The Welton Layout - now with the new owner

[CheekyPaul]

(As on 17th August 2012, the layout have been sold and gone to the new owner)

Hey!

I have always been into model railways throughout my young years (I'm only 37) and since I was a small boy I had layouts in N gauge, OO gauge, 009 narrow gauge, O gauge and G gauge (garden railway) and my dad had 0-16.5 narrow gauge. But I was not lucky enough to have ever completed any layouts because things came up, such as having moved away to go to the university, lack of money, or selling my house etc.

Until now that is. Finally I have the opportunity to create a OO layout again, and should be able to complete it this time..... fingers crossed! I started working on my present layout about 1 1/2 years ago and am now at the stage where I am ballasting my tracks. But let me take you back to how I came about to be able to start this layout.

Back in the early 1990's I had an opportunity to create an O gauge layout (I have always been into big scale trains) in my dad's garage. A section of his garage was transformed into his 'railway room'. Already in the garage was my dad's 0.16-5 narrow gauge layout that he was just starting to built and my dad gave me a small space for my O gauge layout.

So I started planning, bought things I needed, and constructed a 5 metres long layout. It was to be a simple branch line with a goods yard. That was enough for me to get going. I got as far as having tracks laid and wired when in 1995 I had a call from the university in Leeds offering me a place on a course. This was rather a last minute thing so before I knew it, I left home and moved to Leeds (from Reading).

I loved Leeds so much that I stayed on after the university, had jobs, etc while my O gauge layout was gathering dust in my dad's garage 200 miles away. I just did not have a space for it in Leeds. Then in 2003 I bought my first house. Finally, I thought, I had a chance to create a layout at some point but DIY came first though! Years went on before I made a decision to sell my O gauge layout and used the money to create a new layout in my bedroom, in the shape of a 'L'. I love O gauge trains and I knew I'll always have a chance to do O gauge again in the future, so I settled for OO gauge for the time being and started buying locomotives etc.

I got as far as constructing the boards and laying tracks when I fell ill and was signed off work for about a year. This was the second time I was signed off work, due to a different health issue, and as it was taking the toll on me, suffering from two different illness in just a short space of time, I made a decision to sell my house and move back to Reading (after 15 years in Leeds) where I could be with my family and start my life again. At the same time I was aware of my dad's own health problem - he was suffering from his second cancer. Moving back meant I could support him and even help him with his layout. So I put my house on the market even if it meant yet another layout of mine was never completed.

Just two weeks later my dad had a sudden turn and passed away unexpectedly. His passing was a big shock for me, and after the funeral my mum decided I could take over his railway room as she had no reasons to use the room. This left me with a difficult decision, what to do with his layout and all of his railway stuff. Even though I like 0.16-5 narrow gauge, I just didnt have the skills to built kits etc so I couldn't pick up where he left, and at the same time it felt wrong to just rip it all up just because he is no longer around.

This photo shows the state of the railway room he left behind.



You can just about see my dad's layout! Everything in the room was practically to do with his railway, such as kits, tools, etc.

A closer look of his layout:





I made a decision to sort out his room so that I would have an idea what's what. I couldnt believe how much rubbish my dad kept, and managed to get the room looking like a room again! It took a while to do so, of course, and eventually I was able to see what the railway layout looked like, properly.



I could see how much work my dad did on his layout. Despite the fact the layout was first constructed in around early 1990's, he just could not finish or do much work on his layout because of his own health, two cancers, few heart bypasses, and so on. He was really an unwell man. He could only managed to lay tracks and get it all wired. He also built few locomotives and running stocks.

I didnt want the layout so I made a difficult decision to get rid of it and have the opportunity to built my own OO layout. (I could not use the layout from Leeds as it would not fit in the garage, so had to store it in the loft for the time being. May sell it soon). But I felt it was not worth selling my dad's layout, while at the same time I wanted something to remind me of Dad, like having my layout linked to him too, so I decided to rip up everything on his layout (It was hard to do this, knowing it was my dad's work, but my mum and I could not just leave it in the garage forever) and I would built my own layout on it, that way it's like my dad's involved too because he built the boards.

I came across thousands of narrow gauge kits that my dad bought over many years, such as buildings, locomotives, people, and so on. It was clear he had ideas what he wanted on his layout, it was just a case of getting round to it which never happened. As they were no use to me, I sold them all on ebay and made thousands of pounds for my mum (its only fair she gets the money as it was probably her money in the first place that was spent on railways!!!). It took about 6 months to sell them all, before I was finally able to empty the room!

Compare this photo to the first one!!



I had a clear idea of how big the layout was and I was now in the position to start my own brand new layout. This was May 2010, 6 months after my dad departed. The layout will stay at my mum's house no matter what I do, or where I live, after all the space is there for it that my mum didnt need.

