Antony Farrell

Some interesting thoughts here. I have just started building the baseboards for the branch line but there is a distinct lack of timber currently available so only two and a half board done so far. The branch comes off of a double track roundy roundy mainline with a large through station on part of it. This would also be the junction where trains for the branch would deviate Thanmyr Junction. The diagram shows where the branch is supposed to fit in. Though initially it will run to a fiddle yard. The inclines marked on the plan are tentative and I may not include them. They are for scenic purposes in any case rather than for clearance of tracks above each other.

When it is fitted into the larger layout it would normally be viewed from the bottom. But I do like the idea of a canal wharf.

This makes me feel old, I still have a Mainline prairie and Manor. These have been sitting in their boxes for decades now. Wonder if they will still run?

Perhaps if I replace the north quay with some factory type buildings/warehouses etc.

Here is a revised version. I cannot really rotate the station as it will then impact on clearances to the rest of the layout. I wanted a smaller turntable than the one shown, a 50 - 60ft one would work best. Assuming that I have got the arrangement working it should now be possible to shunt the upper left hand siding without impacting the upper platform road. The plan shows bits of adjacent boards. This station will come of a roundy-roundy section. Clearances will be subject to alteration to get everything to fit.

This is my proposed branch line terminus which will fit into a larger layout. The minimum radius is 2ft. Could people let me know what they think. I have just started building the boards, a slow progress as timber is hard to get at the moment. The quaysides can be extended both in width and depth (I have some ship models to fit in here)

Just wondering as to how close to the edge of the quay would you place the track. Was there a recommended distance?

Looks like I can use the Comet chassis to replace the decrepit one sitting under a battered Finecast body which I will disassemble and rebuild. I think I may also have an old Star class, also Finecast kit somewhere in my mountain of old locos. I assume this as I found a comet chassis kit for a Star.

To slightly resurrect this; Wizard list an ex-Comet chassis kit for the Saint, Hall and Hawksworth County, does anyone know what model/maunfacture Saint it was meant to go with? The old Finecast Saint for example? Or the old Hornby model etc. The instructions do not appear to say.

Could you do the reverse, paint the mortar first then dry brush the bricks?

Well assuming the 4mm Slaters GWR coaches do reappear I will be after several at least.

When was the last time Ratio put out a new coach kit? With the loss of the 4mm ranges swallowed by Coopercraft I could do with some easy to build (relatively) GWR Dean and Churchward coaching stock.

The main purpose of those crossovers (and I think they should be the other way round) is so that goods trains on the upline can be stopped and reversed into the through stations good facilities. Though this does duplicate the double slip on the bottom left hand side so they could be eliminated (which would save 4 points!). You would have thought I would have noticed that. Looks like I can extend the through stations platforms a bit as well.

This time I drooped the fiddle yard but increased the side of the branch station turning it into a port. The station here can hold 3 70' coaches plus loco, possibly 4 56' ones at a stretch. I'm not sure whether the tracks at the back can be reached if a derailment occurs here. So still a work in progress. The turntable should be large enough to take a GCR 8K for my fish wagons.

On the plan in the book one is marked as 'siding' that is the one on the top right, the others are not labelled.