by Chester Area Group

The goals are:-

1. Layout to be quick to assemble and knock down at exhibitions
2. Lightweight but robust
3. Transportable in a maximum of two cars
4. Simple to operate but not boring
5. Maximum of four operators but allowing one person to keep something running in an emergency
6. Capable of holding plenty of stock
7. Simple wiring that eases fault finding in the event of a short circuit
8. Component parts to be purchased within a set budget
9. Have a feature that is not already on the exhibition circuit
10. Be memorable to the public both old and young.

The central operating well type of layout offered large radius curves but also required more space than a layout which has the fiddle yard set behind the front boards and could also prevent us loading the layout into two cars. We had decided against a dead end fiddle yard and considered a dumb bell shape to try and get the best of large radius curves and space saving. Eventually, we settled on a 16’ x 4’ layout built up of four 4’ x 2’ boards for the front of the layout and a further four for the fiddle yard, giving a maximum radius of 22” and a minimum of 12” at the ends and allowing large sweeping curves at the front of the layout.

We took up the idea of incorporating a station at one end of the high level board with only part of the platforms on view – the remainder of the station being hidden beneath a street of shops and disappearing into the backscene.

As far as a feature as the centrepiece of the layout, we agreed that there should be a river for the lines to cross. Callum suggested a canal and soon we were talking about an aqueduct taking the canal over the river with the high-level railway line running parallel on an adjacent viaduct. The low level freight line, being built at a later date when there was no longer a need to allow sailing ships to pass beneath, would cross the river by a low level girder bridge. A set of locks was suggested, which we may try to incorporate but we must be careful not to negate the need for the aqueduct!

At some stage, the canal must pass beneath the high level line and we discussed how much headroom would be prototypical and decided – not a lot! Having sketched out a rough track plan, Dave offered to take it home and produce a more accurate drawing that we could work from.

A lot of discussion ensued over the building of the 8 modules and we eventually agreed to experiment with ply frames and flooring standard expanded polystyrene for the baseboard. This material is much stronger than the standard packaging type of foam plastic – it takes the same force to snap a 2” thickness of this material as it does to snap ¼” ply. In fact, Kevin mentioned that this material is used to make strong lightweight ramps for wheelchair access.

Dave volunteered to knock up a 4’ x 2’ ply frame for test purposes and called at Ian’s house on the following Sunday with the frame made. Ian produced a sheet of the polystyrene, which was cut to shape and fitted into the frame. (Because of the density of the material, there is very little “snow” produced when sawing this stuff). The resulting board is lightweight and robust – the frame gives rigidity whilst the styrene prevents the frame from twisting.

Perhaps a word should be said here about modules and modular layouts. To many people, the term modular layout conjures up visions of long layouts with mismatching boards connected to one another. In fact, most layouts are modular in that they are built as small manageable modules that are then bolted together to form a larger layout.

The ‘mismatch’ layouts occur where the modules are all built to specific criteria regarding the positioning of the running tracks and the wiring. By using these criteria, any one module can be connected to any other module. Where they lose their appeal to some spectators is where, through lack of forethought or lack of modules, two modules are connected to each other, which have been scenically treated in inharmonious ways.

So when our new layout is referred to as ‘modular’ it only refers to the fact that it is being built in manageable sections that will form a continuous scenic run when bolted together.

With a 2’ wide fiddle yard, there is plenty of room for 16 tracks – 4 for each mainline, with the length of the sidings varying from 6 ft to 11 ft in length. With a central break on the fiddle yard, two trains can be held in each siding, therefore accommodating a total of 32 trains. Modelling a period from the 80’s “blue” era to the present day, we have enough stock between us to fill the fiddle yard two or three times over!

Page last updated: 3/12/07