Thanks guys
Goedel, I think you are referring to what is known as a "shunting puzzle"... that is a variation of shunting, that I am not really bothered with
I shall post some pics of the layout progress and plan later.. But here is some ( familiar ?) back ground..
As we live in a small house, there is no room anywhere indoors to model a railway. so I have a large shed /workshop in the garden.some 16 x 8 feet (in old money)
Aside from the usual household stuff, gardening, decorating gear etc,, just over half of my shed is devoted to my railway modelling project.
I have what is known in the UK as an " end to end" layout... specifically no tailchasing or circular movement of trains.. I treat it as a
"stage"... where most of it will ( eventually) be scenic, ( Swiss biased, in my case) with a little fiddle yard ( yet to be built) off scene.. to change the stock.
One has to use a degree of imagination here... but isn't this what model railways IS about ?
Somewhere, ( no particular place) down a Swiss branch line ( as yet unelectrified) there is a small town, where a goods siding receives and sends various raw material, goods and finished articles to the rest of Europe.
The goods shed has a runaround loop and only two sidings to serve the local business'es.
Alongside the goods shed, there will be a small family business, manufacturing wooden tables, benches and chairs for the hospitaliity industry, they are a thriving small business, well known for the high Swiss quality
Via the goods shed, they receive raw timber deliveries and ship out the finished items by rail and road transport.
Further along, at what is the head shunt and storage siding... is a small builders yard... this concentrates on mainly drainage materials but serves the local population with the usual builders materials, sand, cement, aggregates , bricks and tiles etc.. They will also have a small plant hire section, so local builders in the town can hire mixers and mini -diggers etc.
In essence.. a loco will bring a rake of maybe 3 or 4 small wagons round a very nice large curved viaduct , into the main on the loop, decouple and wait at the headshunt, for these incoming wagons to be sorted, he may leave empty , running light or he may have some full or empty wagons to take on the return journey .. who knows ?
He may visit once a day or every other day , depending on demand of the local business's, in between the diesel Em 3/3 will sort wagons, as they are emptied /filled at the goods station...
I equally enjoy scenery as much as the trains.. so a train is not continuously moving... I hope to create a small "window" of Swiss scenery but a goods shed setting within a rural environment.
For me , the scenery holds as much interest and enjoyment as the railway itself, and gives it all a "reason for being there".
Yes, I know in reality its all daft,
, but its my escapism..my life "therapy".. and its important to keep my sanity in this very busy world we live in.
I do hope you will enjoy what I share with you..
More pics soon..
Steve B
