An Introduction
Entry posted by GresleyD49
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Right, I've been a fan of model railways for 25 something years (since my Dad first took me to the Wigan model railway show at a young age and then presented me with a minimum radius tail chaser built as a surprise birthday present by him and my Grandad) but I think it's high time I finally take the plunge and start building my first layout.
I've spent the last year or so armchair modelling and experimenting with bits of track and my old loco's on a couple of sheets of MDF. This experimenting (more accurately playing) has helped hugely in narrowing down the potential layout theme's, particularly those possible in the space I have available. I've settled on a small MPD, as a 5' x 15" baseboard is about the largest that I can fit in and I have discovered I prefer looking at loco’s to shunting.
Location wise I have a huge sentimental attachment to an old Hornby D49 shire/hunt hybrid which was gifted to me with the afore mentioned tail chaser. I love that loco (and by extension am a fan of a lot of the Gresley designs) so I scoured the web for small MPD locations where a D49 would have been seen as my layout has to feature one (or two, or three…). There were a couple of candidates but I have decided to base my MPD on the one at St Boswells, but will keep the location fictitious so I can use modeller’s license to run/stable loco’s that I doubt would have been seen at St Boswells itself. I have devised the following track plan that should allow me to stable approximately 6 small/medium tender loco’s as a maximum.
Access is via a cassette (1) on what in reality was the turntable road. The cassette is to be hidden behind the engine shed (2), water tower (3) and awning over the rudimentary coal facilities (4), which have been kept for operational interest. Loco’s will then use the headshunt (5) at the other end of the layout to gain access to the engine shed. The actual St Boswells shed was located next to the stations bay platform which I have modified into an additional road alongside the shed (6). I have also added in a single siding (7) to balance out the plan and provide an area to park suitable stock. This won’t add much in the way of operational interest but that’s ok as I intend to use it as an extension of the back scene with the parked up stock added depth and feel to the layout as the loco’s potter in and out of the shed. A longer cassette will be needed for the occasional stock change.
This will be my first layout so progress is likely to be slow and mistakes will be made, I’m looking forward to them as part of the fun though! Any and all comments will always be welcomed though!
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