I have for sometime been thinking about a really minimum space O gauge layout and in particular the inside of an engine shed or roundhouse. Last summer the Great Western Society magazine arrive with a really nice picture inside Old Oak Common as the centre spread, the seeds were sown!
We are local to Didcot and many an hour has been spend in the engine shed soaking up the atmosphere and this is really where the inspiration has come from. I was born the wrong side of steam ending so only have preserved railway locations as a ‘real’ location to see how an engine shed was like.
Old Elm Park is how I think a roundhouse could have been like. The idea has come from Old Oak Common but being both a Southern Region and Western with a little Midland Region interest and locomotive stock moved the location to Reading hence the name. The Old from Old Oak and Elm Park being the name of Reading Football Clubs old ground. With Reading being a cross roads with many inter regional train movements a mixture of locos would need to be shedded.
Kitwood Models introduced a 65 feet laser cut turntable kit which my wife gave in for Christmas 2018, was an excellent kit. The kit assembled will and is the centre stage for the layout. Planning with some plain timber I settled on a size of 4 feet square made up of 2 boards so that the layout fits in the car to take to exhibitions. It has just had its first outing at our local club show in Maidenhead.
The layout is really a box and supported on legs with the viewing height set at nearly 5 feet so it is views at eye level. I am 6’ 5’ ! The roof is make of wood and plastic mouldings with small led lights hanging down. Pits are on all lines and the track made from C&L components laid on the plywood base which is painted to look like concrete.
Many of the detailing parts are either scratch built or from Modelu and Invertrain.
The layout is a large shunting puzzle moving loco from line to line and the small fiddle yard, it is all about creating an atmosphere, a friend blew his vap into the shed recently !
As with all model railway projects the layout has now grown and escaped from the inside of the loco shed and there is a yard ! The yard is 10ft by 4ft plus fiddle yard. There is a large coal stage, sidings and the general 'junk' that is in a yard. As with Old Elm Park roundhouse the yard has working lights so can also be viewed at night.
We are local to Didcot and many an hour has been spend in the engine shed soaking up the atmosphere and this is really where the inspiration has come from. I was born the wrong side of steam ending so only have preserved railway locations as a ‘real’ location to see how an engine shed was like.
Old Elm Park is how I think a roundhouse could have been like. The idea has come from Old Oak Common but being both a Southern Region and Western with a little Midland Region interest and locomotive stock moved the location to Reading hence the name. The Old from Old Oak and Elm Park being the name of Reading Football Clubs old ground. With Reading being a cross roads with many inter regional train movements a mixture of locos would need to be shedded.
Kitwood Models introduced a 65 feet laser cut turntable kit which my wife gave in for Christmas 2018, was an excellent kit. The kit assembled will and is the centre stage for the layout. Planning with some plain timber I settled on a size of 4 feet square made up of 2 boards so that the layout fits in the car to take to exhibitions. It has just had its first outing at our local club show in Maidenhead.
The layout is really a box and supported on legs with the viewing height set at nearly 5 feet so it is views at eye level. I am 6’ 5’ ! The roof is make of wood and plastic mouldings with small led lights hanging down. Pits are on all lines and the track made from C&L components laid on the plywood base which is painted to look like concrete.
Many of the detailing parts are either scratch built or from Modelu and Invertrain.
The layout is a large shunting puzzle moving loco from line to line and the small fiddle yard, it is all about creating an atmosphere, a friend blew his vap into the shed recently !
As with all model railway projects the layout has now grown and escaped from the inside of the loco shed and there is a yard ! The yard is 10ft by 4ft plus fiddle yard. There is a large coal stage, sidings and the general 'junk' that is in a yard. As with Old Elm Park roundhouse the yard has working lights so can also be viewed at night.