Sunday morning

Well, a week after the convention and I should really be getting out into the shed, all fired up to start on the projects that need to be moved on.

-I need to do something about the lack of trains on my layout. This means building more wagons, and also as an off shoot, building a fiddle yard or 2 (well, definitely 2). I've been putting 2mm bogies together, which just remind me how poorly designed they are, although most of it will be down to old technology. I need to add to the single j sheep wagon that I have, but can't for the life of me locate the 5 etched under frames that are supposed to be on my bench.

-I've been pondering about the finer nuances of the new modular end plates, and have decided that thinking about finer is not my forte. It just revolves around using Peco vs NMRA wheels. Non of the old British stuff is NMRA standard, and its only been in the last few years that they have been dragged kicking and screaming into the 1970's. So, can we accommodate all this or should we all just bite the bullet and do something new. Now before anyone pipes up and says 'but I have all this track etc that I can't use', I'll point out that I have 2 1/2 years invested in a 12' layout that in all likely hood won't be able to connect up, and if it could, would be rather limiting to the things that could run on it, so I'm not overly worried either way. I'm intending to build something different entirely, and try out some new techniques for doing things. There will also be people asking questions about how we join them electrically, how XXX won't work and how we really need YYY. Others then pipe up and ask about ZZZ. Keep going on this, and the discussion merry circles the drain until everyone collapses exhausted, and nothing happens.

I guess that the only way forward is to ignore this and just build a couple, and see what works and what doesn't. I'm not expecting a fully formed modular standard to appear before anything happens, it will be based on what works and what doesn't. In my experience, any well thought out plan on first contact with reality tends to get mugged in a dark alley and left bleeding behind a dumpster.

And that extends to all the modeling hurdles that I seem to be faced with at the moment. I just have to stop over thinking things and just go and do it. I wonder if the First bank of Cabbage accepts Pay pal....