I know I said Llangunllo would be my last layout and so it will, but I plan on making a few changes or perhaps I should say rebuild it. Although I've still got plenty of stock to build and modify I'm at my happiest when building layouts. There is something about starting from scratch again and watching your ideas take shape, you never know how things are going to turn out and there can, at times be a fine line between success or failure. With every layout that I've built I always hope the next one will be better, its what drives me on, for there are new products becoming available all the time and new techniques to try. Since I completed Llangunllo I've been sort of lost and the urge to start again with a fresh canvas has been getting stronger by the day, so I've decided to do something about it and this is what the future holds for Llangunllo.
You might recall my plans for a diorama and the half sized mock up that followed, but do you remember the plan for Pentre Felin, which was dropped in favour of Llangunllo? I was rather fond of the idea but there was far too much going on in too small a space.
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So I removed the creamery, simplified the goods yard and made several other adjustments and changes, the last piece of the jigsaw was to graft the Talybont on Usk inspired diorama onto the Llanbister Road end of the plan and this is how it turned out.
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No sector plates this time, just tried and tested cassettes from which the goods yard is shunted. Its an idea that I've pinched from Llanastr, and not only saves valuable space but a point as well. Goods trains can enter the mock loop from either direction or set back over the crossover and trains can cross each other. Its assumed that the loop continues some way beyond the bridge and sidings lead off it to serve Llangunllo dairy, of which a suggestion, along with its chimney will most likely be modelled. Anyway rather than rely on a simple sketch I used Templot to print the various track templates that I would need and then laid them out on the layout room floor. A few items of stock were placed on the plan along with the footprints of the original buildings, which allowed me to check the various clearances and to see exactly how the layout might look.
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The photo had to be stitched together and then cropped which makes the curves look far tighter than they are.
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Here's the plan with some scenery in place, the goods yard area is relatively flat apart from the shallow cuttings around the road bridge. At the other end the land falls away to create the Lugg Valley and once trains have travelled over the crossing they find themselves on an embankment, before passing between Stokes Cottage and rising wooded land on the right. The front edge of the layout runs parallel with the rear one and will not be straight as shown here but curved to follow the sweep of the line, just as they did on Llangunllo and Penhydd before it. The scenic area is 6ft 3" x 1ft 9" (190.5 cm x 53.4 cm) Total length including cassette decks is 11ft 4" (343cm)
I've also relocated the station and its now on the Presteign side of the village...........
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This is the bridge that I have in mind for the scenic break at the Titley Junction end of the plan. It was situated at Hatch on the old Chard branch, whether it still stands today I couldn't tell you but the track which passed beneath it has long gone. The line was originally built to Broad Gauge standards hence the wide spans.
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I've started to build a model of the bridge from foamboard, following dimensions found in L.V Woods"Bridges for Modellers" for a GWR segmented arched bridge.
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I've borrowed the feedstore from Llangunllo to represent the dairy and plonked a piece of Plastruct tube in place for a chimney, the Backscene continues around the cassette deck to give a little depth to the scene.
On the other hand I could model two plate girder bridges like this, but obviously each span would be closer together, or there could be a mix of plate girder and stone arch?
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I used a scenic cassette deck with a full backscene on Penhydd and it worked well, however modelling the creamery in full was a mistake. Instead I should have just modelled a suggestion of it like you see here, a chimney, a glimpse of a roof and a water tank would have worked just as well.
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One thing that I have learned is that sometimes its best to imagine dairies and other industries being off stage, as you can then trip the appropriate goods wagons to and fro with no worries about finding space to model any special loading /unloading facilities that they might require.
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The other end of the layout would look something like this but with the road bridge reworked to resemble the prototype more accurately. The bridge carry's the B4356 up to the level crossing as shown on the plan. The end of the goods yard would be behind the trees on the right. I'm also looking at diverting the River Lugg so it doesn't end at right angles to the baseboard edge.
It will be next spring before I dismantle the old layout, the baseboard frames will be modified once again and with luck I hope to salvage the pointwork for the crossover, or at least the crossings and some of the track for the goods yard. All the buildings, signals and electrics, including the lever frame will be used again so I'll be hitting the ground running.
Lessons Learned
Firstly, like Penhydd before it the original Llangunllo has taught me many lessons, to begin with I've proved beyond doubt that the 'less is more' approach suits me down to the ground and can be just as satisfying as a larger layout.
Secondly, I found that a through station is far more interesting to model than a terminus to fiddle yard arrangement, but sector plates, for me, held no advantage over the simple cassettes that I had previously used. Mind you, had there been space for them to swing through 360 degrees it would have been a different matter.
Thirdly, track built using plastic chairs secured to ply sleepers with solvent has proved to be both strong and reliable, giving no problems whatsoever, track made by this method also happens to look more realistic with its keyed chairs and wooden sleepers.
