A few weeks ago, a guy appeared at the railway club wanting help with building a layout for a present. He'd picked up a Hornby trackmat and needed advice on baseboards etc.
The track mat is an interesting beast. I've no idea who drew out the plan but they didn't do a particularly good job IMHO. For instance, why is the main station on a siding and not next to the running lines? With a bit of shuffling, I can't see what this couldn't have two platforms complete with a footbridge between them.
The siding coming out of shot heads to an engine shed, but only a single road one despite the model being designed for two roads. Perhaps a goods shed would have made more sense?
I know this isn't finescale, but I can't help feel that a better plan with more play value could be easily arrived at.
One challenege for our beginner builder is that a single board would be too big for storgae. It had to split. so much advice was given on doing this. Avoiding the points meant a slightly inelegant result with a pair of narrow bards either side a wider one, but it all seems to work, even if there are an awful lot of track breaks.
Anyway, last week, the nicely made boards arrived at the club and tracklaying commenced. Within an hour, we had a loco running around and all appeared to be well. Than I tried to do the wiring...
Interesting post- I'm in the middle of the exact same issue with the exact same trackmat. I picked up a cheap set from Hattons and have enough of my old 00 gauge track to finish off the layout with the trackmat, as a birthday pressie for my youngest foster daughter who wants a set.
ReplyDeleteI also hit the same issues with the trackmat- I've extended the plan a little so that I can fit a hinge in the middle without any points complicating the folding, and have a deep frame so that I can have the trackbed raised up and some scenery below. I've been able to get in the two platform station as you propose, and an extra siding to liven things up a bit. For an added note of madness, one half of the board will be incorporating a simple loop of N gauge track so that she can have a bit of 009 too (we spend a lot of time visiting family in Wales so she wanted double fairlies at some point).