Time flies by, when you're the driver of a train. It's almost two years since I decided a crossover would be useful at the exit of my fiddle yard, but it's only now I've got around to installing one. The photo above was taken on 31/05/03 and shows a few spare pieces of track lying on the running lines whilst I pondered this addition.
In truth, the crossover was never essential, which was why it wasn't installed when the layout was built. The fiddle yard was designed to be 'self staging' as our US cousins would have it, with trains leaving via reverse loops to provide totally hands-off running sessions. But at other times the complete isolation of the fast and slow lines was an irritation - when pulling stock from one half of the yard for track cleaning purposes, for example. Furthermore, when I started planning for a US 'layout within a layout' switching area at this point on 11/09/04, the crossover became an actual operating requirement.
So, over the last week, most of my train time has been spent grafting an extra section of baseboard onto this area and installing new trackwork...
With the extra couple of inches of board installed, space has been found for two sidings as well as a crossover. When operating in UK mode, this is the exit from the lower fiddle yard and all trains leave to the left of the photo. The Class 47 is on the fast line and the Class 25 is on the slow - both will double back using the return loops, just visible through the forest of timber on the upper right.
The newly installed crossover can be seen between the two locos. Bear in mind that this is the fiddle yard - the track formation isn't supposed to be prototypical. In fact none of the new track is used at all when running UK trains.
Play American trains, however, and the new trackwork comes into it's own. Firstly, it should be noted that US trains flow around the reverse loops in an anti-clockwise direction and enter the fiddle yard from the opposite end to that normally used. The line upon which a GP20 and three GP30s (1960s super-power!) are arriving is simply the 'main' and trains can enter any road in the fiddle yard thanks to the new crossover. What is the slow line in UK mode becomes a yard lead, as US trains do not use the outer loop for reasons detailed in the 11/09/04 entry.
The two new sidings in the foreground become part of the 'layout within a layout' for US switching, and will be used in conjunction with the existing siding seen in the top right of the picture. Switching puzzles will thus be interesting as they straddle the main line and the sidings face in oppposite directions. With no local run-round at this end of the yard, switchers will either have to run around the reverse loop or travel the full length of the main yard, a journey of about eighty feet there and back. This is just a thinly disguised excuse to use two locos for these operations, as you might have guessed.
I feel I should apologise for the loose wires hanging down below the board, this section isn't properly wired in as yet and has only been tested using crocodile clips. I did make a start on the wiring several nights ago, but realised I hadn't installed the uncoupling magnets - so up came the track for a bout of midnight chiselling.
Another view, taken from over the layout this time. This was never supposed to be a scenic area, so working something convincing in around those roof timbers will be challenging. However, only a small part of the area needs to be made presentable for a switching scenario and the operator will have restricted lines-of-sight. So things aren't as difficult as they could be and I have a few fairly good ideas that I'm evaluating.
In real terms this 'layout within a layout' is pretty much a freebie, utilising otherwise dead-space at the end of the existing fiddle-yard. Built using timber offcuts and track left over from the main layout, it's cost me well under £20 for one turnout, some insulating rail joiners and a couple of uncoupling magnets. I think I've already had more than twenty quid's worth of entertainment out if it.
The black-painted pieces of wood are temporary stop-blocks, placed to prevent enthusiastically driven trains doing a Triple Mortimore (TM) dive into space. Squares of brown paper are just visible covering the point-motor holes. In the distance you can see the train has just crested the grade where it emerges from the rat-hole and how the spur on the left is level track. As well as providing access to the two new sidings, this track will provide staging for a transfer freight during an operating session.
Finally, a birds-eye view of the whole area, crudely stitched together in Photoshop. The camera angle makes some of the turnouts look sharper than they actually are and everything looks an utter mess at the moment, but ballasting and urban scenery will transform things. The crazy paving effect cork underlay is a clear sign of a man running out of supplies at 2am and scavenging amongst leftovers...
Currently On My Stereo: Half Man Half Biscuit - The Trumpton Riots EP