Fourthly. I made a mistake with the backscene, you see I used the 'standard' paper one which is now showing signs of wear and fading, so for the new layout I'll order the 'premium' type which is printed on Polypropylene which is much tougher being scratch and tear resistant.
Finally, as I've grown older I'm finding it more difficult to crawl around under the baseboards fitting Tortoise motors and wiring everything up. So I plan on laying the track on two sub bases thus allowing me to turn them upside down and only when everything has been wired and tested will they be fitted to the baseboard frame.
In the meantime I will continue with my stock building and conversion projects.
You might recall my plans for a diorama and the half sized mock up that followed, but do you remember the plan for Pentre Felin, which was dropped in favour of Llangunllo? I was rather fond of the idea but there was far too much going on in too small a space.
So I removed the creamery, simplified the goods yard and made several other adjustments and changes, the last piece of the jigsaw was to graft the Talybont on Usk inspired diorama onto the Llanbister Road end of the plan and this is how it turned out.
The photo had to be stitched together and then cropped which makes the curves look far tighter than they are.
Here's the plan with some scenery in place, the goods yard area is relatively flat apart from the shallow cuttings around the road bridge. At the other end the land falls away to create the Lugg Valley and once trains have travelled over the crossing they find themselves on an embankment, before passing between Stokes Cottage and rising wooded land on the right. The front edge of the layout runs parallel with the rear one and will not be straight as shown here but curved to follow the sweep of the line, just as they did on Llangunllo and Penhydd before it. The scenic area is 6ft 3" x 1ft 9" (190.5 cm x 53.4 cm) Total length including cassette decks is 11ft 4" (343cm)
I've also relocated the station and its now on the Presteign side of the village...........
This is the bridge that I have in mind for the scenic break at the Titley Junction end of the plan. It was situated at Hatch on the old Chard branch, whether it still stands today I couldn't tell you but the track which passed beneath it has long gone. The line was originally built to Broad Gauge standards hence the wide spans.
I've started to build a model of the bridge from foamboard, following dimensions found in L.V Woods"Bridges for Modellers" for a GWR segmented arched bridge.
I've borrowed the feedstore from Llangunllo to represent the dairy and plonked a piece of Plastruct tube in place for a chimney, the Backscene continues around the cassette deck to give a little depth to the scene.
On the other hand I could model two plate girder bridges like this, but obviously each span would be closer together, or there could be a mix of plate girder and stone arch?
I used a scenic cassette deck with a full backscene on Penhydd and it worked well, however modelling the creamery in full was a mistake. Instead I should have just modelled a suggestion of it like you see here, a chimney, a glimpse of a roof and a water tank would have worked just as well.
One thing that I have learned is that sometimes its best to imagine dairies and other industries being off stage, as you can then trip the appropriate goods wagons to and fro with no worries about finding space to model any special loading /unloading facilities that they might require.
The other end of the layout would look something like this but with the road bridge reworked to resemble the prototype more accurately. The bridge carry's the B4356 up to the level crossing as shown on the plan. The end of the goods yard would be behind the trees on the right. I'm also looking at diverting the River Lugg so it doesn't end at right angles to the baseboard edge.
It will be next spring before I dismantle the old layout, the baseboard frames will be modified once again and with luck I hope to salvage the pointwork for the crossover, or at least the crossings and some of the track for the goods yard. All the buildings, signals and electrics, including the lever frame will be used again so I'll be hitting the ground running.
Lessons Learned
Firstly, like Penhydd before it the original Llangunllo has taught me many lessons, to begin with I've proved beyond doubt that the 'less is more' approach suits me down to the ground and can be just as satisfying as a larger layout.
Secondly, I found that a through station is far more interesting to model than a terminus to fiddle yard arrangement, but sector plates, for me, held no advantage over the simple cassettes that I had previously used. Mind you, had there been space for them to swing through 360 degrees it would have been a different matter.
Thirdly, track built using plastic chairs secured to ply sleepers with solvent has proved to be both strong and reliable, giving no problems whatsoever, track made by this method also happens to look more realistic with its keyed chairs and wooden sleepers.
Fourthly. I made a mistake with the backscene, you see I used the 'standard' paper one which is now showing signs of wear and fading, so for the new layout I'll order the 'premium' type which is printed on Polypropylene which is much tougher being scratch and tear resistant.
Finally, as I've grown older I'm finding it more difficult to crawl around under the baseboards fitting Tortoise motors and wiring everything up. So I plan on laying the track on two sub bases thus allowing me to turn them upside down and only when everything has been wired and tested will they be fitted to the baseboard frame.
In the meantime I will continue with my stock building and conversion projects.