Jackson - Building and operating a realistic model railway: a guide to running a layout like an actual railway

BUILDING AND OPERATING

A REALISTIC MODEL RAILWAY

A GUIDE TO RUNNING A LAYOUT LIKE AN ACTUAL RAILWAY

BUILDING AND OPERATING

A REALISTIC MODEL RAILWAY

A GUIDE TO RUNNING A LAYOUT LIKE AN ACTUAL RAILWAY

Allen Jackson

THE CROWOOD PRESS

First published in 2016 by

The Crowood Press Ltd

Ramsbury, Marlborough

Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2016

Allen Jackson 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 170 3

Disclaimer

The author and the publisher do not accept any responsibility in any manner whatsoever for any error or omission, or any loss, damage, injury, adverse outcome, or liability of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any of the information contained in this book, or reliance upon it. If in doubt about any aspect of railway modelling readers are advised to seek professional advice.

Frontispiece

Fig. 1 Northern Rail class 153 is about to depart from Platform 2 at Dovedale station and take the left-hand branch at the tunnel mouth to Buxton. The two semaphore signals indicate the points are correctly set, as they are interlocked, and the colour light indicates that track power is selected to the Dovedale operator so that the train can be driven straight into the fiddle yard.

Dedication

For Ninette.

Acknowledgements

To signallers and other railway staff who have been kind enough to share their interest and experiences with me.

Authors note

I have tried to make this book eminently practical as well as perhaps readable. Not only that, there is some idea of what it will cost if you decide to build something yourself; these prices were accurate at the time of writing (September 2015).

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

The initial thrill of operating a new train-set eventually fades and perhaps you get round to thinking Is this all there is?; and whilst a train set provides the basics of a train that moves, there are so many aspects to real railway operation that provide a fascinating and satisfying continuation of the hobby to provide an enduring appeal.

The emphasis on prototype railway operation has built up over the years to be one of control and safety. In the early days, some horrific accidents gradually changed the operating ethos from one that involved elements of chance, where passengers lives took a turn on the roulette wheel, to a network based on efficiency and safety.

The media are never slow to tell us of overcrowding and delays due to over-running engineering works but the railway is suffering growing pains again after fifty years of being rundown and neglected. Real substantial efforts are being made at all levels to build and run railways that the nation can be proud of. You only have to look at the recent television documentaries about First Great Western and East Coast Trains, where the staff have contracted that peculiarly un-British condition of unswerving customer service, to realize the sea change that has been going on. Lets hope its highly infectious.

You may take it from this that the book will be about a model railway that is bang up to date and reflects Network Rail and the train-operating companies as they were when this book was written in 2015. That said, the railways are a mixture of the most modern and Victorian infrastructures side by side, and therein lies a part of the fascination with the current railway scene. It is a scene that is rapidly changing and a way of life that is disappearing.

Also, to have written a book about building a model railway in the steam age would probably not appeal to those setting off on model railway building as, preserved railways apart, it is now so long ago as to be beyond the memory or experience of all but bus-pass holders.

The building of a model railway is something that requires an holistic approach or one that involves the whole process to achieve realism. Early on in the planning for this book it was decided to build a model railway layout from scratch specifically in support of the book, and to invite the readers along for the ride and even have a go. In this mostly post-industrial society fewer people are constructing or making things for themselves in their work and yet the feeling abroad is that many would like to do so as a hobby. This book assumes little prior knowledge other than that you may know one end of a screwdriver from the other, but not necessarily what kind of a screwdriver it is.

The building of a model railway layout needs many skills and a few might include: woodworking, technical drawing, electrician, civil engineering, model craft, metalworking and painter. It is highly unlikely that everyone embarking on this project will have all the skills, but they can all be acquired to the degree necessary; the one quality needed is persistence. The nature of this particular beast is that folk will be doing stuff they havent done before and that is always a little daunting, but persistence always pays off. You will get there eventually. There are always dodges and shortcuts that can be employed as a substitute for skill in a particular department, and the book makes full use of them.

Costs are seemingly an unanswered question in books like this and it may be the one thing that can put people off if they dont know how much to budget for. The layout as built is fully costed except where it comes down to rolling stock, which is very personal and depends on whether it was bought new or second-hand. In any case, this is one area where Google can assist with the information. The costs will be for the layout built and that will not apply directly to everyone, but a ball-park figure will be arrived at and clearly the costs can be incurred over time as the layout is built.

Also not directly costed in are tools, as these costs would be amortized or spread out over the life of such items, which should be years, but some indications of costs of tools appear.

A mixture of imperial and metric units appear in the book as that commonly reflects society as it currently is but, where appropriate, the other equivalent of the units used will be quoted.

Fig. 2 Freightliner class 66 has run round its train of limestone wagons and is now signalled for Buxton and Manchester.

CHAPTER ONE

LAYOUT PLANNING

SCALE AND GAUGE

The railway featured in this book was built to OO gauge rolling stock for which is in 4mm to the foot scale and it might be helpful to define the difference between what we mean by scale and by gauge as this will help us make an early planning decision.

Scale is the ratio of the model to the real thing and can be expressed as, for example:

1:76 scale in other words, the model is 176 th the size of the real thing.

This value is often quoted on model road vehicles and buildings to let us know they would be suitable for the layout.