Yamaiwa - Yamada and Iwaizumi line inspired layout

[Rev Counter]

As mentioned briefly in my welcome post this layout will be my first Japanese layout, first N gauge layout and pretty much my first layout altogether than isn't just a loop of set track. I dabbled with 00 in the past but came to the realisation I didn't have space for the larger scale so aside from buying a few pieces of N gauge track and UK rolling stock I left railway modelling for around seven years. Hopefully this will bring me back into it!

 

In the last couple of months I've gone from knowing nothing about Japanese railways to knowing a small amount about them, which I consider a personal success! The main draws for me are the rural single-track branches with plenty of tunnels, bridges and small stations. I narrowed my focus down to JR East lines and after watching a lot of cab ride videos and trawling rail maps and satellite views of some really picturesque scenery I settled on the Yamada Line. This also led me to discover the Iwaizumi Line, closed following a derailment due to a landslide in 2014 I believe. A small fascination grew around this and I knew I had to fit it into my layout somehow.

 

After looking up and down both lines, Kawauchi Station on the Yamada Line appealed. It allows trains to pass one another at the station so I can have more than one on the layout at once, is rural and scenic enough for my tastes, and with some compression I could have a tunnel at each end to lead into fiddle yards. It also has a water tower from the bygone days of steam still standing. My main concern was how to include at least a nod to the Iwaizumi Line, as this branches off from the Yamada some 25km away at Moichi Station. My solution was to merge the two stations.

 

Most of the track plan was created by compressing the area around Kawauchi, however the layout of all rails to the right of the island platform follow those of Moichi, where the Yamada Line passes straight through and the Iwaizumi used to terminate. Moichi has a siding leading to a shed that's in a similar position to the one at Kawauchi featuring the water tower so it all ended up fitting rather neatly. After a lot of fiddling around in AnyRail to make the track fit into my available space I'm pretty pleased with how it's turned out. It'll be built with Peco Code 55.

 

Kawauchi (above) and Moichi Station (below).

 

Operationally, this should allow me to have a single car DMU shuttling between platform 1 and 'Iwaizumi', stopping trains in platforms 2 and 3 from both Miyako and Morioka, the Rapid-Rias passing through the station and longer 3 unit DMUs stopping in platform 3 and separating, with the train broken up and part continuing on down the line while the other half turns around. My fiddle yards are planned to be pretty future proof considering I don't actually have any Japanese rolling stock yet! The lines switched from KiHa 52 to KiHa 110 series in 2007 so this is roughly the time period for my layout, as it'll allow me to run both types of DMU. I also forgot to mention that this will be my first foray into DCC as well! I've built a (yet untested!) DCC++EX system using an Arduino and hope to be able to automate some operations on the layout. Very ambitious of me but hopefully it should all work out! The name of the station, Yamaiwa, comes from the first halves of Yamada and Iwaizumi if that wasn't already apparent!

 

 

Edited March 22, 2023 by Rev Counter

[cteno4]

Looks great! Are you planning on having this mobile to go to shows?

 

jeff

[Rev Counter]

Thanks Jeff! I've mainly designed it as a shelf layout for my room but I definitely want some portability with it to cope with house moves and things so there's potential I suppose! I think splitting the scenic section into two 1.2m long boards is the best approach to that. It's been years since I've been to a show so I should get out there and see some in the coming year which might inspire me. I did toy with the idea of adding extra tracks to the fiddle yards so they can be rotated 90 degrees to 'unfold' the layout in larger spaces which would probably make it more appropriate for an exhibition layout.

Edited March 12, 2023 by Rev Counter

[MeTheSwede]

 This plan looks quite impressive! Are you sure you haven't done half a dozen advanced layouts before? 😃

[Rev Counter]

Thank you Swede! I assure you the closest I got was a loop of Hornby set track with a single unpainted papier-mâché hill at one end! I have always been obsessed with track plans and along with being a bit of an obsessive researcher when it comes to these sorts of things I think a degree in design helps a bit, especially with CAD knowledge. I'm not sure my physical model-making abilities live up to my graphic design skills. Time will tell I guess!

