After having spent several years indulging the delights of N Gauge, roundabout mid-2010 I decided to “return to my roots”, or more precisely, OO Gauge, the scale in which I commenced my model railway “career” many years ago. However, as space was limited (my reason for sampling N Gauge, which is undoubtedly a good space-saver), I was forced to keep things small-scale even in the larger gauge, and have thus constructed several minimum-space/”micro” layouts, based on my favourite theme of industrial shunting in the BR blue era of 1970’s/1980’s. One such offering is “Pipers Yard”, completely fictitious, and based around S. Piper, a manufacturer of rubber hoses/pipes for industry, and who is reliant mainly on rail transport for the import of raw materials/the distribution of finished products. In addition to this, a small goods/coal yard, warehouse & engine shed help add to operational interest, while at 4’ x 1’ (including a removable fiddle yard cartridge), the layout is rather compact/portable. Piper’s Yard took about four months to build, and I and I hope it may serve as a source of inspiration to any fellow modellers who may just experience a similar problem to myself, i.e. a lack of space!
　
TOP TIP

However tempting it may be, never rush and/or “cut corners” when constructing a layout, just for the sake of having something up and running in the shortest possible timescale. I myself have been guilty of this “sin” once or twice previously, rushing into things as opposed to taking my time, and while it was good to see trains running, the overall result was rather unsatisfactory. But as time progressed I became wiser for these experiences, and subsequently developed a “perfectionist” attitude, with the emphasis always on a project that not only works well, but looks the part too. And as such, I’d like to stress that its always better to think in terms of quality when constructing a layout, from start to finish, even if it means constructing a building or whatever several times over, the end result will be so much more satisfying, both in terms of appearance and operation.