Hi Graham I think you have great ideas already. You explain things so well. It's going to be Fantastic. My Best wishes for the op. Richard Canterbury

Will look amazing Graham! Cannot wait to see it all develop.. Good luck with eye op.....

Good video Graham, all the best for the operation.

Looking good Graham, remember it's your railway and you can do what you like with it. Good luck on Monday. H

Hi Graham and Hazel. Looks great to me as it is Graham. The access road from the elevated section sounds like a plan. Your making a superb job of it buddy. Good luck for Monday. Pete.

Best wishes for Monday & hope the recovery after goes well too. Can't wait to see how this area of Lakeside evolves.

Firstly, Graham, very good luck with the surgery and a speedy recovery. If you're looking for a plan for the heritage site, you can always post up the area dimensions for designs to be suggested as a competition. The best plan that suits your needs wins. As a road entrance to the area. If you are running a boundary fence or walling along your front edge. Have the gate placed at the point where your site scenics will end, and beyond the front edge is up to the viewrs imagination. Leave 1 or 2 cms for foliage and a bit of road into the site, but have the gate slightly open with a cheeky chappie having a peep out into the beyond. If you're going to have a high wooden or solid metal gates with a small side door built into it. Have that a jar with the figure peeking out to see the imaginary vehicles or workers coming in from the beyond. That would save you building a roadway into the heritage site. This will maximise the area for you to work on for track, etc, within the site boundary. Without having it smaller to include a roadway into the heritage live museum. Have your vehicles already parked, and without having to build a road down from the upper level roundabout, which will be a steep incline and take up valuable room to the yard.

Good luck on Monday buddy. Layout looks great !!!

Best wishes for Monday. That area is going look great with lots of interesting mini scenes,.

I like how you have suggested, I don't any other way as it would be difficult to access from the main lines behind on the curve. You do what makes you feel happy. But I definitely like what you are suggesting.

Good luck with your operation, Graham I would use the area behind the coal digger at the inside edge to place a few cars giving the impression that road access to the sheds is from your seated operating 'enclosure', saves re-modelling the upper roadway, however you could incorporate a short footpath accross and stairs down to the sheds from said roadway? I'm sure someone here will help guide you in the right direction, I look forward to whichever option you choose as I'm sure you'll make that area a very interesting feature Take care

Hello Graham, I would not worry about having cars there. They could park on the square, it just means you have to put ion a set of stairs. Your coal will be delved by wagons, so no need to have Coal lorries. Looking at the location of the of the Turntable the two outer sheds do seem to line up , but the middle sheds are both straight so some clever track laying is called for. Good luck with the operation. Martin. (Thailand)

For visual impact, my personal choice would be to move the water tower toward the angled board, putting it where you have the smaller buildings at the moment, it makes a small sight block, which can give you a better impression of depth in an area, and gives you a tall feature in an otherwise quite flat area, but I equally think it does make sense where you've put it too. I just tend to think of each area being a diorama of its own, as well as thinking about how that integrates into the whole. The additional benefit, if you chose to move it, and that covered wagon is representing having wagons with parts for the shop spotted in that area, then you'd have space for two wagons of parts to be spotted there. The other thing I'd consider doing to soften the impact of having the sheds in that spot, where the grey rooves will visually fade into the backdrop they're against, would be to incorporate a tree or two into the spaces that are tall enough to be visible above the roof lines - but that's a long way further on into the build process, and I'm sure you'd already thought of something like that.

Hi Graham i really hope your operation goes well and wish you a speedy recovery all the best 👍

Wishing you all the very best for tomorrow Graham . Re worker's access, I'd suggest wallboards from the station over the track....

Hi Graham - whatever format you decide upon I have no doubt whatsoever that it will look stunning. My only observation is that it may not be real life ideal to have the ash pit so close to the diesel tanks, so maybe consider relocating the smaller engine shed as far right as is practicable, (which I think you mentioned was your favoured shed for the ash pit). That said, our models are only a representation, so model on Graham. Best of luck with the eye surgery, they’ll be no holding you post op.

Hope all goes well with your operation, and we all look forward to seeing you back on the lay-out

Can't help you, Graham. I am even more clueless. But I am sure it will end up just fine. Best wishes for the operation.

Hello Graham! Firstly i would like to say good luck for Monday wishing you a speedy recovery. Yes Diesels are used widely in heritage railways for shunting but also for passenger services as Coal is getting harder to obtain and expensive. Really nice heritage set up i do like the position of the turntable and engine sheds, i personally think a baseboard extension would be highly beneficial and i would heavily weather the diesel fuel storage tanks but you are the expert and some one i look up too on KZfaq. Take care all the best

I repeat what others have said..... you have complete freedom as it's your model world. I also wish you good luck, regarding your eye, ...... partly selfish of me, as I really enjoy seeing the updates to your layout.

