It's fair to say that I have not exactly made any sort of progress on the layout for well over a month, probably more in fact. I've had far too much stuff going on lately to even comprehend touching the layout let alone working on it.
So today I wanted to change that and find some time to do some modelling. Unfortunately, things didn't go to plan and I couldn't find my mojo! Suffice to say, nothing got done.
I think that the reasoning behind this is because I am getting a bit bored with the layout. Perhaps even fed up. Fed up that it's still not working that well, fed up that I have to prod locos every 15 seconds, fed up that I can't uncouple automatically and fed up of problems that I generally can't solve!
So, I wrote a list of some of the annoying things that hadn't been completed (click for larger size):
I straight away ignored no.1 and focused on no.2.
So I decided to start fiddling with Paint.NET. The original plan was to just add a fiddle yard on. However, as you will see I got a bit carried away and built a whole new extension. This came about from the simple desire to both portray more of Calshot, and run trains for longer than 5ft and make it look as if they actually went somewhere. I've always absolutely loved little branch lines - you know, those quiet little backwater lines with ageing coaching stock and diminutive little tank engines pulling short freight trains with flanges squealing and couplings clattering.
So I've added in a little bit more SG. I've also added in the fiddle yard design and also a beached seaplane. The hangar has been extended to behind the control panel and there is a NG loco shed with trees forming the scenic break. So I ask the question I always seem to ask you folk - What now?!
