Ruritanian Railways - Indoor Section

[whatlep]

Occasionally, good things happen out of the blue. Very occasionally, SWMBO has a bright idea that helps grow the G scale!

As various GSCers have noticed, it's been a wet and windy winter in the UK. Outdoors running has been confined to an odd battery or live steam turn between showers. Very frustrating! My dear wife dislikes me both being grumpy and loitering about the house, making the place look untidy. After a "suggestion" that I find something useful to do (or words to that effect), I decided to have a tidy of the cellar I use for storing railway bits and pieces and dismantle the OO gauge layout which (as SWMBO had spotted) I never use.

To my surprise, from various cupboards I unearthed a useful quantity of track, some scavenged from the outdoor line at our previous house, some bought over the years since it was "a bargain". In fact, enough track to think about building a small indoor set up without too much additional expense.

Here's the proposed trackplan. Each gridsquare is one foot. Basically, I have the old OO layout's boards which are down one side of the cellar and 2 foot wide, with a small "L" piece on the left hand side.

 

[yb281]

Ooohh that's posh. Shame the OO is going though, I really liked it. Anyhoo, it's going to need plenty of testing.

 

[jameshilton]

It's asking for MTS/DCC and one of those remote uncoupling fitted LGB locos!

 

[whatlep]

Ooohh that's posh. Shame the OO is going though, I really liked it. Anyhoo, it's going to need plenty of testing.

Thanks Mel. I'll miss the OO too, but it's not getting binned. I still have a plan for the future if space ever becomes available....

Anyway, a few more words about the indoor plan. The idea is to kill several birds with one stone (OK, a few boulders) with the general idea of reproducing the loco shed and repair facility off the mainline in our glorious nation's capital city, Zenda. This facility is situated on Anatole Mallet Strasse (or Malley Alley as the locals know it). The street is, of course, named after the Ruritanian engineer (*) who created the famous articulated steam locomotive.

At the left hand end there will be a loco shed, providing Mallet storage . Below the shed is the access from the national railway system, ending in a coaling facility. At the right end are several sidings for wagon repairs. By a remarkable coincidence, the length of these sidings is exactly that required for a 5/3/3 "Inglenook" shunting puzzle (see http://www.wymann.info/ShuntingPuzzles/sw-inglenook.html for an explanation).

The whole lot will be DCC controlled using my trusty LGB MTS3 system. Points will be operated handraulically. Scenery may appear in small doses

(*) - yes, Anatole was born in Switzerland, but his parents were Ruritanian, which means he was too.

 

[whatlep]

It's asking for MTS/DCC and one of those remote uncoupling fitted LGB locos!

The DCC is a given. Uncoupling is an interesting topic. Although I'm (mis)using the Inglenook design, both it and the other well-known shunting puzzle design ("Timesaver" http://www.wymann.info/ShuntingPuzzles/Timesaver/timesaver-trackplan.html ) include fixed points for uncoupling to encourage precise operation. In HO/OO that's achieved by Kadee couplers and magnets in/under the track. In G, you could use LGB's 10520 uncoupler for the same purpose, but my previous experience with one of them suggested they aren't really reliable. Alternatively, I could force myself (and visitors!) to use a "shunting pole" to uncouple stock, rather than the "great hand from the sky" approach. I invite suggestions! 8|

 

[whatlep]

Here are a couple of pictures of some track positioning today to check the plan really worked. There's still some OO-gauge detritus to be put into storage before tracklaying can start. The shed was bought in early 2010 as a "bargain" building project for the winter and can be roughly described as "ginormous".

 

[Neil Robinson]

Seems like a good plan to me.
Would your cellar benefit from additional ventilation via an approx 9" diameter [strike]tunnel[/strike] ventilation shaft?

 

[whatlep]

Seems like a good plan to me.
Would your cellar benefit from additional ventilation via an approx 9" diameter [strike]tunnel[/strike] ventilation shaft?

Undoubtedly! Unfortunately it's then 10 feet vertically to garden level. Although I call it a cellar since it's directly under our garage, it's on the same level as the house's downstairs. We are in a rather steeply sided valley!

 

[Neil Robinson]

Unfortunately it's then 10 feet vertically to garden level.

Hmm 10 ft rise at even a silly steep 1 in 25 means a 250ft run of track. At around £5.00 per foot that's a fair expense without the engineering costs.

 

[CoggesRailway]

This sounds good! Keep the pics coming. Yes I was tryng to envisage where this is and if a tunnel to outdoor ruritania was possible. Canals had boat lifts....

 

[trammayo]

... and one or two underground lines had lifts to bring rolling stock up to the surface.

Mick

 

[Gizzy]

It's asking for MTS/DCC and one of those remote uncoupling fitted LGB locos!

