Well, it's been another year since my last entry and still no progress due to yet more time spent improving my designs. My job has also meant I don't have much time to do any physical modelling so I spend a lot of time on my computer thinking of more ideas to add to the layout. The main part I wasn't entirely happy with was the fiddle yard. I think I had seriously over complicated it for myself then the realisation came that I couldn't re-use the fiddle yard for any other layouts as it was tailored to suit Rannoch.

I've spent a lot of time in Autocad trying out different ideas but think I may have finally cracked it! I looked around the web at different fiddle yard designs and found a handful of 'Modular' fiddle yards. These were designed to be able to be used as either roundy roundy layouts, a section at each end of a layout or used on one side only. The other idea was you could use it on a 12ft scenic section layout one week then use it on a much longer layout the next just by adding an extra module or two. This got me thinking and this is what I've come up with.

I decided that all turnouts would be straight to make it a lot easier to build them on the workbench then transfer them over to the baseboards. I then decided that all the turnouts should be B8's for reasons which will be explained in a week or two . I could then limit all the turnouts to a single 1200mm baseboard at either end of the fiddle yard:

The benefit of this is all the point motor wiring is confined to a single board and not spread out all over the fiddle yard. As there will be a mirror image of this board on the other end of the fiddle yard you can use both of them or one or the other in a multitude of setups to suit a particular layout. A few 1200mm sections which are made up of straight track could then be bolted in between these if you have a roundy roundy layout:

Now that the fiddle yard design was finalised I had to figure out a way to get the trains from it onto the scenic part of a layout. I like the idea of having an operating well in the middle of the layout for at least two people so the use of four curved boards to complete the circuit seemed ideal. I chose a decent minimum radius for these and worked from there to get enough space to run two tracks around the centre line. This would ensure good running of longer models and enough room for two operators to be comfortable in the available space.

The benefit of the boards being built in such a way is that they complete the circuit for the fiddle yard and layout but can all be connected together to create a twin track test track. I've left enough room either side of the tracks though in case I want to lay some N gauge track to allow running in of new models before re-wheeling.

Now the eagle eyed among you may have noticed that I have designed the curved boards with two tracks but the plan for Rannoch is to be single track. I've got some ideas for different layouts which may arrive years down the line and these will require two running lines all the way around the layout so I have kept the fiddle yard as modular as possible to accommodate these when they eventually get built. I have had to design two curved crossovers in two of the curved boards to allow the use of all tracks on the fiddle yard if it is coupled to a single track layout:

Once I had settled on the modular design I turned my mind to construction methods. A method I have used several times over the past few years for curved boards was to create what looks like a monocoque frame. The solid top is connected to four uprights at the ends and then 30degrees from the board radius centre line at either end. The whole thing is then connected to a bottom which has three cutouts to allow access to wiring and point motors as well as reducing weight significantly while maintaining structural integrity.

Next up will be part 2 where I build one of the curved boards as a proof of concept.

Cheers

Martin