Hi Graham, from memory, the order of the ash pt, the coaling stage and the water tower varied according to the shed and yard layout, to ensure once a loco had dropped its ash pan there was still enough steam to move and complete any outstanding tasks. As its your railway you can organise it however you want! Coming along nicely. Best wishes for Monday. Take care.

good luck for your operation my friend...wishing you all the best.

Good luck on Monday Graham One benefit of your down time will be time to formulate what you're going to do in this area. Whether it was right or wrong, in the minds of the purists, I liked the way it was before and I wouldn't change it too much. The sheds and coaling/refuelling points will be where they were when it was a mainline working depot and the smaller buildings can be scattered about wherever you see fit. I think the visitors and staff should be parked of site to concentrate on the choo choos! It will look fine whatever you do. PS - still haven't got room for a full blown castle, but I invested in an N gauge Metcalfe gatehouse for the back of my forced perspective hill! Once again you have led me into temptation! Cheers matie.

All the best for your op on monday always a joy to watch your ideas come to fruition,as I have said before your layout is amazing and keep up the good work and hope you have a speedy recovery so you can get back to your layout and do what makes you happy and you enjoy

Good luck on Monday hope all goes well Graham I think you should be able to do your yard how you want it !!!

Can't wait to see turn table and engine shed area when its finished good luck with your operation Graham take care

Good luck with the op Graham, all the best.

Dear Graham, first of all wish you all the best before, during and after the operation. On the geometry of your maintenance yard; humbly think the width ‘north’ of the turntable is a bit narrow for two tracks. It might pay off to put the true to scale area on a piece of paper and shove all the elements around until you find the configuration you’re happy with. On the road bridge part, bringing the road in all the way to the maintenance area may complicate the situation beyond your convenience and wishes. Although, thinking on the purpose of the road bridge and the roundabout, maybe it’s an idea to extend the bridge with an elevated section over the maintenance yard. I’m aware that may complicate some viewing angles directly at the area. Nevertheless, it being a road bridge may allow for making it scenic removable part. Let’s say its pillars are ‘permanent’ and the girder construction just sits on the top of the pillars, unless you want a full view on the section. As far as scenic detailing, such a bridge could create the impression of a busy maintenance yard. Maybe even with some lights illuminating the parts under the bridge. As for now, it’s just an idea that surfaced. Main point is that it’s your railroad. Considering the amount of space you got, I wouldn’t fuss too much on the prototype level. It’s like you said, whatever extends the visual experience and impact is most important. Cheerio

That will be a really nice little shed area. Look fwd to seeing it progress. All the best with the op and have a speedy recovery. Cheers Ian.

Good luck for Monday Graham. Here's wishing you a speedy recovery, I know you'll be itching to get back to Lakeside!

Wishing you well for Monday first of all; looks great as is - would leave access to the imagination.

Hi Graham lovely update as ever. Best of luck with the operation my friend

Best wishes for Monday, Graham. Five basic elements to consider. The order undertaken might vary slightly between steam sheds due to their differing layouts: 1. Clean out ash from ashpans and smokebox. 2. Fill up with water. 3. Fill up with coal. 4. Turn loco (if a tender engine). 5. Lubricate motion and bearings. Other things, like boiler washouts and repairs, might also be undertaken. If so, then the ash would be cleaned out first, then the loco watered before the repairs. After repairs, coal-up, maybe top up with water and finally lubricate. I'd go for a "if it looks right, it is right approach", as loco depot layouts were so varied, despite attempts at standardisation by the GW and LMS in particular. Just remember that you'll need a trap point to protect the running lines at the entry/exit to the depot. Also one on that siding that goes behind the sheds, unless you slew it over so you only have one entry/exit road.

Hi Graham I think you have pretty well got `things` in place correct for me. Having said that could I make a couple of suggestions (if ok), I would move the fuelling point to the left and move the third point beyond the fuelling point to allow any additional diesels to get to the fuelling point and not block them in. Cycle rack have next to the portacabins (so workers can cycle to their office/rest room) and if you do add an extra board to allow "extra room" I would perhaps fit workshops and as you mentioned the coaling stage (hope this makes sense). But please remember the number one rule and am fully behind you what ever you do. Regards and best wishes for next week Barry.👍

Hi Graham that’s going to look great good luck with the operation next week mate🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿👀

Afraid I can’t offer any help re the shed layout..all I can do is enjoy your progress from afar and wish you a speedy comeback from your operation

Hope all goes well with the op!

