The Sheep Chronicles. A Sheep dips his hooves in various bucolic backwaters.
2996 Victor
Western Thunderer
Great photos!
Mark
Mark
Andrew Young
Member
Do like the simplicity of ‘Ewe’, the scenery looks great too.
Inspired by ‘Crichel Down’, I once started building a light railway layout in O gauge with that track plan only for my poor track laying and carpentry skills preventing it from running very well. Replaced it with something else that stalled because I’d over complicated matters. With the onset of laser cut baseboard kits and RTP track, those issues could be overcome and I’m wondering whether a return to a ‘less is more’ approach is the way to go.
Andrew
Inspired by ‘Crichel Down’, I once started building a light railway layout in O gauge with that track plan only for my poor track laying and carpentry skills preventing it from running very well. Replaced it with something else that stalled because I’d over complicated matters. With the onset of laser cut baseboard kits and RTP track, those issues could be overcome and I’m wondering whether a return to a ‘less is more’ approach is the way to go.
Andrew
NHY 581
Western Thunderer
Morning Andrew,
Thanks.
Ewe is extremely simple but surprisingly, it does occupy the operator. I'm a firm advocate of less is more but it's not for everyone. That said, as long as you can accept the limitations such an approach brings, it can be very rewarding and allows you to complete a project fairly quickly. It also enables you to concentrate on applying the details, such as scenery in the case of Ewe.
The availability of laser cut boards helps get things going and will provide the base for Flaxfield. Grainge and Hodder offer a 120x40cm board for under £50. There's your base sorted. A few points and lengths of plain track and literally, you are up and running. On the subject of points, you don't need to motorise them, again speeding up getting things running.
I built the board for Blackwater Pier which is an interim build to try out different things, including building the board. Three points and three lengths of plain track deals with all the trackwork requirements. This grew from a desire to build a test track which initially was going to feature one point to produce a working diorama.
As you say, less is more and to reiterate, if you can be satisfied with the confines it creates, it allows you to complete a small layout and play trains, which is why we do this after all.
Rob.
2996 Victor
Western Thunderer
Agree absolutely, Rob, G&H baseboards are the way to go imho (usual caveat) - easy to assemble, light strong and rigid. Plus they'll happily do bespoke sizes if you ask. I should be getting a commission!
Cheers,
Mark
Andrew Young
Member
Agree completely. I used to think I wanted a bigger layout, but have definitely changed my view and my approach. Mainly helped by actually building (and finishing) a layout that was small and compact. ‘Wheal Ponder’ uses a pair of G&H laser cut boards and Peco O-16.5 track which got me the base quickly. Wiring is simple, with just two isolating sections to allow a second loco in restrictive circumstances and manual point operation using Blue Point Operators.
Simple and straight forward. Having built somewhere for some of my narrow gauge stock to run on, my thoughts are returning to somewhere for my O gauge light railway stock to run. I’ve got some more G&H boards, plus some Peco Set track points which are nice and compact. Just need to decide what to build now!
Thanks
Andrew
Jordan
Mid-Western Thunderer
It does take a bit of a 'leap of faith' to believe that a plan that looks too simple a.k.a. "boring" on paper can be operationally satisfying in practice.
It can depend on what the individual modeller wants; someone who only wants complex multi-train, timetable ops might not be happy shunting & sorting a single train - but if they haven't got finances, room or the help to run a such a complex layout, then they're missing out on an affordable (in more ways than one) alternative.
simond
Western Thunderer
Another approach, which I must say is work in progress and may yet go pear shaped, is to build a module for your planned masterwork.
I've been building rolling stock since the kids were born, and built the Greater Windowledge Railway (documented on RMW but not much use without the photos
) as a test plank and play space where I could try scenic stuff out - the trackplan comprised two pairs of Peco-radius crossovers, (and a spur & kickback) as the reverse curves of a crossover are the difficult bit if you like big locos and long coaches. It served its purpose for about 7 years, was reinstated without much trouble when we returned from India, and was finally “Beechinged” about 12 years back.
Since then I have contented myself (and occasionally annoyed Mrs D) by building a loco shed module that I hope will be transplanted into the extension for which I have just received Planning Permission (after two attempts and an appeal), and once there, will be joined to other modules to make a layout.
This approach doesn’t offer much scope for running trains, but does allow me to play with my locos, and has provided a place for the buildings etc. It’s also allowed me develop a control system and a turntable controller using CAN & Arduinos.
It may work for others who “can’t do what they want to yet.”
I've been building rolling stock since the kids were born, and built the Greater Windowledge Railway (documented on RMW but not much use without the photos
) as a test plank and play space where I could try scenic stuff out - the trackplan comprised two pairs of Peco-radius crossovers, (and a spur & kickback) as the reverse curves of a crossover are the difficult bit if you like big locos and long coaches. It served its purpose for about 7 years, was reinstated without much trouble when we returned from India, and was finally “Beechinged” about 12 years back.Since then I have contented myself (and occasionally annoyed Mrs D) by building a loco shed module that I hope will be transplanted into the extension for which I have just received Planning Permission (after two attempts and an appeal), and once there, will be joined to other modules to make a layout.
This approach doesn’t offer much scope for running trains, but does allow me to play with my locos, and has provided a place for the buildings etc. It’s also allowed me develop a control system and a turntable controller using CAN & Arduinos.
It may work for others who “can’t do what they want to yet.”
2996 Victor
Western Thunderer
A modular approach certainly has much to commend it.
For my current scheme, still on paper, I'm thinking of building RUB-sized station modules which can be linked with scenic country boards, ideally in random sequences (not a new idea, I know
).
First up is likely to be a small halt(e) with a single siding that will have several wagon spots for different cargoes, which will hopefully generate some shunting moves.
Mark
For my current scheme, still on paper, I'm thinking of building RUB-sized station modules which can be linked with scenic country boards, ideally in random sequences (not a new idea, I know
).First up is likely to be a small halt(e) with a single siding that will have several wagon spots for different cargoes, which will hopefully generate some shunting moves.
Mark