Monday, March 7, 2016

Thinking Ahead.. Brett extended or replaced

Freemo stuff has pretty much dominated any railway modelling this year.. but bubbling away in the background has been some thinking about the space I have at home, and what I could do with it.

Brett is 8 feet long and originally sat on a shelf in a smaller room. It's now on a wall which is 13 ft and there is potential to extend along two more walls, adding another 8 and 7 feet.

As much as I like Brett, there is an urge to start from scratch.. I miss the creative process of building stuff as I don't churn out the micros like I used to. Also - although I could swap things around a little, and use the current 'team' track as the entry point, it would feel a bit of a bodge. Brett is due to be shown at TVNAM in June (first time ever exhibiting anything for me!) so I might look to sell/scrap it about the same time.

So, the available potential space is;


  • 7 feet. This is above my desk and Mac, so needs to be something fairly easy to operate.. I'm thinking of a yard or staging but unsure of the wisdom of that..
  • To the right of that is a run of 8 feet. This is a stud wall, and the first few feet are also over my desk, so I picture a fairly narrow and straight run.
  • Finally, another 90 degree turn to the right into the final 13 feet.


I intend to continue using rack shelving to support the layout , and most likely at a height of around 55 inches off the floor.

Period-wise I think I'll keep with a 'modern' theme.. although 80s/90s more than current day I think.

I'm fairly keen to re-visit my first interest in American Railroads, and go back to New England - Rutland territory.. perhaps a fictitious shortline which has connections with the VTR and/or Green Mountain, or perhaps even become part of the Vermont Rail System.

Beyond that - deciding on specific industries, scenes etc.. no decisions.

An early draft of the kind of plan I'm considering..


Obviously the plan needs work. I think the top half came from a Lance Mindheim drawing. The 'staging' would most likely make use of curved turnouts to make best use of the space on the corner. A stub ended yard is fine too, as I can use a switcher to release trains. 
I would like to get even a simple loco stabling area in somewhere, but I am also trying to keep things simple. Who knows.. I may end up building something completely different to this!!

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