[cteno4]

Rev,

 

yes that sounds very prudent to split it into tow 1.2m sections. That’s about the max you can get in cars and easily thru and around stuff if you move or do take it to shows. Neat idea to be able to pivot the ends out straight, although I like the wrap around ability and the corners could be space to do some more dramatic scenery maybe. Always a good idea to make things movable as murphy’s law of train layouts is if you build one built in about the time you get near having something done you will have to move!

 

I mentioned shows as this looks like the design of many UK show layouts with the one big central scene and either point to point or loop around the back to hidden fiddle yard and return.

 

Exhibitions are fun to do and sometimes can give you the push to get something done or the feedback and kudos to want to do more. Also just helps keep the hobby going and young ones inoculated! Folks really love seeing Japanese trains, something different and gives a lot of starting points for conversations with visitors. Even the hardcore US modelers here who know everything about US rail will stop and ask questions about our Japanese trains—and if we screw up of fudge a detail or trains running they never know and can’t call you on it like they do on US stuff all the time!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[katem]

What a great project! Good luck with it 🙂

 

I see you gathered a really large amount of information on this particular part of the world! I took me much longer 😄 You picked an interesting point in time, when both lines were active and still kinda full of train live. Sadly Kawauchi station lost its overtake track later and Iwaizumi station is merely a shadow of its former glory, having its Iwaizumi line track, overbridge, and even station building destroyed in recent years. I also have the Moichi station on my drawing board as a main station, together with some other places from Yamada or Iwaizumi line or other Iwate lines, what a coincidence!

 

 

[tossedman]

This is great! Looking forward to seeing how it all unfolds.

[Rev Counter]

Thanks everyone!

 

Jeff, I have definitely been influenced both consciously and unconsciously by British exhibition layouts I'm sure, and it would be fun to do some shows once I get it all up and running. I'm certainly familiar with the push that comes with an impending deadline from my experiences with classic car shows! I do really like the idea of Japanese railways being new and unfamiliar territory to a lot of people - me included until very recently! - and as you rightly said it does take away the ability for rivet-counters to pick you up on things.

 

katem, thank you, I think I've seen some of your posts when looking on here in my earlier planning stages. It's great you're modelling the same area! I definitely wanted to model the lines before they started lifting the extra tracks as while I like the idea of modelling them in (in the case of the Iwaizumi line) their final years, some operational complexity is definitely lost. My original plan was to create a semi-fictitious model of a station on the Iwaizumi like Utsuno, just north of the Oshikaku Tunnel, as after the landslide cut off Iwaizumi a resumed service to a new station at Utsuno was unsuccessfully proposed as a way of keeping the line running. The original station closed in 1957 after the line was extended to Asanai. While this seemed exciting to try to model, having just one diesel car shuttling forward and back wouldn't keep me occupied! I suppose that's the irony of wanting to model lines with very low passenger numbers! Moichi seems like a great location for a model. If I had more space I would've also liked to include a bit of the Rias Line at Miyako too, I love the red white and blue 36-100s like your profile pic. As my layout isn't fully prototypical I guess I could make an excuse for running them! And maybe it can be a future extension although I can't let my brain run away with ideas before I've laid my first track!

[Tom C]

First off, welcome to the forum. 

 

I love the uncluttered feel that you are going for. It's all too easy to fill a layout with tracks to the sacrifice of beautiful landscape. Trains look their best when meandering among hills and over ravines on high tressle bridges. Your inclusion of a river dictates a bridge 👍

 

I will be watching with interest. 🙂

[MeTheSwede]

I can clearly see you've got a keen interest in layout planning. (I do too.) It's pretty rare to see plans that appear this well thought out and I don't think I've ever seen it from anyone stating he's planning for his first layout.

 

I can only spot one potential weakness, and that is that the bridge is very close to the back of the layout, which complicates the estetical part of making a good bridge scene. Is it that close to the back because the left side fiddle yard need to fit within 900mm? If so, maybe a curve turnout could help? Let us know if you'd like any input of ideas.

 

As for your physical model-making abilities, I have a feeling there's plenty of potential. Thorough research combined with an eye for design sounds like a good combination. It should be easier to learn techniqes for making stuff (by watching videos and copy what they're doing) than to learn an eye for design. Visualising in my head what something will look like in 3D is something I find quite challenging.

