Having created a number of designs for the layout using software, I found none of them offered me the compromise of storing and running 8-9 coach mainline trains. Model railways are, like life itself, beset with compromises. Thus I turned to a tried and tested method I had used before when planning Exeter Central: wall paper, mounted with printed/photocopied sections of all of Peco’s code 55 track work.To get accurate curves I used Peco Tracksettas when photocopying the track. I used small amounts of Pritt stick to mount full sized, photo copied items of track work to sections of wall paper cut to match the size of the planned layout. By placing and rearranging different point work etc. I was able to get a much better idea which track components I would need to attain smooth curves and ‘prototype feel’ to the layout. However, no matter how I rejigged it, I could not arrive at the necessary 1.4m / siding in the fiddle yard to suit my desired train length. Trains would have to be shorter. Another problem arose with the proposed branch line station. In order to fit that in at a higher level, it would by necessity cover a good portion of the fiddle yard leaving limited access to the tracks and for cleaning and re-railing stock. One bit of good news however, I picked up a second hand Fleischmann turntable which could be ‘kit bashed’ into a British design. This was included in the MPD area with multiple roads radiating from it. The station area was now looking quite prototypical with a goods yard, MPD (including a coaling tower) and a branch line bay platform. The inside curve of the mainline was never less than a 300mm radius even where it crossed the cellar on the proposed lifting section. This is important for close coupled rolling stock. It was the problem of fiddle yard and branch station that posed the biggest headaches. The branch line up to the station would have to incline at a 1:40 gradient in order to clear the lines below. A very tall ask in any scale, let alone N gauge!

It was time to remove the work tops on the cellar units and build a suitable wooden frame work on which to support the new layout - very important to have access to the underside of the model railway. So shelving my plans temporarily, I engaged my very DIY orientated, son-in-law to build the framework. While he was so engaged, I tried to see if I could design a suitably sized branch station which would not interfere with the fiddle yard. I was not very happy with the existing plan as it afforded no head shunt. A bit of internet research revealed a possible solution to all the problems: the Nelevation. A new company had developed a computer controlled, multiple-train lift which could house 20 x 8 coach mainline trains and deliver them to the main lines on the layout. Without going into details I refer you to: [ Ссылка ]
Nelevation was the answer to my prayers and it would fit into the layout without too much trouble. The design changed once again to accommodate a Nelevation. I now redesigned the branch station to a far more realistic plan. That was it I thought. Time to build.

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