My plans for Shillingstone and the show are moving along at a much faster pace than actually doing any work on the layout for the show in August. I have purchased most of the wood, baseboards and completed the woodwork on the southern extension but it has remained too cold in the garage for more serious woodwork. I’ve chased C&L Finescale (https://www.clfinescale.co.uk) as that will become a show stopper in the next week or so for the track for the north and south extension, I had originally used thin sleepers but that isn’t available anymore so going with thick sleeper instead. I will need to ensure the board joins are set up to deal with that but not expecting any issues as I’ll be using copper strip I think to secure the track at each end.
I ordered some copies of the S&DJR timetables from the S&DRT Shop (https://www.sdrt.org/product-category/sd-timetable-reprints/) They are currently half price ! I’ve 1927, 1931,1932 and 1936. I’ve not yet done a lot of detailed analysis but different to the 1949 copy I have been using to date. A lot more trains terminating and starting at Templecombe and not as much goods traffic as I expected and at first pass less than in 1949. I need to work out if I’m missing something out or if we will have some specials to provide a bit more interest, i have the ambulance train, crane, lots of coal wagons so a few options and with a full passenger service running these will have to use the sidings at the station so some on scene storage use as well.
1932 is a good year to run with, many of the locomotives, wagons and coaches would still be in S&DJR Prussian blue but with the 1930 agreement to split the line between the LMS and SR taking effect there would have been coaches from both companies augmenting the S&DJR stock that was being replaced. So a good mix of liveries and types of coaches as well as locomotives are suitable for running.
I’m going to try and run to a Wednesday timetable, this includes the the Up and down Pines, Fast Passenger, Express Passenger and Passenger trains, working out the differences will be interesting all of the passenger train types terminate at Templecombe or Bath. All the down trains terminate at Bournemouth West and there is a massive 6 minutes difference between an express and normal passenger going down. 8 Passenger trains plus the Pines but only 2 goods, mail and milk identified so far so more work to do, as I do want to have more of mix I have five roads for storage at each end of the layout so a full day will mean emptying and refilling at least once depending on the amount of specials.
For control I will try with prodigy Wireless handhelds at each for the FY operator so they can drive their trains out and into Shillingstone before handing over the train for it to be pulled on, not sure how this will work in practice so some practice may be required. The Signalman will be in his box and in charge with Cobalt S Levers controlling the signals and points. (https://www.dccconcepts.com/product-category/the-cobalt-collection/cobalt-signal-levers/) I will have sound in at least half of the fleet from primarily You Choos (https://youchoos.co.uk/Index-Resource.php?L1=Guides&Item=OOBach7F) for the 7F’s and 2P.
The use of DCC is slightly problematic with DC I could have had a push /pull operation with each FY operator pushing into the station and pulling out with some sort of indication on the through trains, swapping and remembering addresses to do this with DCC may be somewhat harder. I’m thinking that the timetable will be displayed at each end of the layout so the operators know what’s coming and going but the dcc numbers may be a challenge if we get out of sequence which could be very easy.
Disappointingly I don’t think the rereleased S&DJR 2P or coaches will be available before August so not as much prussian blue as I would have liked
GRC Railways 