Rowenwood

[dursleydog]

Hi everyone.

After a few years of waiting for space/money/time, I'm finally able to take the plunge and start building my first proper railway. For context, I'm a 22 year old masters student with very little (no) DIY skills who's finally got a new place with a spare room my partner has allowed me to use a wall of. Space is therefore still fairly limited, and the layout will be a 2.3mx0.3m end to end layout in N gauge. I'm using Peco code 80 streamline track and DCC control.

I've always wanted to model the late BR Steam era, for the range of locomotives available to use. I also wanted to not fall into the very understandable trope of the branch terminus, as my favourite locomotives are the Castles and Halls which would look a little out of place. I therefore decided to model a smaller mainline terminus in an urban environment, something on the scale of Birmingham Moor Street, and after some trial and error was directed to the work of CJ Freezer, who's Minories design helped provide the final pieces of the puzzle. For space filling reasons and operational interest, I also wanted to include a small engine shed and some minor goods facilities.

Today I received the laser cut baseboards to begin assembling (told you I had no DIY skills), so Rowenwood is now officially underway... I will no doubt have hundreds of questions, many of which will be seem a bit on the stupid side! But after reading through a lot of this forum it seems like the place to welcome new modellers and provide plenty of help, which will 100% be needed

[markS&D]

Welcome to the forum.

Can I ask, are the 4 tracks on the upper right of your plan, storage tracks? If so, they are not as long as your longest lines in your station, so this is going to restrict you on your train lengths (your storage tracks need to be able to hold your longest trains) Tell me if I am wrong, just something to think about before you lay any tracks. Otherwise a good use of the space

[dursleydog]

Welcome to the forum.

Can I ask, are the 4 tracks on the upper right of your plan, storage tracks? If so, they are not as long as your longest lines in your station, so this is going to restrict you on your train lengths (your storage tracks need to be able to hold your longest trains) Tell me if I am wrong, just something to think about before you lay any tracks. Otherwise a good use of the space

Yes that’s the fiddle yard up there. They’re currently long enough for 3/4 platforms (just not the bottom one) but unfortunately I can’t really adjust the layout much from that. I’m building the layout over 3 baseboards that will be separable, so keeping pointwork off the joins has been a nightmare

The one option I do have is to move the lower fiddle yard turnout to the left so it directly joins onto the crossover. This gives enough room for the lower 2 fiddle yard lines to be long enough for all platforms, but shrinks the scenic area by moving the bridge over to cover it.

Just one of many compromises and issues with a compact layout I guess

[markS&D]

Don't worry, compromise is a key word with any size layout. There aren't many of us out there that indulge in this hobby that haven't had to compromise because of space, or more lack of it


Does your have to be dismantled to use the room that its in?

[dursleydog]

Don't worry, compromise is a key word with any size layout. There aren't many of us out there that indulge in this hobby that haven't had to compromise because of space, or more lack of it


Does your have to be dismantled to use the room that its in?

We can’t guarantee we’re going to be in this house for more than a couple of years unfortunately, so I wanted something futureproof. That, and the spare room will be occasionally used when family/friends stay so it’ll need to be packed away intermittently for that.

Less than ideal, but in the long run I think I’ll be grateful for having something easily transportable and not too massive!

[Ex-Pat]

Firstly welcome to the Forum.

As you mention Birmingham Moor Street, did you consider incorporating its traverser, and which would dispense with the crossover between the platforms?

See first & third photos at: http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/bi ... ex21.shtml

[dursleydog]

Firstly welcome to the Forum.

As you mention Birmingham Moor Street, did you consider incorporating its traverser, and which would dispense with the crossover between the platforms?

See first & third photos at: http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/bi ... ex21.shtml

Yeah it was mentioned to me by bufferstop as an option. I love the idea but don’t trust myself to build it! Not sure I could get it to work both mechanically and aesthetically first go at ever building a traverser, so just gonna keep it simple were I can.
An idea to lock away somewhere for down the line though.

[joshv8]

Looks like a solid plan! The dirtyness of the end of the steam era always models so well. I look foward to your progress!

[dursleydog]

Baseboard assembled! The laser cut kits really sped things up and assured I couldn't do anything too destructive to them made a few adjustments, removing the backscene behind the fiddleyard for ease of access (I'll be building a shorter one in front of the fiddleyard once the track is laid)and used some of the offcut for strengthening the back of the backscenes at the joins. I can definitely recommend these boards for small end to end layouts for beginners as they are sturdy and easy to make, but it becomes expensive on bigger layouts and they are pretty narrow (29cm across). Ample for N gauge, getting pretty snug for 00!

Good to get started, track is on its way. One question before I plough on though. Is it worth using some cork underlay beneath the track bed? I've read it can improve running and deaden sound and can actually improve appearance too once ballasted.

[heda]

Should you use cork underlay, there is always disagreement over that so I don't think you'll get a definitive answer. Personally I lay thin self adhesive cork on my layouts, but it doesn't really deaden the sound, I think you would have to use quite thick stuff to do that. I use it because I tend to make a real mess on the baseboard drawing out roads etc so it gives me a clean surface to work on. I would say yes lay cork as you have a fairly small board you could buy a roll quite cheaply and it can't do any harm. I would go for self adhesive though, less messy and it really does stick well, I get mine from Amazon.
Is that a Fender Strat under the baseboards ?
Dave

[dursleydog]

Is that a Fender Strat under the baseboards ?
Dave

A very cheap and cheerful one yes my pride and joy is my acoustic Vintage, the electric is just for mucking about with more than anything

[joshv8]

Should you use cork underlay, there is always disagreement over that so I don't think you'll get a definitive answer. Personally I lay thin self adhesive cork on my layouts, but it doesn't really deaden the sound, I think you would have to use quite thick stuff to do that.

Wasn't the notion put foward that cork underlay was useful in recreating the look of ballast in the modern era but steam era flat to the board.... or something like that. Agreed though, dont know how much it deadens sound. Even with, from memory, 16mm of foam covering our board it stops the hollow noise coming from under the board but the engines and stock rolling are still noisy.

[dursleydog]

Should you use cork underlay, there is always disagreement over that so I don't think you'll get a definitive answer. Personally I lay thin self adhesive cork on my layouts, but it doesn't really deaden the sound, I think you would have to use quite thick stuff to do that.

Wasn't the notion put foward that cork underlay was useful in recreating the look of ballast in the modern era but steam era flat to the board.... or something like that. Agreed though, dont know how much it deadens sound. Even with, from memory, 16mm of foam covering our board it stops the hollow noise coming from under the board but the engines and stock rolling are still noisy.

Sounds ideal to be honest. It’s not really a railway without some clickity clacks! It’s that hollow noise I want to avoid, so I think I’m going to use some thin cork. Not sure if it’s prototypical or not, but some slight elevation change might be quite helpful for providing some realism.

[joshv8]

Last time I bought cork I think was from a craft supplier on ebay, very large sheets so I could trim where I wanted, would also give you the option to cover the entire board if wanted. They were quite cheap also. Edit.. If you do a search for 3mm cork sheet on ebay large rolls come up and theyre cheap.
I suppose if your trying to keep it to a track bed in N you would want the cork quite thin. Being able to cover the whole board, even if you built up on a couple of sheets glued together, would greatly dampen any noises and allow still a thin track bed if wanted or no track bed and would also allow you room for cutting in any low areas you may want, like a ditch for example. All while giving you a flat surface.
Josh

[Samuel19]

Looking good so far! I would definitely recommend the cork! It is cheapish and especially helps when ballasting to create the right shape!
Samuel19