Locomotive Allocation

While I'm waiting for timber to arrive for baseboards and track I'm having another purge on stuff that I've accumulated over the years. As it would be daft to move on stuff that I'll need, it has made me consider the stock requirements for Rospeath Lane.

The year I'm aiming to represent is 1959 (as the shed would still have had a good quantity of steam locomotives but the first Diesel Hydraulics and Class 08 shunters would be seen). As well as being the end of the summer months for scenic interest, August seems to be the start of the decline of steam in Cornwall. In August 1959 Long Rock (Penzance) had 33 Steam locomotives and 1 Diesel Shunter allocated. The allocation was 12 x Granges, 4 x Counties, 4 x Halls, 2 x Castles, 4 x 45xx, 2 x 4575, 2 x 94xx, 1 x Modified Hall, 1 x 51xx, 1 x 57xx, & 1 x Class 08. To build all these locomotives in P4 is a daunting thought as I'd also require a quantity of visiting locomotives from other Cornish sheds and from further afield.

In looking over the track plan I was able to squeeze into the reduced size of my 'Man Cave' the layout will not be able to stable 34 locomotive let alone any visiting Locomotives from Laira or further afield. At a push I think it would accommodate around 25 to 27 locomotives depending on the split between Tender and Tank engines. With this in mind I created a sliding scale in the hope this would allow me to proportionally reduce the locomotives but still represent the type of allocation this shed would have stabled.

In some ways the anomaly I have with the model being too small for the location works to my advantage. I feel that working towards building 17 locomotives plus approximately 5 more for working the fictitious lines west of Penzance is an achievable objective.