A page from my sketch book

Well it's not really my sketchbook. It's another one of those fancy Apps for my iPad. Procreate is a very handy app to have for jotting down ideas and doing illustrations that can easily be shared on line or in print.

Wether surfing the web or leafing through books. I am always drawn to photographs of old industries. Because I firmly believe that one of the most important aspects of really small model railway layouts are the buildings. In a small area there are only so many track layouts that will fit in. So the way the railway serves these buildings, or even just runs past them, is of great importance to create something believable. This can go a long way to help hide the small size of the layout. 

I like to study these images of the arrangements of buildings on industrial premises to get a feel for the way they look and work together.

 I let these images stew in my imagination for a while, and then try to draw them. Remembering what I see, rather than slavishly copying an image or plan, allows me to draw on the salient features of the structure rather than sweat the details. Here's a few sketches.

1. Inspired by some pictures of the Metrovick 3rd rail electric locomotives at Highstead quarry. Only the upper parts of the structures could be seen in the background. I liked the roof lines in the photo a lot, and tried to create something around those. There's a lot of rusting corrugated iron to model for visual interest, and a total pain to paint.

2. I wish I could remember what this visualisation is based on. I was looking at pictures of a Ruston 48DS when I found it. I think it's a foundry in Yorkshire. Not a quarry. But there was an amazing visual effect of the building walls being made of several different materials. Brick, corrugated iron, (or asbestos, given the fact that it's a foundry) and lots of windows. This would make for an interesting model.

3. Somewhere on the internet is a tiny photo of some old loading screens at Cliffe Hill Quarry in Leicestershire. The image of the loading facility really grabs your attention with its hand painted lettering on the end. Alas, this is pretty much all you can see. There's some kind of loading hopper alongside. But nothing else to give you any clues as to what other structures would be alongside it. The railway that served Cliffe Hill Quarry was narrow gauge, so I feel that the plant may loose some of its charm if the proportions were changed to accommodate standard gauge wagons instead. 

Three sketches, all with useable elements, none totally perfect. I wonder what else I can find?

Further track planning reflections

After coming up with a concept that I liked, the next stage is to find out what sort of space it would fit in. Looking at the sketches, I felt it might fit into an area about 4' x 2'. Which of course, is twice the size of a proper micro layout. But I'm OK with that. It would certainly be a micro in 4mm scale. 

Besides I have a little "cheat" definition I use in the larger scales. I consider the footprint of the track area. If that's less than 4 square feet then that's OK by me. 

Many micro layout planners, (myself included) plan their micros full size, using points and track, or track templates. But when the inspiration hit me, these were not to hand. So I tried planning in one of my iPad apps. I have an App called "Graphic" that I'm learning to use. I can blunder my way around the features and managed to scale up the sketches into something that makes sense, (well, it makes sense to me anyway).

I could write considerable amounts about the ins and outs and the minutiae of the designs. But that would be boring. You can see the plan works and fits in the area I considered originally. I'm sure that it could have a few inches trimmed from it here and there to reduce the size and a 4 square foot "true micro" may be possible If you use the tightest of points and sharpest of curves. Though some of these curves could be susceptible to buffer locking on some of the schemes.

The final track layout will depend on what I can lay my hands on here in the US. I think I may have a preference for using PECO medium radius turnouts. But a sharper Setrack point would not be out of place given the light railway subject matter. I will be taking a look on eBay to see what I can find.

Next, I need to come up with an arrangement of structures for the industry. Some kind of stone crushing or stone dressing plant was what I was originally envisioning. Looking for, and developing the design of structures is one of my favourite parts of layout design. We will see what I come upon with in the next post.

Upon reflection...

If there’s one thing that has been playing on my mind all the way through this project, it’s the track plan.

The original track layout scheme

It’s not that I don’t like it. I think it’s pretty darned clever. I think there’s a lot going for it, with the swapping of wagons on the turntable, to enter the small shed, or be exchanged with the “big railway” siding. But it also cuts off the light mineral railway, from the main railway, and ne’er the twain shall meet. The mineral railway locomotive would shuttle up and down barely 18” of track, and as the loco is beginning to look rather nice, even if I do say so myself, I felt like it could take a bigger part on the stage. 

So the wagon turntable has to go. Though the original purpose for it was a grand one, displaying highly detailed O scale wagons. I had been experimenting with scratch building one in other scales with no success. So I’m not going to miss it. There are also issues with the angle that the track crosses the baseboard join.

So, it was back to basics, to find something simple. Something small and interesting to operate that doesn’t loose the spirit of the original concept. But most importantly doesn't break the bank in having to have things shipped from the UK as I’ve mentioned before.

One of my layout maxims is, “it’s not what you’ve got, it’s what you do with it.”  There are only so many track plans you can fit in a small space. So you need to give a lot of thought to what goes on around it. Buildings and other features.

The simplest plan, other than a simple length of track, is the ‘tuning fork”. One turnout giving two sidings, Two tuning forks, back to back, opens up very interesting possibilities. 

The first draft of the new concept.

Here, the orientation is the same as the original concept, with a turnout replacing the wagon turntable. The loco from the mineral railway pushes loaded wagons directly into the “industry” and can leave them there to either be emptied and returned to the mineral line, or hauled off to the main railway. In addition to the collection of wagons outlined above, the main railway could leave wagons in the front siding to be collected by the mineral  railway.  Potential for some intensive operation, I think you’ll agree. If you wanted to incorporate some passenger operation. How about an old 4 or 6 wheeled coach as a workers train?

I’m really liking the direction this is all going. Except... 

I just don’t like the feel. That’s something I can’t put my finger on. “Feel” is personal. So I reversed everything.

Through the looking glass

It may sound odd. But I prefer it in this orientation. Is it because I’m left handed, and if I was operating from the rear, the fiddle yard in whatever form it takes would be on the left?

That’s all very confusing, and I could be over thinking. 

The next stage is to find some suitable buildings to fit the location. That might change the way I feel again.

We’ll see what happens next.