Good train and goods yards

Isaac's latest track was a bit of challenge to fit into one photo as it stretches right across the living room. There are two ends joined by an isthmus of track containing a couple of bridges. Interestingly the viaduct didn't make an appearance today.

Looking at the layout one end of it has certainly received more thought than the other. As I have said before Isaac is not keen on loops that once on have no exit except by reversing. But he seems to have been content to allow one to pass here. The building in the loop is a knight's castle and dragon. At the other end is a spectacular tour de force of sidings, Isaac, assisted by mummy, creating a goods yard and this was for one reason.

For the sharp eyed regular readers you may have noticed a new train. Isaac got a supplies train today in the post and both he and his brother were very excited by this. It's certainly well made and each element has something extra. Two of the trucks can be tipped and unloaded, a third rotates and the engine has a bogie. It had a nice weight to it as well. I can see that this will be coming out quite often.

It's intriguing that today's new arrival has reversed the normal cycle of Isaac's building. Often, he'll spend hours putting together a layout and then only playing in short bursts. It's like the construction is more fun than the play. But here it feels like the layout was rushed so that Isaac would have something to play with his new train on.

If you go down to the woods today

 Isaac and his brother co-created today's layout. It started with a fairly basic loop around the seven arched viaduct (this is definitely the most popular track piece at the moment). I thought we were going to get another simple layout and then at the last piece Isaac put in the points.

Even at this stage I thought it would just be a siding and I suppose looking at it in it's purest form that's just what it is. But, oh what a siding.

The loop back followed by the hump back bridge was the clue something bigger was planned. The next set of points allow it split into two branches. One for the engine shed and one for the repair shed. Interestingly to reach the engine shed you have to cross the points and then double back. Given that there is a lot of Y points available I'm not sure why this configuration was chosen. The turntable was added to give access to rolling-stock stock sidings.

I have to say I zoned out a little on what was going on at this point. I came back into a heated debate about the height of a 'cave'. Isaac was building a small tower near the viaduct. His brother was of the opinion that it shouldn't be that high. Eventually gravity won due to a carpet not being the best foundation for a tower. This borne out by the fact that not one major skyscraper in the last 75 years has been built on a foundation of either loop or shag pile. So Isaac's brother won the argument and the cave was dully built as low rise and occupied by a black bear. I have a feeling the wooden shape was supposed to be a sheep, but it is rather bear like.

Finally with some left over pieces Isaac and his brother constructed a small loop and siding that were completely detached form the rest of the layout. It's the thing that looks like a speech bubble. This is mummy and daddy's track. Presumably to keep us out of harms way in case we want to play trains too.

Conform or innovate

Isaac is still working round the battery train issues and while he's doing this he is building quite simple layouts. This one was a loop with three sidings. One for the repair shed, one for the engine shed and a siding for rolling stock.

He added a further siding to accommodate the battery train as it wouldn't fit the engine shed. I did like the way that the final siding looped under the viaduct. I think Isaac is enjoying the new viaduct for the options it gives him in terms of which arch to use.

This layout survived for a couple of days. But he dismantled it this morning and called for me to see what he'd built in its place. For the first time he had ventured out of the living room with a track. There was a long liner track that went from the living room, through the kitchen and was on it's way to the dining area. He was very pleased with this development. Sadly the practicalities of having a track the follows one of the main walk ways in the house was soon apparent and it became a bit of five minute flash in the pan. Hence why there are no photos.

Looking at the latter layout I wonder if Isaac was trying to work out how to have an innovative layout that had very few curves and sidings.

Simple and ordered, but is that good?

Isaac's  new track is a departure from his normal abandon in joining up pieces until he gets a layout he likes. By his standards it is quiet stayed. It's a classic case of having to adapt his style to accommodate a new element. That element being a battery operated train. There was a false start on this development as Isaac and his brother got one of these trains for Christmas, but it died only a couple of days later. The sounds all worked, but the motor didn't. We thought it was the batteries and tried replacing them, but the problem was still there. This is the second attempt a electrification, which came out of Isaac's brother's birthday.

