This week I acquired the CD shelving I'd long promised myself, having identified it as the main delay factor on the layout front. How the divil does that work, you ask? Read on and I shall tell you.

The under-layout mainly comprises cascaded Ikea storage units, of which eight drawers are earmarked for T&RS. Instead of this however, they've temporarily been full of CDs. For about a decade. With nowhere to safely store locos off-layout, as a result it has taken on the car park appearance that is so anathema to me. With so many locos about, relaying the track on cork was a pig of a job, and obviously reinstating the wiring for DCC has been all but impossible.

Now the shelves are up, the CDs are away and the locos too. In fact, I found a couple of interesting spacers in the back of drawers. Instead of the expected polystyrene, in one lurked a M-I-B Lima GFYE Class 47, in another a M-I-B Bachmann 08243. The former will be off to pastures new with a few Lima 40s; as for the Jocko I have to confess to having completely forgotten about her. I must've thought I had already sold her on eBay. This raises a question of identity if she stays, one for a 64H shunter blog entry I think.

Returning to the shelves, some lighting will be mounted on these to combat the dark spots in the garage - long overdue. Their underside will also mark the top edge of the backscene.