Hello there Pete,

I plan to upload a photo soon. I would like to draw a track plan but I have not figured out how to do this on an iPad yet.

The plan is based upon one I saw for a oo gauge layout, which I think was called Vines yard- it had a half station and only showed half of a run around loop. Mine will have a fully modelled loop as I can't be messing about with juggling cassettes again. ( nothing against cassettes, but I found them too cumbersome when running a pretty busy layout- I also had a few issues with loss of current which affected my sound decoders.)

I notice the lads at Hornby have a similar design in their most recent magazine but it has 5 turnouts- I think that will limit the scenery options too much for my tastes so i'm going to have 4 turnouts instead- there's is also 7 foot long.

I had a similar layout a few years ago and it was great for a bit of shunting- I even managed to squeeze in a station at the back which could take 5 postal vans and a Hymek.

What size layout are you working on?

Dougal

Brilliant, what we really need is a wagon loaded with the travelling entourage for 'Fun Land', the tunnel of goats, spider-baby, all the usual suspects.

I can only imagine Father Jack's stock exhibiting some heavy weathering, spillages, graffiti and the like....

Hello there Will,

I do plan a few cameos. Bishop Brennan surrounded by a few rabbits and Mrs Doye will have to feature somewhere- probably carrying a tray of tea or a mountain of sanwiches. I just need a good base model to convert- I enjoy making citadel figures- aka 40k. These skills should help. I have noticed the quality of 7mm figures can vary a great deal. The last figures I bought looked like they had been in a terrible accident. Anyone suggest a good source of 7mm figures?? I'm quite happy to convert the figures to gain the right look.

I want the Father Ted theme to be subtle and to suggest a playful side rather than dominate the layout. My layout should make people smile but I don't want it to be a joke.

I think our hobby needs to be a bit more lighthearted- beginners like me are put off by really serious articles in journals featuring soldering brass kits or debating whether coarse or fine scale 7mm is better.

Anyway now, must get ready for my run, then I will cook Mrs Doyle a full English for Valentines day.

Dougal.

As a fellow Ted fan, may I wish you well with your project.

Good to see that you've an achievable plan which will serve you well. I'm afraid I'm a bit of a Dougal when it comes to that part of things.

So, go on, go on................

Jonte

It amused me to type in 'TEA TANKER' into Google and of course you get all manner of images of:

http://www.railwayscene.co.uk/fetchimage.php?imgref=8424

Which has the wagon code T-E-A.......

I like the idea of a long rake trundling by with the legend 'go on' plastered down the side of each one.

You could include some OO scenics on the layout, perhaps at the back. Cows maybe. They would then appear Far Away.

Would they be really small or far away?

Dougal.