The Summerton Light Railway

[Si]

After much prevarication and general idleness, work started on the railway itself today....funny how a rise in temperature and a bit of sun can get you out in the garden...me, a fair-weather modeller? Never :oops:

I had all sorts of ideas about track plans, but in the end it came down to what bits of track I had to use, and what bits of wood i had to mount them on.

Have knocked up the boards for the station area and they are currently drying, having had some kind of bitumen paint daubed all over them.




the layout is simply two Y points with the fat ends pointing at leach other, two sidings at one end, with the main line coming off the point at the other, and a side line going to a quarry or some such on the siding next to it. Does that make sense?

Rather than stick stuff into the ground I'm going to attach the end to the house, and the rest to extant fence posts.....will save me a lot of effort and will mean that it won't be a permanent feature so we can move house!

Anyway...more tomorrow when the paint has dried.

[tom_tom_go]

Sounds different so would be good to see a plan?

You can do one for free using Anyrail software.

[Stuvon]

Sounds like a railway with a purpose, rather than a simple loop. Should make operating fun as you'll have to work it!

[Si]

Rough sketch plan below. The dashed red line is a future development that will complete a full circuit of the garden... but as this is my first garden railway I'm making phase one fairly straight forward.

And, yes, it's more a shunting line than a watching the trains go past line. In fact the station area is a replica of my O9 layout, which despite its simplicity gives lots of interesting operation. However, I'm looking at putting a switch on the sides of my locos such that they hit a line-side arm and automatically change direction, so I can do some sitting back and watching the trains look after them selves.

Just from painting the board I see why so many people advocate elevated track beds! Mine will be at about 2ft height at the station end and about six inch height at the loop end due to the slope in the garden.




Next job: mount the big station board, then start unbuilding track: I'm using second hand O gauge points which don't like my courser wheels, thus have to remount the check rails. Dead easy on the plastic sleepered one, but a tad harder on the copper clad sleepered one. Oh well, doing it on a budget means what you save in the pocket you make up for with awkwardness!

[MDLR]

I'm looking at putting a switch on the sides of my locos such that they hit a line-side arm and automatically change direction, so I can do some sitting back and watching the trains look after them selves.

This CAN be done - the Big Big Train had it as standard, with proper "swipe" switches that worked with lineside "pegs" but you are (I'm sure" aware that toggle and slide switches can take a considerable amount of force to operate, and trying to work these from lineside could throw a loco off the track!

[Mr. Bond of the DVLR]

I too am a fan of out and back lines, I enjoy the run around at each end with the preparation and for the next run. Would it be easier to operate with a run around loop in that station or have you a cunning shunting sequence planned?

[MDLR]

[quote="Mr. Bond of the DVLR:82246]"...................or have you a cunning shunting sequence planned?[/quote]

............ and a loc called Blackadder?

[Si]

Yep, I've foreseen the problem with stiff switches, Brian. I've got some off some old bike lights that have a really soft action an so shouldn't cause the loco to go exploring in the undergrowth, with any luck.

Mr Bond, I don't know about cunning, but I am thinking of using the same sort of sequences that I use on the O9 layout. For instance, a train (loco, two coaches and guard's van) comes into the station, but discovers that there is no run round loop, so has to call on his friend the yard shunter (which is ready waiting in the industry line. Shunter pulls guards van off the back and pushes into the other siding, then comes back and pulls the coaches off and pushes them into the guard's van siding. Shunter then retires to the industry line and the train loco reverses then goes into the carriage siding. Everything re couples and the passenger train pulls out the station and is off round the reversing loop at the other end again.

Sounds fairly simple, but such movements can keep one occupied for a while, plus when you throw in the odd goods wagon and stuff coming from the industry branch, it gets more complicated.

[Big Al]

That is indeed a cunning plan and should give many hours of good fun on the railway.

[DolwyddelanLightRail]

I quite like the idea of that! I've always been fond of railways which involve small scale shunting!

[Narrow Minded]

Nice plan

If you "lock out" a linking section of the continuous run, you can still operate an end-to-end service with the associated run around moves, as I do on the W&L.
Of course, having a "micro layout" attached as a branch also adds as much shunting as you like

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[Si]

Very nice video!

As for 'micro layouts' in O9 it comes in at 4ft by 6inches, in 14mm:ft it's about 10ft by 10 inches. I guess the discrepancy in length is down to the O9 being min gauge and the 14mm being narrow, but that ought to mean that the 14mm is wider...scratches head.

[Mr. Bond of the DVLR]

That's so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel. Like the plan a lot. I'd have a go at that if I could insure I'd have a working diseasil shunter at all times.

[Johnnie2sheds]

Instead of pegs and switches, have you considered magnets and reed switches? Jus' sayin'

[Si]

It's an idea. I've never really dabbled with reed switches, I guess that the switch would have to operate some other, slightly more complex, circuitry? Otherwise as soon as the engine passes the magnet the switch would click back the other way and the engine would try to go forward again? Afraid that I'm not very good with the old 'lectrics.