Converting Our UK Layout to Japanese - Yamanouchi Oshika

[scott]

internal logic driven by chaos and your liking.

 

I think you just summarized my entire life. 

 

Claude--there are lots of Minobue Line videos on YouTube, and you can "follow" the line on the higher-res online aerials (can't recall if I used Google or Bing) to get a view of the surroundings.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Work has continued on the layout today...mainly surrounding the townscape. It still looks a bit of a mess at the moment, so will save the pictures for some time this weekend. It's first show will be this weekend, and although a lot will be done, we have to accept that it won't be finished in time...we missed too many club nights for various reasons.

 

That said, a couple of snaps were taken, mainly for publicity purposes. I also took the opportunity to run my new class 115. Worked all afternoon today, will do so again tomorrow, before breaking it down for transporting it to the exhibition hall tomorrow evening.

[Bernard]

Claude - best of luck at the exhibition, the layout should be a hit!

[EWS60008]

Very impressive work there mate .

[IST]

I know it's too late, but you should put a lot of advertisement, sign, billboard with Japanese letters. Maybe these won't be authentic, but visitors would know immediately that this is a layout from the East. Running as much trains as possible is also can be a key feature.

 

But your work on the converting is excellent, you put a lot of effort to finish it, the result is great, I like it. :icon_thumleft:

[Claude_Dreyfus]

We've done it!  

 

I have finally got home following a gruelling weekend of playing trains! Sadly the layout was not completely finished, however a decent fist was made of it before showing.

 

As mentioned, it was a bit of hybrid for this show, running some Japanese; along with UK, German, Hong Kong, US and Dutch stuff (amongst others). It was very successful, and I am glad to say that the layout was extremely reliable throughout the show. No rest for the wicked however, we have another show in three weeks time, so hopefully it should be more or less completed.

 

IST: Funny you should mention that! We have some images which we are currently sorting out ready to put up a few billboards by the trackside.

 

A couple of pictures are below:

 

1 - Is an overall view of the station and town, complete with publicity material. The large areas of white will be retaining walls, with the tram line running along the back. You can probably make out the, as yet unpainted, tram platform in the far distance. The area along the back needs some extra bits to make it look a little less bare.

 

Note the station buildings, a very nearly complete Green Max kit. The car park area also needs some attention.

 

2 - A better view of the station and environs, with a KiHa 110 idling in the branch bay. The platforms are far too bare, and in general it needs some livening up. The hole in tha bay plaform should contain a signal; they went walkies just before the show!

 

3 - The town is missing the usual street furniture, as well as road markings. The tram line needs catenery poles, and will be operational by the end of the month (we hope!). The camera is cruel, but is useful to indication what else needs touching up - those pavements for example!

 

4 - An overall view away for the town. Ignore the DB V200 hurrying up the gradient!

 

5 - A closer view of the yard and stabling sidings. Here we have a DE10, DD16 and DD51 in and around the yard.

 

6 - Finally we have a shot of the fiddle yard.A Chuo liner 183 is heading out of the yard towards the camera, whilst an EH200 is arriving with a Car Rack + containers set. Note the two DMUs in the branch sidings to the left.

[Mudkip Orange]

Finally we have a shot of the fiddle yard.

Nice. I see y'all got the full 10-car E531 and Super View Odoriko.

 

Peco turnouts?

[scott]

Yeah, I'm envious of that fiddle yard... :-)

[EWS60008]

I like how the station is formed as this allows for Diesel traction as well as Electric traction plus a central lane siding for stabiling additional EMU/DMU trains or a "Thunderbird" locomotive that could be used to rescue a failed unit! .

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Yes, all the points on this layout are PECO. In the fiddle yard they are manual, with the exception of the branch (you can see the switch attached to the backboard above the branch point) In the distance the isolation gantry can be made out; this contains the individual switches for each of the fiddle yard roads. The rest of the points are powered by SEEP motors.

 

The picture is not 100% clear - that E531 is actually a Chuo line E233 

 

Originally the station was designed so that frieght trains could use the centre road for access to the yard approaching from the country end. This sort of followed UK practice, however has now been stopped. We will be using it as a stabling siding. The intention is for the branch to also have catenery, therefore enabling the use of tram-trains. The DMU will use the remaining un-electrified platform (the opposite face to the branch). The centre road will also remain diesel, although we may add catenery to one of the carriage sidings.

[EWS60008]

Thats cool! I will look forward to seeing more progress on this and if you take requests, could you do some videos of this layout in action if this is okay? .

