Seaton LSWR, Devon. More or less.

[KotangaGirl]

This is Seaton, - or it's Seaton station's track plan lifted from the 1889 OS map and shortened a little with a 'totally not there on the map' bridge added to hide the fiddle yard. All those trees in the backscene shouldn't be there either and there should be a gasworks visible in the corner as well. At this point LSWR enthusiasts will be thinking dark thoughts about GER enthusiasts who attempt to build LSWR layouts.
I mostly built Seaton because I needed to do something else to take a break from attempting to decide how to turn Graham's (euromodeller's) barebones 'Minories' layout into a pre-grouping Metropolitan Railway terminus. I saw a layout on the interwebs that had been built using C.J. Freezer's Seaton track plan so I decided to investigate further. I've still got some more to do yet before I call Seaton finished and once it's done I'll upload it to the DLS.
Seaton has no interactive assets because while it's built in TS2012 I know that it will end up being loaded into TANE and TS2019, - and especially with TS2019 a good few interactive assets don't work anymore. So feel free to add them if you want to when you download the layout and then it's over to you to make them work and not me.

 

[JCitron]

Nicely done like your other route, Annie!

I'm sure you'll place some trees along the backdrop. You don't need a lot of trees of course because on a model railroad trees are really expensive, the trees need to be close enough because the trees will need to cast shadows on the backdrop because that's a requirement for a model railroad.

 

[KotangaGirl]

Thanks John. I seem to be going for a clean and simple look with my TMR layouts very like the model railway layouts I used to build back in my late teens when there wasn't all the scenic goodies in the shops that folk take for granted these days. If I'd been building Seaton as a part of one of my larger 'serious' pre-grouping era projects I would have taken a very different approach and used weeds and grasses and sculpted the landscape instead of using embankment and bank splines to represent paper mache that had been painted and covered with dyed sawdust.

I'll look at seeing what trees I want to place next modelling session. And you are quite right about the shadows from trees falling on the backdrop being a part of the model railway experience. With a normal Trainz layout it would be not a desirable thing at all, but with a model Railways it's par for the course.

 

[teddytoot]

The latest Railway Modeller has an interesting take on background trees. The author took images of trees from a book and played about with them; reversing, lightening, darkening etc. and pasted them overlapping on the backscene with light ones at the back and darker ones at the front. He then added some real tree models at the front to complete the backscene. Perhaps an idea to follow up?

 

[euromodeller]

Nice work Annie, you know that there's no escape from Model Railwayz now, you are hooked!

 

[KotangaGirl]

The latest Railway Modeller has an interesting take on background trees. The author took images of trees from a book and played about with them; reversing, lightening, darkening etc. and pasted them overlapping on the backscene with light ones at the back and darker ones at the front. He then added some real tree models at the front to complete the backscene. Perhaps an idea to follow up?

That sounds like a very workable method teddytoot. I have thought about creating some backscenes so that's something for me to look at next time I'm looking for a new project. I have an on-line sub to Railway Modeller so I must look for that article.

Nice work Annie, you know that there's no escape from Model Railwayz now, you are hooked!​

Graham.

Thanks Graham. I know what you mean, - it feels like there's a voice in my head shouting, 'Resistance is useless!' Seriously though it is an interesting medium to work in and is a nice break away from doing 'serious' (no smiling allowed!) prototype based layout building.
I never made a classic BLT (Branch Line Terminus) layout when I was doing real world railway modelling and now I'm working in that format in Trainz I'm wondering why I didn't.

 

[teddytoot]

It's just a brief description in the first article on Ladycross in the July edition.

 

[KotangaGirl]

Latest screenshots from Seaton.

I tried out that sector plate from TS2004.......

And it didn't work. I remade all the track connections and it still didn't work. I think I'll go back to using a turntable like I did on Walkley Sidings.

 

[ray_whiley]

Seaton is absolutely superb. Annie, as is all your work whether it be rolling stock or virtual model railways. I'm amazed at how quickly you manage to make such an attractive scene compared with the time it takes me to do anything!

When I made tree backscenes for Trainz I used my own photographs, and when using them always place model trees in front where appropriate.

I personally always avoid anything interactive on a virtual model railway as I do not feel they are appropriate on what is intended to be a model. In fact I avoid anything moving except the trains, signals and so on, and try to use people and animals in restful poses. But that is just my preference.

I'm glad you mentioned the problem with the sector plate - I was just about to download it as it seemed so useful in a fiddle yard.

Ray

 

[ray_whiley]

I see that the PSL book is still available at £9.50. Mine cost £5.99, probably when it was first published. It is no longer a "book", more a collection of loose-leaf sheets.

I suppose it would be interesting to use a plan already been used by someone else but in a different setting - but I always feel reluctant to do this. (I don't mean by editing the other's work).

Ray

 

[KotangaGirl]

Seaton is absolutely superb. Annie, as is all your work whether it be rolling stock or virtual model railways. I'm amazed at how quickly you manage to make such an attractive scene compared with the time it takes me to do anything!

When I made tree backscenes for Trainz I used my own photographs, and when using them always place model trees in front where appropriate.

I personally always avoid anything interactive on a virtual model railway as I do not feel they are appropriate on what is intended to be a model. In fact I avoid anything moving except the trains, signals and so on, and try to use people and animals in restful poses. But that is just my preference.

I'm glad you mentioned the problem with the sector plate - I was just about to download it as it seemed so useful in a fiddle yard.

