A little P.S. to that John, The guy's youngest son and I became very good friends later on when we both were firemen at a small town called Dett and yes he did know that it was my dad that put his father in prison.
Syd

I'm afraid things have come to a grinding halt at the moment (what about that for a layout name....Grinding Halt :D ). The monthly budget was exceeded many times over because I had to buy a new suit for a job interview....and I didn't even get the job. :(

So it'll be next month before any new purchases are made. I'll keep you all updated!

Sorry about that Trev. :(
Look forward to normal service being resumed
John.

P.S. I agree "Grinding Halt" is a great name:D

I was hoping so, but it gets worse.

The missus is talking about moving house.

Grinding Halt indeed! :(

Oh Heck !! :eek:
Hopefully she will not move too far away and you will still be able to visit her when you are not working on your layout.;)

If only! :D

I've been mulling over the current track plan (with a bit of help from a plans book and a glass of brandy) and I'm thinking of changing things.

It has occurred to me that I could do a terminus to fiddle yard scheme, but with the fiddle yard on a lower level and at the front of the layout. At the front because I don't want to go to the added expense of electric control for the points, and also for ease of access. The fiddle yard would be quite simple, just a couple of sidings where engines could be manually swapped onto the other end of their trains.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Would the fiddle yard being virtually under the nose of the operator distract from the realism? Or would the operator (ie me) be so taken up with the operating that the close proximity of the 'off stage' world is ignored?

Trev,
It's good to see that you are thinking about your layout again. A man needs his hobbies:D
The layout I am building at the moment has a "fiddle yard" at a lower level to the main scenic part. Most of the sidings are hidden but the entrance/exit points are all easily accessible from the front so that I can operate them manually.
My previous layout also had a lower level "fiddle yard" so as you can see I am quite a fan of the idea.
Although part of the "fiddle yard" is visible I find that the eye tends to be drawn towards the more scenic parts of the layout.
There are some photos/plans of my old layout (called Sustenbahn) and progress reports on my new layout at www.swisstrains.net Just click on the "N-scale model railways" links. I know that it is probably not exactly what you had in mind but it might give you some ideas.
John

Nice looking site that John. :)

I'm still looking at modelling a fictional preserved railway; one engine in steam at a time, as it were, so the fiddle yard doesn't have to be big, just easily accessible.

The more I think of it, the more I like the idea. I'll do a bit more thinking and planning at work tomorrow. :D

Unfortunately the terminus /fiddle yard idea is a non-starter. The locos just won't get up the gradient. They would go down it alright, oh yes! :D I blame my optimism on the brandy!

Back to the continuous run. :)