I will explain what I did next, step by step, in this forum, with images of my progress, as I go along, and hopefully catch up to where I am right now, which is ballasting my tracks! But I welcome any comments, feedback, etc at any time though!

Paul

[CheekyPaul]

Looking at the boards my dad constructed, it was very clear I had a limit choice of how I could have my layout turning out because of the cross-brace timbers and legs underneath the board, which meant I couldn't just put points with its motors anywhere I like. They have to be planned according to the positions of all timbers underneath. Sounds like a nightmare, doesn't it? It is!! Believe me.

But that's not all, it doesn't help that there are 6 boards altogether to make this layout (in event of house move etc), so I had where the boards meets to consider too when placing points!

The layout is in the shape of U. I did not want a circular layout. I like the challenge of driving trains between one end and fiddle yard, with challenges throw in. That was fun for me.

I knew what I wanted out of this layout. I've always wanted the following:

- Main station that's capable of holding 3 or 4 coaches, and at least two or three platforms.
- The main station will have a goods yard too (with a goods shed too), and possibly a coal drop too.
- Engine sheds, with coaling stage.
- Small station, possibly with goods yard too.
- Some sidings.
- Rivers - I love seeing trains crossing rivers, so its a must for me.

I love steam trains, but also diesels, and I felt the only way I could have both was to go late 1950's and early 1960's (era 5), and settled for somewhere in the midlands, giving me the opportunity to have maroon coaches, etc. I've always thought they looked attractive.

I wanted to go DCC, even though I've never deal with it before, but had already purchased a DCC controller supposedly for my layout in Leeds, and I've always loved using levers to control points. So had to throw that in if I could! I've no experience with electrical ie wiring tracks etc cos my dad always did it for me on my previous layouts, but this time I had to do it myself, somehow! But I would deal with it after planning my layout.

So how can I fit it all ideas on a layout that can be spilt up into 6 boards, with cross-brace timbers & legs underneath to think about. The only way was to use peco point templates and try out different ideas on the actual boards and see what I could come up with. I also used the locomotives & rolling stocks I had already purchased to give me idea of scale for station, etc.

Eventually I came up with a rough idea that could work with everything I wanted.

An idea for branch station with small goods yard:



An idea for engine sheds etc.



Another view of engine sheds, but also with coal drops.



An idea for the main station & goods yard.



Finally, I had something that would work, and more importantly, the points can be placed where I can install motors underneath! The next thing I did was to draw out the plans, full scale so that I had something to refer to when laying tracks etc.

Having a small station meant I need some space for a fiddle yard, so I borrowed a fiddle yard board I had already built for my previous layout in Leeds and attached it to the layout, giving me 7 boards altogether!

I did a scaled drawing using photoshop to give you an idea what my layout will look like:



Now that I had two stations planned, I need a name for them. I couldnt decide for a while but then had an idea. I decided I would name it after my late dad and have used the family surname to name the station Welton Central (main station) and Welton West (small station). Welton happens to be a name of some villages in the north, so it would work to use the surname as a place name. I took the idea of 'Welton West' from 'Reading West' which is near where I live!

[Ex-Pat]

Looks very interesting Paul - I'm sure your dad will be looking on with pride.

[Spavo]

Hi Paul and welcome to NRM.

This looks likea great project and from your layout plan I take it you are going for end to end or is there any chance of a tail-chaser?

Great progress so far and no offence to your Dad but that room sure looks tidy!

Good luck and keep us updated.

Gav.

[thebritfarmer]

Welcome aboard looking forward to seeing your layout develop and I am sure your Dad is looking down with pride.

[Oliver11]

Firstly, Hi and welcome to the NRM forum, From a fellow forum newbie!
Secondly, Sorry to hear about your father.
Thirdly, Your layout looks brilliant! I can't wait to see it grow, I'm sure your dad will be proud

Olly

[Oliver11]

Also forgot to say that i love the idea youve gone with for your stations, Utilizing the same ideas Reading's own stations, My layout actually uses a similar idea, with the shape of the layout and two stations but its village based.
Sorry to spam your topic.

Olly

[CheekyPaul]

This looks likea great project and from your layout plan I take it you are going for end to end or is there any chance of a tail-chaser?

Yeah I'm going for an end to end plan. I could have easily gone for a tail-chaser plan, but the problem is this: a washing machine and a tumble dryer in the railway room too and my mum will need access to them all the time.

If I was to go for a tail-chaser plan, I would lose a small station in order to create a oval track plan, something I did not want, but if I was to expand the layout, it would block my mum's access to the tumble dryer which sits under one of the boards (as you can see in one of the photos above). I cannot expect her to go under the board or expect her to lift up the 'flap' section everytime she want to get through as she gets older. I had to think of her long-term really, so the easier thing was to leave the boards as it is, and create an U-shaped plan.

