Now with Added Salt...

Am_Fet writes:

This whole idea came about due to a joke really....unfortunately it has now crossed over into the realms of being "A Great Idea" and I feel compelled to carry on with it. Magikan and I were chuckling about the ongoing HOn3½ discussion on the Railchat Yahoo group on the morning train, and i suggested with all the things we were developing quietly it wouldnt be that much harder to build a complete layout in HO and frighten everyone with it (lets face it, we only need to increase the scale of the CAD drawings).

In discussions for layouts, I thought a small shunting layout would be all youd want to "dip your toes" so to speak, and suggested Lake Grassmere from an earlier Blog post. Anyway, somehow by the end of the day the whole thing had been turned around, and the plan is now for a model of the inner working's of the Dominion Salt Works at Lake Grassmere.....I still have no idea how we got there.

First of all, I was inspired by the work of Chris Nevard in England. He has built a set of exquisite layouts, all built in a kind of "shadow box" that I really like, as it sets the layout up as a "stage", as well as closing up for security while transporting the thing:



So working on this general design idea with an eye on the photos previously published, I started scribbling down some ideas on how I could see the concept fitting into an enclosed space and came up with this quick scribble, which was quickly sent around the troops for comment:



And here is the area modeled on the ground...



So the question on everyones lips is, Why didnt I include the main line interchange siding? And although I advocated it in the original blog post, in reality it would be very difficult to keep the "fully contained" layout idea while having to support either a loop or two sets of hidden sidings for the mainline trains to work from. In reality, it is so much easier to focus on a cameo scene within the plant; luckily, this area has enough points and track to make a fully self contained shunting layout, but designing this had made me realise these areas are few and far between. Most often they are independent private sidings that interchange with KiwiRail; KR's answer to a lot of these situations now seems to be just a single siding and a crossing loop if you're lucky as they already have access to the rest of the network to get onto the right ends of wagons, or at least make sure they are blocked correctly before being set out for loading/unloading.

Anyway, enough waffle....the next step was to work on drawing it out full size and consulting with the Tracklaying Contractors (Druff and Co. of Nelson). After much heated debate (with peoples parentage being called into question) and van interior measurements being taken, it was decided to increase the overall size of the baseboard to 1500 x 500. This would support a nice curve in the sidings heading to the right.

This all sounds very linear, but in reality the plan changed every hour as new data was found. Firstly, Google Streeview threw up the chestnut that the outer sidings eventually met and terminated at a weighbridge:



The Head Druff suggested this could be a good opportunity to provide a small sector plate as a run around, and I may still look into adding it. I was also able to get a rough overview of the whole area...and I really need a bus to sit on the level crossing:



In the end, the final plan came out looking something like this after I had played around and shunted it on 3rd Planit:



I've even had a go at mocking up heights and pelmets in the junk room with bits of leftover kitchen:



So, all in all, I'm happy enough with the concept to keep on it. I'll probably shunt it with a DC (I have a weird feeling its all done by tractor though) and the wagons are readily available....or will be once the ZH finally makes an appearance. Pity my job changed 180 degrees and I'm now spending 12 hour days on the new IP based radios and the refit of Train Control...sigh...