Going back a bit, here is the plan for the layout I’m building. It took about a year and several dozen iterations to come up with a design that I’m comfortable with. To the north is a large moving power depot inspired by Didcot Railway Centre (but not faithful to it which wouldn’t be possible in the space I have). To the south is a branch line terminus that is highly prototypical, based on an amalgamation of Wallingford and Watlington. The east is a ‘through’ fiddle yard to join the two, and the west a small spur. In essence if I want to run long rakes I will look south, but if I want to shunt I will look north, and the different parts of the layout act as feeders for the others. At one point I considered joining the whole thing up to create a pair of loops but the more I lived with the idea the less I liked it aesthetically, operationally and practically speaking - I don’t want to be ducking under the board with a cup of tea in one hand and treasured model or component in the other, plus I didn’t feel 100% confident about making a lift out or hinged section. If I find that I miss the ‘roundy roundy’ element of my previous two layouts then I can address this down the line. The room is a single garage that I was lucky enough to be able to convert (with double glazing and full insulation) pre-Covid and also now doubles as my home office. The spec of my layout is DCC, with a separate points bus (Cobalt IP Digitals controlled by Alpha Central) and lighting bus (all of my buildings are internally lit). Track is Peco Bullhead. Baseboards are scratch built in 9mm birch ply. Buildings are mainly TimberTracks and my Provender Store has been commissioned. There will be working brass semaphore signals that have been commissioned from a specialist signal maker. Stock (all GWR) will initially be ready to run but will gradually be detailed and supplemented with kit-built stock. The layout will have a ‘story’ that will determine the timetable and configuration of rakes etc - more on this when I eventually get there! I hope you enjoy following my journey - I will try to share things of interest as I go, including techniques for achieving particular elements of the layout. I may even begin to add video, although I’ve got very limited experience of doing this, so please bear with me!

Posted by Dom at 2021-05-19 03:17:56 UTC