
There is a very small layout seen occasionally on Society stands at shows that consists of just a track coming on scene to a station and a small siding. Minimal and very small, but fun.
Maybe you have seen the very small layouts on Carl Arendt's website:
http://www.carendt.com
It's currently being renovated but there are a lot of ideas there.
Frank
Ah well. So much for regular updates! Thanks for your comments. I have (I hope) attached a photo of the baseboard top with the proposed track layout marked out full size. My big trouble has always been trying to find the answer to every problem by adding another siding or longer loop but with the end result that I do nothing. So, I know this is about as simple as it gets but it might just get built!
In the meantime a few wagon kits are to hand and getting built as a lunchtime project at work. I have taken the plunge and acquired the Narrow Planet Bagnall saddle tank. Opening the box it looks wonderful but not too daunting. I will be asking how best to attach the body to the chassis as this is not clear to me as yet though I have got the body sitting nicely loose on the chassis so can't be too far off.
The track is to hand, all Peco, and the only thought is over the fiddle yard. Space is limited and I have a little "lazy Susan" ball bearing turntable so am toying with making a three road turntable fiddle yard.
I have a whole day in the workshop next week. A real treat, sadly most of the time will be spent making a window for the gents toilet at Welshpool on the WLLR, glamorous or what, but hopefully I will have time to frame the board, prep backscene boards and generally make some progress.
This description of my 3-track sector table https://elmgatemodels.wordpress.com/about/artmouth-cove/sector-table/ (https://elmgatemodels.wordpress.com/about/artmouth-cove/sector-table/) may help and inspire! I made a fuller description over on the NGRMO forum.
Wasn't Castell Caereinion a loop and a siding? You could make this quite an attractive little layout.
Mal
Thanks for your comments. I have gone for a turntable fiddle yard. The circular hole is cut. I just need to cut the table to match.
Castle Caerinion was something of an inspiration ( I volunteer on the W&L ) but in truth I thought this about the limit of simplicity against operational interest.
In the meantime I've been busy with rollingstock and building kits. As a matter of good practise do I post news on these on this thread or under logos and rollingstock or both?
My own layout consists of the hole for the turntable surrounded by nothing else at all.
One day I will actually build something apart from a vast amount of stock and 'interesting' buildings :-)
[quote author=Peter Green link=topic=3929.msg27900#msg27900 date=1549315216
In the meantime I've been busy with rollingstock and building kits. As a matter of good practise do I post news on these on this thread or under logos and rollingstock or both?
[/quote]
Peter, I think it's your choice, but it may be easier - and help to keep this layout thread 'alive' - to post this stuff here. But if you want to start new threads elsewhere you could do that, if you prefer.
Either way we'll follow with interest!
David.
If built a few layouts like that. Amazing how good they look and how well the trains run. Meanwhile back in reality...
Hello Peter, I was in your position a few years ago before I became ill - ie with a half-started, part-finished 'layout' except mine is on a piece of Contiboard (and old shelf !).
During my recovery, I managed to rig up a temporary power supply and got a loco and a few trucks moving. This was just the spur I needed to get a move on...now in retirement, and with plenty of other projects to boot, I try to set aside one day (or, a half day) per week to work on a kit, lay a bit of track or do some maintenance etc.
I think the key is to start small and let it grow organically. I've just started to use Members Sales and doubled my NG loco fleet (from 1 to 2 !). It's surprising what can be achieved with just an hour here and there...
Good luck,
Dave
Well, so much for regular updates! But thanks for your comments and encouragement. So, what's been happening? There has been a little progress.
I now have something that resembles a baseboard. No prizes for originality, just ply and strip wood glued and pinned. I spent an age toying with putting a three road turntable affair in the fiddle yard. However the lazy Susan bearing I had wouldn't fit in the available space and after a trip to NG North it seemed many layouts managed with simpler (to build) cassettes or sector plates so for now, I have a rectangular hole in the yard to be filled in due course.
At work, a rainy lunchtime project has seen the first three Bagnall wagons built with three more in build with sides cut down to become three plank drop side general purpose wagons as a change from the "standard" four plank mineral wagons.
A Dundas VoR coach has been cut down from 7 to 5 compartments and a brake van built to match. Both await running gear. I just need to set to and do a little painting and finishing.
The goods shed is built from a Peco kit and again needs painting. I was going to use the matching waiting shelter but even after cutting this down in length it seems way too big. A Wills bus shelter may go in its place. I always liked Caffyns Halt on the Lynton and Barnstable Rly, such a simple contrast to their usual and lavish chalet style stations.
The odd hour here and there has been enough to get this far and while building this little layout in about 6 months is looking a remote prospect, there is no rush and I am enjoying the process.