Looking at the shunting puzzles site, and the collection of track I had, I realised I had enough bits to build a Timesaver, but it looked very complex for a layout I wanted to finish quickly. Therefore I decided to use Inglenook sidings as my base. Looking at the 2 pieces of foamboard I wanted to use to build the baseboard, butting them together would create a 1680mm length that would be easy enough to manoeuvre around the house (for storage, etc).
I wanted the layout to look relatively modern, so I wanted to use longer wheelbase wagons than the very shortest found on British railways. If I wanted the 5/3/3 proportions of the classic Inglenook plan, I needed to allow 8 wagon slots and one loco slot within my 1680mm length. After allowing for the classic BR class 08 shunter, pointwork and buffers, that meant an average wagon length of 143mm – big enough for long wheelbase modern wagons in 4mm scale.
I added the kickback siding with a fuel depot to the ‘classic’ plan, as many others do, to add more visual interest. I realised later that by using 2 locos I could shunt a tank wagon in occasionally to fill up the fuel tanks, for more operational options.
The final board ended up at 1685mm because my trackwork overhung by a millimetre or so (sloppy work on my part), and a shim was needed to allow me to fit a fascia.