Billy goes West(ern) - a Bank Holiday Inglenook

[Keith Addenbrooke]

Thought I’d share a very simple ‘non-project’ to show one way to have a Bank Holiday break that doesn’t impact the rest of the household.  Last summer I found an MDF offcut left by a previous resident in an outbuilding that just happened to be exactly the right size for a Billy bookcase shelf (fortunately for me as I’m not good at sawing straight lines).  I added a traditional 2” x 1” softwood frame to this piece and a second offcut to give a total length of 130cm (approx 4’3”).  It was then put to one side - I already have other projects on the go.

With progress on my layout projects paused (the home office is a shared space, particularly at the moment), Bank Holiday gave me a chance to put together a quick and simple unscenicked GWR Branch Line Terminal (BLT) Inglenook for a couple of hours - something it'd be easy to tidy away later.

 

 

I actually had more space than a conventional Inglenook needed: I could fit a 5-5-3 layout into the space instead of 5-3-3, and with a headshunt for tank loco + 4 wagons (not 3).  That’s right: this layout is - in that sense - a bit too big!

A tender engine would fit into the headshunt with 3 wagons.  One of the points is across the baseboard joint, which wouldn’t work if I wanted to scenic the bookshelf part for display.  The layout would easily fit onto a desk, but as I’ve not attached buffer stops, the carpet felt safer, so I simply placed it on the floow!

 

For classic Inglenook operation, I put a spare Brake Van and duplicate Mogo Box van at the end of the longer siding to make it into a 5-3-3 model (the Mogo has a different running number, but at floor level it’s easier this way).  For an uncoupler I just unfolded a paperclip.  Passenger operation was possible as an alternative (per the photos).  The station is an old Hornby Dunster station kit (now in the Gaugemaster Fordhampton range)! Keith.

Edited October 7, 2022 by Keith Addenbrooke
Reinstating photos

[Guest]

Keith I like your inglenook design, simple and fun to operate. Can I ask will you be adding some ground cover to the layout.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

22 minutes ago, Kevin Johnson said:

Keith I like your inglenook design, simple and fun to operate. Can I ask will you be adding some ground cover to the layout.

Thanks Kevin.  I have other projects on the go, so haven’t made any plans to develop this further today - Phil Parker’s 2019 Billy Bookcase layouts (in the BRM area of RMweb) show what can be achieved in this space. Keith.