woodenhead

Best layout ever, it is very subjective and completely based on our own biases. There will be people who see a four track mainline - no stations, no sidings just trains thundering around sometimes four all at once, all with sound, lights, buses on bridges, weddings, campfires, burning buildings, police chases, moving cars, a fully functioning fairground including all the cacophony and declare it is the best layout they have ever seen. In fact there was a layout once where the centre of the model was an all singing and dancing fairground, it was well modelled but the look on the face of the person whose railway was next to it said volumes of how frustrating it was having that booming out all day with no escape.

Ditto, a wagon I've never seen before despite them running whilst I was trainspotting all over the country. Never too old to learn new things eh

You've done this before haha Very neat soldering.

Your evidence for this being that only a madman would choose to defend himself in this situation.

Shroedingers Wagon on steroids

Plenty of lawyers on this site, but you've specified a 'good' one so you're done for.

Found this image from 1969 on the RCTS site - a lovely fuel tank sat in the kickback area where the cattledock once was - spot on for a rundown stabling area that I wanted. https://rcts.zenfolio.com/buildings-and-infrastructure/stations-and-station-buildings-clc/hA0E5AAE5

You've quite a few of my cliches there too. Northgate is very much in the spirit of, using the general trackplan of the station and the destinations (within reason give it is post Beeching). I saw the plan in a CLC signalbox book and was immediately drawn to it - a small terminus in the Northwest which could send trains in several directions (Wales, Liverpool and to the east via Manchester or Stockport) and very much a real Minories without it being cliched. I wanted a railway where DMUs, 24/25s and 40s were the main traction - what I saw mainly when a spotter in Manchester. I do feel a tad guilty I've added a fourth platform face, the real station only having the three - I will see how it goes.

The market is likely the same as the Hunslet - if you buy an industrial shunter you may want an industrial wagon for it to shunt - they are internal user wagons are they not? Question, does a Torpedo need an orange light inside to make it glow when full?

The big turn off for me on any layout is when it is a selection of cliches, a lot of very large layouts can fall into this category to cram as much in as possible. I prefer layouts that have a semblance of prototype - so Wibdenshaw, London Road, Buckingham, Hope under Dinsmore, Bradfield Gloucester Square and such like fall into this category, or proper prototypes like Copenhagen Fields, Lime Street, Retford etc. I also like nice and simple layouts as long as the stock matches the theme and can spend ages watching engines shunt around a small layout. I find the ultra modern image layouts the most difficult, some do it well, but a lot fall back into BR mode with large traction collections and engine sheds crowded with locos by a terminus station - the only places I am aware of crowded with locos now are Toton (mostly out of use?), Leeds Midland, Carlisle and Crewe Gresty. All of these are out of sight of a station, the rest of the locos are scattered to where they operate from - I might be wrong but if I took a trip from Manchester to London via Crewe the only time I would see a largish group of engines would be those awaiting their next train at Willesden yard. It also applies to my own layouts, and I'll admit I've struggled for years because the layouts have really tried to be more than one thing and it doesn't work well - you pick your period, you pick your location, you build a model to fit that and try not to divert - well that is what I am attempting. So this time I have found a station I can build from - Chester Northgate as a BR blue secondary terminus - DMUs and parcels trains and some loco hauled passenger regional services. It doesn't have a freight depot or an odd set of sidings serving no purpose other than to shunt wagons, I will have a minimal stabling area like the old Warrington Arpley where a few locos may sit about for a short while in overgrown sidings.

@PenrithBeacon two cracking layouts to showcase though.

Rather than swapping out all lighting just for videoing, given you chose your current lighting for playing trains, could you not invest in a single bright light to flood the area being filmed - would that overwhelm the light flicker from the daylight units?

I'd say it is a beautiful failure, lovely work.

Less draughty than doors and whilst sealing them up decided it would be better to have a route indicator. If they were that important to the Scottish region though, why didn't they add them to the 26s as well - how ugly might that have been?

Rich Energy WWWWHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOO? https://jalopnik.com/what-you-find-when-you-look-into-rich-energy-the-myste-1833303620

Bit more practice at driving. Relearning the perculiarities of n gauge couplings - Dapol 50 drops the same wagon at the same two spots each time it runs - flat track but there must be something there I haven't seen yet. Also getting used to JMRI - swapping locos, remembering which way a loco is facing and to test before engaging power and seeing the loco go the opposite way! DC is so much easier to drive, but it's a pain to set up all the switching whereas this one requires more thinking when driving but was a doddle to wire up. Anyway on to driving, a departure of the parcels to Paddington, the 50 was hoovering at one point but it's not being picked up in the sound. And behind it the Sheffield passenger service with a class 40 sneaking up to the end of the platform at the end - again some learning, when I released the 31 to power up the 40 the 31 coasted to a stop off camera.

