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Other Plans :
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Layout Summary:
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SOME DISCUSSION ON MY PLANS
My railway in the caravan suits me fine, it has good operating potential, there is good space in the middle for operators, everyone is in the same space, I have enough rolling stock and motive power to run it and enough time to maintain/improve it. My first thoughts were to just re-locate it exactly as is. The room under the house is very similar in size, just a bit bigger all round. Then I thought if I have to do a lot of work relocating I would look at what improvements could be made. I came up with:
Please look at the plans of the current railway, I wish to use the existing station (yard) layouts as much as possible to cut down the re-build time. The plain track between the stations is dispensable, I will try to recycle the rail into new track. While re-using the stations is preferred I am happy to turn them around or curve or extend them. Also they can be rebuilt in a different position, Graytown may become the station on the top level with a Nimamanima on the bottom level. The major station (Costerfield) is 14 long excluding the loco depot and the other two are 11 long each. Hazel Dale loop is just a passing loop so how the points are re-used is a minor issue. Ways of incorporating these improvements pointed toward using the under house space next to the room. I call it "stump land" as it is a narrow strip of concrete then an earth (with rock underneath) bank up to the original ground level and then a couple of rows of stumps holding up the back of the house. The hot water service and gas space heater are also in this space but conveniently located at one end. I plan to remove the hot water service because it is 20 years old and replace it with a solar system with gas boosting to avoid having a flood and having to remove the old and install the new by dragging them under the railway. Logically the staging would have to go into this space, there is enough room to include a return loop. I like to use a return loop at the ends of my railway, I think they are the main reason for the success of my current plan. They allow trains to go off stage and then return at a later time as a different train. I dont have enough rolling stock to make up all the trains for a session at once. Also this means that I we dont have to stop the session at mid night or some other end of day time because we have run out of trains facing the right direction, the timetable is balanced so we could keep running trains all night (real time). The work bench might fit where the staging yards are at the moment. |
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I have a couple of worries, the operator (the mole) there will not feel
involved and the potential for dust and cold, also this would mean
that the main room would be open to the same conditions while the
door way is open. Plans I have drawn see the tracks to the staging
yards going through the doorway to stump land. I would have to
rehang the door and cut away clearances for the roadbed and track.
I have drawn plans with track going through the wall but it is brick
thus not a job to be trifled with.
One way of overcoming these problems would be do dig the dirt and rock out of stump land removing the stumps and supporting the house on steel beams held up by a steel upright at each end. This would give a 20 by 15 room in addition to the current room. As nice as this would be I dont want a much bigger railway. I could use the space by single decking the railway and including more scenery space (something there is little of on the current build). The time, disruption and sheer effort put me right off this idea. Maybe I could dig out some dirt and cover the rock with concrete up to the first row of stumps then put up a wall against the stumps then install a ceiling and have a comfortable area with much less effort. Due to the need to travel through the main room to get to stump land this area has to be prepared first. My first plan was drawn with Costerfield on the eastern wall as this put the staging yards at the opposite end to the doors, the same as the arrangement of the railway in the previous space (the caravan). Given that Costerfield is the longest station and likely to remain so this is still probably the right wall to put it against. Potentially by putting it against the shorter wall I could free up the longer wall for two stations, one on each level. Problem with this is that if I avoid going across a doorway by doing a return within the room the station against the shorter wall (shorter to avoid the doorway) has to run diagonally. To minimise the impact on room space I would see the station that runs diagonally having some degree of bend in it to push it back against the wall and to lead into the curve. The room is only 86" wide, Costerfield is about 18" wide and a 30" radius curve gives a 53" bulge. That only leaves 21" in an area the is currently the main operation point for Costerfield. Costerfield can be modified to provide a head shunt at the loco depot end but 21" is still tight. A possible option would be to run the return track on the other side of the wall in the rumpus room, this could be done inside cupboards. The wall is double brick so I am not real keen on knocking two holes through, this would give an extra foot of space though so would be a huge benefit. The other disadvantage of the return turn in the train room is that it creates a big bulge into what is currently people space, there were 14 people once in the caravan, that would not be possible with the bulge. | ||