Back of an Envelope Fun

Right (click on) - another idea scribbled on the back of an envelope last night during a tea break which was then cleaned up in Photoshop over breakfast this morning. I could use Catcott's fiddle yards I guess. Having acquired several Bachmann Scenecraft seconds and some Skaledale stuff which could be bashed about a little mixed in with a dash of scratchbuilding, something could be hacked out quite quickly I guess.

The curved nature would be a break from the norm, with the tandem pointwork being a good focal point. Trackwork will all be done properly this time, either useing C&L as with Catcott or maybe even handbuilt using spiked code 55 flatbottomed as Brian Harrap has on his super Quai: 87 layout. Of course a mix of the two could aslo look good.

A diorama approach will work well with what could be quite a deep layout height wise, starting low at the front with the brook rising up by 18 inches on the left hand side with an old 'batch' (slag heap) balanced by colliery buildings on the right.

The two parallel lines crossing from the middle to the left hand side are a possible aerial cable way to remove waste - if that could be made to work that would be great fun. Additional fun and games could be had with actually loading wagons too via a hidden shoot from the rear of the layout down to the screen which is middle right.

The look I'm after is a cold winter's day (even though this sketch looks 'summer') inspired by the last days of steam at Writhlington on the old S&DJR. Wagon stock would be 99% open wagons and locos anything from a Sentinels, 'Bagnalls' (Jinty), Pugs and maybe even a Hymek - no hard rules!