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.