Fleshing it out

Here's the layout plan with a bit more detail and colour. Although most of the detail is still pretty speculative, I'm gradually starting to build up a picture of how I want the layout to look, what should go where, etc.

A couple of weekends ago I did a bit of work on the baseboards, fitting C&L alignment dowels and bolts to join the two baseboards and make provision for the fiddle yard at one end. Those alignment dowels are a real pain to get right... no matter how carefully I lined everything up and marked it out, it still took me 3 or 4 attempts to get the dowels screwed in so they were perfectly aligned and so that the baseboards actually fitted together!

Next job is to get the remaining bits of woodwork done - backdrop and fascia - so I can move on to actually building the layout at last....

Layout plan 6,583,272...

I printed out the latest track plan at full scale this evening and laid it out on the living room floor to have a look at it properly. Almost immediately it was obvious that it didn't work for several reasons so I went back to the drawing board, and here's the revised (well ok, totally new!) plan...


The platform would be at the back right, the main goods yard to the front, with a (optional) short siding off the platform approach road - a loading dock (or former site of) maybe?

I've taken out the loop return; moving this 'off-stage' means there's a bit more real-estate available for the goods yard.

All but one of the turnouts are C8, which is generous for a layout of this size, but I think it'll look a lot better than trying to use tight radii. I've also introduced a gentle curve to the tracks on the left baseboard, resulting in the platform being at a slight angle to the baseboard edges, to provide a little relief from the otherwise very linear plan.

Great Central Railway photos

I've added a few photos to Flickr taken on a flying visit to Quorn & Woodhouse station on the Great Central Railway yesterday.

Layout plan 6,583,271....

Following on from my last post, I've been playing around over the past week or so with various track plans to fit onto the two existing baseboards I've already built (7'6" x 18"). I seem to lack the ability to come up with somethng truly original, especially when working with such tight constraints, so have been looking at other small layout plans for some inspiration. However, I won't disclose the origins of the plan above - answers on a postcard....!

I agree with Iain Rice and Barry Norman, both of whom frown on the idea of producing a track plan in isolation from the bigger picture, so forgive me for only showing you the track plan, screengrabbed straight from Templot. The concept involves a fiddle yard at the left hand end, with a single platform terminus occupying most of the length of the second (slightly longer) baseboard. I realise trying to cram a terminus into such a tiny space may be stretching the bounds of incredulity somewhat, but I'm using a little artistic license, ok?! There are then 3 sidings for various goods facilities, which could include a small coal yard, maybe a warehouse or private industrial facility...

I envisage a small, sleepy village with the railway nearing the end of it's working life. Maybe the line could have once continued beyond the station but since been closed. It's always useful to have a cover story for an incongrous situation!

Maybe I'm being a bit over-optimistic as to how much I can realistically fit into the space without it looking silly, so the next step I think is to print out a full scale track plan to lay out on the floor and ponder over...

Stock take

If you've been following this blog for any length of time (that'll be about 3 people then, judging by the number of comments I get on here!!) you'll have realised by now that I'm not the most decisive of people, and that I'm not very quick at getting round to doing thing! (Perhaps the two are related - the more procrastination the more time there is for changing your mind!)

So where am I exactly with this grand scheme to build a model railway? It's getting on for 18 months since I started this blog, and even then the idea of constructing a layout had been simmering away for a few months. As of this moment in time, what I have to show for all this time is, well...

• a box of RTR locos and rolling stock
• a handheld Gaugemaster controller
• a small collection of kit-built wagons in various stages of completion
• a token length of ballasted and weathered track (on which the collection of wagons currently resides)
• an almost-complete scratchbuilt weighbridge office
• dozens of track plans and layout designs
• a growing library of railway magazines and books covering both prototype and modelling)

...and probably enough tools, paints, glues, solders, unbuilt kits, scenic materials, model components, track, and goodness knows what else to stock a small shop!!

Oh yes, and 2 baseboards which I made around Christmas time and then have done nothing with since - largely down to the fact that I decided they were too small.

Well, with a recent reappraisal of our financial situation it has become obvious that I really should stop simply stock-piling and start to make use of what I already have. And those baseboards might just come in handy after all... if I can come up with a layout plan that would fit and would satisfy those elusive layout criteria.

To add to the confusion, I've found myself increasingly drawn to the idea of modelling the blue diesel era, having drawn considerable inspiration recently from layouts like Wibdenshaw, Oldshaw, Canada Road and so on. Realistically, right now at least, I can't really afford to be buying more stuff so I'm going to have to stick with what I've got - BR(WR) steam.

Anyway, enough talking....