Great to have you back. Wishing you all the best. My mother Inlaw had her cataracts done about four years ago. She's 93 now and has better eyesight than me. Amazing what they can do these days.
I had a hole in the back of my eye that was "repaired" late last year. Before they attacked it with a pick and shovel they did a quick cataract op, took 10 minutes. Other bit took an hour and a half. Such fun.
Ref my eye op ... well the first on my right eye wasn't totally successful ... damaged retina ... but the op on my left eye two weeks ago has changed my life ... seriously its so brilliant I can see pegs on a washing line miles away (when i pointed things like that out, the other 5/8ths started recruiting volunteer's to play 'eye -spy' with me ... wonder why? Any way I've had numerous attempts to smooth out this 'Just in case' layout to no avail (the radius is too tight for Peco n gauge flexi track and i keep getting problems. Sooo, I've decided to totally redo it using Kato Unitrack and short loco's (even a steeple cab ... maybe) anyway here's the planned track plan ... it can be used as a shunting puzzle too.
Er ... slight adjustment to plan ... the curves were too tight ... sooo see below it might just fit Kato thingy track .... sorry Gary mate 4 wheelers
Anyway got this addition for the layout (Kato) ... apparently it's a great little shunter ... the wagons will go over to 'Noch Noch' and receive tarpaulins (tissue and pva/water mix)
Looking at your current track plan, I'm guessing this is an end to end layout ? If so, have you considered placing a centre divider between the two sections ?? I have drawn a mid blue coloured divider into the plan below. So, I used your track plan, removed one siding at the top and drew in buildings and roads. On the lower right hand side, the short spur enters the light blue coloured building, whilst the others are either loading docks or buildings with doors or other facilities for unloading the goods wagons. Cheers, Gary.
Whilst waiting for the track to arrive I've obtained a new baseboard (hardboard/blackboard) and a thin rubbery mat (used for crafting) from the sell everything cheap Chinese shop on our street €5.95 total. So, todays mission is to cut them both to the correct size and glue the rubbery crafty mat thingy down ...
View attachment 43212 This is the final track plan I've decided on ... if it fits, and everything apart from 2 steam locos will be Kato ... if they work, and I should have it ready to run pretty soon ... if I stay off the tinto ... ? ... this whole plan sounds a bit iffy ... View attachment 43208
An unexpected bonus from using Kato track ... the neodymium magnets needed for my auto uncouplers will fit perfectly underneath the track