The Short Controller

As noted earlier, this is a Thomas household. The Fat Controller does not tolerate any frivoloty on his railway, as that would cause confusion and delay. Here is Nat studying the latest proposals from the engineers. I suspect that it is too simplistic. Our rolling stock division has been evaluating the acquisition of a James-class engine, but we're not sure we can deal with that level of cheekiness in a steam engine. At a minimum, though, we need more coaches. We have more engines than freight or passengers, and that's no way to run a railway.

Here's our latest layout, which daddy beleives is the tightest to date. Katya appears to agree. Having mastered basic layout rules and performance techniques, we will soon graduate to elevated track and have long-term plans to move to a table-based network.