Well my baseboards have arrived so it was rude not to have a bit of a tinker. The baseboard still need screwing together to properly allign them, but all the legs are finished.
I’ve dropped the L shape baseboards and gone for a 12ft straight line instead. The curve of the L was making things more complicated while not adding too much additional benefit.
What you can see is a rough version of my track plan. There will be 3 platforms, one of which will also act as a parcels platform. There will then be one goods siding and a military siding, with the military depot spilling onto my layout a little. I’ve managed to incorporate a small engine shed and loco stabling siding.
Station operation is shunt release, which saves space and appears to be prototypical. As well as being a small terminus my layout acts as the access point to a small branchline via a reversal on my layout; this allows additional freight operations as short freights will arrive from the mainline a smaller loco will drop onto the rear and take the train up the branch and then the reverse happens later on. The mainline loco is serviced during this time.
Most passenger trains are short suburban or branchline ones, apart from a portion of a daily express and a portion of a sleeper service. Summer Saturdays may see additional longer workings.
I’m going to have an extended go with the current track layout and see how it all works (or doesn’t). I’m also missing a few pieces of track and a few more buffers before I can finalise it.
I’ve ordered gaugemasters ballast roll which if it looks good, means I will just have to fill in the gaps and points with normal ballast. There’s also track weathering to be done and buildings to assemble.
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