The Original Layout;
The Ringbalin Light Railway consists of two layouts the "Mainline" and the "Cane Line" that operate independently of each other but do connect via an interchange line.
The layouts are freelance, i.e. follows no
“prototype”, the railways only exist in the Kepnock Valley which
geographically occupies a part of my
backyard and a portion of my imagination.
Track Plans of the layouts evolution can be viewed on the Track Plans page.
The first layout, the "Mainline", is an elevated dual level Large
Scale/G/Garden railway with trains running on 45mm, Code 332 track.
It is a small scale operation with a few older steam engines and some small industrial diesel engines.
It mostly hauls raw sugar collected from a sugar mill via an interchange track plus a little timber and some
freight, there is a passenger service for the town folk and a railcar service
for the workers at the mill.
It has 2 levels which run across the "Back Fence"
of the garden around the "Corner" formed by the intersection of the "Back Fence" and down the
"Side Fence" (which runs the full length of the house block, but only
a small part is used).
The upper level track then descends to the lower level with
an overall grade of 4% which consists partiality of a 14 Foot long curved
trestle bridge.
Once the 2 tracks are on the same level the line crosses a lift up bridge which allows access to the inside of the loop where there is a landscaped seating area around a firepit.
The lines then passes across a free standing table type area
900mm above the ground, it is here that there is a crossover formed by 4 LGB
points so that trains can move from one loop to the other in both directions.
Both track loops then pass through an area, where there is a station and shunting sidings.
The upper track then ascends back up to the upper level via curved track, that crosses a bridge part way up, while the lower loop continues across the front of the shed on benchwork. It is here that there are two sets of points back to back that connect the interchange track from the Cane Line to the Mainline.
The second layout, the "Cane Line", is a single level Large
Scale/G/Garden railway with trains running on 45mm, Code 250 track; it has as it's centrepiece, a sugar mill precinct and there is a line that runs out to the "Farms".
At the end "farms" run there is a loop that has a Y point that has no
centering and uses a loco pushing through the blade to change it.
The way that works is a train enters on the LH leg and exits on the
RH leg changing the point as it passes through; the next train enters on the RH leg and
exits on the LH leg and so on, each alternate train travels around the
loop in opposite directions.
The mill layout is a stand alone with an interchange line that connects it to the mainline layout.
So I can have a train running around the farms loop, do some shunting inside the mill precinct and a train on the interchange collecting the bulk sugar and have trains running out on the mainline as well. This should provide some operating opportunities.
In real life cane lines and the mainlines never connect to each other because of the different guages, Cane 2ft; Main (in Queensland Aust) 3ft 6 inches, the mainlines do run spurs into the mills to load the bulk raw sugar this is the logic behind the plan.
There are another pair of points that will take a planned line running into the shed with storage tracks under a HO layout Ringbalin Light Railway HO Division located inside my shed.
The Reconfigured Layout;
With the demise of the “HO Division” Ringbalin Light Railway HO division I decided to reconfigure the layout and make it “point to point’ instead of a pair of loops. This will give me more shunting and running options than just trains chasing their tails which become rather boring.
I started by dismantling the :HO division” which left a high shelf that will be turned into a yard area I then moved on to dismantling the ends of the loops nearest the shed with a plan to run the line in and out of the shed in mind.
The high shelf will be designated “ The Top Yard” and the line will run from there out through the right door and connect to what is left of the “Upper Level” outside and run toward the high trestle, down the hill, across the lift up bridge over the level that crosses the garden and enter the shed via the left door.
It will run under the “Top Yard” in the shed at the same level and exit again via the right door linking up with what is left of the “Lower Loop” where it will continue over the low trestle, around the end of the loop, across the lift up bridge over the level that crosses the garden before entering the shed via the left door.
Once it enters the shed for the second time it will split to become the “Lower Yard” on some lower shelves which will have storage under them.
There will be run around tracks in both yards with a turntable at the end of the “Top Yard” and either another turntable or a Wye reversing track at the end of the “Bottom Yard”
The crossover formed by 4 LGB points that allow trains to move from one line to the other in both directions will be retained so that a train can take a “shortcut” into the “Bottom Yard” this will allow trains to overtake one another.
The idea of an interchange line that connects the “Cane Line” to the mainline of the layout has been abandoned with the sugar mill and its associated Ethanol plant being now being connected by a theoretical underground conveyor system and pipe to a loading siding off the mainline. This negates the necessity to have a lift up bridge to conduct shunting between the “Main” layout and the “Cane Line”.
