Introduction:
Hello, my names Rory and I live in west sussex, I've had many layouts over the years however they have always been in the form of a loop which is honestly boring as the train would return every 15 seconds
. So about a year ago after many layouts which I considered to be basic, I had to move the layout into a smaller room where it now resides. This room is about 9 by 6 1/2 foot, and a diagram below shows the room layout:The Room:
[/u]Building the layout:[/u]
Once the room was cleared and cleaned, I set about taking measurements and started building baseboards in an-around the room formation as shown in the picture below. I will add that I built all of the structure for the layout using some cabinets and legs I made, The baseboards are 3/4 inch thick MDF boards which isn't the greatest material as it's quite heavy but is strong thanks to how it's made.
The baseboards:
However I realised after one month that crawling under the baseboard from the entrance to the middle open section was too painful for my back as the baseboards are about three foot off the ground. Going over wasn't an option so I decided to rethink the baseboard layout. This was after I layed some track which can be seen in the first update of my layout on youtube. Going back to my previous layouts, I realised that have a loop for the room was too boring, yes you can only see one portion of the layout at a time however it won't take long for that train tom come around again resulting in annoyance and an unrealistic operating session so I changed the base board plan resulting in the layout being end to end, something I had never considered before as it would mean less track and therefore less running time. The picture below shows the updated formation:
Baseboards mark 2:
The way the baseboards are layed out now means anyone can access the room and view the layout which they couldn't do before with crawling under which is a big improvement. Now that the layout is end to end, the operations are more realistic as the locomotive either disappears off the baseboard into a hidden section or travels to another location. This means the layout is easier to control with one operator as only one train can be driven at a time, well two can but you have to be careful and mindful of where they are going. Now that the baseboards were complete, I moved onto to what the layout should be based on.
Choosing between Fiction and Non-Fiction:
When building a layout, an important factor is what to base it on, an actual location or to go with your imagination so you aren't restricted to what you can create. I had a difficult time choosing what I wanted to build but I realised there are compromises with both options, if you chose Fiction then you can create anything however it may not be prototypical or accurate to what would happen in real life. And if you chose Non-Fiction then you would be able to replicate a real location so the track plan would be realistic however you maybe criticised as its not entirely true to the real thing as you have had to compress the layout which is the case with mine. I decided to go with Non-fiction because it would mean I could buy the correct rolling stock for the era I wanted to base my layout on.
As I said previously, I live in West Sussex and my hometown is Midhurst. The interesting thing about Midhurst is it had three railway lines converging into one station. Here is a brief History of the three lines:
"The Midhurst Railways were three Branch lines which were built to serve the market town of Midhurst in the English county of West Sussex. The three lines radiated from the town; south to Chichester, west to Petersfield, and east to Pulborough".
The Pulborough line:
This was opened in two stages, from Pulborough to Petworth on 10 October 1859, as part of the line from Three Bridges which would later become part of the Arun Valley Line through Arundel. Later arriving in Midhurst on 15 October 1866. This line was operated by the London Brighton and South Coast Railway. There were three stations (from east to west), Fittleworth, Petworth, and Selham.
The line was closed in stages, first to passenger trains from 5 February 1955, then goods services were withdrawn from Selham and Fittleworth Stations May 1963. The Midhurst to Petworth section was closed completely on 18 October 1964, leaving Petworth surviving until 20 May 1966. Petworth station survives as a hotel using former Pullman dining carriages, Fittleworth and Selham in private use. Midhurst Station however has been destroyed to make way for a housing estate.
The Petersfield Line:
Unlike the former 'Brighton' station, the LSWR station at Midhurst remains in being, but in use as offices. Rogate station also still stands, but Elsted has been demolished.This line was opened on 1 September 1860 by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), beating the London Brighton and South Coast by 6 years to Midhurst. This line had two stations on its route, Elsted and Rogate. The LSWR line also had its own separate station at Midhurst, however the Southern Railway closed this in 1925 and moved all traffic to the former London Brighton & South Coast Railway station after strengthening the Bepton Road bridge which until then had not been safe for passenger use.[1] The line closed on 7 February 1955.
The Chichester Line:
Originally attempted in the 1860s, this was opened after much difficulty on 11 July 1881 and was also operated by the LB&SCR. Surveyed and designed by the company's Chief Engineer Frederick Banister, it was built to a very high standard with a double track loading gauge, despite only being single tracked, in case there was ever a need to increase capacity. The stations were designed by T. H. Myres, in his standardized Domestic Revival style, each formed like a large "Country House". Lavant and Cocking each had two platforms, while the grand Singleton station was built with four platforms and long sidings for the Goodwood Racecourse traffic. However, it all proved to be too much for the traffic involved. As part of the line's opening, Midhurst was extended and rebuilt in the same architectural style.
The station buildings at Cocking, Singleton and Lavant all survive, but in private ownership. Very similar buildings also designed by Myres are still in railway use at Sheffield Park, Horsted Keynes and Kingscote on the preserved Bluebell Railway.The passenger trains were withdrawn on 6 July 1935 by the Southern Railway, but freight services remained until 19 November 1951 when the section of line between Midhurst and Cocking was withdrawn due to damage by a washout of an embankment, leading to a train crashing into the resulting hole. The freight services to Cocking and Singleton were withdrawn on 28 August 1953 but Lavant lasted until closed to general goods on 3 August 1968 and sugar beet traffic in January 1970. The line was cut back before Lavant station to serve gravel workings from 1972 but this was in turn withdrawn finally in 1991. The line between Lavant and the junction with the mainline is now a cycle path, called the Centurion Way
Credit: Wikipedia
Research:
So I decided to replicate the railway that used to exists in my town that's now been wiped from the landscape for over 50 years! I wanted to read the history of the railway and figure out what stock ran on it so I read some books which gave me the different eras I could model. To get a proper track plan of the Midhurst railway I used this website below which shows where the railway would have been in comparison to real life. Here it is:
http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=15 ... rs=168&b=1
Era:
Now that I have decided to build Midhurst, I needed to chose an era because many things changed from 1860 to the mid 1960's when Midhurst closed. If you read the somewhat brief history of the three lines then you might have seen that there were infact two companies operating in Midhurst. The LSWR (London South Western Railway) and the LBSCR (London Brighton and South Coast Railway). Now I could either model before the grouping of 1923 under the Railways Act 1921 which would mean choosing to model one of the two stations as said in the history or after the grouping of 1923 under the Railways Act 1921 which would allow me to model both companies at one station, which was the LBSCR station now located on the Fairway estate, hence the name. There was another option however allowing me to operate all locomotive from both companies under the British Rail emblem which would be after 1948. I chose this because the model manufacturers had released more stock relevant to that era so was a better choice.
I was however restricted to a date I could not pass. As I wanted to model all three lines, I would have to model before the Cocking train crash of 1951 which left a C class locomotive down a 30ft gully. So for my layout I would be modelling between late 1948 and early 1951. This not only gave me an idea of what stock to buy, but what track plan to follow as they differentiated over the years.
DC or DCC?:
As I wanted to have multiple locomotive stored in the same sidings and running perhaps with eachother, then DCC suits my layout better.
In this thread, I will be adding updates as I construct by layout with visual diagrams to help you all understand what i'm trying to achieve. You can follow my layout on youtube by going to this link.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVLgGY ... ggqgkmMQ5w
Thanks.
The only clicking is the loco I'm DEFINATLY not going to buy. 
