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Start of a New Indoor Layout


mick
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Clearly I'm one of those people who has very little success bringing a project to completion but one who has no difficulty in moving on and starting something else. I'm sure it might look that way which leaves me feeling not a little embarrassed about posting details of my latest attempts to get a layout up and running.

I mentioned in my first indoor layout thread (not abandoned by any means) about the fact that I considered the baseboards were too cumbersome to handle and I was looking for something that I could erect and dismantle on my own without it needing any assistance. I also want something that's portable because there's an opportunity it could be located elsewhere. So I've decided to go down the easier route of purchasing a laser-cut baseboard kit that I could assemble at home and so here's details about what I obtained.

I required a modular type baseboard that was both small and lightweight and so I opted for two boards each measuring 900mm (35 1/2 inches) by 400mm (15 3/4 inches) and with a depth of 100mm (4 inches). The sections are laser cut from 5.5mm exterior grade plywood with slots and tabs for easy assembly using your own PVA wood glue and panel pins. Here's a photograph of the main components of one board prior to assembly:

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The parts fit together perfectly and within no time at all you have a nice solid base upon which you can think about building that long desired model railway. Here's the board after assembly and almost complete, seen firstly from below and then from above:

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Extremely lightweight and feeling very strong, I'm hoping that this is going to be the answer to my dilemma enabling me to build a small indoor layout that can be assembled in a matter of minutes and stored away afterwards just as quickly.

I have so far built two boards giving me a scenic area of just under 6 feet in length. Depending on the type of layout I finally decide upon I will be getting one further board to act as a fiddle yard at one end (if I decide on a terminus type layout) or two additional boards so that I can have one at each end to create a small through type station. Perhaps a terminus type station would suit best as the primary intention is to keep things small. We shall see later.

Now to think of a suitable track plan and method of working.

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Laser cutting is brilliant, can you imagine trying to make those like that with a saw?!.....

With the tools I have available to me there's no way I could build a baseboard to the same standard - especially in the time it takes to put these kits together. Each baseboard kit cost me less than £30 - I'm not sure if that could be considered cheap but in terms of saving me the hassle of going out and buying a sheet of plywood before cutting the individual sections out by hand I consider them to be excellent value for money. I've now completed my two kits and can pick both of them up together with just a couple of fingers. Using the holes pre-drilled in the ends they bolt together quickly and I'm looking forward to coming up with a nice simple plan that will give me a small layout with plenty of operational possibilities.

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The ones I've used are manufactured by Grainge & Hodder Ltd who have their own website at www.graingeandhodder.com as well as listing items for sale on their eBay pages. I'm sure they won't mind me providing the links!

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I've got some free time between now and early March so I'm looking at progressing this new indoor layout. I've given some thought to a layout plan and placed an order for half a dozen Peco finescale (code 75) large radius points so that I can make a start. I already have a supply of Finescale flexible track so it's just a matter of coming to a final decision on the track layout and I can then start pinning things in position.

A width of 400mm from back to front is going to limit the amount of track I can include so I'm thinking of a single platform station with passing loop and just a couple of sidings. Passenger traffic will be a maximum of 3 coaches. I'm hoping to try my hand at making my own buildings, or at least some of them. I'm also looking forward to sorting out a selection of rolling stock, adding suitable loads and weathering as and where required. Still haven't decided on a location or era, or indeed whether there will actually be one, as right now it's just important that I have somewhere to run some trains.

Not sure that the following will be applicable to this new layout but I took advantage of some recent sale prices to get hold of another batch of Bachmann OTA timber wagons. I have quite a few now in various liveries but even though they come supplied with resin type cast 'log loads' I believe that a real load would look far better and so I was out in the garden a few days ago cutting back some shrubs with the specific aim of getting enough cuttings to produce my own real 'log' scale loads. I've finished up with a decent pile and have left them to dry out a bit before I decide what lengths to cut them to. Really looking forward to doing these and of course adding some suitable weathering to the wagons themselves.

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Mick

I get the impression you are quite into the Scottish theme :? How about a typically West Highland, island platform station arrangement :?:

I'm into just about everything it seems Iain but I think I could settle on a Scottish theme - if only I could settle! I love the West Highland island platform stations but my main objective was to keep things small (400mm wide boards) and so I intended adding a station in half relief in order to leave some space for a small yard where I could perhaps do some shunting. Right now, despite my enthusiasm to begin, we have yet another funeral to contend with so everything is once again on hold.

That looks wonderful Mick and I'm thinking of starting an indoor layout myself and all will be revealed in the fullness of time...

Looking forward to that Roy. Will it be on a grander scale than the outdoor layout? :)

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  • 10 months later...

