Shed/Garden Railway

[Dublo]

Hello Buelligan
It looks like your plan is coming nicely together, I always wanted a Garden layout myself but have never been in a position where that is possible. Our current back garden is only 17" square with a large corner cut off due to being on the end of a Terrace.
There is an element that looks to me that it might give you problems, that being the track that runs out of the back of the shed. I can't see how you are going to be able to clean and maintain this section.

[Buelligan]

Hello Buelligan
It looks like your plan is coming nicely together, I always wanted a Garden layout myself but have never been in a position where that is possible. Our current back garden is only 17" square with a large corner cut off due to being on the end of a Terrace.
There is an element that looks to me that it might give you problems, that being the track that runs out of the back of the shed. I can't see how you are going to be able to clean and maintain this section.

Same for me, wanted an outdoor track for a long time, but our last garden had a 1 in 3 drop, and was only around 20 long. We recently moved and this garden lends itself to a railway quite well. A smallish outdoor section while the kids are small, as they've got a big slide/swings/climbing frame in the garden, but once they grow up there'll be the possibility of a much larger track.

Access to that part of the track along the back of the shed should be ok, I've left about 2 foot between the shed and fence, to allow me to get down there for painting both shed and fence, so should also be able to clean it. There is one element someone elsewhere has pointed out, which is that the diamond crossing on the right straddles the joint for the removable section. Thankfully as the shed isn't here I'd allowed less space than there should be, so I should be able to tweak the placing of the track to change that.

[Buelligan]

Shed arrived today, so I spent a few hours getting as far as I could with it. Just need to fit the glass in the windows now, and the finishing trim along the edge of the roof, and down the corners, then undercoat, and finally top coat of cream and red.
I will definitely need to make some revisions to the track plan as the diagrams on the website weren't very accurate, the door is wider and placed differently. I also made a rookie mistake with my measurements, not allowing for the width of the framework on the inside of the shed. So that will mess up the junction to come out onto the garden extension.

Photos below of how far I've got with the shed after about 4 hours today.

[Buelligan]

I'm pulling my hair out now about these junctions for the garden extension. Every time I think I've cracked it, I check it one last time and find something that just isn't right. The main problem I keep finding, is that at some point the flexi track ends up being as tight as 1st radius. I've moved things around, altered the station, swapped out different points and crossings and I just can't seem to get it to fit. So it's looking like I'll only be having 1 garden loop. maybe with a 2nd garden loop that is completely outside, not entering the shed at all.

[luckymucklebackit]

Still, better to find out these things on paper rather than when you have cut wood or track. Going through the same phase myself, think I am on my fourth plan and not a bit of wood cut.

Jim

[Buelligan]

Still, better to find out these things on paper rather than when you have cut wood or track. Going through the same phase myself, think I am on my fourth plan and not a bit of wood cut.

Jim

Absolutely! It was pricey, at around £35, but I'm very glad I bought the full version of Railmodeller. It makes life a lot easier. I've now done a plan with just the outside loop having the option to go out in the garden. I'm now toying with the idea of making the layout slightly narrower, and having a section for a garden loop to pass through the shed on the back wall, at a higher level than the rest. But I've not figured out how to do that on Railmodeller yet.

[mjb1961]

Great looking shed !

[Buelligan]

Great looking shed !

Thanks, first coat of paint is going on today, then top coat tomorrow, and paint the window frames etc during the week. I want to get one of those custom made totems to go on the front, but can't decide what I want it to say.

The shed, being a potting shed, came with a sturdy shelf along under the windows, which initially I wasn't going to use, but it is just the right height to go along under the window, and is a good width and seems strong so easy to just mount a piece of ply on top of it. It's wider than I'd planned for that side, so allows me to fit in a little more track, I now plan to have a couple of sidings with unloading shed and yard for trucks. I've also added a couple of sidings up by the station. I think I can fit a small engine shed there and use it to house the station tank engines. Plan currently as below:



I think I'm pretty much decided on that plan, though I still have a couple of concerns, first being the bit circled in blue in the next image. This will be for the garden extension, so would be taken at a fair speed, so worried the curves may pose a problem.



The other point I'm still not sure on is the 2nd station loop on the outer line, at the top. If I use express points, the station is too small to be worthwhile, but I'm worried that the engines may not handle the points when just doing circuits, without slowing down. I'd like the extra loop so I can have more trains running, but not if I've got to keep slowing it down to take the points. If I remove this loop, I could replace it with a raised section all the way along from 1 end of the shed to the other. Initially just as a street, and then later lay track and have a loop in the garden that simple passes through the shed here, the red track in the below image.

[Mountain]

Trailing points are not so much of an issue as facing points. So if trains usually go over the pointwork in the trailing direction, then you are less likely to have issues. Looking at your track design, why not use substitute flexible track instead of the fixed track sections so that you can get the desired angles you need? Flexible track is cut to the length you need. It is also cheaper so can save you a lot of money. In the past, I have cut my track plan bills in half by using flexible track.

