It's been a while... but things have been progressing. I mentioned in my last post that the original track plan has changed somewhat after the layout location and available space was worked out. After much planning and re-planning I've settled on the below plan. The layout will go round the 4 walls of the room, one side for a 6 track traverser fiddle yard, the dock area on the back wall, a 2nd yet to be worked out scenic section along the bottom wall and a removable section at the door end of the room (left side of plan). I must confess to really struggling with the design of the dock area to get something I was happy with in the limited space I have. In the end I have taken "inspiration" from a US layout I stumbled across.

Work on the baseboards started a few months ago, long before the final plan was agreed. The traverser fiddle yard is now complete, wired up for DCC and working better than I could have hoped.

The baseboards for the dock area and the 2nd scenic side have also been built and all three sides are connected up. As you can see, much of the layout sits on top of bookshelves and across the desk.

Work on the container ship has also progressed but not quite finished (not happy with the paint job, maybe it just needs some more details and weathering to tone it down)

There's a couple of Scalescene's containers on the ship, not entirely happy with my first effort but sure they will improve. The new Scalescene ship will likely make an appearance, together with the great looking dock edging. Having settled on the dock area plan I intend on creating some prototype buildings (and ship container crane) to make sure I am happy before I start laying the track though I am getting eager to see the trains doing a full circuit of the room.

Cheers

Scott