Reading James Hilton's blog recently and seeing his OO micro coming together, it has really given me a lot of ideas for going back to OO, and as I have all the stuff I need including a variety of DCC fitted locos ranging from a Beattie well tank to various GWR locos giving a very West Country theme. (There's a Merchant Navy and Pullmans too but let's not get ahead of ourselves)
With a 7x4 ft board in the garage from my train set, it started me thinking about possibly designing a new layout, to better standards than I have achieved before, potentially to exhibit and as such, splitting into boards that would fit into my '05 Fiesta.
Clearly it will be a tight squeeze, but with the seats folded down it would allow me to perhaps fit two boards stacked on top of each other. However, I'm looking for more of a light railway terminus than roundy-roundy so the current thinking is that 4 boards would work.
With a 7x4 ft board in the garage from my train set, it started me thinking about possibly designing a new layout, to better standards than I have achieved before, potentially to exhibit and as such, splitting into boards that would fit into my '05 Fiesta.
Clearly it will be a tight squeeze, but with the seats folded down it would allow me to perhaps fit two boards stacked on top of each other. However, I'm looking for more of a light railway terminus than roundy-roundy so the current thinking is that 4 boards would work.
This is the current thinking for how I'd split them. They will all be fractionally different sizes but that's okay. This then brings an interesting opportunity- inspired by Peter Kazer's Corris layout, I decided that I could potentially curve the layout around. I've always really liked seeing layouts from the end of the layout as it gives an interesting perspective, and whilst I could curve the two right hand boards I don't think I would need to as the curved backscene might be enough.
The 7x4 board I'll probably just take apart completely as it's screwed together, whilst I think the backscene will need to be removable just so I can see out of my back window! I'm tempted to do something similar to The Summit, YMRG's big layout with a fabric backscene attached to posts that slot in.
This is a quick plan I drew up as an idea of what I might like to include but it isn't scale- once I order some track (Peco bullhead might be too mainline- otherwise Peco code 75 flatbottom) I can position some points and see what might be possible.
A pair of Ratio Midland clerestories are going to be the main coaching stock as well as the ubiquitous Ratio 4-wheelers. I picked up a load of the Hornby 4 wheeler bodies a while ago and I've started converting two into a longer 4 comp coach.
Wagons will be a mixture of kits and RTR, the new Oxford Rail wagons have rather caught my eye. Whilst I have a lot of GWR locos etc already, I think a freelance light railway would suit my styles more and if I set it in the 50s & 60s there is no reason that the line couldn't have bought a few secondhand locos. Whilst most light railways had shut down by then, maybe a preservation society has just taken over.
I'm not sure, plenty to mull over.
There were also a couple of fantastic pictures I found recently from a site someone found on NGRM- I've got the screengrabs so you can see their site address.
I think there is a lot to be said for revisiting ideas, and the sounds of a light railway sound just right, if I had the space I've always fancied reimagining the Culm Valley as a Colonel Stephens style line.
ReplyDeleteThanks James,
DeleteYes I've always really liked the Colonel Stephens lines and other light railways, when I lived in London I spent a lot of time growing up exploring the preserved lines like the KESR and Bluebell which have this amazing character. I'm quite tempted to really go the whole hog and make an Oakwood Press style book on an imaginary line and properly plan it out, a bit like Iain Rice et al. I'll only be able to temporarily set this out in my room as it'll pretty much fill it up, but I'd rather that than getting bored of something because it doesn't have enough operationally or scenically which is a massive issue for me- I leave everything half done!