Ackidocks, tocky-bonks and chimdys

Sunday afternoon 30/10/05

Talking with people has raised a few points about my mini-layout, which I might as well mention here for reasons of clarity:

• This is a 'shoestring' project, designed to use the tranklements I've got kicking around. This covers a lot of "why are you?" and "why don't you?" questions in that various aspects are dictated by what I've got squirrelled away. I will need to buy some more Tortoise point motors and scenic materials, but that's about it in the short term.
• It's a secondary project and will be kept simple, so as to not absorb too much time that could be spent on bigger things.
• It's not an exhibition layout. The board/risers will be glued to the support structure and the only time it'll move is when it gets put in a skip!
• There are no passenger facilities. This is mainly an industrial shunting puzzle with the added benefit of test-running facilities for new and visiting stock.
• The stock in the photos has no relevance, it's just there for 3D effect. I've learned the hard way to use chunky RTR for planning purposes instead of whacking more delicate items with a length of timber.
• The intended movements in and out of the fiddle yard should be clearer in the above photo, the lines will curve off to the right to give a classic 'L' shape. Ignore the MR signal box, that has no part to play - neither has the stock with the possible exception of the Gronk.
• The track formation is a few inches closer to the right-hand wall than it should be. This is purely because the raised roadbed to the left needed cutting to size before everything would fit - it was p*ss*ng down when I took the photo and I didn't fancy a mad dash to the garage for woodworking purposes!

Finally, there's no truth in the suggestion that I'm building this to cover the plastered area in the photos without actually decorating.

In the short term at least, the fiddle yard will be a simple affair, but it won't be cassette based - I hate them! It'll be a thick slab of expanded polystyrene sitting on the window-ledge, with Rocoline HO track perched on top. Again, this is product I've got to hand. The Roco track is ideal for this kind of thing, by the way - robust and fitted with slimline DCC point motors within the roadbed. This is pure 2-wire stuff, and the extremely lightweight assembly can be chucked anywhere when not in use.

Having a layout in this position presents the uncommon opportunity to take snaps in natural light. My regular test-track is in a fairly dark corner, such that stock needs operational lights at all times to look authentic, and any sign of daylight in the loft would herald a frantic call to Bob and some of his builder buddies. This one's a little washed out by the bright sunlight, but the novelty of a no-flash shot was too much to resist. Hand-held at 1/45 sec - that chimney ain't pretty!

The layout was conceived as an excuse to run some WR stock in the transition era, not necessarily the stock pictured but you get the general idea. I've always fancied modelling the ex-GWR lines in the Black Country, but never quite enough to do a full layout. Perhaps a decent King, Castle or Western could change my mind, but for now a shunting plank will do.

Much of the Black Country looks to have been cut out with crinkly scissors, the skyline definitely has a triangular feel to it. I would regard some similar factories to be a must, but being a little more cramped for space than I first thought, I'm not sure if I'll be able to fit any in without things looking contrived.

It's ockerd, this small layout business...

Currently On My Stereo: Genesis - We Can't Dance