Space saving model railway

Now unless you live alone or in a castle I’d imagine that like myself you probably haven’t got limitless space to play with, fill up with models, store stuff, etc. Don’t get me wrong, my family are the most important thing in my life but having a family does mean making some sacrifices such as money and time (both mentioned previously), space is another such commodity. It is also true that doing anything without the support (or at least tolerance) of your nearest and dearest is only going to end one way (badly in case you were wondering!), therefore I decided early on that I’m going to avoid taking over the house with models and miniatures and consciously try to minimize the impact of my hobbies without limiting my ambitions (too much)!

This brings me on to todays topic, my plans and progress on a model railway. I uncovered a very old 00 gauge train set when we moved house, it was mine when I was younger and it passed down to me before that, I seem to recall that I used to have it mounted on some chipboard in my parents loft but it never got any further than that. There’s a bit of track a couple of non-functioning trains, some varied rolling stock and some rather tired cardboard buildings. In keeping with my ethos of spending as little money as possible and not wasting space my plan is to create a model railway that fits on a window sill in our guest bedroom, I’m going to re-use as much of the existing stuff as possible. 

I figure that the model railway should form the basis for a number of interesting modelling projects that can be completed as and when I feel like it . I’ve also decided to theme the railway (loosely) around WWII, therefore it will double as somewhere to display any models I might be making in the future.

Our house, being very old has pretty thick walls and the window sills are a good 750mm deep, so plenty of space to fill with something! I have this vision of a track going though mountains with a little station area loading troops, maybe a small base with some tanks and aeroplanes flying overhead.....we’ll see how it develops.

So as previously mentioned, I intend to use the railway as a starting point for a number of modelling projects in the future, with that in mind I am quite keen to get the essentials in place sooner rather than later, if I can get the baseboard and track sorted, track wired up and working, and track ballasted and board painted reasonably soon the rest can follow in time. My available space is really a bit too tight to fit a looped track in, but I really wanted one so, that’s what I have done! I reasoned I'm only going to be using small trains (0-2-0, 0-4-0) so a tight radius turn shouldn’t be so much of a problem, it may look a bit unrealistic but I’m not aiming for 100% realism, more of an interesting display area for other modelling projects. So I decided to squeeze in a loop with a passing section for a platform and a siding area for goods/military use, I also wanted to vary the height of the track a little because this looks a lot more interesting than a flat layout.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve managed to make some good progress. The base board is build, I used 12mm MDF as the base and then built up a loop around the outside with scrap timber, this also stiffens up the board. I’ve added slopes at a reasonable gradient (approx 4%) down into the centre for the sidings and to a raised section in one of the corners. For the slopes I used used thin plywood sat on wooden blocks of varying height and faired in with car filler. All timber was glued and screwed and when completed the board felt very solid.

I've used thin (approx 3mm) packing foam cut into strips and glued to the board for the track underlay, and then painted the whole lot with grey primer. I'm not sure how well this underlay will work but its got to be better than nothing and its free and I'm not fussed about a noise free track, just trying to damp out any resonate rattles.

The track has been laid, I’ve had to pin it in place which won't make for a quiet track but proved necessary because of the tight loops. The track sections themselves were not in great condition but luckily I managed to cobble enough together without having to buy any more which was good. 

I’ve been round and soldered every track joint, this was a pain but much easy with a soldering gun as opposed to an iron. I added the wiring, including jumpers across points to ensure continuity where necessary. Its been wired as two seperate circuits, the main loop as one and the siding area as another. I’ve also managed to coax one of the old trains into life, it runs (just about) so I’ve been able to use this to check the track at this stage. There were a few sticking points and sections that derailed the train initially but after a bit more filling with solder and filing into shape I’ve got the whole track working and ready to be ballasted.

The board is now in-situ on its window sill, where it is nicely tucked away and ready for further development. I can draw the curtains and its like I was never there!