 

Anyway, I'll be following your build with great interest. It's just great to see what other people are modelling, no matter what's the level of their skills or ambitions. Welcome to the forum!

Edited March 13, 2023 by MeTheSwede

[Rev Counter]

Thank you Tom! Yes, I’m very much focussed on modelling the surrounding nature as much as the railway itself! Here’s the bridge I plan to model leading to Kawauchi Station, although mine will probably have one less pillar and be shorter as I’m leaving out the road to the left of the river.

 

 

Thanks for your comments Swede! I appreciate the feedback on the bridge and think you’re right, it is a bit close to the back scene which could make it seem like more of an afterthought than a scenic focal point. I’ve been playing around in AnyRail a bit today with options and think a curved turnout is indeed the way to go.

 

The only fully limiting dimension is the 2800mm total length so the others can all be tweaked. I also could make the bridge more curved over the river itself which would allow me to use the standard Kato bridge sections (481mm radius for the wider ones I think). I was planning on using these anyway as they seem close to the prototype, but modifying them to match the very shallow radius I had in the initial plan.

 

I have made Warhammer models and a few Airfix kits in the past so I should probably have more faith in my skills than I do! I just fear I won’t be able to match what I have in my head but I guess that’s the whole fun of it. Thanks for the warm welcome!

Edited March 14, 2023 by Rev Counter

[MeTheSwede]

I'm glad I could be of help. 👍

 

 

There's another thing I was thinking about which I thought could work well if the track was brought forward and when I see the prototype photo with the river bending of to the right, the actual prototype seems to match surprisingly well with what I was thinking in the first place...

 

I presume all the dark green areas on your plan are wooded hill sides and those will form a perfect natural backdrop for your layout. However having a river or a road going straight into a backdrop always causes problems visually. Even the best painted backdrop or photo backdrop will only look right when viewed from a particular angle, from other angles it will look weird. But with the river curving off, it can disappear in behind a wooded hill and the point where the back end of the river exits the layout will be hidden from view.

 

I made a quick sketch to illustrate:

 

 

 

Here no matter where an observer stands in front of the layout, the observer won't be able to see where the river and the road goes. There will always be a wooded hillside at the back.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Rev Counter said:

I have made Warhammer models and a few Airfix kits in the past so I should probably have more faith in my skills than I do! I just fear I won’t be able to match what I have in my head but I guess that’s the whole fun of it

 

I don't think it ever turns out like it was in the head. However, that doesn't mean it has to turn out worse, just different! Since I've started this hobby I've felt again and again that I've managed to do what I tought I couldn't. Another fun thing is finding new angles and positions from which to look at the layout discovering new scenes that I had never even thought of. Scenes that were created by accident.

 

Making little test bits of scenery has helped me a lot with learning techniques and gaining confidence. I've done test grass, test trees, test ballasting, test painting, test road, test pond and so on... If the test looks good I know how to procede. If not, I make adjustments or go look for new inspiration/instructions online.

 

[cteno4]

10 hours ago, MeTheSwede said:

I don't think it ever turns out like it was in the head. However, that doesn't mean it has to turn out worse, just different! Since I've started this hobby I've felt again and again that I've managed to do what I tought I couldn't. Another fun thing is finding new angles and positions from which to look at the layout discovering new scenes that I had never even thought of. Scenes that were created by accident.

 

Making little test bits of scenery has helped me a lot with learning techniques and gaining confidence. I've done test grass, test trees, test ballasting, test painting, test road, test pond and so on... If the test looks good I know how to procede. If not, I make adjustments or go look for new inspiration/instructions online.

Wise words Swede. Scenes take playing with and rarely come out exactly as envisioned but not worse usually, usually different and better if you keep playing with them as they evolve physically. Looking at it from different angles and view points as you say can come up with some great surprised and twists and turns to your scene designs. It’s been fun watching your scenes evolve and cool little mini scenes then can emerge from the bigger scene and tell a great visual story. Those are the bits which will stick with the brain best of the viewer in the long run.