The DCC is a given. Uncoupling is an interesting topic. Although I'm (mis)using the Inglenook design, both it and the other well-known shunting puzzle design ("Timesaver" http://www.wymann.info/ShuntingPuzzles/Timesaver/timesaver-trackplan.html ) include fixed points for uncoupling to encourage precise operation. In HO/OO that's achieved by Kadee couplers and magnets in/under the track. In G, you could use LGB's 10520 uncoupler for the same purpose, but my previous experience with one of them suggested they aren't really reliable. Alternatively, I could force myself (and visitors!) to use a "shunting pole" to uncouple stock, rather than the "great hand from the sky" approach. I invite suggestions! 8|

You can get Kadee couplers for G Scale Peter, so I guess that they would work with magnets in a similar way to the HO/OO version....

 

[whatlep]

Gradients........love em.
The Gi normous engine shed is a bit fragile outside unless you substantially reinforce it with beams and battens.
You going for full modelling and landscaping Peter ?

Yes, that shed is not the best designed piece of kit for a country garden, so indoors is preferable. I'm certainly intending to get some scenics organised as time and funds allow, but I'm going to try to discipline myself to focus on the outdoor line once the weather gets a little better.

 

[CoggesRailway]

Yes peter don't you go all indoorsy on us - it's only acceptable to run trains indoors whilst inclement... or we migth think you're going soft.

 

[whatlep]

Yes peter don't you go all indoorsy on us - it's only acceptable to run trains indoors whilst inclement... or we migth think you're going soft.

That from the man who used multiple leg fractures as a pathetic excuse for delaying work on his line! Cheek!!

 

[yb281]

Yes peter don't you go all indoorsy on us - it's only acceptable to run trains indoors whilst inclement... or we migth think you're going soft.

That from the man who used multiple leg fractures as a pathetic excuse for delaying work on his line! Cheek!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKhEw7nD9C4

 

[CoggesRailway]

Yes peter don't you go all indoorsy on us - it's only acceptable to run trains indoors whilst inclement... or we migth think you're going soft.

That from the man who used multiple leg fractures as a pathetic excuse for delaying work on his line! Cheek!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKhEw7nD9C4

Excellent!! The two days I took to move a 850kg bag of ballast in qtr barrows with 10 min breaks inbetween each one into my garden owing to my sore limp did require a little of the black knights attitude!

 

[whatlep]

Since the weather was foul today, tracklaying commenced - and immediately hit a problem. :wits: Although the basic plan is sound, I had missed a small obstruction in the room. See if you can spot it in the picture....

Yes, that's right. There's a small electrical box perfectly positioned to conflict with the loco shed. Moving it was not an option (not least as it's the master switch for our septic tank pump :bleh: ), so it was either move the shed sideways by 32mm or along the baseboard by about 150mm. A quick check showed that sideways would have placed the foreground track too close to the baseboard edge for comfort, so the whole plan had to move 150mm rightwards. Now that gave another couple of problems, but here, a revised plan will help...

The foreground track could not start to curve immediately from the point toe as it would have been suspended in mid air. So a short section of track has been inserted. Probably a good idea to remove the reverse curve anyway. At the rightmost end of the layout, the extra 150mm made the top siding extend beyond the baseboard. The siding lengths are critical to make the "Inglenook" shunting puzzle work (see earlier posts). Happily there was enough room in the rear doorframe space to (just) fit everything in on an extension board, though I suspect I'll have to lose a rail joiner to get the track to fit. Yes, it's that tight!

Having got this sorted, it occurred to me that providing for an extra 120mm make-up piece of track on the bottom right-hand siding would make it easy to insert a point and create a loop, should it be wanted in the future. Well, you never know.....

 

[whatlep]

Anyway, having sorted out the minor planning problems, tracklaying got underway. Here's the result, using umpteen bits of spare track I dragged out of a multitude of hiding places.

My intent on this section is to raise the ground level in the immediate shed area with some artist's display board (basically two sheets of thick Plasticard with about 5mm of foam between them) and then add scenic materials on top. I have in mind a concrete hard area where the doors would open, then ashes, tailing off to normal ballast as the "main line" comes in.

Advice on what materials to use and sources of supply will be gratefully received! That reminds me: I now have a piece of dead ground behind the loco shed. Anybody got suggestions for how to create unkempt grass, weeds or similar?

Looking the other way, Piko track is awaited from a Welshman with fiery breath. Hopefully early next week. The van shows where the bottom siding for the "Inglenook" will sit. "Classic" ballast the main feature of this section.

 

[yb281]

Very nice Peter .

For my engine shed "shelf" I used "Brush It On" ready glued ballast from Modellers Mecca (as advertised in the Railway Modeller). Their O gauge dark grey stuff looks excellent as ash ballast and darker colours may be suitable for the running line. Gizzy also used it on Hard Yard. Just be aware that it takes ages to dry in the sort of depth required for our track.

I was very impressed with the idea of using hanging basket liner for long grass that someone posted recently - sorry, can't remember the thread name??

Other than that, Woodlands Scenics range of scatters and matting is my weapon of choice for scenic work. Drop me a PM if you fancy having a "work party" .