DavidB-AU

The space lends itself to a peninsula or even two. Some American N examples in smaller spaces. https://i.pinimg.com/474x/8c/85/9f/8c859f218d1f3ca0c8c8adf8d2f57166.jpg https://static.wixstatic.com/media/fce877_b2cd2f1dc8fa4c0ca1b18e2672f85668~mv2.jpeg/v1/fill/w_640,h_558,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/fce877_b2cd2f1dc8fa4c0ca1b18e2672f85668~mv2.jpeg

That's a huge space. C.J. Freezer would put quite a complicated OO layout into a smaller space. (Low res 16x8 examples in OO for illustration only but to my way of thinking they are too cramped.) You could fit a continuous run around the walls with a peninsula up the middle and adequate access space all around. As a folded figure 8 that would give you a main line run of 90' give or take, or about 2.5 scale miles. Or a continuous run around the walls with a triangular junction into a terminus on the peninsula. As an idea of what you could fit onto such a peninsula, in N you could fit Liverpool Lime Street up to the second tunnel in 15x2' without any compression. But resist the temptation to cram in as much track as possible. Sometimes less is more.

All of those have room for a fiddle yard within 17'.

Another idea that springs to mind for simple operation with the emphasis on scenery is Ian Futers' idea for a Callander and Oban branch line to Inveraray. It would be a relatively simple station along the shore of Loch Fyne, possibly with a track onto the pier, but the highlight would be the buildings in the background. https://maps.app.goo.gl/ck1RQy9T7rSzNoER6 17 ft would just about get you to Inveraray Castle which could hide a fiddle yard. EDIT: there was probably enough wool and herring traffic to justify it c1913 but WW1 ended any plans.

A surprising number of locations could fit into that space with little to no compression and leave room for a decent fiddle yard. Depends whether you want intensive operation or relaxed operation and lots of scenery. This would require slight shortening of the loop between the throat and the tunnel. Or even no station at all and just a bit of main line between tunnels, with some hidden storage behind/under the cliff.

Etihad Rail has successfully operated the first mainline passenger service in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), running on the 250km route between Abu Dhabi and Al Dhannah on January 25. Freight operations began on the UAE’s $US 14bn network in February 2023. The 1200km network stretches from Ghuweifat on the border with Saudi Arabia in the east to Fujairah in the west, connecting four major ports and seven logistics zones. No dates have been confirmed for the start of public passenger services, which are expected to connect 11 cities across the UAE. Etihad Rail envisages a 50-minute journey time between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and 1h 40min from Abu Dhabi to Fujairah. https://www.railjournal.com/regions/middle-east/etihad-rail-operates-uaes-first-mainline-passenger-service/

So.... who is to blame for this? https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/messenger/adelaide-hills-murraylands/spanish-train-operator-talgos-adelaide-hills-train-trial-appears-to-be-dead-after-size-and-distance-confusion/news-story/ca426569372841c149a36ebbaba89fa1 The TL;DR version from behind the paywall. During the 2022 South Australian election campaign, the now Premier promised to allow Talgo to run a trial commuter service between Adelaide and Mount Barker. In February 2023 he flew to Madrid and met with Talgo officials. Now Talgo says it "misunderstood" the size of Mount Barker's population (21,000) and the distance (33 km as the Adelaide Crow flies, 55km by rail) and said "that's not what our trains do".

Crew training on the C16.

Apparently this one was misreported by the media. The flight was from Budapest to Stansted and was originally diverted to Manchester. It then tried to get to Stansted but couldn't land there.

To quote Stephen Fry, "This from a country that has spray-on cheese?"

For all its other faults, Ryanair doesn't scrimp on fuel and requires planning for 4 alternate airports in bad weather. At a minimum the aircraft has to carry enough fuel to do 3 missed approaches at the intended destination, divert to the most distant alternate and do 2 missed approaches before declaring a fuel emergency. The captain always has the final say in how much fuel is carried. Management cannot override this and cannot reprimand a decision to carry "too much" fuel.

Hold my Guinness...

I concur with looking at some Ian Rice books. I'd also recommend looking at the prolific layouts of Ian Futers which are simple yet engaging to operate. One thing I would avoid with a branch line terminus is a loco shed. While these are a staple of the BLT layout, more often than not the loco lived at the junction station and would only take water at the terminus. The loco shed takes up space that could be used for another industry to generate more traffic.

He did that joke himself in the 1980s!

Or as they call it, East Dublin...

Ryanair introduces new "door stays on" fee.

I've been using XTrkCad from before it was open sourced, when it was still paid. The learning curve is a little steeper than other CAD software but it's worth making the effort. I find it it a lot more flexible and you can do a lot with it. What I'd suggest doing next is replacing all the set track pieces with flex track to get the hang of how that is done. (When you've got the hang of that you can even add transition curves!)

Off-peak tickets are to be scrapped on trains between London and Edinburgh, in a move that the operator London North Eastern Railway described as “simplifying fares” but rail users denounced as signalling the end of affordable, immediate travel on the route. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/jan/16/lner-to-scrap-off-peak-rail-tickets-between-london-and-edinburgh I can't help thinking this is related to leisure travel being the fastest growing sector of the rail travel market, resulting in higher off peak loadings. https://www.railtech.com/all/2023/11/20/britains-changing-pattern-of-rail-travel/

Marble Bar had 26 consecutive days over 43 degrees C, then a little relief yesterday when it got to only 42.5 C. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-15/hottest-town-marble-bar-26-days-over-43-degrees/103313608

One thing I would do here is flip the fiddle yard. It allows some trains to shuttle between the dead end sidings and platform 5. Increasing the number of through sidings would be desirable.

More or less bi-directional from Salford Central to the Piccadilly throat. Simplified diagrams from OpenTrainTimes showing an example of how this is used. EDIT: A handful of trains terminate at platform 3.

If possible, moving the main lines a bit might help eliminate some reverse curves.