As mentioned previously on the last incarnation of RMweb, the things that have led to this plan are:

• 
   
  
• Neil Rushby's fantasticShell Island
  
• A holiday spent walking around the Forest of Dean
  
• A longstanding interest in the colliery branchlines of County Durham and Northumberland
  
• This Youtube footage of a Northumberland branch line at the end of its days
  
• Mines a Pint's Deadwater Burn
  

I'm seriously constrained by space, and am happy to with the idea if simple shunting, but at the same time want to create a believable scene; my last effort just had too much track on the baseboard to allow for much scenery. So, I've decided to go for probably less than I could fit in, in the hope of making for a better overall appearance.

It's also important to me that the operation if believable: that these trains are going somewhere for a purpose (even if that purpose relies a lot on the imagination, and some slightly tenuous fictitious circumstances).

Hopefully it will work...