Scenic fiddle yard for a BLT

[AndyB]

There is one other possibility. And I probably should use the special font that prevents the SWMBOs of this world getting wind of our nefariots plans....

 

If I took one of Zomboid's plans and at the far right allowed the tracks to "exit stage right" - off to a cassette at 45 degrees (it'd be in the corner of the garage). 

 

Now technically, OK actually, you'll all point out that the cassette would actually now be the FY. And this thread would implode in a puff of logic. 

 

Also if I didn't need office space in the garage AND didn't need essential storage space TOO then it'd be a relatively easy thing to join the seaside terminus up to the FY.  Shades of Lymington....(Hope the invisbility font is working!). There's a modest height differential of 3". Not that I've been out there measuring up, you understand. 

[AndyB]

In between working on the scenery on the main part of the layout I've been re-reading everyone's contributions on this thread. Some great ideas for which I'm very grateful.

 

Lots of food for thought. Beats using lockdown as an excuse for gaining a couple of pounds!

 

One mode of operation described sees the SSS arrive and the cioaches make their onward journey down the branch under the control of, presumably, a tank engine. I'm imagining that freight may have been a similar story?

 

Another suggestion is for Kingswear which, I understand, saw trains being headed by much larger tender locos and with a mpd & turntable. 

 

So this sort of makes me wonder what type of locos I'd need for this layout. Tanks or tenders?

 

There's a practical aspect to this also. In tests I've found my 4f and 5mt work consistently (no pun intended) very well. Whereas my pannier tank, less so. Reliability is going to impact fun. 

 

The other point picks up on cassettes. One reason I'm not so keen is reliability - essentially derailments at the track joins. In OO size and weight are in your favour. But in N, those leading bogies are tiny and featherweight. So the precision of alignment across the join is much more important.

 

This might be where I've had a personal "lightbulb" moment. The baseboard for the FY was made from salvaging the long beams from a child's bed (outgrown). What I'd not spotted was that the slats that fitted between those beams are sturdy and "square"; much better than anything I could achieve. And they would take a 3-coach train and tender loco. 

 

I'm wondering if I could create a robust and reliable casette system attached to the wall. I'll definitely need to don my improvised tin-foil brain-wave blocking hat to avoid detection. But this may be a way forward.....