[mjb1961]

Hi,,regarding the totem,,you can have the layout name or your name "Buelligans Shed "

[Buelligan]

Trailing points are not so much of an issue as facing points. So if trains usually go over the pointwork in the trailing direction, then you are less likely to have issues. Looking at your track design, why not use substitute flexible track instead of the fixed track sections so that you can get the desired angles you need? Flexible track is cut to the length you need. It is also cheaper so can save you a lot of money. In the past, I have cut my track plan bills in half by using flexible track.

Thanks, I've had a play around with the flexi track but I just can't seem to get it right. For the stations I tried using a Y point at each end of the loop, and then flexi track coming out of the corner to connect to the point. But the difference in track spacing irritates me when it's like this. For the exit into the garden, on the RH side, flexi track does make it slightly less of a curve, but not a lot, not when I do it anyway.

Hi,,regarding the totem,,you can have the layout name or your name "Buelligans Shed "

Problem there is, I have no idea what to call the layout, as no element of it is actually based on anywhere, not even a certain region. Wouldn't want my username either, if I knew how I'd change that on here!
However as I've been typing I quite like the idea of giving it a name as if it was a workshop instead of a station, so maybe just where I live, and 'works' or something, so 'Corby Steam Works'. Or use the old steelworks connection, and have it as 'Stewarts & Lloyds, Corby Branchline' or similar? Or I could just name is a signal box, something like 'Corby North Junction SB'.

[Mountain]

Trailing points are not so much of an issue as facing points. So if trains usually go over the pointwork in the trailing direction, then you are less likely to have issues. Looking at your track design, why not use substitute flexible track instead of the fixed track sections so that you can get the desired angles you need? Flexible track is cut to the length you need. It is also cheaper so can save you a lot of money. In the past, I have cut my track plan bills in half by using flexible track.

Thanks, I've had a play around with the flexi track but I just can't seem to get it right. For the stations I tried using a Y point at each end of the loop, and then flexi track coming out of the corner to connect to the point. But the difference in track spacing irritates me when it's like this. For the exit into the garden, on the RH side, flexi track does make it slightly less of a curve, but not a lot, not when I do it anyway.

Hi,,regarding the totem,,you can have the layout name or your name "Buelligans Shed "

Problem there is, I have no idea what to call the layout, as no element of it is actually based on anywhere, not even a certain region. Wouldn't want my username either, if I knew how I'd change that on here!
However as I've been typing I quite like the idea of giving it a name as if it was a workshop instead of a station, so maybe just where I live, and 'works' or something, so 'Corby Steam Works'. Or use the old steelworks connection, and have it as 'Stewarts & Lloyds, Corby Branchline' or similar? Or I could just name is a signal box, something like 'Corby North Junction SB'.

One thing which may help is that larger Peco points can be bent slightly. I would not do this with new points. Only old points which if they break it is not too much of a concern. Another idea is to make your own points to suit the enviroment but though it is easier then one may have imagined, it still needs some practice and a lot of patience to do this. So I would recommend buying secondhad Peco points cheaply and flexing them a little to see if it works. It is realistic as real railways often faced the same dilemma. How to get track formations to fit the area of land they had available to them to use.

[Buelligan]

One thing which may help is that larger Peco points can be bent slightly. I would not do this with new points. Only old points which if they break it is not too much of a concern. Another idea is to make your own points to suit the enviroment but though it is easier then one may have imagined, it still needs some practice and a lot of patience to do this. So I would recommend buying secondhad Peco points cheaply and flexing them a little to see if it works. It is realistic as real railways often faced the same dilemma. How to get track formations to fit the area of land they had available to them to use.

I did consider trying to get some bespoke track pieces made, specifically curved crossings, but I couldn't find any companies offering that service.

Shed is all finished now, and looking how I want, so 1 step closer.

[Roger (RJ)]

Marcway have a bespoke point building service http://marcway.net/point.php

[Buelligan]

Marcway have a bespoke point building service http://marcway.net/point.php

Thanks, I'll send them an email, they may be able to help with 1 particular point. And depending on just how expensive it is, if they could do a couple of curved crossings for me I could revert back to having 2 outdoor loops.

Currently trying to figure out how much wood I need to build the baseboards and frame, I think I've got it now, 6x 3m lengths, and 17 2.4m lengths, plus 2x 1220mm x 2440mm sheets of 9mm plywood.

I've sorted through all the rubbish I've got to take to the tip, and it turns out a lot of the packaging from our furniture is actually large sheets of polystyrene, so I won't need to buy any of that. I've also got some big blocks of it which I think could lend themselves to some sculpting for scenery.