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Shunter's Nook - another wrapping paper box


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I have a thing for Inglenooks, and a thing for things that pack away neatly, so when I came across the Scale Model Scenery lasercut baseboards that are designed to fit into a Really Useful wrapping paper box this layout was a must. 730mm by 207mm isn’t a lot of space, but by sticking to a 2 2 3 inglenook configuration and using a separate shunting neck, it was still possible to use small radius streamline points, meaning electrofrogs, which I much prefer for shunting. Playing around with Peco point templates showed it was also possible to fit in a spur for a spare loco.


Shunter's Nook is a name that’s been kicking around in my head for a while. The layout is first and foremost a shunting puzzle, scenic treatment is, if I’m honest, secondary. The rear siding is placed to allow a Scenecraft bonded warehouse to fit against the back scene, but I quite fancy being able to have alternative buildings available e.g. low relief coal screens. We'll see. The last inch or so of the loco spur will be the end of a shed to mask the exit.

 

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So this is the state of play at the moment. It all works rather well, so it's obviously time to mess that up by painting and ballasting the track!

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I really like this track plan having designed (but not built!) several layouts to it myself, and look forward to seeing how you develop it.

Have you considered allowing the shed spur to pass through the backscene as well? It would allow locos to enter and exit the shed properly, and since you mention removable buildings, it could be replaced by an industrial building or goods shed. Or even if a building was left completely off, using a fiddle stick as a traverser would allow you to run round a few wagons as well - bring in a short rake, run round, shunt them with wagons already in the sidings, form a new train, leave, & repeat. 

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It was built by Phil Parker when he worked on the Hornby magazine and featured in their year book. Over the years Phil has produced a lot of small layouts and has no doubt inspired many to do similar. If you go to his blog you should find most of the build of this and other layouts documented. Just Google Phil Parkers blog and follow the links for the modelling one. Its been going for well over 10 years and always has interesting and inspirational content.

 

Woody

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It was Phil Parker's blog that first drew my attention to the Really Useful boxes - looking back just now I can't believe that was 2009!

http://philsworkbench.blogspot.com/search/label/Layout in a box?updated-max=2009-11-08T08:47:00Z&max-results=20&start=60&by-date=false

I tried to be different,  my original scheme had the loco spur on the opposite side, but playing around with point templates showed access would be difficult as the two shorter sidings were more likely to be full of wagons. So I switched it over and ending up duplicating his plan. They do say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Painted the rail sides this afternoon, now back to ballasting.

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Ballasting underway, gone for Peco's weathered brown this time, mainly because my 04 and 08 are black, thought it would provide better contrast. Pleased with the colour. Grabbed a bit of polystyrene packing that was going in the bin and stuck that along the back too, just to add a bit of relief. This will become a grassy bank with small trees.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Not masses of progress, the real world has been a bit demanding of late... I have however sorted out the power connections to the layout so that it will actually go away in the box.

I use a Gaugemaster HH controller so I've installed a DIN socket on the front for it to plug into.

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Need to find some small enough screws to attach it neatly to the front, but it's wired up and working - second attempt though.

At the rear is a socket for the 16v wall transformer that provides the power.

IMG_20191128_210802.jpg.088a1d916dbb2ed86a85df1112cd2995.jpg

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Had a play with static grass along the rear of the layout, 2mm, then 4mm and 6mm Autumn mix. Very happy with the result, I plan to add further vegetation and bushes next to break up the uniformity. Probably should have done something with the backscene before getting grass all over it though - like I say, in my world static grass is new tech, verging on witchcraft...

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  • 2 weeks later...

I realised there was room enough for two on the loco spur so I added an isolating break halfway along by cutting through one rail with a razor saw. I've soldered wires either side of the gap but need to source a suitable switch - or better still, steal something off one of the kids' finished with toys (not as mean as it sounds, they've reached that Xbox / phone stage and the charity shops round here aren't interested in anything that isn't mint). At present the two sides are permanently connected.

I've also mocked up a low relief shed to cover the end of the spur and conceal the exit to the fiddlestick. I'm happy with the proportions so I'll make a better version over the weekend.

IMG_20191213_211959.jpg.ed6c00fb4f2505bb5c58a5626eea48a8.jpg

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At the other end I found a flat card factory, Street Level Models if memory serves me correctly, lurking on tha bookcase. It's exactly the right width to fill the end, tucking in nicely behind the Bachmann warehouse and buffer stops. Obviously it's  removable for when everything  needs to go back in the box. I like the hemmed in look but it does make the corner darker. Since I fancy adding some lights to the buildings that shouldn't be a massive problem. 

IMG_20191213_212350.jpg.b298de7e00ccc90c809075b6e89165e4.jpg

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