I've made some progress since my last blog post. The tracks laid, wired up and tested. A big challenge was the the 3 way point. Perplexed on how this works and how to wire it up I turned to rmweb to steer me. Fortunately others have been equally perplexed by this, so I soon found the answer. I have to admit that I read the explanations a number of times before finally getting a handle on it. A trip to maplins the next day and we were good to go. I will probably re-wire the layout just to tidy it up.
I've tweaked the track plan slightly. To add some interest i wanted to reflect the sharp radius found on industrial complexes, so the top road will veer off at an alarming curve into a building.
Here's a poor quality photo to illustrate the trackplan:
There's the potential to run off into a fiddle yard at either side of the layout and the potential to propel a rake of wagons back into the building.
I'm deciding on a setting. I'm thinking a foundry or a small part of a steel works. Either way I want to give the impression that the viewer is glimpsing a small part of a larger complex. This will also give me the opportunity to build and run some interesting internal use wagons.
Here's a crude sketch I've drawn up of the strcutures. I sould like the buildings to act a back scene, to prevent the foot or so of blue emulsion that could so easily destroy the scene. It'll be nice to try and add some subtly forced perspective in there too.
Here's my return to modelling. After a couple of false starts I'm beginning my first project as an adult. I am by no means young or old, but I haven't done any modelling for a long time. So now is the chance to build the layout I always wanted to. Albeit with a few limitations.
I live in a one bedroom apartment with my Fiance and our dog, so this project has taken a while to get planning permission and will have to be 'micro'. As a baseboard I'm going to use a Clas Ohlson shelf. Clas Ohlson is a swedish brand which is best described as the love child of Wilko's and Ikea. It's swedish and sells everything you can imagine, you always end up buying something completely different than what you went in for, you get the idea. It's going to be a micro layout, with enough operating interest for me to operate on a night after work, i don't see myself exhibiting it. It must be easily tidied away. The pre-fab nature of the baseboard will prevent the need for much carpentry and excessive mess in the flat. I want the fiddle yard to be optional, so I could shunt about without a fiddle yard, then attach one on more serious running days.
I've begun to work out a trackplan, it's basically an inglenook design, using a 3 way point and a reverse headshunt leading to a fourth siding. I'll try to draw up a more accurate trackplan, but here's what the general idea is so far:
as you can see Bonnie insists on helping.
I've got some ideas of what the scene will be, but I'll return to those later. In short it will be a chance to run my Class 08 (Bachmann in BR blue), Ruston 48DS (half built A1 model) and Rolls Royce Sentinel (Judith Edge Kits, on order from DC Kits) it'll be private industrial sidings with a link to BR. It'll be a foundry or scrap yard, I've yet to decide. I think a little more research is required. I have to think through everything several times before committing to it, for example I've spent months deciding which Judith Edge kit to attempt, decided on a sentinel, then within an hour wondered if it should have been a YEC Janus or at least a Hunslet.
It might even be interesting to build a privately owned yard serviced by heritage locos and operated by enthusiasts, like the Middleton Railway was. I'll think about that later, for now I need to commit to a track plan and get that 3 way point ordered.