I love the way the base board goes around the turntable Graham as it makes it look like a mini layout section all on its own 😎

Hope your operation goes well

Best wishes for a speedy recovery after the op Graham. As for the propsal to extend a down grade from the raised road end, to my way of thinking it would take up too much useable room. If, you do consider adding a bit more 'land" a small piece in the corner would suggest a carpark. Rule 1 applies. Looking forward to see it develop. Arthur

Good luck with the op Graham.....I'm sure you'll get heritage yard looking quality..looking good already mate ...Dan

Hope all goes well on Monday for you Graham. Great video as always. Take care, all the best Jon.

Best of luck with the operation, I had a cornea transplant done 8.5 years ago, and 8 years ago I lost complete vision in that eye 👁️ but luckily yours is far more strait forward

Firstly, every best wish for a successful operation and recuperation. Secondly, as others have already said, it’s your railway so arrange it in whatever way you wish. It’s great to see you making progress on the updated depot. As you’ve mentioned road access from above, the jutting out overbridge section has always looked odd to me, to be fair. It’s perfectly legitimate to show only part of the depot and leave the rest to the viewer’s imagination. On that basis, I would be tempted to link up a new one-lane road bridge across the whole of the depot throat, between the turntable and sheds, which is left hanging in mid air at the edge of the layout. Maybe it could have the merest suggestion of a ramp down to the edge of a car park near the water tower, perhaps with a single back wall of what would be the roadway. As luvvies would say: ‘Show, don’t tell!’

Hi Graham my be place the ash pit before the steam locos enter the turntable off main track . All the best for Monday . Phil

Graham, if you had a Three way point at the entrance near the gate you could have your feeds to the turntable, diesel fuel point, then one to the right could go to the right of the turn table (looking in from gate) up to the coal staithes and at the end of that siding you could park the tarp covered pannier, and have 5 more evenly spread roads from the turntable into the loco sheds

Wishing you all the best Graham.

I like your ideas for the layout good luck with you're operation

First up Graham wishing you well for the op. You have done very well with the new area putting little details in like the 08 engine shop. I would not mind too much about what is right or wrong. Cheers Kev

Some good work overall here Graham. All the best for your operation in the coming days.

Hi Graham, all the best for Monday Steve

Hi graham it looks great the way you done it but I would do the road all the best for tomorrow mate

Good luck with the operation Graham. Although I am not worthy, my 10p worth, is its looking a little bit congested, I would probably leave the two big a tanks and diesel fueling to the imagination. my idea is add a signal box, which seem to be heritage "must have" that been converted into a visitor centre and cafe, maybe add an impression of modern H&S signage near the sheds. Thanks for the content. im sure how ever you carry on it will look great and better than my suggestions!!

Good luck with your op Graham i am sure you wont need it, can i suggest putting your ash pit on the incoming line to your turntable as most of your sheds look set up for steam it would save the loco going on to the turntable twice to dump the ash. Regards Alan

Best O'Luck with the Op. The Ideas you have are nice, like you I dont have a clue, but if you like the LOOK, then thats OK, It is your layout.

What about moving the sheds to the right at a diagonal so the sheds take the space of the old wheels etc. Possibly a smother transition from the turntable and opens up the middle some? Cheers Peter

auguri da Valerio. Lombardia. ITALIA

You could make a small parking area for 3 or 4 cars where the vehicles turn round then have a footbridge down to the yard , the coal and ash csn be delivered and disposed of by rail wagons via the turntable

Very nice design and details on your layout, and I believe your design and project will really turn out well..good luck and thanks for sharing..😊Take care..

Good evening Graham first of all as you know I run an heitage railway and yes older diesels do run on heitage lines small and large. When you come off the feed line why not put an extra line in to the right to run past the turn table. Anyway all the best for Monday my friend. Stephen

Hi Graham. Following your wishes (are you SURE you wanted to do this? lol) I will throw in a couple of ideas into the pot. Firstly the water towers. Just looking at them they seem to cramp the place up in front of the sheds. Personally I would have expected there to only be one on the line out between the turntable and the gate maybe? I definitely don't think there is a need for the leftmost one by the green tank engine shed as that would be covered by the one between that shed and the adjacent one. Secondly regarding the parking area. I'm not certain that you should feel it necessary to have one, or a road running up to it. Maybe run a metal spiked fence an inch from the edge of the board with a gate somewhere along to represent the entrance from a nearby road. The other thought would be to have a road running from the far left of the new section parallel with the incoming track with an entrance gate in line with the loco entrance gate and the cars driving down to park outside the buildings along that edge. Thats all I have but I hope it is of some help and that you're able to understand what I mean lol. But most importantly I hope everything goes well for you on Monday with the operation and I look forward to seeing you back at Lakeside. But PLEASE don't rush back. Take the time that you need. Happy Modelling, Mav

Good Luck with the op fine Sir. Do as you please with that depot scene. If your not happy with it, you modellers, usually rip it up n start again anyway. Thank you for sharing the video. Take care young sir.

