Chufferlands Holiday park. Time to rip it up and start again

[sp4rky]

Hi Alan,

I'd have thought the roads could easily be a mixture of concrete (or whatever your normal lightish grey road surface is), tarmac or gravel.

Perhaps gravel for little used roads (like on a caravan pitch or leading to the farm from a "main road") and tarmac/concrete for main roads.


Really like the layout by the way, some good stuff here .

[Big Al]

Cheers Sp4rky.

I think that is a good idea to have a mix of both because the farmer would not have always been bothered with tarmac or concrete and it is easy to lay a load of gravel

I have been studying road surfaces and have noticed there is a lot of weed growth between areas on the surface. I hope to make a start to the roads this weekend.

I also noticed while I'm traveling to and from jobs that most roads in less built up areas are lined by trees and hedges: mostly of various heights and shapes growing wild.

Cheers, thanks for your help Alan

[Big Al]

Well after a very long break It's nearly time to resume work on the layout. I hope your all well as I haven't been on the forum for months

The last few alterations where hit and miss.

One of them was to continue the track around the loft to allow for a longer run. All this really succeeded in doing was to make it hard to be up there as there was very little room left. The track was laid in a temporary manor to see if it would work. That has now been abandoned. The problem was operational interest and I still will have to find a way to make it more fun to run trains.

Another alteration was to cut a hole in the center of the main 6 x 4 layout to allow access to the rear part of the track. This has worked well and although it's more a place for the kids to be when trains are running round it does allow me to get to the hard to reach part of the layout.

Whats next. I intend to add a shunting section next to a small terminus. This will allow the trains to run from the fiddle yard around the loop and then into the terminus.

The original fiddle yard will also have a small terminus added .

I will try to include the option of being able to by pass the main loop allowing a train to travel from one terminus to the other while another train is going around the main loop. Each terminus will have a passing section to allow the loco's to get to the right end of the coaches before the return journey.

I will sort some photos out when progress has begun in earnest.

Cheers Alan

[Matt Peters]

That made a good rear, very impressive so far & the extension has made a massive difference!!

[Big Al]

The new shunting and terminus area.

There is a few points that I need to consider and please comment on them as all input will help at this stage.

I am planning to have a shunting area and a terminus with a runaround loop. Previously I have squeezed too much track onto the layout and it has made it difficult to add scenics. I am intending on having a low relief station on platform at the very back, it will be behind the three GWR coaches seen in the photo below.

The shunting area will end up with four sidings and a further run around loop to allow the shunter to get past a wagon when there are coaches at the terminus.

Previously in this thread I explained how I had an extension to the loop but it didn't work and this area is now slimmed down as the photo below. The measurements are around 6ft 6 x 1ft.

On the left side of the photo you can see a child's plastic stool this is symbolic an represents a mountain and through it there will be most likely a tunnel for some road traffic as well as a railway tunnel.

The track will be laid with dome cross head screws and it will be sprayed I am not sure if I am to ballast the track as We're not sure if this is our last house and I will not want to lose all that track and points. £££££££ Although the track will be laid on cork which in its self is a bit like ballast.

on the shelf below you can see an area that my little girl likes to use to set up fire fighting set. A rather strange plastic molding set that has some of the figures twice as large as the others. She likes them and uses any spare Triang buildings that are up for grabs.

Cheers Alan

[Lewis Nash]

Name for the layout

what about 'summerton' or 'Butlins holiday park'.

Lewis

[Big Al]

Funny you should say that Lewis because we had toyed with the idea of a play on the 'Butlins name' and came up with Chufflands or Chufferlands.

I also quite like your idea of 'Summerton'.

There is going to be a terminus at iether end of a branch line and a halt in the middle of a loop. There's also the eventual name for the layout. So 'Summerton' could get a mention, in fact it sounds just right for a terminus.

Cheers Lewis Alan

Any way here is a plan of the shunting and one terminus

The blue squares represent isolation track joiners

The red squares represent power supplied to the track. It is in analogue.

Sorry it is so small but it's the best i could do if it's no good ill try again. Does this look right or are the isolators in the wrong place.

Feel free to comment. Cheers Alan

[Lewis Nash]

you said your not sure if you will ballast as you may move house and dont want to loose all the track and points,well those boards look like they could be easily moved if needed,are they attached to the wall?
Also i see you have used peco streamline points,what do you think about them?,there alot better than hornby or bachmann set track points which derail all locos which arent 0-6-0s.

Lewis

[Big Al]

Hi Lewis. The boards are attached to the wall and now that you mention it I should, at this stage, make sure that they can be removed from below. The main board was attached from above and the screw heads are lost under the track that has been laid, But I'm sure if push came to shove they would come out.

The points are Peco Streamline and they are great. They are electrofrog and as a result I have put in a loud of isolation track joiners they cause short circuits other wise. There very smooth in operation and a loco can roll over them at slow speeds. With the Hornby points some locos will stop at the dead spot and I have to give them a push to get them going again.

I will also put in quite a few power connections but this can only be helpful with regard electrical continuity.

Electrofrog are far better all and all.

Once I have checked that the boards are removable from below then I can ballast as before. Then just take the whole thing if we move.

Cheers Alan

[Big Al]

Hi all
It's time to do a bit more scenics. You have seen it all before on other layouts I know but I will take photos as I go and post them. The main area I'm concentrating on is the left hand side of the 6 x 4 section. I have created a rising up section of track and am now building the area next to it to create a cutting. I have just cut some card board to rough shapes to represent the desired effect. I have left myself a bit short of room so will have to make a retaining wall with the cutting sloping from the top of the wall. As usual I am winging it. I think it will be fine though.

This is the cardboard spines of the skeleton of the mountain.

I have made the spines different heights because hills are generally not so uniform. If I don't like it later I can build it up as there is still stuff to do.

It's a bit scruffy but once i put the pva soaked paper on it will all tighten up.

I have made a cutting that is between two tunnels the small tunnel at the front is really to hide a bit that I kinda messed up.
It was supposed to be a bridge over the railway but it is all to congested. If I bury the whole thing in a tunnel it might work out

[Big Al]

On the last photo there will be a good shed just in the bottom right hand side of the photo. It will be a Scalescenes model that Santa is bringing to me, fingers crossed, and until I get that into position I will not be able to do the rest of the mountain. I'm sure I can wait, or can I. Is it Christmas yet.

Cheers Alan

[Infrontcat]

Hi mate

Good to see you are still making some progress on the layout. Good to see you have started the scenery in that corner and hope your tunnel plans develop apace!

Cheers

Tim

[Big Al]

Thanks Tim

To be honest I have sat doing very little because I couldn't decide exactly what I was doing. I think I shall just get on with it and learn by experience.

Cheers Alan

[Big Al]

Hi every one .
Managed to get a bit more done to the scenic area. I had previously put the cardboard sections into place that would determine the shape of the embankment to an incline. Started paper mache with newspaper but the discovered paper kitchen towels are quicker.



in this photo i intend to have a retaining wall and then use plaster above that to smooth out the hill.



Seen from a different angle. Unfortunately this is an angle I rarely see due to the camera being smaller than me. Lol



With a passing Pannier Tank.



This is looking from the other direction. This is all a bit tight. It does work though once it's had some scatter and shrubs and the like it will be OK . I hope!

[Class 66]

Looks very good Big Al. With that tunnel entrance are you planning to cover the card with brick paper or get a tunnel portal ?