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Layouts
Using Sector Plates
| A popular space-saving device is
the sector plate -- a track or tracks mounted on a board that is pivoted at one end
so it can match up with several approaching tracks. Here are some micro layouts that
take advantage of this clever device to provide excellent operating capability. |
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Jack Trollope's design for the HO/OO Lesana Yard
(it's 35 inches long) represents part of a busy switching yard. The left half of
the yard is "offstage", where a sector plate serves the tracks of the runaround
loop--invisibly acting as part of the operating pattern. Jack's ingenious idea to
use a mini-plug (from the stereo store) as the pivot and current carrier for the
sector plate is described at the top of the plan.
Notice also that the plate is pivoted, not at the
end but slightly off center, allowing some of its length to project beyond the actual
boundary of the layout during operations. This space-saving dodge could be used in
many other plans as well!
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Box Street Yard -- a Modern Classic
Jack Trollope used the same "trick" of pivoting
the sector plate near its middle in his now-classic Box Street Yard layout.
Running modern image U.S. trains, Box Street uses a minimum of turnouts (total of
two!) and a maximum of ingenuity to provide a convincing industrial district with
plenty of switching or shunting opportunities.
Jack uses the sector plate to complete the runaround siding (loop) thus achieving
excellent access to spur tracks running in both directions. These under-construction
photos show that this compact yard looks as good in layout form as it does on paper!
Jack revealed the story behind the layout (and its name) like this: "It was
designed in response to a 'friend' who gave me a small wooden box and said "Put
a layout in that, then!" (Yes, we do still speak!) The sector plate is similar
to that on Lesana Yard. The layout is 8" wide, and the backscene (which is 8"
high in two pieces) unscrews and packs into the same box." |
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It isn't often that I encounter a truly new idea
in model railroading, but Emrys Hopkins has come up with one! It's the amazing 3D
Sector Plate, featured in this layout, the Aardvark Never Killed Anyone Tramway.
More of a demonstration design than an actual working layout, the ANKAT line is suitable
for Gn15, 1n20, On30, Sn42, and HO scales. It features operations on three separate
levels, all joined by the Vertical Sector Plate. And here are the details of the
plate design.
Emrys raises several key points about constructing
the 3D Sector Plate:
1. The longer the sleeve around the rod, the better the stability of the plate.
2. It's much easier to use the plate if the tracks get progressively lower as they
approach the operator.
3.. Be sure to allow space for the blocks on which the plate rests when you are designing
the angle at which the next level will leave the plate. This design factor limits
the number of separate levels that can be accommodated.
We'll be very interested to see and publish photos of the first successful 3D Sector
Plate installation. And the Gallery welcomes further micro layout plans using this
innovative device!
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Emrys Hopkins, his imagination in high gear, has
dreamed up two exciting industrial shelf layouts, one a variation on the other.
The first plan, Aytobeigh Industries puts me in mind of Dorothy Parker's wonderful
newspaper review of a famous Hollywood actress's first attempt at a Broadway play.
After opening night she wrote, "Miss X ran the gamut of emotions from A to B."
By way of contrast, in a 48"x12" (120x30 cm) space using 16.5mm gauge,
Emrys has concocted an industrial switching/shunting area, a marshalling yard , and
a large engine depot with plenty of storage and workshop space. An impressive feat!
This hard-working little layout can be built in scales ranging from Gn15, 1n20, and
On30, to standard gauge OO and HO, as well as (by narrowing the gauge) On2, HOn30,
HOn3, and HOn2 -- and perhaps others. If there ever were a layout that was too modestly
named, this is it!
Responding to my comment that I was uncomfortable with headshunts
(switching leads) that led over turntables, Emrys produced this variation on the
same theme, Wyter's Ed. Supplies. (For Americans who may not know, the British
pronounce the letter Z as "zed," rather than pronouncing it properly to
rhyme with B, C, D, E and others.)
Notice that in both plans, this layout has one of
the most ingenious runaround arrangements I've ever seen ... one end is a turntable,
and the other is a sector plate!
For more of Emrys Hopkins's work, search his name in this site's Index or go to his
website.
Or do both!