I've mentioned in another thread the fact that I've dismantled the indoor set-up I first started when I lived in Selby more than 4 years ago. It never actually progressed all that far but I had got it to a stage where I could run trains back and forth through all the fully motorised points and if you follow my adventures closely then you'll see that was an achievement in itself. Anyway, the old boards were heavy, much too heavy, and so a decision was made to replace the whole lot with some much lighter structures that could be moved around or even transported. These new baseboards have been described earlier in this thread but to bring everything up to date I should add that the boards now number 5 in total giving me an available running length of some 15 feet.

I've been taking a look at the boards again today and I'm still planning on creating an end to end layout running from a station to a fiddleyard. I think I've settled on a layout plan and I have all the points and track needed, including salvaged Tortoise slow action point motors from the old layout. I'm not sure what I will be modelling because I'm unable to settle on a specific region or time period, but I do have sufficient stock to enable frequent changes - which should keep the interest going if nothing else.

I used to dread reading forum modelling posts where the constructor was forever changing his mind, ripping things up and starting afresh, but it seems I'm no different and so I apologise for that. I really do want to create something just to show everyone that I can do it. I'm sure I can get there but only time will tell.

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As far as I can see you have nothing to apologise for Mick, building a layout, any layout is a very personal thing and as such it HAS to be right and it Has to be what YOU want. It is far easier to change your mind at the stage that you are at now then when you have spent hundreds of hours and pounds building something that turns into a monster that fails to achieve anything you set out to achieve.

You said it yesterday you just need that spark of inspiration, and away you will be.

Have you tried typing in on youtube something like "Small layouts in oo gauge" and looking at what other folks have done, I do that sometimes and crib a few ideas, it's worth a try.

regards Nige. :)

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I had completely forgotten you had those boards when I talked about light weight boards on the other thread. It's the way I would have gone if I hadn't decided to use foam/plywood board construction.

I suppose I'm lucky as I've only really wanted to construct one place and am finally, if somewhat slowly, getting to do it.

The below comments are probably going to teach you to suck eggs, but hopefully something in there, will help you define what you want.

Time period?

If you've decided on a layout plan for the track, then that will guide you to a extent on the time period, as today there are few stations with a lot of sidings. If you have a lot of sidings with goods, coal and maybe cattle facilities then you are heading back before 1960 certainly before 68, the opposite is of course true, a diesel maintenance yard tends to be sixties or later.

Time for some obvious eggs!!!

All steam (except for a few diesel oddities) pre 1958.

All Diesel post 1968 ( except for preservation).

Mixed in between.

Post privatization is somewhat unlikely for a shunting layout.

Busiest time of all, to justify lots of freight and passengers, the end of WW2

Where?

The Only questions left are BR or Grouping (I'm supposing you don't have a lot of pre grouping stock) although the stations almost remained the same. So then it's region, what stock have you got? if it's one region you have an answer. The track layout could also influence the decision as some railways had a "style" of station .

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....Have you tried typing in on youtube something like "Small layouts in oo gauge" and looking at what other folks have done, I do that sometimes and crib a few ideas, it's worth a try...

I've spent a lot of time watching Youtube videos as well as keeping up to date on several layouts featured elsewhere on the Internet that are of interest to me. There's plenty of inspiration out there - it's that all important motivation that's been lacking with me of late but I'm well aware that it's something that affects most of us at some point in time. When I stop looking at other layouts is the time I'll start to wonder...

....The below comments are probably going to teach you to suck eggs, but hopefully something in there, will help you define what you want...

I have the outdoor layout which just needs completing - the major work is done so that's not a big deal. Outdoors is, however, intended as a preserved railway so it will utilise a minimal amount of stock although I do have plenty of choice to ring the changes often. It's also a location that relies on the weather and in the interest of security doesn't allow stock to be left out. So I've been looking at something more permanent while at the same time being portable, if that makes sense.

I can't justify the expense of a proper attic conversion but could perhaps make do with what's up there already. It's accessible and has a good useable length but any continuous run layout would need to be through the roof trusses - the 'V's - in order to maintain sufficient width. In order to use the majority of my stock this is something I plan to do as it's the only way I'll be able to realistically operate full length trains and not have to pack everything away afterwards. Due to the restricted access I don't plan on adding much detailing to the scenic aspects - it would be open country running.

Which leaves me with the plywood baseboards. I've been really taken by the small type of end-to-end layouts where the owners have 'created' their own little world. Sometimes based on actual locations, often with just a passing resemblance. This would offer me the chance to add my own detailing and be a home for a lot of loco's and stock that I couldn't use elsewhere. There's space in the attic to leave it erected so it wouldn't be in the way but made in sections, I could also bring it down as and when required.

Whatever I build will need to allow running of a variety of stock - I don't want to tie myself down to any specific timeframe or region at this point. Perhaps once I get started then I'll feel different. I like the 1980s-1990s Scottish scene, I like the early LNER, I like the late BR days of the 1980s through to privatisation. I just enjoy running model trains.

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