Help needed 20x10 in N gauge track plan issues.

[Geep7]

On 16/07/2024 at 09:42, Camps Junction said:

....no matter what I seem to do with people’s advice or without I’m getting negative criticism no matter what, THERES NO ACCESS POINT, ITS TO WIDE....

 

I think these two shouldn't be taken as negative criticism, but very sensible questions/comments. You may feel that at the present time you can comfortably handle a duck-under into the layout and reach/stretch across the 5ft3 into the corner, but once you've had the layout 5-10 years (yes, I think this layout would take you about that amount of time), you may not be quite so happy to keep ducking under a layout, so it's a good idea to properly plan in where you will enter the layout. I'm in my mid-40's and i'll be honest, i'll never have a duck-under on my layout ever again.

 

In your space, I would seriously think about not having the layout cross the entrance, and have return loops either side, and fold back on itself. As regards reach, I would have any track no more than 2ft away from the front edge of a baseboard..... Inevitably, whilst we think derailments will never happen, Murphy's law always states that when they happen, they be at the furthest, most inaccessible place on the layout.

 

I don't think any of the comments on this thread have ever been negative, just constructive criticism from those who are very knowledgeable about planning model railway layouts, and have just tried to advise you as best they can.

 

I can't remember if this is your first model railway layout or not, but if it is your first layout, I would seriously think about building something much smaller first. Just have a look in a few magazine, or on here for some mainline N gauge layouts, and you can see you could get a 4 track mainline in as small as 12ft x 3ft. I know you want to model Bounds Green, and we've all wanted to be able to build our dream layout, but sometimes it's better to walk before you can run.

 

Not meant to be any sort of negative criticism, just some friendly advice from one modeller to another. 

Edited July 18 by Geep7

[Harlequin]

@Camps Junction We're giving you design ideas but you don't seem to be taking them on board, weighing them up and choosing which to apply. I think the problem is that you don't really want to design a railway - you just want a railway... That's why it might be better to get someone to design something for you.

 

I was thinking about all this overnight and I suggest not taking the station and depot plans quite so literally. Move them around and slim them down to suit your needs. It seems better to me to have the branch line running mostly outside the main line, where it won't obscure the main line, not turning inside it. 

 

So I sketched this broad idea:

 

The Depot is the fiddleyard for this layout.

 

Of course, that takes no account of where the entrance door is - because you haven't told us.

 

[Camps Junction]

2 hours ago, Harlequin said:

@Camps Junction We're giving you design ideas but you don't seem to be taking them on board, weighing them up and choosing which to apply. I think the problem is that you don't really want to design a railway - you just want a railway... That's why it might be better to get someone to design something for you.

 

I was thinking about all this overnight and I suggest not taking the station and depot plans quite so literally. Move them around and slim them down to suit your needs. It seems better to me to have the branch line running mostly outside the main line, where it won't obscure the main line, not turning inside it. 

 

So I sketched this broad idea:

 

The Depot is the fiddleyard for this layout.

 

Of course, that takes no account of where the entrance door is - because you haven't told us.

 

Now this I like a lot !!!!

[Camps Junction]

9 hours ago, Harlequin said:

@Camps Junction We're giving you design ideas but you don't seem to be taking them on board, weighing them up and choosing which to apply. I think the problem is that you don't really want to design a railway - you just want a railway... That's why it might be better to get someone to design something for you.

 

I was thinking about all this overnight and I suggest not taking the station and depot plans quite so literally. Move them around and slim them down to suit your needs. It seems better to me to have the branch line running mostly outside the main line, where it won't obscure the main line, not turning inside it. 

 

So I sketched this broad idea:

 

The Depot is the fiddleyard for this layout.

 

Of course, that takes no account of where the entrance door is - because you haven't told us.

 

Tried this.

[njee20]

You’ve gone back to a load of dead end sidings which for me would be a no-no. Personally I really dislike that junction too - it’s wildly unrealsitic, you’d not have the yard accessible from every line. 

