Sorry for the long delay since the last entry. My computer died in June and I have only just obtained a replacement.
In the meantime, work has carried on a pace with the new layout and the shed (20'x8') has been cleared, all traces of the old American layout have been cleared out, almost all stock has been disposed of and a start made on the new project.
The layout will consist of a large through station (Netherton, Bilston Road), at one side of the oval with a fiddle yard on the other
Well although I have been quiet for a couple of months after an initial frenetic burst of blogging, I haven't been idle. The main thing that your comments regarding my proposal for the first section of the new layout triggered was a complete and total rethink. (You know who you are!!!) And I must say, I am glad that I posted because my previous idea would not have fitted into the general scheme of things.
Okay, I hear you ask, now what is he planning? The answer is simple - an industrial
Okay, so this is the third entry in two days and will probably be the last for some time. The main reason that I am making it is to run my plan for a very small station past a critical audience.
The idea is to produce a very small layout that will serve to ease me back into British outline and practice after a gap of 35 years working on American HO followed by O and On30. American O is a great scale and is 1/4 inch to the foot and is very easy to work in. Now I've got to start visualizing a
I chose the Dudley area as the location for the new layout: the only snag was that the LNWR did not extend to the south-west: (See the first map).
Something had to be done, so I split the map east-wast and added another couple of miles to the Dudley area (as if it isn't bad enough as it is!). Next thing was I added another line, a direct link between Dudley and the LNWR at Craven Arms. The rationalization is that this is "a direct link between South Wales and the West Midlands). (See the sec
Okay, so this is the first (and knowing me) possibly the only entry in this blog!
So why am I beginning it in the first place? You may well ask.
Well, I plan to use it as a tool to keep myself on track at the start of what will, at 67, probably be the last big project. I have spent the last 30+ years working at American O scale... The first layout had to be abandoned due to a house move while the second one (a mix of standard gauge and On30) was too grandiose to get anywhere with - I'd
