One day we will read of a modeller who started off with a plan carved in stone, built all the correct rolling stock in order, ended up with a perfect working railway and didn't even have so much as a spare rivet at the end of it all. 

 

Mind you thats going top be a very boring read, I much prefer following builds that develop as stuff becomes available and  the mood takes the modeller. Seems a much more fun way of doing things to me. I'll potter off and examine the unbuilt kits box...... 

Ha ha ha!

I've managed to gather together a fair amount of what I reckon I want/ need, probably a lot of that will get discarded along the way.  The plan is carved in stone, unfortunately the stone used was sandstone.... everytime I look at it again a bit has dropped off or eroded away and there always seems to be more random fragments and little bits around it that I could have sworn weren't there last time I looked.  

I really do need to get the to-do list under control though; I've run out of room for donor models, half-built things and general building materials- to the point that stuff has started to go missing and being misplaced!  (It is a bit more difficult to mis-lay a whole carriage than it is just a bogie or a set of axles).

But then again, if you don't buy things when you see them you can guarantee they won't be there when you'e of a mind to buy one.    

The plan exists as a deliberately vague-ish concept to stop me going off in all directions and accruing things that don't tie in with my eventual aim.  It's a big plan and of course only a bit of it can be done in any one year!- laying it out gives me a goal for the year and lets me keep track of how I'm progressing.  This is of course why I've just now bought a Bachmann 43xx to backdate to ROD condition.... (well I have a WD brakevan so why not have a loco to match?)

I had Mons on order for well over a year (since it was announced back in [was it 2015 or 2016, I can't remember]).  Eventually I lost patience with Bachmann's legendary ability to keep announced models on the coming soon list for years- plural- so I cancelled it and put the money toward a Stirling Single instead. 

No particularly hard loss- I already have (counts on fingers) the NRM release of Butler Henderson, the Model Rail limited edition of Ypres, the GBL Butler Henderson (which I've motorised, renamed and renumbered) and a pair of D10s too.  So I've already got four of the same general type for use on Red Lion Square.  Maybe if I see one going for a song at a box-clearers in 2018/19 I'll be tempted...