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Terry Allen's switching layout, "Titchfield,"
has been seen on the English exhibition circuit. Terry has very kindly allowed me
to "squeeze" his design down into a micro layout size, presented here as
Lesser Titchfield. Differences from the original 54"x15" (137x38
cm) layout are mainly the substitution of a three-way turnout for two lefthand turnouts
(to save length) and the loss of some valuable scenery space. The operating pattern
is identical to the original which can be seen at Terry's website
and continued here.
This "shrunken" micro version is designed to fit on a standard 110x26x5
cm (43"x10"x2") IKEA shelf unit,
from their LACK range. The shelf comes with invisible self-mounting hardware (no
brackets!), so the railroad will seem to float in front of the wall wherever you
want it. Recommended mounting height is chest high on the owner. For exhibitions,
the shelf is simply taken down, carried under an arm to the hall, and placed on a
standard table.
The sector plate is concealed within a warehouse shell and is accessible from the
rear. The station building, platform and signal box will have to be background flats
or very-low-relief sttructures in this micro layout version.
The pictures below show the flavor of this well-done layout. Terry points out that
the rolling stock involved is minimal. A full schedule can be run with one loco,
one small 4 or 6 wheeled coach, one brake van (caboose), and a small collection of
wagons (short, 4-wheeled freight cars).
 
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How to Shrink a Micro
 It isn't often that I come across an example
of shrinking a micro design to even smaller dimensions--but here's a good one!
Jack Trollope's Box Street Yard plan has become a modern classic design. It uses a minimum
number of turnouts (two) to create a convincing industrial district with plenty of
switching or shunting opportunities in an area of only 66"x8" (in HO or
OO).
Originally designed to fit into a small, wooden gift box, the plan has become popular
around the world among micro layout builders.
Now Jeff Hartmann, from Long Beach, California, has found a way to shrink the Box
Street Yard plan down to 36"x12"! Boxer Shortline preserves the
switching freedom of the original line and finds a space-saving geometry besides.
In both plans, the hidden sector plate is the "secret weapon" that makes
the plan work and allows maximum operations in a bare minimum of space. As shown,
the little road is surrounded by industrial buildings, representing the heart of
an inner-city switching district. Naturally, many other scenery plans are possible.
This is a standard-gauge HO/OO railway using Peco turnouts ... but you will probably
need very small locomotives and short, four-wheeled industrial type cars. There's
a photo of Jeff's 36"x9" mockup
in the Small Layout Scrapbook section of this site ... he plans to use old-time U.S.
rolling stock (which was relatively short) to save space.
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Rub Down Your Raptor, Sir?
Jeff Semprebon, from New Hampshire, has come up
with a new way to hide a sector plate -- he wants to build dinosaur pens atop it
as part of a "Jurassic Park" style setting, with a twist. Presenting Mesozoic
Park - Maintenance Compound A!
Jeff describes it like this: "I had long thought of a Jurassic Park type railway,
with trains rather than Ford Explorers to carry the tourists along. Looking through
the Micro Layout Design Gallery, it occurred to me that a maintenance area with some
holding pens would provide a much more interesting setting than the actual tour line.
"Hence, this area combines a couple of veterinary pens where Park dinosaurs
are held if sick, along with maintenance/storage tracks for switching various cars
needed to bring in supplies from the dock and to make repairs to keep the park operating.
An open area could be used for a holding pen for additional small dinosaurs on their
way into the park from 'Site B'.
"This plan is adapted from Jack Trollope's Lesana Yard, hiding
the sector plate under a couple of raised pens for smaller dinosaurs. The larger
pen is sized for a Tamiya 1:35 triceratops or similarly sized creature. Supplies
are brought up at front left from the dock, with the engine pushing the car(s) to
prevent runaways on the offstage slope. The shed serves to store supplies, perhaps
haybales for the park's herbivores, and cassettes could be employed here to allow
some additional switching opportunities.
"This scheme could also be used in Gn15 for a more conventional zoo, or in O
scale with the British Natural History Museum series of 1:45 scale dinosaurs. In
addition to the usual supply and MOW equipment, the railway might feature tourist
coaches in for service, short metal stock cars for carrying smaller dinosaurs (and
food for the larger carnivores?), and rack cars (shortened versions of SR&RL
pulpwood racks) to carry haybales to the herbivore paddocks."
Great idea for a busy small railway, and a super way to involve children of "that
certain age" in the layout!
Continue
to Page 2 of "Layouts Using Sector Plates"
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