Schooner

With apologies to Phil, and anyone who actually knows how to use Paint: Changes from left to right Engine shed access flipped and direct to running line - aiming to make more of a journey and less of a chore of light engine moves Kickback siding, via 24 degree crossing, for coal yard (room for a lineside pile of coal or two on the viewing side, and/or a coal office by the crossing) Mileage siding brought to the front - aiming for the c.80mm between lines needed for a scale 20' truck/cart turning circle. Yard fence/wall along front of layout to make sense of the trackplan, perhaps. Loading dock, with shed (or better, just lock-up?) on the runround spur Think that ticks the boxes, would fit, and gives each element some breathing space. 5' of visible platform for a 3-coach train is a pretty nice balance, as is getting on for 7' of minerals and mileage siding; and two locations for covered wagons/specials. Not bad for the space, sympathetically unlocked by @Harlequin If I had access to planning software atm I'd be able to confirm, but looks doable.

Makes sense to me, don't even need to re-label Birchoverham's platforms :) On signalling, and as with all things things WNR, I think we need to hold in our heads both the Railway of the Lore and the Model in the Shed. I'm not sure if the layout is to viewed as if it is the WNR or as a model of the WNR (my gut feeling is the former?), but I think we should be alive to the requirements for each differing slightly. For example, an outer home about a loco's length after the main line into CA emerges from behind its viewblock* would be just the thing to make a stopped train not just coherent but immersive. *I suspect a train might need to stop between AC Jnc (Nth) and CA, because the operator might need (/viewer might want) time to walk around from the junction bit of the shed to the CA bit. It also gives the controller a little space to change their role-playing role, and feel like they're always running trains rather than chasing after them. By having it stop as it emerges onto the scene allows a train-length or so to the station, making the most of the available space, and aims to strike a balance between being a present...ummm...presence and a dominant force on the scene: one could reasonably ignore it and continue shunting at a relaxed pace, or focus on getting an AM branch train away, but at least there is something physical to ignore!

Not at all, it was fun to revisit and re-check. The primary stations are now edited into the previous post - I think signalling for Doughton Abbey and the Aching Constable (North, or not!) Junction looks after itself? Just to keep us/me on the pace, they were based on the routes ('tho not geometry) on the latest version of the scheme (I think):

I believe so - I think we discussed other options previously and settled on this approach. Would this be more obvious if the loop were in a different colour? Up is to the top of the image - the operating position is at the bottom, with access at the LH end. Was that the question?!

@Compound2632 A classic chronic illness analogy/management approach https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/01/14/spoon-theory-chronic-illness-spoonie/ with which I've picked up more familiarity over the past couple of years than I'd like. My sympathies James (and Annie, and us spooners all). More incoming but for now, in case it helps parse the signalling requirements:

I was so sure that was going to link to a Hilda...

Much enjoyed, thanks for sharing! “You have to see the job finished before you start, and work accordingly.” “You use the stones you have got, and not the ones you haven't got.” "If you can move a stone an inch, you can move it anywhere." "I know it's time to pack up and go home if the stones stop talking to me," Quite :)

3.83m x 3.50m (floor); Beams upper 2.85m, 62cm from the floor, 78cm to the inner apex; Beam centres: 1.42m Height, floor to inner apex: 1.68m Hmmm...Suggestions invited! The rest of the roof is of different construction - no beams for a start - but is very much au naturel at the moment; and doing anything with it comes after stopping the sea coming in from the bottom...* *...and rain in from the top, and god-alone-knows coming in sideways through the wall from next door, and and and...

Oh DDP! Stop it... ...I like it!

...what's not to love?! Rails have Dapol's 4W Stroudleys at half price (or better), both lit and au naturel. There's also a decent chunk off the LB&SCR livery'd Terrier. If you'd like to move your setting to gentler climes, these LSWR lovelies are available here at £50.00 a pop, and the whole lot fits on a yard of Peco flexi as you can see. No relation to any of the above, but just stumbled across the discounts and though them worth writing up for the Parish notice board.

Private wagons with private tarps? Too short for Company wagon sheets, no? Its nice that there's enough contrast in the pic to get a good idea of how they were roped too, useful stuff :) I see they've also adopted the McKinley approach of having wagons either as specials or in groups of 3. Most sensible.

Indeed! Big fan of that distinctive GWR TT formation too, which seems to crop up at a lot of the more modellable stations :) Much missed! Schooner (...who spent half his 20s working out of that place before he had a car. The bus from Paignton just doesn't have quite the same vibe. Should've found a boat in Dartmouth!)

Ooof, true! Mind you, snaffled up pretty quick, and another company has informed me that I shall owe them money for a little 0-6-0T now in their production queue. Dunno what it says about Hatton's the business; but Hatton's the manufacturer had a remarkably strong record.

The answer, almost regardless the question :) A side each, Shirley?! As long as one of them is LSWR... 😇 If any of the better (not larger) manufacturers were brave enough to lauch one (or, better, a small range, as presented with such charm above) of these British independent designs I'm certain they'd boost the maker and the hobby as the Peckett W4s did those years ago. Come oooonnnnn!

