The essential concept behind Minffordd was to have a compact, self-contained layout which could be fitted in the load space of a large family car, after decades of enforced van hiring with our larger layouts.
The main boards have a 6ft x 5ft footprint, with a vertical split as you look from the front, with each board 3ft wide, and cut off corners to draw the eye and avoid unnecessary empty scenic space.
The boards were constructed using open frame principals using 2 x 1 timber, and resting on four trestles.
The Cambrian Coast Line was intended to run as a full circle, with hidden storage loops at the rear, with the FR 'main line' and 'mineral line' cutting across the layout and forming a natural scenic break.
The natural datum point for mapping out the track plan was stone bridge where the FR crosses the Cambrian - or to be more historically accurate, where the later Cambrian burrowed beneath the FR existing FR embankment.
This layout has very complex gradients and levels, with the Cambrian main line being the lowest, and the FR main line the highest, with lines ascending and descending to intersect in the exchange yard.
The changes in grade begin at the point leading in the BR part of the yard, which climbs a bank and includes a turnback headshunt opposite the point.
This was all cut from one piece of shaped plywood which was marked, cut with a jigsaw and the levels adjusted with risers.
Of note is the pedestrian tunnel which is how passengers transferred between standard and narrow gauge trains.
The levels at the other side of the layout were even more complex!
Here we have the FR descending a steep, 180 degree bend into the exchange yard, dividing halfway down where one leg plummets into the famous sunken 'coal hole' tracks where loads from standard gauge wagons were discharged by gravity into the FR's small waggons.
The right hand fork leads to a substantial dual gauge goods transfer shed and other lines along the wharfs above the standard gauge sidings.
A sense of how many levels are in play can be seen in this picture showing the 'coal hole' in more detail.
Creating a secnie 'out' for the Cambrian at the other side of the layout needed more creativity and 'modeller's licence'.
We kept the Cambrian line turning hard left and repositioned a bridge carrying a lane above.
This, in effect, became a tunnel mouth, with the line continuing to circle and running beneath the ramp carrying the FR line down into the yard.
The guard against any derailments in a hard-to-reach spot we engineered a drop drown flap for emergency access.
The picture shows how close to the edge of the board the standard gauge line runs to complete its circuit.
All the curves on the standard gauge are a minimum of Radius 2, but only just in places!
A word here about the track we used.
It is almost all off-the-shelf PECO products.
On the Cambrian line, in public view, we have used the latest Bullhead range with its much larger sleeper spacing. It looks so good that often people have asked whether it was hand-built. It was not.
The narrow gauge was laid in the 009 'mainline' track with its regular sleeper spacing.
In the storage tracks / fiddle yard for the Cambrian we used transition pieces to go from the fine Code 75 of the Bullhead to the classic Code 100 streamline.
The curve at the Minffordd station end is the tightest on the layout and in order to make the loops as long as possible we ended up using a SetTrack curved point here.
This original design for the fiddle yard proved to be a little inadequate at our first exhibitions and has since been expanded, but that will be covered in another page.
No comments:
Post a Comment