Goodford Model Railway MK5 - 1. Planning
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- Опубліковано 20 січ 2024
- The mission to build the ultimate layout has started, Goodford MK5 combines everything that has been learned and aims to be the best layout i have built to date. To make this challenge even harder, it is 2 layouts in 1 and the aim is to have the layout finished in a year.
This first video in this series outlines the principles of the layout as well as a detailed look at the planning stages, primarily done using a software package called AnyRail. - Авто та транспорт
Hi Dave, I like what you are planning to build. I'm sure you will enjoy running it. My concern would be to do with your TMD area. The short diagonal sidings with points at both ends seem to be overkill. In real life there would be a risk of a through train splitting the points and colliding with a stabled loco. Removing the points at the through line ends would remove this risk. Personally I would delete the diagonal tracks and extend the sidings around the fuel point. This would also squeeze more locos in. I am at a similar stage to you, having build my baseboards in a similar size space. My trackplans will be adapted from a book printed in the 1950s! Good luck with your project.
Appreciate the feedback, the TMD track plan is very much unfinished and will certainly take on board your comments when I come to finalise this part of the track plan. Good luck with your new project 👍
Hi Dave! Very interesting, detailed and ambitious plans! I'm very much looking forward to see how they develop over the next 12 months - and beyond! All the best, Ian.
Thanks for walking us through this so patiently! I am guilty of being over-ambitious, so I will watch your progress for inspiration.
Looking forward to seeing this build progress, will be a big achievement to get it done within a year, good luck 👍🏻🙂
Hi Dave - Wow that's a huge decision to take, not condemning it in any way, in fact very much looking forward to it as we get to see you starting at the very beginning.
Just imagine if it was N gauge, it would look huge.
Regards Chris
Hi Dave. Liking your plan a lot but you certainly need to sort out how the upper level yard connects with the lower level before you get too far into things. Those inclines can be problematic to say the least especially when added as an afterthought. Would be such a pity to have those Test Trains trapped in limbo in the yard. Was thinking if the Test Trains were the longest formation on the upper level you could use an off scene cradle lift between the levels. Would certainly be easier than building a helix or squeezing in some inclines. Cheers. Andy from OZ.
Hi Andy, thanks for your comments. I have built a spur in to the fiddle yard for potentially building an incline to join the 2 levels which could run up behind the TMD. I have some of the polystyrene incline blocks so will experiment with them when the main running lines have been fully installed. Cheers, Dave
very nice, looking forward as others are to seeing the progress.
Just found your channel and will watch the development and build with interest, especially as hopefully I will be moving during this year so will be dismantling and rebuilding a new layout in a bigger space. Learn from you experiences and maybe avoid some pitfalls myself yeah, right!)
Looking forward to seeing your progress with the new project, cheers Darrell 😃👍
Hi Dave, that looks great! I was a little worried about your previous plan on Goodford mk4 so I'm not over surprised that you reassessed your options and designed this super looking mk5 version instead. Given the space I think this is definitely the right type of design. No immediate track tweaks suggest themselves to me, it seems pretty much there.
Why is there a board section 18 inches square missing between the station and the board behind the desk?
My only observations to assist would be about the too shorter tunnel. It can look wrong, even weird with the train going in at one angle and quickly reappearing at another, because of the sharp curve there. You'd think the tunnel would mask the tightness of the curve but I found that it can actually enhance the perception of tightness, making it look very unnatural! Worth checking that out visually to make sure you're happy with how it will look/work before committing to that currently proposed tunnel.
Also, fully consider the access to the fiddle yard under the depot/shunting area. If the top level doesn't lift then space/gap to handle the trains on the yard below needs to be quite large. If there's a derailment on the rear sidings you'll need to get your arm over the front trains sitting on the nearer sidings without knocking them over and that can be rather challenging! If the sidings are packed with rolling stock, a knock over could result in domino effect carnage! If the section above is a hinged, lifting one then that can also be a pain. You'd need to remove the top rollingstock and buildings etc before being able to gain access below.
I hope these thoughts might be of some use/consideration.
