Just a few words about the concept, which I must admit has been a little vague so far!
I needed a project where my imagination could run riot, free from some of the usual constraints of building a 'proper' railway - something where I could experiment a lot and build models of unusual things. This is how the Neversay tramway idea came about - an imaginary line in a colonial setting.
For what its worth, the imaginary location is in the southern Indian Ocean, on the site of a huge underground ridge called Broken Ridge, roughly at the same latitude as Perth, Australia and the southern tip of South Africa. It will be called the South Indies.
There are several places in this part of the world where ridges and plateaus do break the surface, most notably the very cold and inhospitable Kerguelen Islands further to the south west.
As for the layout, the idea is a passenger terminus at the end of 3 lines of the tramway. There is also a connection to the main line, run by the Government Railways. A freight line carries on a short distance to the train ferry terminal at the harbour. The ferry would be a short cut across a bay to the main part of the mainland. Travelling by land would be a very long way round.
- a-Location-Map.jpg (26.91 KiB) Viewed 5335 times
This should give great operating potential. Apart from the passenger traffic on the tramway, there would be main line freight to and from the ferry. Light engine and empty stock movements to and from the ferry would also take place, as the Government Railway would need to transfer stock via the ferry to and from other parts of the mainland for servicing etc. Incidentally, you should think of the 'Tramway' concept much like those in Australia - not so much a tram as a local railway built by the locals, rather than by the Government.
There are several RTR locomotives suitable for this project used overseas including the Bachmann Austerity, ROD, 'J94' , Model Rail Sentinel and USATC 0-6-0T. A reasonable number of kits are also suitable. Once I have built up a lot more confidence, scratchbuilding almost anything could be possible, including standard gauge Double Fairlies, Kitson Meyers etc. These are probably a very long way off though - if I ever get around to them at all.
That's it then. Sorry, it is far from what people expect from a P4 layout, but its my layout and Rule 1 applies.
Edited to include 'It will be called the South Indies.' which I forgot earlier
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- lots of interesting ideas in the one layout and an interesting subject as well. Should go down well at Scalefourum. Good luck with Scalefourum - works in progress are always interesting and most modellers who actually build stuff appreciate what you are doing, so I am sure you will get a good reception.