Gruffalo

Thanks for your comments Don.

The time period in which the layout is set is 20 years before BR came into existence and I seem to recall that many of the bridges would have needed some work for the axle loadings Kings brought. That was an issue for Collett that Sir Felix Pole sorted at their introduction I believe. My 28xx is an old K's kit and will need a new chassis so that is one for much later. Panniers were somewhat ubiquitous so there could well be more. I'm not sure whether to remodel a Bachmann or two to set them back to a Churchward build and a Dean Goods is also a possibility although I have one (and may get another) Churchward Mogul which would be I think quite suitable. I am seriously trying to hold back on stock purchases as I have a lot already that needs bringing to finer scale standards and converting to DCC (to be explained in the next post). 

The track plan is probably more Kingswear than Penzance but is really neither however I do have a love of Devon & Cornwall. I did intend a river under the station approach (Kingswear) but I have to start the gradient where the plan above ends. I want to have a tunnel mouth soon after that so the two would conflict and breaking the view of the layout seems important to give a sense of coming and going to my mind. I have created Box Tunnel's west portal (the Box end) as a scale line drawing in AutoCAD and will print this on A3 so I can have the wrap-around effect of the sides. Twerton's west portal will get the same treatment for the other tunnel mouth. I will make both available as pdf's once complete.

The tortoises are a major outlay and I don't have them all yet. I am tempted to order them from the US as the cost is so much less and it seems I could save 20% even with exchange rates, customs duty and shipping. If I buy in the UK, it seems Coastal DCC is the most competitively priced.

As a GOS denison who arrived in the first half of the last century, I am aware that I have a finite time left to do this project and so I have chosen to use Peco Code 75 rather than the hand-crafted route. I greatly admire those who have the skills, time and patience to do their own but I'm afraid I have to set targets that are achievable for me, given that I have a spouse who demands quite a bit of time and some grandchildren who need regular sitters and support and I do need to exercise regularly for a heart problem. The shabby pile that is Gruff Towers will be too much for us at some stage in the not too distant and life in a single storey building will beckon too so the plan incorporates the option to be dismantled and moved when necessary.

"other modelling plans are bubbling under behind the scenes" could imply that you haven't finished last Christmas's brussel sprouts Andy! Assuming our little idea / plan comes to fruition in time, will there be enough space for Fffffffffffffr?

Looks like a quality build of a pretty basic kit with plenty of added detail such as handrail knobs, sprung buffers, boiler stays and coal.

As far as I know, you must keep point motors such as Cobalt and Tortoise (a little bit cheaper and more highly rated by a supplier  of both makes with whom I discussed them) powered up - they are designed to be run as stalled! The current used is only something around 12mA at 9-12V DC so your six will take less than 0.9W with them all stalled whilst the power demand will only be 2.7W with them all running at the same time (a very unlikely scenario). Both these designs have two change-over contact sets so you can use one to switch frog polarity and the other to provide route indication. If you did things that way, the second pair (route indication) could also switch an additional relay to satisfy your extra requirements.