Track layout progress

  There’s been a fair bit going on at the modelling desk of late. I think like most modellers, I do tend to go from one unfinished project to another. In my defence, I think it keeps us engaged and fresh, all the better to move forward enjoying our hobby.

 I’ve been working away on the station building, and I’m fairly happy with my progress so far. Even though this isn’t the subject of the title, I think I like to use each post as a ‘where am I at right now’ with my current projects, and the Station building and Post Office certainly have been a focus of late. The roof of the Station has been added, without any detail yet. So there’s a lot more to do, but the worst of it is done already. The two following photos give you a pretty good idea of where I’m up to. Hopefully I’ll have an update soon with the finished models, we shall see.

On to the subject in the title, the track layout. I’ve never used any track planning tools when designing layouts, although I’ve only designed three really, well four if you count the chicken scratchings that were my first home layout plan. There have been three home layout designs now I think about it properly. The first was a tourist railway set in the border ranges near Woodenbong, completely made up, HO scale running on N scale track as a narrow gauge model. The second was based on country NSW and was focused on a fairly common theme, that being grain. This second one made it to grid paper, so a good step forward. The third is based on the Eugowra line and will be built one day. I really like the plan that it has evolved into, with a lot of help from a good friend, Darren. There’s always talk of moving in our household it seems, and if that day does arrive, then Eugowra in a purpose built space is a definite gower!

There have been two show layout plans, the first being ‘Splitters Swamp Creek’, and the second ‘Hoskins Hollow’. Both have kind of had scale drawings, fairly loosely based on scale, more a concept or idea. 

This has meant a bit of playing around with the design of the yard, the placement of sidings, and indeed the Station building also. I’ve mirrored the layout front to back from the original plan, and that has moved the buildings of the Station to right under the viewers nose at the front of the layout. This in turn has flipped the Goods area to the rear of the layout. The changes seem to work, and I do prefer the buildings at the front. 

The other week I had a few people over for our bi weekly get together, and it was great to get some feedback on where I was at with the track plan. The layout has a distinctive shape that does change your view depending on where in front you are standing, and that was my original thought when I began sketching some ideas. It has ended up shaping the modules, that has been a real pain (opportunity) in deciding the final track plan. The view of the track has meant that for it to work visually and to enable it to flow, that I’ve introduced some curved points into the design.

The top photo shows the middle module with the station, and above it a rail motor siding that finishes at the platform. You can clearly see how the points help with the flow of the track work. The bottom photo is of the right hand end module if you were standing in front of the layout. The post office closest to the bottom, with the main Station building above it. This works for me, and thanks must go to the Toosdy Niters that helped work through the ideas, and evolve the track work, within the constraints of the modules.

The change of plan has enabled a slight alteration in the lay of the land, and this is the part that I’ve most enjoyed. It all works. There were issues with the previous ideas, in that the flow of the layout seemed to just not be working. Now the backscene works as there is a little more room for a transition from the foreground to the backscene in how the scenery will eventually be placed.

One of the discussion points with the fellas was the steep area in front of the sidings near the goods area. It really was too steep to b able to work a scene of a small part of the township, which was one of the prime objectives I’d set myself at the planning stage. With the change in points I’m able to alter the geometry of the area, and bring the roads closer together. This in turn has enabled me to give greater space to the town at the front of the layout. It simply means the grade of the land is greatly reduced, so I will be able to construct a more believable scene.

So that’s about it for now, I’d be keen to here your feedback you have on the track arrangements.

Have a great week,

Hug those close to you, whenever you can,

Oorroo!

Geoff.