Being relatively new to the world of wooden railways I thought I'd do a little research and found that opinion is sharply divided over these electric trains. On one hand is the school of thought that goes toys are becoming more hi-tech and to keep children's interest and secure a future of wooden railways it needs to adapt. The other  says  that the purpose of wooden trains is develop manual dexterity in children by pushing the trains around and this doesn't happen when the train is self propelled.

Having watched Isaac adapting to the electric train I have some thoughts. Isaac had to simplify his layout because the train dis not work well on tight or twisting curves. Often it became jammed and sometimes fell off the track. Points were a real issue and had to be set against the run of the trains as it would randomly choose its direction. Often the the locomotive would choose a different direction to the carriage at points. The train is also heavy because of the batteries and motor and it struggled up slid down inclines. And talking of batteries a complete change will set us back £11.27 (a major brand from a well known supermarket).

I have to say I'm coming down on the side of the traditionalists on this one. Any advance that forces out the creativity of a child is probably not an advance at all. I sound very ungrateful here to the enormous generosity of the gift giver and that's not my intention, if I had to be cross with anyone it would be the manufacturers for selling out on the great core proposition that wooden railways are. If you have any thoughts on this I'd love to hear them in the comments.

Having had my say I'll get back to the track.  I's a pretty straight forward circuit with three branches. A siding for rolling stock, the engine shed and repair shed. The repair shed was an after thought, mainly because the new train won't fit in the engine shed, and Isaac neatly added it into the track with a deft shoulder in the loop. The figures lined up in two neat rows are school children waiting to board the trains with their teacher at the front. Isaac clearly has little experience with ordering school children going on a excursion! Though close inspection of the pupils does reveal some who are already holding down employment and others who are of a pensionable age.

Giving it all we've got (almost)

It's nice to be right once and a while. The New Heights track did remain up overnight and Isaac busied himself extending it in the morning.

He started by putting in the lifting bridge and this set the direction of the build. The suspension bridge was added to make it over the other side of the loop. To start the the new loop Isaac extended out the siding that had the repair shed on it. I was expecting that he'd aim to join the other side of the loop back on somewhere near the tunnel. making a layout of twin loops with a share track on one side.

But Isaac had other ideas and put the siding in on the loop that went under the new viaduct. At the same time he put the turntable back in and added a couple of sidings for rolling stock to be kept. This is one of those rare occasions where the turntable is used in more conventional way. The sidings and position of the new points led to a lack of straights to complete the layout. Rather than compromising the plan Isaac turned to me for help. I suggested using his hump back bridge and level crossing on one of the original loops to free up some of the straights.

Once all this had been done there were very few pieces left in the track boxes. I suppose with some more planning even they could have been integrated.

I have to say the layout is a really pleasing one if you're looking for a long journey on a train before getting back to where you started from. It is possible to do a route that involves a circuit of all three circuits before you get back to square one.

As an aside, Isaac and I worked out a solution to one of those problems that had been vexing him for a sometime. Namely the issue that the red suspension bridge did not have enough clearance for his Thomas trains. The solution was two piece of Lego under the towers raising it by just enough so Thomas could pass by smoothly.

New heights

Isaac's brother had a birthday and got a present of a viaduct and some points from his great aunt and uncle. Apparently the idea for what to get him partly came through viewing this blog and seeing some of the layouts.

Whilst his brother was distracted with cake and other presents Isaac set to work creating this layout. The centre piece was definitely the viaduct with the points added at either end. The engine shed and repair shed were added as destinations for one side of each of the points and then the others were joined in a simple loop.

About half an hour later Isaac felt that the viaduct was serving little purpose so he added a second loop that went under the arches. It took a couple of attempts to get this right as the placement of the points and the subsequent curves within the tight confines of the first loop were difficult to negotiate. One of the arches formed a tight squeeze for the engine and its carriage. As it passed through it reminded me of the clearance on the tunnel on the old Crab and Winkle line in Whitstable.

By the end of the afternoon's play it was clear that each of the arches had a dedicated purpose. The other one being for people, the tall middle on of buses and lorries, while the remaining two (other than those for rail traffic) were for cars.