[CheekyPaul]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I'm sure my dad will be looking down too and as excited as you are to see the progress of my layout.

Came July 2010, having settled with the layout plans I made a big order for everything I need, such as points, point motors, tracks, CDU, wires, corks and so on. All ordered at the same time so that I didn't have to worry about it later on. I had some piece of corks left, so while for the orders to arrive, I got going with laying corks on the board where the small station would be. But while I was waiting for it to dry, and for the orders to come in, what could I do?

I soon realised I would have to sort out the rivers because obviously it would be better to have the holes in the boards cut before any tracks were laid, so I started to do this task. I marked out where the railway bridges were going to be, and then sorted out the rivers from there. I had two railway bridges crossing rivers to do - one near the engine sheds, and one near the small station. After the holes for the rivers were cut, I created boxes for the river to sit in, and had them attached to the board from underneath. I already had some peco bridge girders and decided to use it for the bridges. I used the girders as a guidance on how big the bridges should be and how wide the rivers should be.

The photo below shows a girder in place, held by blue tack, in its early planning/designing stage, before the boxes were attached to the boards. This is located near the engine sheds.



Once I was happy with the sizes of the bridges I made some walls to support the girders using some piece of wood and melfcalfe building material cardboard - Dressed Gritstone. Unfortuntely there is a cross-brace timber under the railway bridge (this was another example of having to make sure I chosen the routes according to where the timbers underneath were - and in this case, this river was where I wanted it to be, so I had to make sure the cross-brace was going to be under the bridge!) and I knew that if you was to try and have a peek at whats under the bridge, you would see this timber, so I had it painted black, and made sure the width of the rivers under the bridge wasn't too wide, but enough to give the impression its a bit dark under the bridge, while at the same time looking natural. The location of this cross-brace timber under the bridge meant I had to create two boxes for either sides of the bridge.

Once this was sorted, I created banks on either side of the rivers using florist foams (green foam usually seen inside vases for dry/fake flowers) and landscaped using tissues and glued using 50/50 glue/water to soak it in and then left to dry. The next step was to create a bed, and I remembered coming across a jar of small gravels with bit of soil in it while sorting out my dad's stuff earlier on. I wondered if it was suitable for a river bed, so I did an experiment. I had some glued on a piece of wood using 50/50 glue/water and once dried, I poured in some of the woodland scenics realistic water. I was surprised to see how it looks almost natural/real, and I felt it was good enough to be used, so I glued in some gravels & soils in the river bed, and when dried, I had some reeds, logs, etc added, including a railway wheel (having painted it in a rusty colour) in one of the rivers! Woodland Scenics realistic water were then poured in to secure the bed in.

The two photos below showing the rivers in its early stage, located near the engine sheds:





By now my orders had arrived, and the corks were dried, so it was time to start working with laying the first tracks, and I decided I would leave the rivers for now and do more detailings later on.

[StevieDay]

Welcome to the boards Paul,
Am sorry to hear about the loss of your father. I'm sure he'd be happy that your putting his base boards to good use & the layout will be a fitting tribute to him.

I do like the look of your plan, so much operational interest for you to work with. I do have on question though. The you have 3 long platforms at Welton Central, but 1 long & 2 short platforms in Welton West. How are you going to plan for passenger trains leaving Welton Central? Are you going to have 1 long & 2 short passenger trains to pass between the two? Or an alternative storage for longer trains? ie the storage siding at the top of the layout or hidden sidings?

EDIT........ I miss read your plan & see that you have a fiddle yard beyond Welton West station, so answering my question.

I love the river bedding & will look really good when the water effect is added.

[CheekyPaul]

Welcome to the boards Paul,
Am sorry to hear about the loss of your father. I'm sure he'd be happy that your putting his base boards to good use & the layout will be a fitting tribute to him

Thank you

I do like the look of your plan, so much operational interest for you to work with. I do have on question though. The you have 3 long platforms at Welton Central, but 1 long & 2 short platforms in Welton West. How are you going to plan for passenger trains leaving Welton Central? Are you going to have 1 long & 2 short passenger trains to pass between the two? Or an alternative storage for longer trains? ie the storage siding at the top of the layout or hidden sidings?

Basically, to make the layout more interesting, operational-wise, I've decided on one or two rules about using both stations. They are as following:

Welton Central: There are three platforms. The two long platforms are capable of holding 3-4 coaches with a locomotive. The third platform can only hold 2 coaches with a locomotive or even a three car DMU.

