TomTalksTrains

Thank you all very much for the suggestions. I think I prefer the Goods Depot setting so I can have more variety in terms of wagons, but having fiddled about with the plans a bit more I suspect you are right in terms of the turnout positioning. The squares are 10cm, I'm a metric man 😊 . The (not to scale) drawing below roughly illustrates the challenge I'm facing: any fiddle yard setup will have to be easily removeable so as not to block the door to the room where the layout will be set up. I'm picturing some kind of fold-out or bolt-on arrangement that I could put a cassette on top of and slide into place rather than a more substantial sliding traverser arrangement or similar. I think it will require some experimentation! I really like your suggested track plans, but I think the pointwork is just too tight a squeeze to keep the necessary siding length at the other end (even with a space-saving slip). The other disadvantage would be that this locks me into straight track running parallel to the edge for most of the length. However, by moving the position of the crossover a bit to the left and accepting that the head shunt for the Inglenook puzzle will have to extend 'off scene', I think I can create a more pleasing overall balance. I'm going to want to run my small prairie and other longer locos occasionally as well so I think this just makes it a bit more flexible. I'm keen to retain the bridge as a scenic break but it'll only be a few cm wide, I think - perhaps even just the parapet. That would be wonderful if you did happen to have some other angles! My building modelling experience is really only limited to card/plastic kits and a few basic huts, so part of the appeal of this side of the stables block is that (from the photos I can see on the Warwickshire railways website) it seems to be quite a plain, simple wall. Ideal for a first attempt with plastikard? That warehouse would look very nice as well: a much more suitable roofline silhouette, though I wouldn't be sure where to start with that curved brickwork... If worst comes to worst I can just do a retaining wall 😄 I'm moving house next week, but hopefully physical planning with some Peco point templates can start soon after that. I've spent today fixing and re-gluing my portable MDF hobby workstation and sorting through some paints. Wagon kits are incoming!

First post on rmweb! I'm getting back into railway modelling after a few years of other preoccupations, and I'm looking to cut my teeth on a relatively simple layout project which will give me an opportunity to actually run some trains, and a chance to try out some new modelling techniques. I'm most likely going to be using the baseboard kit from Scale Model Scenics designed to fit into a 77l plastic storage box as anything I build will need to travel a few hundred miles and spend several months in storage next summer. This imposes some hard limits on the track plan! I'm planning on using some cassettes for fiddling, but ideally I'd like to be able to operate the layout with just what's on the scenic section as well if necessary. The obvious choice given these constraints, therefore, is some form of variation on the basic Inglenook sidings plan. I think urban or industrial settings make more sense in constrained spaces than rural ones, so I'm thinking of creating a 'slice of life' portion of a much larger goods depot. I've always been fascinated by the remnants of the large steam-era urban goods depots having spent a lot of time around Camden Market and the redeveloping Kings Cross railway lands. I would need a warehouse-sized space of my own to try and recreate anything of the same scale, but I think the large buildings, multiple levels, and complex track often found in these sites would create an atmospheric framing for a much smaller layout. I've also been inspired by some of the layouts I've seen on here, particularly @Mikkel's Farthing layouts which are a masterclass in doing more with less. I've spent many fascinating hours reading up on the history of some of the GWR's major depots and industrial sites. After toying with the idea of canal interchange wharves or bits of Swindon Works, I've settled on a plan loosely inspired by the very atmospheric photo below from Hockley depot. The road bridge from which the photo is taken hides a cut-out through the right-hand backscene to a cassette fiddle-yard, the left-hand side scenic break is formed by the front of a large interchange warehouse, and the backdrop is a low-relief building. The building here is (I believe) part of a large range of stables, but some form of bonded warehouse would serve equally well. A few small offices or huts provides some foreground scenic interest, and there's plenty of interesting details which can be gradually built-up and incorporated over time. Now to make it work as a trackplan... For budgeting reasons I'm limiting myself to some salvaged Peco set-track points. Below is an initial attempt in Anyrail (viewing side at the top). I have tried to create a design using either a Streamline double-slip or a three-way point to try and better replicate the image above, but because of the longer length of these points I can't quite get three sidings with enough clearance while maintaining the headshunt clearance within the scenic area on the other side. The three tracks at the right, entering the goods warehouse under the canopy, form a semi-disguised Inglenook sidings: three wagons in the bottom and middle roads, five on the top including the space on the point when using the bottom left-hand track as the headshunt, which should just fit a pannier and three wagons. 'Justification' for the shunting is that particular wagons have to be dropped off at particular spots on the unloading dock under the canopy, while the steam locomotive is prohibited from actually entering the (imaginary) shed beyond and so has to remain outside. The top track in from the cassette on the left provides a space to display some long wheelbase wagons that don't work for the shunting puzzle, and, with a bit of cassette-based fiddling, allows running-round wagons when freestyle shunting. Streamline track means I can use some gentle curves to try and disguise the fact that the baseboard is barely 22cm wide! It's a little contrived, but I think it squeezes in about as much as possible into the space available. My next step is to print out the plans and check to see if the clearances will actually work in practice - but for that I first need to make up some of the wagon kits I've ordered... I'd be very interested to hear any suggestions or advice! This is definitely going to be a learning process - but I'm really looking forward to the challenge.