Hmmmm...my 4mm and 7mm layouts* beg to differ! It's not about size, but coherent design choices. It's a fun game to find a way to make what you want happen in the space you have :) It's almost always possible. @moawkwrd it looks to me like your process and reasoning is spot on, so I'm sure you'll get to a pleasing answer :) Rather than a 'straight' oval, I'd be looking to use the diagonal. Perhaps pop the through station around a long smooth curve between bottom left to top right corners of the board, with minimum radius (whatever suits your stock) masked or hidden in those corners feeding a fiddle space (through road, loop, and a cassette loop?) on the two 'offstage' sides. If I may, and if of interest, I'll try to knock up a rough sketch later this eve? EDIT: Yeah, scrap that idea, underestimated min radius in TT!

That's really effective, and works very well to set the scene. Taking notes... :)

Ahahaha guilty! Definite hint of carnage...I look back at some of the past pics of the layout, where it all looks so up together and 'finished', then at how it actually looks on a day-to-day basis and wonder where it all went wrong 🤣 But it's all in pursuit of an engaging, enjoyable and entertain hobby...and sometimes that means levelling the livestock, apparently! Choices and consequences, as they say :) Flattered, and glad you think so. In time I'll flood this space with reference pics, as per, but the touchstone is Fremmington Quay. In reality it's a tiny place in the grand scheme of things, but a scale model would be vast in toy train terms. Hopefully the end result will capture a little of that low-key complexity shared by all these little rural-industrial spots in their heyday in a handy space. Also 7mm is really fun so far. Heft. @Tricky may have the actual measurements to hand, but it sits on the same table as Ingleford and has a similar footprint - in the neighbourhood of 1700mm x 650mm*. There are additional cassettes/fiddlesticks, best part of a meter each, left and right to give a 'running line' through the scene; one of the right gives a headshunt for the Full Inglenook Experience. However, Richard's cleverness in bring my plan into reality with the 3-way is it allows space for a perfectly viable spur for a loco and wagon, or two wagons, with which a good amount of shunting can be done just on the base ummmm baseboard :) *To fit in my car, through the door, and on the table. She's a beaut! ...just need to turn it the other way up for maximum effect... 😇

All credit to @Tricky of this parish :) Spot on re B4 - the actual loco for the layout - with mine currently with Kyle of TRS trains having some soul fitted. I hope anyway. He's been rather quiet of late but his Youtube channels busy, so I think he's just chugging through commissions!

A Beattie Well tank Ooh, nice! But makes me think of suburban London, although I know they moved West as they grew up :) I reckon! So distinctive in as-built condition. Were they all modernised by the early 1890s? IIRC only 6ish of the 8-or-so built were updated at all, and the first withdrawls took place around 1905 so there where a couple pootling round Devon in that condition at that time. It also leaves the path free to the LGMiniatures kit for the post-refit version as a future folly :) All set, and even found time to finish my final modelling project for this stint: Little rake of little dropsides*. The unpainted wagons include my first ever kit builds for Ingleford, which had been consigned to the Bits Box. Now refitted, and fit for service once service resumes :) *Oh, and a brace of sidedoor opens, apparently PS. The Deeley tank runs extraordinarily well. Most exciting!

I don't want to alarm anyone, but I've had a thought. After seeing Vicky Quay in the flesh, finding all surprises to be good ones, and quickly running a tape over a D.299 (the Reference Wagon. What else?!) and the layout, it could be a goer... What other famously little loco positively screams pre-Grouping, LSWR, North Devon, short goods trains, and is distinctive enough that a scratch-bodied 'inspired by' would be instantly recognisable even if not entirely accurate...? :)

Glad to have that in writing, thanks!

Correct. Correct. Mr Rice would've gone for a 3-way and single slip, but less is more?! And @Tricky has the chops to keep the 6' radius of the running line constant through the 3-way, which is a) bloddy clever b) keeps rollinh stock options wide open and c) provides a strong bit of future-proofing, so the quayside could form the nucleus of a larger layout... Oh, just a single and a 3-way apart from 😇 Just another mico Inglenook, same old same old :)

...and 6' radius curves, just in case I win the pools and Lee Marsh does another run... :) Something of a missed opportunity that these are not to be the next RTR GWR loco from a well respected manufacturer... Okay, back to joy being unconfined! PS. re minimum space, I recently realised the the loft space must be something like 40' x 10'...uhoh!

You asked for it!

Welcome to Victoria Quay (working title) m'Lords, Ladies etc Sorry fam, no time to move house. Busy. Got trains to play with! Awesome stuff @Tricky, thank you for all :) Crane by the most talented also @airnimal. Steam coaster (R/C, woop!) by a nice but unknown gentleman who did a grand job of the build and fit out and then sold her (R/C gear, batteries, controller etc included) for less than the price of the kit. Deeley tank as discussed previously. Inspiration, information and general good juju from you lovely lot. Otherwise it's all my own work!