Regards Julian
Hi Julian, thanks ever so much for taking the time to comment, it’s so helpful to hear fellow modellers feedback and advice from their experience. To address your points; the gap behind the desk is to enable the scenic break backscene at the end of the station to be as close to the left wall as possible, if the board behind the desk went down then it would reduce the scenic layout length and I want to have a bit of board behind the desk for putting the programming tracks and the odd loco I may be working on. The curve hill is a very interesting topic which I have considered, the thinking is that having the hill will cover the curve from the upper fiddle yard so it will be quite high anyway so chances of seeing a train on both sides will be slim. A possible solution might be to put a section of backscene across the middle of the hill so you would have a clear split between layouts. Access to the main fiddle yard under the TMD is definitely a key consideration. I will look in to either hinged or completely removable sections for the TMD and whilst this would be a pain if there is stock on the TMD, hopefully it won’t need to be accessed too often. The fiddle yard is from the latest incarnation and I’ve needed to sort derailments a handful of times in the 6 months (due to user error!😂) so hopefully to won’t be a regular occurrence. As you suggested, the alternative is to build the TMD around 20cm above and have a removable retaining wall. I wonder if this might look a little odd though. Thanks again for your comments and suggestions, really helpful 👍😀
Hi Dave.
Brilliant track plan. Wish I'd taken more time working mine out. To many bends if you've seen my vlogs.
You certainly have a lot of work and head scratching ahead of you.
Thanks for showing us buddy.
DELPH JUNCTION (Pete)
Thanks! I’ll be sure to take a look at your channel 👍
Hi, new to your channel and found it very interesting and ambitious. Good luck.
Hi Dave that's a plan and a half. I think most of us in hindsight would have benefited from planning properly rather than something loose in our heads. Look forward to baseboards cheers Andy
Awesome plan Dave and looking forward to seeing it all unfold. I could not fathom out how the fiddle yard in the middle connects and the MPD connects with the rest of hte layout - but thats more than likely me and I will watch the video again over breakfast as I am sure its flipping obvious and that I missed it. Having the MPD section hinged is ok but would need rolling stock and buildings removed before lifting - wouldn't it be better, albeit not easier, to make that section lift vertically on ceiling pulleys - that way, you'd not need to remove buildings and rolling stock?
Thanks for the feedback and taking the time to comment. As it stands the MPD and main layout are not linked although I have incorporated a spur on the top left of the whole layout which might be suitable as a link. I haven’t linked them as I am undecided on how high the TMD should be. If it’s only 10cm then I might be able to link them but this requires careful thought in to access such and hinges or removable sections of the TMD. If it is 20cm off the main running line height then no link would realistically be possible however the TMD can be fixed and just the retaining wall is removable. I have no issues removing a bit of stock from the TMD in order to access the fiddle yard as it should only need to be done once every month or so in the event of a crash (user errors!😂). The pulley system sounds good however not sure my skills are up to it! Having a few smaller removable sections is currently the favourable option. The back 6-9 inches can be fixed, this is where buildings would go. Hopefully a compromise and solution will become apparent as the main lines are being built. Cheers, Dave
That is a seven days a week plan as far as building it is concerned. Good luck!
Haha, in my limited experience, I get things done quite quickly if I have a plan to work to but everything grinds to a halt if I hit a roadblock. Quite often it is something as simple as a track being a couple of cm in the wrong place but after installing point motors and ballasting, moving tracks is not ideal. Hence why I have tried to plan in as much detail as possible before taking the plunge.
Hi Dave, Elizabeth here, looks like a job you got cut out for yourself, all the fun🎉, well done and best of luck
Hi - thought I should add a comment as you kindly commented on some of my own videos. I think Anyrail is great for planning a model railway - the layers feature which you demonstrated admirably is really helpful - you can of course even use it for different versions of the same part of the railway. Plan looks really interesting - I especially like the operating potential of the junction. What comes through strongly in your video is the importance of being clear what you want out of a model railway design, and also the learning from mistakes. I similarly designed my previous version of Dawlish in OO with too few fiddleyard sidings - even with the 25 or so now of varying lengths I'm still filling them! My main concern would be access under the TMD. It may well be that you can create better reliability than me but I know //i would have stalled trains as well as derailments, the latter in part caused by me forgetting how the railway operates between running sessions!
