An important feature of the layout was that it had to incorporate at least one diamond crossing. My Dad had a diamond crossing in his track stock but never used it and I was always disappointed about that.
The layout consists of an outer oval and an inner figure of eight. Working the figure of eight out might take careful examination of the plans and since that area will be covered when I'm done ought to introduce an element of surprise and interest to observers.
The sidings are reached from the outer loop by two long inclines. These start from another elevated section so as to reduce the degree of the slope. There is a small siding at the bottom of the long inclines where locomotives can wait while a shunter swaps their wagons.
Eventually (a long, long time in the future) I hope to have everything automated and operated from a computer.
The baseboard is split in three pieces, shown on the plan so some track joins will be needed. I'm intending to have the long inclines on a separate board and ditto the two sets of sidings. That limits the number of joins and in the case of the incline means I won't have to reach across the board to work on it.
It seems like an ambitious build but this is the start of a hobby so I'm expecting it to take a few years (my primary hobby is golf so railway modelling is for when the weather takes a turn or my aging body needs a rest). My hope is that I might have all the track that is at board height (the figure of 8 and part of the outer loop) in place and running stock for testing purposes by spring (maybe powered, maybe not). I'm mindful though that building a layout piecemeal can create issues so at the very least the track won't be properly fixed down until much later.