 

I really agree that playing with little test bits of scenery techniques is the best way to learn and experiment. I’ve seen so many times folks plow into a big scenery project without much experimenting with the techniques before only to  have it implode as being too big a bite to tackle in one try, problems with scaling up a technique and lots of gotchas you didn’t see in videos or instructions. I’ve also really noticed scenery techniques is the most prominent place in the hobby where different techniques just speak to each person differently and as there is almost always a number of techniques to get to the same place it’s super important to find the ones that speak to you the best. So many times I’ve seen folks say this is the best way hands down to do a technique, but I find it doesn’t work well for me and another much better to get to the same results.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Rev Counter]

Thank you for the feedback Swede, I definitely like the idea of curving the river. It'll hopefully make the scene feel a little more natural than a straight line border anyway. After a bit of a redesign to the left hand side of the plan this is what I've come up with. I also plan to have trees between the river and the road behind the bridge to help it blend into the backscene better. In cab ride videos taken in summer that area seems pretty overgrown with shrubs and small trees anyway so it should fit well. Thanks for the tip on test patches of scenery too, it's great advice!

 

 

On 3/15/2023 at 12:23 AM, cteno4 said:

I’ve also really noticed scenery techniques is the most prominent place in the hobby where different techniques just speak to each person differently and as there is almost always a number of techniques to get to the same place it’s super important to find the ones that speak to you the best. So many times I’ve seen folks say this is the best way hands down to do a technique, but I find it doesn’t work well for me and another much better to get to the same results.

 

I really like this take Jeff, when looking at people's layouts they very often manage to portray a very personalised style when doing the scenery, almost like painting. It's nice to see how different people go about things and I'm sure I'll have to play around and see what works as you've said.

[MeTheSwede]

Looks like you're ready to start!

 

The details with regards to exact locations of buildings and exact shapes of the river and road, are easier to work out as the construction has started.

[Rev Counter]

In the last two weeks I've been pretty busy but still managed to get on with some planning and preparation in the background. The largest change to the layout design is a complete rework of the fiddle yards. While I definitely want to include these for storage space, it has always struck me as a waste having these as 'behind the scenes' elements rather than part of the layout itself. Enter Morioka Rolling Stock Depot. From what I can gather all the KiHa units that operated on the Yamada and Iwaizumi lines belonged to Morioka, so it seemed a logical step to base a more decorative fiddle yard off of this.

 

 

The thinking behind my fiddle yard design is to create effectively another small layout on two boards that can be split and attached to either end of the main boards to operate them as fiddle yards. The constraints of the room I will build the layout in will mean the fiddle yards can't be permanently fitted anyway.

 

 

 

Hopefully the above illustrations show the idea clearly enough. The next area I've focussed on is the baseboard design, as with the potential of attending exhibitions in mind I don't want the layout to be permanently attached to the wall.

 

 

 

The above photos show the available space for the main two layout boards and my plan for temporarily fixing them to the three shelf brackets by some sort of removable pins. If I were to take the layout to an exhibition the orange sections attached to the brackets could simply be swapped for trestles or legs on the layout. After a bit of tinkering in CAD I've come up with the following design for the construction of the left hand baseboard:

 

 

 

 

This can be mirrored for the right hand baseboard. With all of this sorted I feel ready to start cutting some wood! I've also ordered a Kato KiHa 110-100 and three sections of 20-471 girder bridge. Exciting stuff! It'll also mean I'll have some fun trying to DCC convert the 110 that has been described as 'unfriendly' on these forums so I guess I'll be testing my soldering skills too. I feel I'm being far too ambitious but I'm enjoying the challenge at this stage! Apologies for the lengthy post!

[DenshaTen]

Agree with the sentiment regarding undecorated fiddle yards. To me this seems like a very good solution 

[katoftw]

Instead of dividers separating the 3 modules in the corners.  Why not just make the corners mountains? The mountains creates that divide between the sections.

[Rev Counter]

18 hours ago, katoftw said:

Instead of dividers separating the 3 modules in the corners.  Why not just make the corners mountains? The mountains creates that divide between the sections.

That’s definitely a good idea katoftw, and I expect if I’m going this far to reduce the amount of non-scenic areas I’ll end up implementing something like this. Thanks!