Firstly, to all readers, have a good Christmas and best wishes for the season, especially if Christmas isn’t your thing for whatever reason! In the usual carnage and chaos that is the run up to Christmas Day, tidying is done. What that actually means is stuff is put somewhere and other stuff replaces it for about three weeks.

In that swapping around, and making space for a car in the garage, I know, I know, trust me this time it’s a good idea, I dug out the above. Some may recognise it.

Yup it’s the last bit of Albion Yard that’s in existence. It’s one of those bloke things, I’ll keep it just in case. Just in case you want to add more shite to an already impressive pile you may think, and I’d have to concede you have a valid point. But, here’s the get out of jail card! Recently with a couple of good friends the Forest of Dean project has been making headway with thoughts being kicked around of optimising space, and critically determining what the project will give me.

A week or so back we had the opportunity to operate Geoff Taylor’s Cambrian Ruabon to Barmouth system, and I was signalling Trevor. Trevor is an interesting location and you can see why Geoff chose it. Adjacent to Wrexham it had two industrial sources for traffic, the chemical works and the brickworks, both providing a source of inbound and outbound traffic. Previously the concept of trains doing something, rather than circulating had been emphasised in Geoffs earlier layout. This was the first time I’d a had an opportunity to see how the goods traffic ‘played’ into the sequence, and it really does bring an extra dimension. You can see why the American card systems are so popular.

So with the mind churning and discussion on the journey back with Ben, the question of what do I want from a layout was properly kicked from end to end of the pitch, and today the time to sit back and reflect is invaluable. The books above provide inspiration, the Hatfield to Hertford book soon to be reviewed here, (spoiler, it’s excellent) has a direct connection to me and the hobby, so while not Forest of Dean related it’s part of that determination to replicate something.

So back to the future, having shown Ben Chapman a copy of a Barry Norman plan for Serridge Junction, the sketch above appeared in my in box. And what was interesting was his interpretation of how it could fit in my space with the parameters I have. It was a completely different plan, but I can immediately see alternative benefits and challenges in that configuration. What is clear is with the festive movement of assorted ’stuff’ perhaps a new path has been highlighted. And that bit of Albion Yard, what of that? Well it’s potentially a drop in yard throat, so a tester, which will fire up the fiddle yard section. I can see a man cave shelf section just to design the fiddle yard and get optimum play and operating value of that part to start. It worked well on Albion Yard and perhaps there’s a nod back to it, not needed, but nice to have…

So to close, wishing you all a great festive season. If you can take the time to sit back, and just enjoy the moment and maybe take a plan, turn it on its head, and let your imagination wander. It might just fire up something completely unexpected.

Back soon, have a good one!