take care Graham

Hi Graham. I can't make my mind on whether it's worth having the carpark coming off the bridge. I guess one option would be to move the fuel storage tanks and build a card board mock up of what it might look like without taking the current road scene apart. That way it will at least give you an idea of what it might look like. You haven't gone to far then if it turns out it's better to just use the old imagination. Hope it all goes well for you on Monday and your eye recovers from it quickly. Tim

I think it looks okay as it is. I’d use the line that goes around the back to store locos/ rolling stock awaiting restoration

Graham you should consider road acess in one way or another other it can come from off scene to,the road but you will need to get materials and the like to site if you suggesting engines swaps then a mobile crane would be required. Again you don’t need to include but it would need to be possible. Assuming this was an older depot which has been taken over by the heritage people you would end up,with lots of stores dotted around. It would be worth looking at existing facilities on Google maps which should give you ideas. The one thing you would not have is a fuel tank beyond a siding due to risk of collision from a run away train. They can be land locked if you like Willesden is an example, noting that the offload point can be remote from the tanks and the fuel then pumped to the tanks

Good luck for Monday mate.

Hope all goes well on Monday Graham. I would go with moving the fuel tanks and having access from a bridge as you mentioned. Also fuel tanks opposite the ash pits surely would not be allowed because of fire risks. Clive.

As I am adding this comment on Tuesday, hopefully you have had your operation and starting your hopefully speedy recovery. I hope it has all went well? As far as types of locos, its your layout so run what you like. Don’t forget a lot of older classes of diesels like Deltics, Westerns etc are regarded as “Heritage” as well and have long been withdrawn from British Rail and Train Operators. My only thoughts about how you plan the depot, although I dislike phrases like “protoypical” etc that smacks of rivet counting, you may find that there may not be a direct line out of the depot onto a potentially live line so that if a loco becomes a “run-away,” it can’t run out onto a live track?

Let us Know when you're back ,mate all the best Graham

Good luck for tomorrow mate

Good luck & best wishes for the op mate. Nice to see you with the railway - as ever going forward. Mix and match those locos - glad you got the best answer there. I tend to think if it looks right, it is right. Access? Surely that is 'off board'? A bit of tarmac at the edge of the MDF to suggest it? A parked car or two?

Thank goodness you haven't much longer to wait for your op following which you will be soon be able to get back to normal. Best regards.

Hi Graham, you have been busy! A thought for you. As all the workers get FREE travel on the trains????? 😀😀😀 Why not have a few of them at the top of the escalator waiting to go down to a subway which connects to the new area, and have them coming up either another escalator or set of steps into the work area. It needn't be in a direct line with the escalator on the platform. Just my "thinking outside the square" Good luck on Monday. BTW did you get my email? ...... Ian

One sirgustion, work pits inside the shed and possibly outside, for maintenance and dropping the fire boxes at the end of the working day. Just an idea, depending on how you feel about it. I think this is missed on a lot of modellers' layouts.

My attitude to life (at 77) is to have more reasons to see tomorrow than not have...I trust all goes well, because the loss of your ramblings will create quite a gap in my YT viewing time... Regards.. Peter..🙂

Good luck on Monday Graham .

Good luck.

Re Access, just have a footbridge from the roadway as not many people had cars in the old days As they came on push bikes or walked. And coal & oil surely comes by Rail ! And maybe a foot crossing for Staff from the platform to the yard.

Hi Graham of course you can put diesel Locos with your steam locos for example look at the nymr depot at Grosmont and all the best on Monday Kind regards Martin

The big Heritage Railways have say 50/50 steam and diesel locos. Some of the smaller HR’s only have diesels. Severn Valley has separate steam and diesel depots, NYMR has steam/diesels all mixed into one. So basically there is no correct way to do it, just go freestyle and make it as usable as poss.

Could you put a car park area in on opposite side of turntable to sheds which hints at a road access off scene?

Graham ignore the negatives , work to the positives good luck on Monday

Before going too much further, get some short lengths of track and try them against the turntable, you maybe creating rather sharp curves.

Good luck for monday hope all goes well with the opp, why dont you have a line to the right of the table for the ash pit on the coaling line, may need to fill that other baseboard bit in.

Sspeedy recovery Graham!

West Somerset railway diesel and steam 😊 your choice Graham it’ll be ok whatever you do. Ps you know me pure fantasy have fun 😊pps ah the old ash pit I remember you making that 👌

Do you have a rail mounted and/or fixed crane or hoist to help move weighty objects such as engines about? All the best with the medical procedure

Hi graham hope everything goes ok for Monday. The layout looks great.i really need to get back into my layout.i have not done anything for over a year..I just kinda lost interest..

Take a trip to the watercress line heritage railway in Hampshire Ropley is main tmd area diesel and steam happy together.so do what you want.its you railway your rules.

Only water cranes at the coaling facility And perhaps one either end of the platforms