Okay, I'm looking at possibly building a British branchline in the next couple of years. The wife and I will probably be having our first little one in that time frame. The layout will be a 4x8 foam affair. It will probably include a 22" radius mainline oval...for the pacifics...and a branch line for my BR 0-6-0...or perhaps Thomas, Percy, and co.
Since the branch will be limited to really small locomotives, carriages, and trucks...I'm planning to steal a page from the modellers of old...using 15" radius curves...so as to maximize the intrigue of the line. I'll use 4% grades...although I know from my nephew's Thomas...7-8% would be fine. I want grades in order to place Ffarquhar (Far Quarry) above the mainline...and also to add a stone viaduct...but I also don't want to turn it into the rockies...so 4% is ideal. The buildings will be OO scale...a mix of kits & scratch. The track will be either Peco streamline, Atlas C100, or a combination including some hand laid...with a chance I'll do c83 and cut down the flanges on my British equipment.
The track plan is designed to make the mainline little more than a connection for Thomas's branch...but still offering continuous running and perhaps some of my 4-6-4s and 4-8-4s to be able to operate on it occasionally.
It will consist of 2-3 stations...Knapford will be the junction. Knapford will also contain a yards and a small engine facility. The track work will be crazy since british layouts like this always have crazy trackwork.
Ffarquhar will be a close approximation of Rev Awdrey's Ffarquhar on his first layout...just stretched out and thinned a bit.
The line in between may have an additional small depot (there were, fictitiously, 3 towns in between)...and a couple industries.
Basically, I've been researching this recently...and found it quite interesting that the original Thomas, Percy, James, and such were models...not toys...as he was a serious modeller...the faces were added by the illustrator.
Since the branch will be limited to really small locomotives, carriages, and trucks...I'm planning to steal a page from the modellers of old...using 15" radius curves...so as to maximize the intrigue of the line. I'll use 4% grades...although I know from my nephew's Thomas...7-8% would be fine. I want grades in order to place Ffarquhar (Far Quarry) above the mainline...and also to add a stone viaduct...but I also don't want to turn it into the rockies...so 4% is ideal. The buildings will be OO scale...a mix of kits & scratch. The track will be either Peco streamline, Atlas C100, or a combination including some hand laid...with a chance I'll do c83 and cut down the flanges on my British equipment.
The track plan is designed to make the mainline little more than a connection for Thomas's branch...but still offering continuous running and perhaps some of my 4-6-4s and 4-8-4s to be able to operate on it occasionally.
It will consist of 2-3 stations...Knapford will be the junction. Knapford will also contain a yards and a small engine facility. The track work will be crazy since british layouts like this always have crazy trackwork.
Ffarquhar will be a close approximation of Rev Awdrey's Ffarquhar on his first layout...just stretched out and thinned a bit.
The line in between may have an additional small depot (there were, fictitiously, 3 towns in between)...and a couple industries.
Basically, I've been researching this recently...and found it quite interesting that the original Thomas, Percy, James, and such were models...not toys...as he was a serious modeller...the faces were added by the illustrator.