Track planning a P:48 Micro (part 2) The Scrapyard

As I have already bought a locomotive suitable for being a private scrap yard loco. How should I deal with the scrap yard section of the concept? This is where the inspiration boards really come into their own. There’s so many images out there that inspire. Images that I find inspiring, you might find dull, and vice versa. This first inspiration sheet is a handful of images I found in about 15 minutes. There’s a couple of images on the first sheet that really grabbed my attention. The wheels, and the half cut up box car. The Wheels because there’s always piles and piles of wheels in a railroad scrapping yard. Once removed form the scrapped cars, they get sent away to be re-tired and can then be re-used. The cut up box car would make a great scenic view block to hide an exit offstage, a micro layout design trick to make the layout appear bigger. With some panels and doors removed it would obstruct the view of whatever passes behind it on the tracks. In this case, the scrapyard would become a sort of “ghost industry”. That’s an industry that is not on the layout but receives traffic. Cars would be pushed off scene pretty quickly with little indication of what’s going on. A fail on the “telling a story” angle. There’s a part of me that feels that wouldn’t be right and I need to see more of the scrapyard than a cut up box car and a pile of wheels,

This second sheet is some of the research pictures from Northern Metal recycling in St. Cloud, MN images that I used in my Seven Day Model Railroad project back in 2009. The layout caught the attention of quite a lot of people. Even to the extent that employees of the company who came to the Granite City Train Show in St. Cloud one year recognized the structures on the layout, and still talk to me about the layout several years later. I guess that means the layout was a success in the “distilling the essence of the location”. These employees quite happily discussed their work and shared details that helped the model develop. For instance, did you know that different weight/sized wheels were painted different colors on the axle ends to distinguish them? Orange and White are the colours in the pictures. Paint axle ends orange and white on your model scrap wheels to distinguish them.

I look at these pictures some thirteen years later and they still fascinate and interest me. Just look at those boxcar ends being used to hold back a pile of scrap metal. I would never have thought to model something like that if I hadn’t seen it myself. I learned so much from Wingett’s Recycling. It was a very successful layout. I miss it. 

I enjoyed it so much. Perhaps it begs another question. Should I recreate it in P:48? That’s a subject for another post.

Trackplanning a P:48 Micro (part 1)

With a convertable locomotive on its way. I thought it about time I turned my thoughts to the layout I’m going to build. It’s going to be small, as editor of the Micro Model Railway Dispatch, it could be nothing else. 

Over the years I’ve built many successful Micro layouts in a variety of scales. Nothing in O scale though. Certainly nothing in P:48 which is a whole different animal to regular O scale. Points and curvature of track work eats into valuable real estate.

There’s many trick and dodges that the clever Micro Layout designer uses to come up with a successful design, and working these into a layout concept are what makes this sphere of model railway design so rewarding to me.

I’ve built many successful micro’s over the years. So I have an idea what I’d like to incorporate. In no particular order.

1. Working features. An animated feature can help grab the viewers attention. I’ve found great success with a working wagon loading feature. Empty wagons go in full ones come out. That the viewer can see this happen brings a small layout to another level.

British Oak Working coal loader

2. Telling a story. Use the action on the railway to tell a story. On my Wingetts recycling layout, where the feature was a scrapyard. Condemned cars were hauled into the facility never to reappear. Once in a while a  gondola full of scrap or a flat car loaded with wheels would be hauled off the premises. Several times I saw people watching the layout for an extended time, and when they saw the cars loaded with scrap and wheels, a look of realization spread across their face. As a layout creator, that was a very neat feeling.

Wingett’s recycling

3. Distilling the essence of a location (or several) into one believable whole. My Purespring Watercress layout had that in bucket loads, so I was told. I get a good feeling when I know I’ve done the job right and despite its small size I knew I’d got it right with Purespring. Well, I knew I had it right with all three layouts. 

Purespring Watercress. 

In order to get that feel, I search the internet for pictures that inspire me, that may be suitable for a project. I then put these together with sketches on an “inspiration sheet”. It helps to  give me ideas on how to develop things.  Below is the first inspiration sheet for The P:48 Micro. 

Inspiration sheet number 1

It’s a rundown old warehouse district. There’s a low relief warehouse on the back scene perhaps with two spots for cars on it. On the left, the railway enters and leaves the scene through a narrow gap between structures.  Front right will be another small feature. Almost certainly a scrapyard. The purpose of the scrapyard, or whatever industry ends up there, would be to hide the sector plate that serves to save space to access the warehouse. 

First ideas rarely get adopted, I expect a lot of chopping and changing between now and when construction starts.

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Page from my sketchbook

I said I could see a vignette in my minds eye concerning the front left hand corner of this layout. It wouldn't go away so I had to sketch it out on paper to get it out of my head. Maybe to create some more room for a few more ideas too...

Looks pretty reasonable to me...