Thanks everyone for the interest, your comments are encouraging and is helping kick the Black Dog away from me which is always good. I have been plagued by a roller coaster of good and low moods all autumn and winter and I am not sure why, so anything that cheers me up is extremely welcome indeed.
Jordan - Hm, interesting. Well, tramroads in the Forest were 95% horse drawn, a couple used steam but these were usually NG and served collieries. Standard gauge tramroads loco hauled were alien to the region but its interesting that you've raised the point. I had never actually made that connection with the Forest's horse tramways and loco hauled lines such as Wisbech, Wantage, etc.
Craig - I am lucky in that there is almost zero direct sunshine. The far end of the room (window) faces west and the long side with the other window and door face north. Our garden boundary is a 4m hedge that is over 100 years old so while the sun hits the patio and other areas - great for BBQs! - the railway room (converted garage) isn't directly exposed. I will be putting up blinds across all the glass in due course (high on the list in fact) and before any scenery goes down - meanwhile I don't park rolling stock in the areas where the daylight falls just in case some fading happens.
Paul - I was weaned on Cyril Freezer and Peter Denny back in the 60s. I had my first train set when I was 5 and in the early Railway Modeller magazines I read it always seemed that model railway layouts were bigger and meant to last a lifetime. The contemporary modelling scene seems to me to be quite exhibition-driven in that a person or small team will build a smallish layout, exhibit it for a few seasons then sell it on and build another. This is possibly due to smaller modern homes. The 'monster' layouts you see at shows always seem to be owned by clubs and have an intended longevity that makes sense given the amount of work that goes into them.
Peter Denny's Buckingham Branch went through several gestation versions as well but eventually he hit upon a final home for it and a final plan and proceeded to live and love this one creation for 30 or 40 years and my preference is for that kind of model. The layout has been built in sections in case I move home so it could, in extremis, go to exhibitions, but that's not the intention (awesome as it would be to show it in public). I am now 60 and I suppose, barring any significant affordable advances in medicine, I am looking at about 30 more years maximum to enjoy my hobby so this layout is intended to be the Final Great Project that will see me to the end and then, hopefully, become my daughters property (she's an engineer and loves cars, trains and planes).
Ugh. I rambled. Enough for now.