[Harlequin]

I didn't connect the branch line tracks to the main line in my quick block diagram but obviously you need to. I was thinking that your junction station would look something like Alexandra Palace - long and thin with long platforms (~1.15m in N).

 

And I imagined that the "Depot" would have a layout basically like Bounds Green. I thought that was your goal? I.e. loops that connect into the inner branch line in the station, fan out around and through some huge sheds, and then come together again at a fairly simple connection into the main line.

 

The area I marked "part of depot" was supposed to be a version of the cark park and the kickback terminal sidings that you had previously shown taking a huge rectangular chunk out of the operating well.

 

The bridges on the south side both need to span the same river otherwise the landscape will look odd.

 

The wiggle in the quad-track main line on the south side was partly intended to separate the main lines from the branch station but mainly to help the branch line flying junction cross it at a better angle. The mainlines should really keep as straight as possible until they've passed under the flying junction. I'm sure that could be improved in both my drawing and yours.

 

There are some reach issues to be sorted out.

 

Where is the door into the room? Is it in the centre of the left hand wall?

 

Edited July 16 by Harlequin

[Camps Junction]

The double shed door is Centre left end panel, I think for now I will take some time while I line and insulate the shed  and get some of the electrics done ,The I’ll finalize the plan before I’m ready to start the base boards, Thanks for now all.

[Chimer]

On 16/07/2024 at 09:42, Camps Junction said:

If I try and copy it identical pretty much it’s 5ft3 at the widest point, I either have to cut it right down or do something completely different at presant no matter what I seem to do with people’s advice or without I’m getting negative criticism no matter what, THERES NO ACCESS POINT, ITS TO WIDE, IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE,IT DOESNT GO ANY WHERE, I DONT LIKE STRAIGHT EDGES, ETC ETC, If this keeps up I’ll just do an O gauge garden railway with 100ftx80ft,

 

 

That's that, I'm out of here.

[Camps Junction]

Apologies to anyone who I’ve upset it was not my intention , I wanted to copy Bounds green as accurate as possable, But people said sidings didn’t go anywhere but that’s how the TMD is and yes it will be wide in one area which I need to work out how I can do this as is without having a 5ft stretch, I’ve seen some big layouts that have these big widths now to they cope with this?, As someone suggested track design books so I can get some ideas on how things works which I’ve ordered 4 or 5 but would still like to do it as accurate as possable,,  Once again I apologies to anyone I have offended Sorry Drew

[njee20]

Bounds Green isn’t a series of dead ends - they form up again and become the running lines through Bowes Park. We did all this on your previous thread. 
 

If you want them to be dead ends then crack on. If you’re operating MUs that sort of works, stuff reverses in and out. For me, with loco-hauled stock like you said you wanted to run it’s just a bit clunky in N, involving the big hand in the sky, and wasn’t Bounds Green built for the HSTs? So a slavish recreation of Bounds Green to store Deltics and rakes of mk1s is inherently unrealistic anyway. 
 

personally I’d be wary of taking a snapshot of a real location and assuming it’ll automatically make a good model. Most of us value entertainment value, and play factor,  neither of which rank highly when building real railways!

 

The thematic plan Phil has come up with looks good to me, but I also thought the one you ended up with before looked alright. 
 

As for large reaches on deep boards you either need access holes or to make the baseboards strong enough to climb on. 

[Camps Junction]

[Camps Junction]

Hey all as much as ive wanted to build the place i lived opposite and grew up watching it,BOUNDS GREEN TMD having a 5ft width single access base board is just to much of a stretch so the 20x10 layout mainly will be based  on Hatfield with much help from Nick Holliday who without this would of been a real struggle many many thanks Nick, So hoping to get all the code 55 peco ordered on Monday, Im going to do it in 4 stages just due to the size and so i can use it while i build the seperate sections, Once i start the build ill post regular PICS, The base boards will be 2ftx8 wide which is way easyer than dealing with a 5ft wide base board regards Drew