A Swiss friend of mine is building a layout based on the BLS in his basement. He has started out to build the famous Blausee-Mitholz station, as close to the prototype as possible. However, he was very unhappy with the plan for the rest of his layout and has asked me to come up with some fresh ideas.
This is the old plan:
It is a simple roundy-rounder, which will get boring to operate after little while.
The objective of the layout revision was to include a hidden staging yard and the famous Kander viaduct to add operational and scenic interest to the layout.
Here is, what I will be suggesting to him:
Baseboard construction will be challenging, as the layouts is meant to be build in sections, so it can be taken apart and moved to shows.
For those CAD aficionados among you, the track plan has been drawn in RTS 8.0.
An interesting set of restrictions and desires and requirements – what John Armstrong over here in the US termed “givens and druthers.” The idea of hidden staging when the operational focus is a passenger station is a wise addition. Not many Americans make the operations at a passenger station the focal point.
If the layout is to be both pleasant to operate at home as well as a popular dsplay at shows, it seems to me that both the operator and the guests and viewers will really want to focus on and be close to what is happening at the passenger station. And that is where the builder wants the fewest compromises with the prototype. Those incredible Swiss viaducts are also a scenic draw – but it seems to me they can also be fully enjoyed from a distance – indeed if viewed from a distance you are less likely to focus on the selective compression needed to fit them on a layout. John Allen placed some his most dramatic bridges well away from the viewing areas of the layout, for example.
Starting from the perspective that in general neither the operator nor the visitors will really want to be “inside” the layout most of the time, yet that is where the greatest attraction is located, do you think it is possible to move the station to the “front” of the layout and have it facing forward with the rest of the layout curving away from it? I would not have it perfectly parallel to the room, or what you have as the front of the layout, but at slight angle so that the left side is further back, leaving access at the far right side. The tracks at the left end would curve away perhaps while still at the platform – that may be an unacceptable compromise with reality. What I am thinking of is more of a kidney or bean shaped layout, of the sort that Ian Rice seems to draw most often.
If that would work, I would move the viaduct, or viaducts, to the ba
Dave - excellent comment! Just a few remarks to it. The upper part is already finished & bolted to the wall, so there is very little that can be changed. You are right, the main focus is on the local passenger trains calling at the station, rather than the long freight trains just passing through on their way to and from Italy. My friend wants to have the main view points within the operating pit, so that was a druther I had to consider. Unfortunately, this relegates the famous Bietschtal bridge to something like a step child, but so it be.
Marklin offers flex track for its K-range of track, which helps a little to avoid that toy look usually attached to sectional track and tight curves.
My friend is also a PC freak, so he will operate the layout semi-automatically via his PC with a software which uses a graphic interface close to what the BLS is employing. So much about detail…
Just a few pics of the prototype:
Kander bridge:
!(http://www.bls-mobil.ch/data/medien/RABe 535 001 Kanderviadukt.jpg)
Bietschtal bridge:
Blausee-Mitholz station:
This layout will have some stunning views!
Btw, Dave - all my plans start with paper & pencil [swg]