Ray

Thanks very much Ray. I spend a lot of time looking at what I've done and fiddling about adjusting things until I'm happy with them and they look how I want them to. I really like the TMR format since it allows me to try out things that I wouldn't otherwise do. Building a LSWR branchline terminus is a perfect example of that since I wouldn't want to build a whole LSWR route, but in TMR I can dip my toe in the water a little and see what I think.

I really like your backscenes and I enjoy using them. You certainly have a talent for making them.

Interactive assets are not a good fit at all for TMR in my opinion. I grew up reading John Ahern's books and they had a strong influence on me with building layouts when I was younger. I'm finding I'm approaching building a TMR layout in exactly the same way so that means interactive stuff is definitely out. If someone wants to add interactive assets after downloading one of my layouts I don't mind, but I'm not putting them in when I build a layout.

I had high hopes for that sector plate and was really disappointed when it didn't work. I ended up installing the same turntable as I used on Walkley Sidings instead since it works well as a sector plate. The only thing wrong with it is that it has a huge black base attached to it that wants to stick out of the side of a narrow TMR layout board and has to be hidden by artful rearrangements of the furniture.

I see that the PSL book is still available at £9.50. Mine cost £5.99, probably when it was first published. It is no longer a "book", more a collection of loose-leaf sheets.

I suppose it would be interesting to use a plan already been used by someone else but in a different setting - but I always feel reluctant to do this. (I don't mean by editing the other's work).

I think those old CJF plans are good for finding inspiration, but when I saw the CJF Seaton track plan I wasn't convinced by it which is why I used the station plan as shown on the 1889 OS map. Yes I did compress the station plan and make it shorter, but I think I still manged to come up with something that at least looks like Seaton.
I did look at the PSL book, but postage from the Uk seems to be a lot more expensive now so I decided against it.

 

[KotangaGirl]

More Seaton. It's getting really close to being finished now.

 

[teddytoot]

Strange Annie. I've just tried the sector plate in TRS19 using TANE 1Trk wood and a BR Class 06 and it worked perfectly every time. What track and loco did you use? If I have them I'll try them out.

 

[ray_whiley]

Thanks, John.

Annie, you don't need a CJF plan with what you have achieved! I think he acknowledged that his plan was too short for the holiday trains whih would have used Seaton.

Way back, someone dis a route based on the tramway developed from Sraton after the station closed - I had it in TRS2004.

Ray

 

[KotangaGirl]

Strange Annie. I've just tried the sector plate in TRS19 using TANE 1Trk wood and a BR Class 06 and it worked perfectly every time. What track and loco did you use? If I have them I'll try them out.

UK Bullhead- Wooden 09 <kuid2:79563:90009:3> And the loco was Camscott's LSWR G6 0-6-0T which is freeware on his website. https://darlington-works.weebly.com/freeware.html

I made a couple of attempts at re-doing the track connections and they failed every time. I thought it really strange too John.

 

[KotangaGirl]

Annie, you don't need a CJF plan with what you have achieved! I think he acknowledged that his plan was too short for the holiday trains which would have used Seaton.

Way back, someone dis a route based on the tramway developed from Sraton after the station closed - I had it in TRS2004.

Ray

That's very kind of you Ray. I suppose CJF's plans are useful where they have been based on a prototype location because they send me off searching for the location on OS maps. The 25 inch to the mile OS maps are the most useful and the maps published in the 19th century are very good and show the most detail.

After WW1 the platform at Seaton was lengthened, both the 1889 and 1903 OS map show it as being shorter which is the length I represented on the layout. When I was trying to find out about Seaton I kept coming across references to the tramway which had me confused a little and now I understand what's going on. The tramway came after the station closed (sound of a penny dropping).

 

[Vern]

Really nice work Annie, goes to prove that short and simple is best. There's me with furrowed brow pondering multiple track and multiple level layouts, cursing the tunnel system and maybe it's time to go back to basics.

I remember years ago helping a work colleague with his model railway at a local exhibition - it was a small through station with fiddle yard either end, called Mansfield Park (after Jane Austen!) and while initially I was skeptical at not having a continuous run, it was actually quite fun to operate.

 

[KotangaGirl]

Thanks Vern. I built up a 40 odd mile long GER Norfolk route that I really like and wouldn't part with, but having on a whim decided to tryout building traditional BLT layouts in TMR I have to say I'm having a lot of fun with the format. Sometimes small and simple is best and as someone who likes shunting working a basic timetable at a small county terminus can get to be quite absorbing especially when there's the odd quirk with the track layout.

I still have a few odd things I need to finish with Seaton before I upload it, but it won't be too much longer.

 

[ray_whiley]

It seems that at its height, in the holiday season Seaton's platform could accommodate trains of ten coaches - I can see why the published plan was shortened to three coaches! I presume this was before the actual platform was shortened.

After the station closed in 1966, Claude Lane brought his one half or two thirds trams from Eastbourne and opened the 2' 9" gauge tramway to Colyton. Most of the fourteen trams were built by Mr. Lane.

I had some fun adding more scenery to the TRS2004 depiction - one of my first route downloads.

Ray

 

[teddytoot]

Well Annie I have tried your setup in both TANE (build 105930) and TRS2019 (build 105096) and both work perfectly with no problems whatsoever. Perhaps try re downloading the sector plate to see if that helps.