Follow Line To Nowhere on Twitter!

For those already using it (and those who aren't but might be interested), you can now follow me on Twitter!

Actually, I already have another Twitter account which I post to fairly frequently on other topics but decided to set up a separate account for railway-related stuff to save boring the majority of my friends and work colleagues! Of course, whether anyone else with this line of interest is using Twitter is another question, but someone's got to be the first...!

I've set up a feed (using twitterfeed.com) which should automatically post the title of each new blog entry to my Twitter account with a link to the full blog entry. I expect I'll also use it for general railway-related banter as well, although that's partly dependant on whether anyone actually follows me! If no-one is following me after a bit then I might take the hint!!

Christmas goodies!

Courtesy of eBay and some serious pre-yuletide bidding, Santa had a particularly delectable sack of goodies for me this Christmas...

• About 30 back-issues of Model Railway Journal, taking my collection to about 150 - less than 40 to go till I have the full set now!
• MRJ Compeniums 1 and 2 - already got no.3 so that's a wrap!
• "An Illustrated History of Great Western Railway Engine Sheds - London Division" by Chris Hawkins & George Reeve (Wild Swan Publications, 1987) - 378 pages of the most fascinating photos, diagrams, track plans, architectural drawings, charts, tables and ephemera the Great Western devotee could ever dream of, not to mention an incredibly detailed and well researched historical account of the construction, development and day-to-day workings of 20 of the GW's London Division sheds, all up to the usual high quality standards you expect from Wild Swan! Instantly my favourite railway book!
  
• "A Pictorial Record of Great Western Absorbed Engines" by J.H.Russell (Oxford Publishing Company, 1978) - to complement my copy of "A pictorial record of Great Western engines" (combined) by the same author. A fascinating record of all sorts of obscure and unusual pre-grouping locomotives assimilated into GW ownership.
  
• "A Pictorial Record of Great Western Wagons" by J.H.Russell (Oxford Publishing Company, 1971) - more J.H.Russell to sit alongside my copy of "Freight wagons and loads in service on the Great Western Railway". Presumably about as interesting as watching paint dry to the non-railway person but totally absorbing to anyone with a fascination for railway history and rolling stock!
  
• "The Golden Valley Railway" by W.H.Smith (Wild Swan Publications, 1993) - a delightful study of a quiet, rural railway backwater in Herefordshire and another Wild Swan classic.

I should have enough reading material there to keep me going till at least next Christmas!!! And that's not to mention the new camera tripod, which will no doubt require an outing to the Great Central Railway in the not too distant future - isn't the winter steam gala coming up soon?....

Coming up with prototypical reasons for short sidings!

Looking at the front sidings in situ, they're awfully short! Fairly inevitable given the size of the layout as a whole of course, but it's got me wondering whether it might look less, well, "contrived", if instead of simply being plain old sidings terminating in buffer stops they disappeared into some sort of buildings / sheds at the end.

Trying to justify the existence, from a prototypical point of view, of two sidings that only hold 5 or 6 wagons, is difficult unless there is some specific reason for their being there and being as short as they are.


An alternative solution might be the crumbling remains of a loading dock, maybe with the old hand-operated crane still in situ.

Final final final plan!!

The front sidings are now almost laid, believe it or not! (It's a good job I'm not trying to build Retford!!!!)

I've had a slight re-think on the rest of the track plan since the original design. The sketch above shows the revised plan as well as illustrating the other features that will make up the overall scene.

I think having the back siding and industrial buildings at an angle and the through line and loop on a slight curve will add a little more visual interest and hopefully create the impression of more space than if everything was parallel. The back siding will run into the buildings with the track then curving sharply to exit parallel to the back of the layout, allowing for longer trains than can actually be accommodated and possibly loading and unloading of wagons off-stage.

The exit of the through line to 'stage left' will be screened by a small building and some scrubby trees, while the 'stage right' exit will be disguised by an ivy-clad two-span brick road bridge carrying a narrow lane over the railway, the front and back of which will be hidden by a hedge and trees.

In front to the right there'll be the back of some allotments, seperated from the railway by an overgrown hedge. Opposite, at the back of the layout, there'll be an embankment, with steps descending to the trackside from the lane. Along the top of the embankment, disguising the backdrop, will be a thicket of trees.

Most of the track will be buried at least to sleeper height (and some to almost rail level) in modelling clay, weathered, and then liberally 'grassed'. (Some of my favourite railway pictures are of dilapidated railway backwaters, often freight-only or industrial lines, where the railway is gradually being 'reclaimed' by nature.)