The layout is still up as I write and I'm expecting some development of it for tomorrow. I'm secretly hoping all the bridges might come out because I think that could lead to a visually stunning layout.

Criss cross and car parks

I came in from work to be presented with this thrilling layout. Why run parallel lines when you can have a weaving layout. I wouldn't like to be the signal operator in charge of this route or on either the up train or the down train when they had to pass.

Isaac's brother was having a car day and it was nice to see that they had decided to cooperate with their games. Isaac had built his brother access to a car park. Where presumably passengers could catch a train from the nearby station (the green building blocks).

I'm not sure the destination of the engine shed might be what the passengers had in mind, but following any journey on this line you will end up there.

The layout stayed up overnight and Isaac modified it the next morning, but sadly it didn't stay up long enough to be photographed. In essence Isaac wanted to extend the layout and go under the bridge, but he'd run out of points. So he removed the points at the head of the small siding inside the end circuit and added them into the layout near the Y points by the bridge. This then looped all the way back, under the bridge, to the points near the level crossing. The remaining points, by the car park, then became the siding. As well as extending the track it gave the trains a route that didn't always end at the shed. A bonus in my books.

More motorway than railway

Isaac dumped the buildings for his latest layout and reinstated the bridges, which have been absent for the last few days. He also made full use of all the points at his disposal. This was one of those layouts that made me wish I was an inch high and could ride it because it looked like a lot of fun.

Isaac has been experimenting a couple of weeks back with a long viaduct. I don't seem to have any photos of it because it only lasted a couple of hours (if I find some I'll add it to this post). He discovered that three Duplo bricks piled up made a perfect hight pier to support the track sections. The problem is that the track moves on the Duplo because there is little friction holding it there. In this layout he returned to the idea, but only for one pier, allowing Isaac to form a fairly long bridge.

The most striking element of this layout is the cloverleaf design at the bottom of the ramp. It is highly fictional allowing trains to direct themselves onto the correct track element with ease and without having to reverse. The only odd element is the turntable, which Isaac still prefers over the cross piece despite its limitations.

Another element that reminded me more of a motorway than a railway was the track running parallel to the bridge. I don't think the photos really do it justice.

Passing loops, sidings and debates

Isaac started this layout off in a similar way to yesterday's 'elaborate' layout. He began with the repair shed and added the Y points. But on the second entrance he added a set of points and then made a passing loop form them. If you remember back to the 'It's a family affair' layout it was mum who came up with the idea, but Isaac never really took it up. Until now. Which just goes to show that a child might show no signs of taking ideas on board, but they're always listening and watching.


Isaac built on the idea of a running loop, that he used yesterday, and extended that out into quite a orderly, by his standards, rectangular loop. The addition of the engine shed on a short siding and the level crossing were the final touches Isaac added to the layout.


About half an hour later Isaac had gone off somewhere and his brother came and added in the turntable and two sidings. Isaac's return prompted a "loud and lively discussion" on the merits and desirability of this addition to the layout. Eventually after being offered an option to go away and calm down Isaac accepted the appendix to his work - reluctantly. Later however he seemed to be happy playing with the sidings. Again a lesson to us all about taking time to try out changes that might not be out idea before dismissing them.

"Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts." Arnold Bennett

Please could you elaborate

After yesterday's issues with non cooperation Isaac and his brother seem to have patched up their artistic differences. Isaac started by building a fairly compact layout with loops that interconnected through the turntable.

What was particularly intriguing was that he was experimenting with the Y points again. Instead of directly running them into the repair shed he used it to provide one route into the shed and the other branch to be  a continuation of one of his loops. To reach the other bay of the repair shed he created a separate line in.

The engine shed was used in a more conventional manner apart from the bridge that needed to be negotiated to get in.

This layout persisted for an hour or two until Isaac's brother wanted to play as well. With a bit of negotiating a new loop was added for Isaac's brother. As the turntable was deemed the best way of accessing this new loop Isaac placed the cross over piece in his side of the layout. This meant that Isaac had an interesting arrangement where a train starting from bay 2 of the repair yard would follow the route round that either led it to bay 1 or all the way back to bay 2.