Welton West: it has only one passenger platform - the long one - and it is capable of holding 2 coaches and a locomotive, or a 3 car DMU. The rest of the platforms are for goods trains.

The idea is that you can only stop at Welton West using a locomotive with 2 coaches or a 3 car DMU and this would be local trains. Any other trains would just go pass, not stopping at Welton West. The length of the main platform was designed on purpose so that I cannot even use 3 coaches and a locomotive. I have a 4 car EMU and it wouldn't fit in at Welton West. That's how it will work for me. I'll have a challenge of whether a train stops at Welton West or not. Welton West will be more busy with goods train, with its 2 short platforms and a cattle dock platform.

And for Welton Central, after a train pulls in, a locomotive from the engine yard will comes in, attacts itself to the coaches and when ready, will departs. Or, a pilot train will comes in, attacts to the coaches, moves away and push the coaches into another platform, clearing way for the locomotive to rejoin the coaches and departs. Thats an idea of how it will work.

As for the sidings at the top - I'm a bit clever here. Looking at the plan, you can see there's two. One can be accessed to from the main station line. This will be for DMUs, or small local trains when not in used and the 3rd platform is required by another incoming local train. But this siding can also be used by goods trains from the goods shed line. The goods trains can also use another siding, so that good trains can be stored when not in used or using both sidings for shunting.

The fiddle yard is located at one end of the layout, by going through the road bridge at Welton West, and will be assumed as if there is a main junction with other lines, giving me opportunities to have different trains visiting Welton on its way to other locations.

I hope I am making sense!!

[CheekyPaul]

With the peco code 75 track and points having arrived, I was able to start laying tracks as well as laying more corks.

The first track went down around middle of July 2010, and it was at Welton West. As I explained earlier, I used a fiddle yard board from my previous layout and had it attached to my present layout, this meant I had the challenge of lining up the new track with the existing track on the fiddle yard. It wasn't too difficult and once that was sorted, I was able to process.

The photo below shows the first track laid. In the bottom left corner, you can see the fiddle yard board with a point visible. Just pass the end of the new line you can see a hole in the board. This is one of the rivers.



A closer shot of the river and the bridge:



In the photo above, you can see I've started to cut holes for point motors to fit in. This was the first one of 22 points I had to do for!

Below is a closer look at the railway bridge over the river. Actually this would be more like a stream than a river!



Another view of the first track laid, but this time you can see the fiddle yard, with its three lines.



I was not used to soldering tracks, so had lots of practice with using the solder iron before I felt comfortable with my skills then I could go further and start laying points. The photo below shows the layout of Welton West station. By now it was August 2010.





I thought I was doing well with laying points and having the point motors attached to the points too! Now I had the confident to continue.

[StevieDay]

Thanks Paul,
Yep it makes perfect sense & well thought through,

The two sidings at the top, although intregral to the working of the Welton Central & the goods yard. It also effectively give you another 2 sidings to the fiddle yard.......... Good stuff

[CheekyPaul]

By September 2010 I managed to get the line laid to up where the main bridge (near the engine sheds) is, including adding another point.

The photo below shows how far I've got to, stopping just before the bridge.



Suddenly I had news. My house in Leeds was finally sold - almost a year since I first put it on the market! So my layout was put on hold and I went back to Leeds to sort out my house. I only had 4 weeks before the completion date! It was a nightmare sorting out my stuff, bringing it all down to Reading etc. Eventually it was all done, and it wasn't until October when I could start working on my layout again.

I added a siding at the top of the layout, and then eventually added some points on the railway bridge itself, as see below.









Photo below: Looking towards the engine yard. The idea is that the river disappears under the engine sheds. Remember I was saying at the beginning about having to plan positions of points to avoid any cross-brace timbers underneath so that I can install point motors, or where boards joins up? Well, you can see in this photo I managed to fit in three points on one board and still making sure it doesn't look as if I've had to squeeze it in! Another example of having to plan ahead!

[CheekyPaul]

Still in October 2010, I was making a good progress and by now I had to do something about the open coal deposit before I could lay tracks any further. I had to cut holes in the board, built a box to be attached to the board underneath and sorted out the position of roads leading to the coal deposit before laying corks for tracks.

The photo below shows the corks being laid, with paint tins holding corks in place while being dried. You can see the dropped level in the board - the white bit - this is where a road will be and leads to the coal deposit. The coal deposit itself will be on the edge of the board in the white bit.



Once the corks were dried, I was able to lay the goods line quickly and it wasn't long before I felt everything was coming together, as in my plans drawn on a piece of paper was finally coming alive. Photo below showing the goods line.



Two points were put in its position, but not fixed down, to give me an idea how the line was looking. The view below points towards the main station.



Another view below. You can see the ramp for road leading to a coal deposit.