Something small

[Bandit Mick]

Hope you’re getting on OK with the layout. I foolishly accessed an A4 box file recently that my wife said was going to be skipped. I then foraged for some bits of track etc. I’ve made a start and A4 is a tiny space to work in. Believe me, you’ve got masses of space for your layout!

[Biskit]

Thanks for the suggestion of 7mm narrow gauge, it's interesting and possibly something I may look at in future. I won't on this occasion though, as I do have a fair bit of OO stock already, including all the small coaches and wagons I will need, and several suitable locos.

I set up the track on a temporary board just to asses the practicalities, and check which stock would work reliably for shunting: some of my elderly 4-wheel wagons are perfectly happy being hauled round and round all day long, but propel them over pointwork at the slowest speed possible and they will derail every time. I also ended up changing the design a bit too.

I decided that the two sidings at the top just weren't practical, they could only have fitted a small number of vehicles in, and would have looked really odd. So I've done away with them and instead incorporated a tiny fiddle yard which would be behind a backscene, which isn't shown on the attached diagram but positioned broadly as on my original. The only minor issue to resolve is that the fiddle yard headshunt comes very close to the headshunt of the inglenook element. A backscene 'wall' will need to be placed between them, which might prove tricky, though there is scope for shortening either by a small amount to make it work. The inglenook puzzle is still there, but I've added further sidings, and changed things around to avoid the need for curved points (which I was going to have to buy specially). The additional sidings would just be 'blocked' when using the puzzle. All in all I'm quite happy with it, and have dismantled the track pending construction of a baseboard, which I'll hopefully get on to in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, I've been sorting out all my stock, which has been boxed up for a few years, and servicing some of my smaller locos. All good fun!

[cheshire lines]

I think your modified track plan looks more practical
With regard to the backscene, it doesn't matter if the fiddle yard siding comes right up to the back of the backscene. However on the scenic side it is a bit more tricky.
Maybe you could lay it out (without ballasting anything) and then see how long the Inglenook headshunt needs to be with your locos and wagons.
If it doesn't affect the shunting operations, then you could shorten the headshunt slightly by either cutting the final piece of ST220R1 or replacing it with an ST222 (half curve).

I assume you will have some sort of overbridge or tunnel mouth to take your running track through the backscene? If so, and if you do need the full length of your headshunt, then maybe you could model it as originally being a double track bridge / tunnel, with one track being truncated.

[Biskit]

Thanks and yes, that's exactly what I had in mind. It' shown as an SR220 on the plan but I can very easily cut a bit off as required. When I ha it set up I could comfortably fit an 0-6-0 (I tried an 08 shunter, and a Hunslet Austerity) plus three wagons, with a buffer stop at the end and two or three inches to spare before wheelsets fouled the point blades. There's scope to shorten while retaining the buffer stop, or even make a smaller 'stop block' or even incorporate it somehow into the wall, so there will be a way.

I am planning to use single width tunnel portals but want to find some with straight vertical sides, rather than the rounder shaped ones, to better hide the fiddle yard tracks from view. I'll need to make sure whatever I go with can be incorporated into what will need to be a pretty much vertical wall backscene. It's probably a consideration for a bit further along the project but any suggestions are welcome!