Trouble ?

The question of what to do with the line from Cathkin to Mansfield was solved by simply taking it down into a cutting , making it disappear (heavily camouflaged again by shrubs and trees) letting it run underneath  the baseboard , taking it back to the unseen Homewood, from where it would  re-appear above ground  (below) and re-enter Yea. 

T358 running light engine towards Yea near Homewood.

 
This would of course also provide me with a continuous run. I would have, in reality, a large oval, with a branch from Cathkin to Alexandra.  So, the basic concept was established.

Then there was the problem of how big, or rather how small the radii were to be. The curves around the peninsula would take up a lot of room. I settled on a 20" radius, after I convinced myself via a mock-up that it could easily be managed by VR T Classes and DERMs and even a PSM 'J ' would get through.  So I proceeded with construction, tracklaying (Peco Code 100 Flextrack and Peco Streamline points - largely medium - with Insulfrogs, with some long curved ones where necessary.

At the time my only locos were two Powerline 'T's. Had I had a 'B' Class then or even a DERM I may have proceeded differently. Not that people hadn't warned me. I, however, thought, while locos and passenger coaches (of which there would be only three or four, 'W's and a CE van) might not look too attractive around the curves, I could put up with that and went ahead.

Construction was completed , tracklaying and wiring done. As I intended to use the NCE controller for Digital Command Control I had bought at the 2011 Warrnambool show, I treated the whole layout as one large block. After all, it wasn't very big . Everything was working out fine, the 'T' locos felt right at home and I proceeded to work on my favourite aspect of the hobby - scenery.

I was having a wonderful time.....

But there was trouble ahead in the future. Trouble in River City, my friends, with a capital  T...

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