I built a 3 rail layout on individual boards, primarily for personal use but it ended up being exhibited on several occasions.

It started showing its age, the boards began to warp and trains started to derail and uncouple, so my brother suggested we build a new, smaller layout and add some scenery.

We started work in March 2014.

The previous layout, at 16ft by 10ft was a bit of a monster and I wanted a layout where I could operate it and observe the entire layout from one position.

After many scribbled attempts, I came up with a basic idea using SCARM:

We needed this to fit into a layout 16ft x 5ft, we wanted two main running loops, a separate raised loop (to utilise the girder bridges) and a shuttle branch with a small village terminus station,

First job was to mock-up the front of the layout on tables, using masking tape to identify where the board joins would be:

Once we had agreed on the basic layout, my brother - a demon at carpentry who ironically hates it, set to work building the basic framework:

6 more frames later and some MDF outer framing, we had the basic outline:

Then the 6mm MDF top layer:

It was then time to position the turntable prior to painting, I'm using a Marklin turntable, which needs to be recessed due to the difference in track height:

I decided to experiment with the electrical connections using 37pin breakout PCBs from the USA, the theory is that once the dowel pins and catches line up, the connectors will slide together with the boards - no plugs, no wiring. (so far this seems to be working)

The scenery is polystyrene insulation panels that I'd bought to insulate the shed in my last house, I never got around to finishing and brought one pack with me, thankfully one pack was enough to do the front boards.

With the polystyrene roughly in place, it was time to secure the tracks and begin ballasting:

This was our progress up to the end of May.