Hi Al, that's a very nice brake van and build, the Rhymney had some appealing stock. I see Dragon Models still has the kit, very tempting though out of my area.

All over brown is not a bad bet for the Omnibus, I think. I've noticed early pictures show them very dark, and this model has one as all black: http://s73.photobucket.com/user/Asperula/media/great_west.jpg.html - but for later days it seems just as likely they were brown.

Thanks for that picture, Mikkel - my own Googling didn't turn it up, so very nice to see it. I wondered about having a go at the roof luggage rails. Do you think there'd be a ladder at the rear? Hard to tell from the other shot I've got, in "GWR road vehicles" or whatever that volume is called.

Hi Andy

The layout's been around for about seven years, and runs around the walls of a 12 x 11 foot spare room, with the track set at eye-level. Other than having to stoop slightly, I

can walk in without ducking. The same room also houses an American layout in N, occupying a similar footprint.

The original concept was a station based closely on Shillingstone on the S&D. Even Shillingstone proved too complex for the available space, though, and the track layout

was considerably simplified, while still intending to be representative of an S&D station. Here's the rough concept:

And the current station layout doesn't deviate too far from this arrangement. However, when I began laying out the platforms, I temporarily test-fitted an old model of a GWR station on the layout and decided that I'd go on and build the whole thing as a fictitious GWR country route but with the option to switch back to the S&D in the future.

That's still the plan - all the "infrastructure" - buildings, platforms, lower quadrant signals - is removable, and the signals, lamps etc have simple electrical connections. To be honest I've not been in any rush to move beyond the GWR concept as I was waiting for Dapol to release their LSWR-style signals. I think some of them have come out now but again, I'm not in a huge rush.

is it DC or DCC? Both - there's a switch (or pair of switches, now) on the control panel to allow instant swapping between modes. For boring reasons, i operate in DCC for BR-era stock, and DC for pre-nationalisation.

The concept of the modules came about by accident. I had to separate the "spring" and "summer" sections as shown above, as there's a connecting piece which I didn't want to scenic and which is the bit I duck under. It seemed natural to enclose the two modules and treat them slightly differently, and then I ended up doing something similar for the winter module.

The modules aren't portable and they can't be operated independently. They rely for structural strength on the metal wall brackets, and would be hopelessly flimsy on their own, not being constructed using conventional baseboard methods. However, they have proven to be great for what they need to do.

The track is C+L for the plain track, and Peco for the points. I'd tried building a C+L point on my workbench, but didn't fancy laying one in-situ while standing on a kitchen stool.

The layout hasn't been in any of the magazines, although the American one was in Model Railroader a year or two back.

This year I have begun the process of partially double-tracking the whole thing, starting with the Spring module, which you may notice has double track in some of the recent photos.

Any other questions, don't hesitate!

Al (Barry Ten)

Thanks for the kind words, Andy. 

The eye-level setting does work well for watching the trains but it can be a pain at times as well. It was determined by the height of the American layout so not really a choice, as such, more a necessity. It does make some of the work tricky, but on the other hand, getting to the wiring isn't so back-breaking.