This is a beginning. Not the end.
I’ve been off work the last couple of weeks. One of the main things I intended on doing was spending a week on the model railway, catching up on things and getting it going. The other week was to be spent tidying up and doing random jobs.
I joked to a colleague before I went off on leave that my ‘plan’ wouldn’t come to fruition. My first week was spent tidying and clearing out rubbish as I’d planned. The second week was spent buying a new TV and other random things.
A couple of times I looked at the base board and every time I did just considered it a big job I couldn’t be bothered with. I quickly realised the layout was far too big for a ‘re-beginner’ like me. I should have started much smaller. Because I’d based the initial layout plan on the size of the sheet of ply I’d purchased, it’d started off far too big anyway, and just snowballed from there.
Plan B formed quickly after deciding I couldn’t be bothered with doing the work I’d planned. The idea was to create a small-ish diorama with some Scalescenes bits, which I could cut my teeth on. I drew a quick ‘impression’ of what it would look like.
A simple viaduct with a couple of tracks running along it, and various backdrop buildings.
I set to work hacking up some spare ply to make a base. The resulting base was 700mm wide, and 300mm deep. The under support was the simplest I’d built, being simple butt joints, screwed and glued. I also simplified screwing the top on, as previously I’d been faffing about trying to screw up into the ply, rather than down into the wood.
Having built a base, I set to work building the viaduct and shops. Having built a couple of arches and the shops to go under them (a bit of kitbashing was required for this), ideas started forming about building a whole new layout, using this base as a starting point.
Out came the tape measure, and I’d quickly settled on the idea of having two identical boards side by side. These will be bolted together in the usual fashion, but also free-standing. The previous layout had no decent support, and was warping and sagging all over the shop. It was causing trains to derail when I ran them.
So basically the new layout is going to be 1400mm wide, and 300mm deep. Granted, that’s not a lot! But it will include a hidden fiddle yard, and I’m considering building in a cartridge fiddle yard as an addon. The whole thing will be capable of storing out of the way though, so it should keep clean, and it’ll be small enough to work on and look after.
I have track plans coming, and layout design on the way, which I’ll post up soon. Tomorrow I’ll build the second base board and the legs though, so I’ll be ready to start.
The original design was doomed to fail really. Poor planning, and my over-enthusiasm were my own undoing. If I’d spent a while longer working up a plan, and deciding what I actually wanted to do, then I’d have been OK. Having seen so many other layouts since, and read various bits and pieces, I spent a lot of time thinking ‘why didn’t I do that?’.
Still, it’s a new beginning. Exciting stuff!