[Claude_Dreyfus]

A quick update...

 

Work has been centring on the town-end of the layout for the last week or so. Roads have been sorted, and lines added. We have also started to add the street furniture. Attention will be paid next to the station area and car park; ahead of the layouts next outing on Sunday 28th Fenruary at our local show...

 

A couple of pictures of the town.

[disturbman]

It's looking good! Maybe the streets are a tad to wide for Japan but that is definately über-cool!

[Mudkip Orange]

For a main street, this is pretty ice.

[ToniBabelony]

Hmm :) Enjoying the pictures! Kep 'em coming! It's funny to see the evolving progress from UK to JPN style.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Yes, the main street is a little wide. What I have tried to do is have a two-lane carriageway plus a parking strip along the right-hand side. The road was originally going to have a tramway - hence its width - however this changed and now the tram runs along the back, you can probably make out the crossing in the background of the second picture.

[qwertyaardvark]

I too am enjoying watching the transition from UK to Japan~

 

I can hardly think of any Japan-styled club layouts beyond the JMRs in Washington DC and this one. You are so lucky!

 

Looking forward to more conversion pictures!

[Claude_Dreyfus]

A final update before our next show tomorrow. As mentioned, progress has been centred on the station area. The building has been completed, and work has progressed on the bus stands and drop-off points, the wide strips of white will be painted as the pavements in the town...these being walkways... The street lighting will be fitted today, as well as a couple of other bits before the layout is boxed up and transported to the exhibition hall...

[Claude_Dreyfus]

So we have had our second showing...no more for the immediate future, although there are a couple in the pipe-line. This time we were operating a purely Japanese theme...giving the good people of West Sussex a taste of what railways should really look like! There are a couple of electrical bits we will be improving, as well as some more drastic work on the tram depot area...I'm still not happy with it.

 

One of the biggest changes will be the planned addition of a new road overbridge, crossing the tracks just beyond the country end of the platforms. This will meet the road which runs along the back of the layout, before passing into the back scene. We will also be seeing to that open area behind the carriage sidings - which became engineering sidings for the show, and will probably remain that way now.

 

The provision of bridge has two reasons. Firstly to give that long road along the back a little more purpose, bearing in mind it is only serving the station and tram depot following the rebuilding. Secondly the layout seems a little too flat for too large an area. This will provide a little more visual variety, to an otherwise very open scene.

 

The station is going to have some more work, including a much-needed replacement footbridge and some canopies. Pictures from the show are below... I quite like the class 313 Central Liner speeding past the depot.

 

Incidently I do have some video pictures, however I'm still trying to work out how to get them onto the computor, let alone onto the web!

[Mudkip Orange]

That's definitely an opportunity for an interesting bridge. Considering how close the drop-off is between the edge of the road and that single track there, you'll probably need flared curb returns over the tracks if you want a realistic look. That would be a fun kitbash with Rix/other components.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Thanks for the suggestion... I am currently sorting through a number of ideas for the overbridge, with the intention to do some measuring on Friday...

 

In the meantime, this is a picture of some of those responsible for this layout. Not a bad snap, and one that shows the layout pretty comprehensively. I should add that whilst roughly half of the club membership is pictured, I am not...I'm the one taking the picture....so you're safe!

[Bernard]

Claude - What a great out come of the layout and the final results look fantastic! How was the public opinion of the layout and the other modelers that were at the show?

When I see your photos it inspires me to get back to work on my our layout!

[KenS]

That's a really great layout, one that you and your co-builders should be proud of.

 

It's hard for me to visualize the impact of that bridge you're considering.  From the photos it would seem that it would remove some of the "open" feeling you get from the view from the end.  I actually like that openess.

 

But it may not have the same impact viewed from the side.  And there are certainly plenty of Japanese stations that do have bridges over their approaches. Space is at a premium in dense cities, after all.

[EWS60008]

Thats a very impressive looking layout now and if I had that amount of space, I would have built something similar to that size .

Keep up the great work pal! .

[Claude_Dreyfus]

It's been a while since I added something here.

 

Sadly the layout has been in store over the last few months, however we have a club 'working weekend' in a few weeks time, when I will be carrying out some much needed additional work.

 

In addition, I have finally managed to upload some rather suspect videos onto Youtube.

 

This first video is very short, however shows a nice variety of stuff running, although the two 2-car Seibu line class 101s are running a little briskly! Someone was being a little over-indulgent with the controller!