My recollections* of pre-grouping trains is one of them being a mish mash of stock - only as railways developed from the 1930s do I see rakes getting more uniform as the original stock was replaced with longer more modern stock leading up to the Mk1 from early Nationalisation. So to me a rake of 4/6 wheelers needs to have a mix of coach sizes not just in terms of wheel numbers but length and height too, also really on a longer train perhaps even an early bogie coach thrown in. So Hornby bringing their own flavour of 4/6 wheelers would let achieve what I want in my minds eye. *to qualify, I am not 100 years old, I meant in pictures not in real life

I share @Harlequin's view on the coal storage - would the GWR have employed two pilots to handle getting the coal to the coaling stage - very inefficient unless the shed was big enough to warrant having more than one locomotive assigned to pilot duties as well as simply moving coal. Looking through my Historical Survey of GWR sheds they didn't do it*, the sheds were designed to be efficient - perhaps keep the single track that goes behind the stage to reach the current three tracks would be enough to store your coal wagons, that would be similar to Westbury. Closest to your main shed layout is Exeter, is that by plan or chance? It did use a kickback but the sidings were in the same direction as the stage so one locomotive could be used to feed in wagons from the coal stack. But then there is always the exception isn't there! Penzance, it's coal stacks were in the opposite direction and did require either a second loco or the use of the turntable to run around the wagons. So carry on please, as you were, nothing to see here. *read on as I am about to contradict myself!

It is good marketing to remind people about these models, I think Hattons have used this technique for some time with their 'New in stock' items, Hattons Dave has said otherwise but I am sure sometimes they nudge items so they appear to remind people of their availability. I no longer browse sites like I did, I am aware of specific models through RMWeb and BRM and I buy what I need. But I do tend to look at new arrivals so if you surreptitiously drop in older items as a reminder I will notice them. If I want something specific I do a Google search to find the item, I don't trawl sites looking in case they have the item so I don't see that there are 5 types of class 71 available etc. I made an order last night of some sound decoders and only realised the shop had just had to close because of a covid infection after having placed the order because I went in via searches for the specific items I was purchasing not through the front page. (why do I keep using this as an example, fourth time Woodenhead, stuck record). But you're right, as people focus on the shiny and new they forget about the other items in the ranges all of which need to be sold eventually.

Mine is the 40 hours a week, 48 weeks a year type so it did come first, nice office desk from Ikea, reclining comfy Ikea office chair, then bookcases and finally the railway - I did cock it up with an initial 4 foot by 4 foot baseboard set up - it looked great on the floor but as soon as I raised it up I realised my mistake as it took over the room, then I added an extension from one side and made it worse. I've now pulled it back to something much more appropriate.

And for me that would be a step too far and I will emigrate to a country without Covid...... In reality, how many people work closely in an Amazon warehouse, they are doing a lot of automation and if Boston Dynamics are anything to go by, even stacking crates will soon be done by robots. Retail shops are where it becomes difficult because of the mix of the general public with staff and trying to keep everyone apart as they mooch around the shops, but that isn't possible now. And I do worry that gig worker do not have the furlough protection, I was thinking this morning, all the attractions that are closed that used summer casuals - who helped them when Alton Towers and such like were closed - if you're not an employee then you cannot be furloughed. I remember in the autumn going to a local beauty spot, a couple of miles from home, it was mayhem, with everything else shut everyone had descended on it - there was nowhere to park, all the paths were full of people walking, some of the paths were narrow and we're all there mixing at close quarters. On New Years day we went to another similar spot, also full of people, really didn't like it, but then having lots of people around annoys me generally.

I cannot see how we can really expect anything before the autumn, but even now the Government is already making noises about next winter and restrictions, so I think we are a long way from exhibitions.

You'd be surprised how some organisations in official sectors expect some of their mildly infected staff to keep going to work, not using tracing apps and using their PPE to keep others from being infected. Or leave them in a room with a patient dying of Covid but with lesser PPE which leads to them being infected not to mention the rest of the ward and other staff. Digitrains have had to close due to a staff member becoming infected, I hope they get well soon and the rest of the staff remain well.

Just made an order on Digitrains for my DMU sound cards, they have had to shut temporarily due to a member of staff contracting Covid. I can wait, I hope the member of staff makes a quick recovery.

As of 11th Jan, they've had to shut the shop temporarily as a member of staff has tested positive for Covid, that will delay all orders lodged. I hope the member of staff makes a quick and full recovery.