This is the cover of Model Railroader that contributed to a large degree to me setting off on this project. I'd had a very traditional train set as a child - linked double oval and one siding. I could make a train go backwards and forwards, and put a carriage or wagon into the siding. Some further excitement came with the Hornby Royal Mail set whereby the coach automatically (based upon track devices) picked up and threw out little mailbags, and I had a Hornby log tipping unit although that was difficult to co-ordinate with the second hand Fleischmann track that was the basis of my layout. Ultimately though, watching a train go round and round - even if it does have lights that shine in the tunnel, gets a bit repetitive. It also becomes clear that expansion and change is both going to prove expensive and difficult because of space arguments. I'd also moved substantially into the modelling aspects and painting and gaming with model soldiers.
Going to model railway shows had caused me to understand how railway modellers coped with the limitations of the oval train layout: a fiddle yard either at the side of the layout being modelled, or behind the painted scenery backdrop. Freight yard, depots, stations, quarries were now all possible with the change of trains/wagons/coaches all taking place off stage in the fiddle yard. I still enjoyed talking scenery with people, but the degree of "realism" that some people demanded of their layouts started to make me realise that some people were very serious and I started to wonder where the "fun" was coming from. I think a large part of the enjoyment comes from the accurate depiction and modelling, based around old photos and track plans etc, but that's not something for me. It's clear that there is a broad spectrum within the hobby though and it was clear that there were people who's enjoyment came from actually running the trains on layouts.
So, back to the magazine. "Making your layout more fun to operate" as a sub header. A quick flick through in Smiths confirmed there was value for money in that issue of the magazine and it was purchased. Two important things came out of this: an explanation of trailing point, facing point and runaround sidings (and how the latter offers much more flexibility than either of the former - and more again if combined with the two former items), and that freight yard operation was a bit like a sudoku puzzle: the yellow, blue and green wagons/vans are already in place on the layout, and you have arrived with a trainload of red and black wagons/vans and you have to get various wagons in various places before leaving.
So, here we had a concept of fun from operating the layout that was centre stage, although there might still be the need for the fiddle yard to provide a home for a trains that are going to arrive or once they have left. Building a freight yard layout still seemed to require an extensive degree in railroad electrics because of the complexity of (not) having more than one train on the same piece of track.
The discovery that DCC meant that I could have more than one train on the same piece of track, under separate independent control, opened up whole new possibilities, as it also meant that the fiddly wiring was not needed. An indoor layout was still going to be out of the question though because of space. I'd discovered that people had layouts running around the sides of rooms - sometimes at head height - or had layouts that were hinged above beds, to fold down over the bed for operation. Whilst I could see the attractions of these, I knew that they weren't for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment