Monday, August 26, 2013

British Oak in an APA - The Concept

Here's the idea then. The APA box we are all familiar with. If not, review this other blog posting
A Google search for "British Oak coal disposal point" will reveal some remarkable pictures to whet your appetite.
Trackplan wise there's not an awful lot you can do in 25" x 11" and given the industry the plan sort of suggests itself. One road to deliver empties to which are then picked up by a small shunting loco to be loaded at the screens. Yes, really loaded. (You know my beliefs about how small layouts should have working features to keep peoples interest up.) before being returned to the front road to be collected and sent off to the rest of the railway system.
As I got to thinking about this basic idea my attention was caught by my DMIR stock and looking at pictures of loading screens on both sides of the Atlantic I realised they aren't all that different and one structure could easily cover both locales. As this rendering shows.

So, a transatlantic layout could be on the cards then. This would make things very interesting at a show.  Bored with operating UK trains? People not interested in British Rail Blue? Change it over to DMIR maroon.
I like this idea.
A lot.
Follow along.

...and we're back.

So, after lying low for a few months things are moving again on the British Oak Coal depot scheme. With, however a significant change. That being the layout will be built in an APA box.
What prompted this return to modelling? And in an APA box too.
Well I've always liked the idea of having an English outline layout to show at train shows in the Midwest and already having the stock means that if anything was going to get built it would be something along the British Oak lines. (Pun not necessarily intended)
I don't quite know what prompted me to consider using an APA box for it though. I think I was perhaps inspired by what people were doing with the APA on the RMWeb community. They were putting me to shame. I mean, I proposed the idea of building layouts in APA's and I've done so very little with them. I was in the mood to do some "hands on" model making as much of my model making lately had been concerned with learning how to create 3D printed models for a new T scale layout. While technically "model making" there's no hands on cutting and measuring, just dragging boxes to shape and size on your laptop screen. That's not what I need right now, I want to feel like I'm building something.
So, I'll share the scheme with you later as blogger still doesn't seem to be suited to the iPad with regard to image posting.
But rest assured, there is progress a d new will be coming soon.