Hi, thanks for taking the time to take a look at my channel and comment. Very valid points and the TMD idea has been put on hold for now. Primary focus is to get the main running lines and surrounding scenery completed by the end of this year. Progress is steady and I think it’s still on track for now (please excuse the unintentional puns!). 👍 Cheers, Dave
good update vid thanks lee
Your station layout puts me in mind of Exeter St Davids.
Funny you say that…! It was one of the stations used for inspiration alongside Plymouth and Crewe. The TMD will be loosely based on Leicester and of course, Derby when I get round to fully planning it. 👍
I am wondering now you are going to work out where all the supporting battens within the baseboards are placed so to avoid the point motors,as there are a considerable number.I look forward to seeing now you work this through.
Absolutely, I learned that from previous layouts and it absolutely pays dividends to plan the baseboard battens around the point motor locations 👍
Hi Dave. Yes, your track plan is ambitious if you want to complete it in just twelve months, so don't be too disappointed if you miss your desired completion date. It is a most interesting plan, so don't ruin it by rushing things. If you didn't want your programming track to be isolated in the "middle" of your layout, with judicious use of droppers and isolating rail joiners, you could use either the bay platform track or the test train track to do your programming. I have used Any Rail for my track plan, but struggled to find a decent representation for a platform. You appear to have done so and wonder what User Object you used, or did you design your own?
Hi, thanks for your feedback. I believe the platform sections in AnyRail are one of the only non-user objects. They sit under OO - Hornby Skaledale. 👍
@@GoodfordModelRailway Thanks for the heads-up. Unfortunately (and unsurprisingly) they are too large for my track plan - unless there is someway to resize them?
@@PaulSmith-pl7fo no way of resizing than that I am aware of although unless you are modelling in N I would suggest they are already relatively narrow for a realistic platform?
Really looking forward to see what you create, best of luck but it looks like you've really considered this design so perhaps no luck is required. I'm a few years away from this point.
Goodluck with your new build. Susannah
Thanks Susannah 😀
that's a lot to do in a year Dave ,there will be some hat tipping here if you manage it, what is the size of your room ? , im a stage behind you just moved into modern house truss roof , loft 5m x 4m ,im going to have , underground, southern region ,western region, canal , sea side, consett steel works, oil ,coal and stone with a dmu depo dont think im going to fit it in though................tony
Hi Tony, thanks for you comment, sounds like you have strong ambitions too! The room this layout is in is approx 20ft x 12ft. Rather worryingly we are already 1 month in to the planned year. See you on the other side next Jan…! 😂
Also - are you sure that you are happy for the operational limitations that will result from not giving the inner main lines access to any fiddle yards? If you are able to use multiple layers, you might use that as a solution.
The inner 2 running lines can access all fiddle yard roads using the junction at the station throat 👍 They will primarily be used for “watching the trains go by” or leaving something running round whilst I move stock around in the depot.
Good luck on the new layout build also is the depot going to have a fuel point
Yes, I plan to include a fuelling point, the track plan will most likely be a loosely based on a combination of Leicester LIP and Derby RTC.
Is this new model railway layout going to have a locomotive depot I would love to see one.
Very interesting design! This will take a lot of operating - were you going to automate this?
Thanks! I found on previous layouts that sometimes I wanted to move locos around a depot and other times just watch the trains go by or even try running a station to a time table. I suspect this layout would never be run to its full potential with just me at the helm however there are options to vary the operations. Having said that I did purchase an itrain licence and track sensors some time back but haven’t used them yet so maybe that would be a “phase 2” project next year.
nice looking layout cant wait to see it progress are you going to use automation that would be good. derek
Potentially I will include some automation. I purchased itrain and some modules for train detection a while back but haven’t used it yet. Possibly something I’ll introduce next year.
I would start out with less tracks, then see what works but leave room for expansion..😊
Phase 1 is the main running loops and later in the year I will tackle the TMD area 👍
It's the same distance haven't you got £2 to give him
Good plan but from experience points on a lift out section they can become very unreliable
Thanks for the feedback 👍