Another thing I asked Isaac about was why his tunnel was blocked up later in the day. He explained that the steam trains had got it dirty so his men has washed it down and now they were waiting for it to dry before trains could pass through again.

Go your own way

Isaac doesn't have the monopoly on the track ownership. Many of the elements belong equally to his brother. When they choose to play with railway at the same time they mostly muddle their way through and create a joint layout. Occasionally artistic differences get the better of them. This usually results in a spectacular falling out and they decide to work separately.

In this case Isaac's layout is on the left and his brother's on the right. The lifting bridge is back in favour as I finally found a way of fixing the issue with the hardboard support breaking off: I glued the ramp directly to the bridge. Isaac's layout it quite simple and I think this reflects the fact that to get the tunnel, buffer and bridge he let his brother have the lion's share of the track in exchange

His brother's track is interesting because it contains two loops that you can get on, but not off (unless you reverse). Isaac doesn't really like this kind of thing and so would normally work to make sure that loops have an exit and entrance.

What is also noticeable is that neither of them choose to use the engine shed or repair shed, which have become part of most layouts since Christmas. I'm not sure why, maybe the high emotions meant they decided not to escalate matters by bringing more coveted items into play.

A little experimentation

I'm spectacularly behind on my posts at the moment. I have about four to get up and each day a new layout appears. I wondered if I would even put up this one as it wasn't really a full layout. I think Isaac was experimenting with some of his new track and buildings and just trying some ideas. It's interesting seeing some of things he did in this track come to fruition in some of the layouts that I'll post in the coming days.

The reason I think of this as experimental is that Isaac didn't complete the layout, which is really unusual for him. Normally to leave bridge with no down ramp would cause him some concern and he wouldn't play with the track until it was complete. Also it is quite a simple layout with no loops in it at all. It's really about getting trains on a liner track from A to B, then B to C, C to D etc...

One for Auntie

While mummy and daddy were busy with the new arrival one of Isaac's aunties came over to look after him and his brother. Isaac in his generous way felt that he ought to build his auntie a railway track and this was the result.

What is interesting on this layout is that Isaac has taken the track Y points that came with his engine shed and  maintenance shed and used them in a novel way. The Y points were made so a single track to the shed could serve the two bays, but Isaac has turned one round so trains can either return to the main line or to a siding. For the other bay the Y point has a more conventional layout, but the second route is the continuation of the main line.

Another thing to note is that once out on the main track all routes will always lead you back to the shed, unless you use the timetable. This was a simple layout, quite small by Isaac's standards, but often his small layouts are where he experiments before moving tried and tested idea out to a larger layout.

Loops and bridges

I always said to myself that this blog would only be written when Isaac created. For a few days Isaac has been content to play with other toys and leave his track packed away. But my patience was rewarded by this fabulous creation.

Isaac started off with the turntable and the repair shed. He then built the loop that ran straight out from the repair shed looped back on itself through the tunnel and over the two bridges ending in the engine shed. Even Isaac commented this was a long way for a sleep. He then realised the other axis of the turntable had no track an built a straight line out of either side. The need to join these up resulted in the rather wonderful and compact lines at the centre of this layout.

This is the first time the lifting bridge has been used for a while. That is mainly because it has been in for repairs for the umpteenth time. It relies on two small pieces of hardboard to support the slopped tracks where the connect with the bridge. The hardboard seems to break off rather easily necessitating a dab of glue. The bridge had just come back, however close inspection will show a block being used to support one slope because yet again the hardboard broke. Some times Bigjigs quality is let down by little material weaknesses such as this or the crossing gates that sheer off with use.

I digress, back to the layout. Meanwhile Isaac's brother had been playing with a few pieces making sidings. There was a little collaboration and this became a completely separate loop. Finally it was decided to join the two tracks. Though the two tracks don't allow trains to move between them I think the intricacy of the way they weave in and put of each other quite brilliant. The remaining track was then used for a couple of sidings.

There is something very satisfying about this layout that I can't quite pin down.