Rolling Stock underway

  Finally  !   I finished & completed my first wagon,  a Parkside NE 12 ton 6 plank open wagon.  A very nice kit as expected,  no problems and a joy to build !  Learned a few tips along the way that I won't forget in the future.  I added some weight under the floor to make the wagon heavier,  which will help with smooth rolling.  Model was brush painted with Tamiya acrylics,  and weathered with washes and chalk powders.  This is the nice thing about O scale,  even just a single wagon can be impressive.  1 done,  39 to go.

Stage One - Benchwork

 With benchwork complete,  work has now turned to roadbed and track laying !   Sadly I don't have all the turnouts I need to really get going,  but there is plenty to do until that package arrives !   This is the current state of the railway,  with the one half of the continuous run installed,  with minor super elevation.

Background Info

So,  here is a little summary of the idea behind this model railway.  Not being a native of England,  I have no special connection with any area or railway company.  I do find the time period of about 1900 to 1930 particularly fascinating,  and have a great love of the Victorian era Steam locomotive. I really like the elements of many different railway companies,  including the Col. Stephens light railways, so I've decided to model a fictional line,  allowing me to model exactly what I like !  

Location :  Somewhere along the coast in Somerset !
Time Period :   1920 - 1935
Railway  :   Boxer Bay Railway (B.B.R.)
Length of Line :  Approx.  25 Miles
Type of Line :  Coast Harbour to inland connections with GWR &  S&DJR 
Traffic :  Coal / Peat Moss / Hancock's Beverage Co. (Ale) / Fish / Farming Equipment / Fruit & Dairy
Locomotives :    A1  Terrier 0-6-0T  /   '02'  0-4-4T  /  1F 0-6-0T  /  Peckett 0-4-0T  + Anyothers I can get  :)

What's in a name ?   Don't go looking for the seaside town of Boxer Bay,  it doesn't exist.   The name comes from my fondness of the Boxer breed of canine,  of which I've had 4 in my life so far,  and my interest of the seaside and all things maritime.  The town is supposedly based in Somerset along the coast of the Bristol Channel,  somewhere South of Highbridge,  where it connects with the Somerset & Dorset Railway,  and Great Western Railway.  I wanted this connection to the "rest of the world" as I'm also an S&D enthusiast,  in fact I owe my interest in railways in large part to Ivo Peters and his photography.

The Plan !

Hello and welcome to my new and hopefully last model railway !  I've changed prototypes and scales so many times I can't keep track of all the times I've switched out one project / scale for another.  I hope this is my last great project,  and look forward to spending my life building it !

 Onto the plan.  I deliberately chose not to fill my entire 20' x 14' room with trains in all directions,  I simply don't have the energy,  time,  and most importantly,  money to do it !!  Also faced with the prospect of moving house in the near future,  I have incorporated into the plan the need to easily move this project to my next home,  so it breaks apart in 10 smaller,  fairly equal sections.  Not knowing how much room I'll have in the future,  I decided to keep it more modest.  I also feel more comfortable with this size of layout,  I'm confident I can manage to build something this size.  The layout works out to 14' x  9'6",  which allows for 4' minimum radius curves which will be sufficient for anything I intend to operate,  the Pines Express will not being passing through on this layout !    Track will all be Peco Bullhead Code 125,  and power is simple DC block control.  More details to follow.