Well, I've not tried blogging before, so please forgive me if I ramble.

Where do I start? Well, I guess with a quick run down of my current layout.

It's a four track mainline with two through stations (Derringham and Cricklestone) that, apart from being a roundy-round thing, is based on the idea that somebody laid a line that follows (roughly) the cross country route from Edinburgh to Weymouth. (I know, there isn't one. Equally it doesn't go anywhere near Cricklewood either. But I'm a fan of The Goodies. (And Alan Coren). So the route would be Edinburgh to Leeds to Sheffield to Cricklewood to Reading to Weymouth.)

Where was I? Oh yes, it models the Derby to Cricklewood section - except changes the names because Derby's too complicated and I don't think there was a station at Cricklewood. Anyway, the main reason for picking the cross country route is that it (at least in theory) it lets me run pretty much anything I like.

The next thing to do on the layout front is to get a couple of extra bits of baseboard. I messed up when I ordered the boards in that I overestimated the space-in-the-middle that I'd need, and so didn't leave any room for Cricklestone Goods Yard. (D'oh) Once I've done that, there's a little more track to lay (oh yes, and finish the engine sheds at Derringham.) After that, I can start to think about getting the hills down. Or up.