Hi All! If you have seen any of my previous threads where the foundations of my current musings began, welcome to something that will hopefully more organized and updated consistently.

If you aren't familiar with the Ffarquhar branch, you're in for a treat. It was originally created by the Rev. W. Awdry, yes the author of The Railway Series, which for those who don't know has a large and storied lore behind it - far beyond just the trains with faces aspect. It is all fiction, but the detailed and storied "history" would have you believe otherwise, and since I was a child those aspects have captured my interest greatly. A full history of the Ffarquhar Branch will be put into a post soon.

So my choice for modelling, it being fictitious allows for what I call loose modelling, time and place set but a kind of openness that doesn't force accuracy in location or stock.

Now I'm sure you are wondering what the title of this blog has to do with anything I just mentioned. I like many modelers, am very limited on space, this isn't good with someone who wants to create large operable layouts with diverse traffic. My working space is really only 6x2 at most, so only so much to work with. I juggled over complicated designs, or designs that sacrificed more than I was comfortable with. I browse these forums frequently and eventually came across a fantastic blog, The Farthing Layouts I wish I found it sooner, but damn has it transformed my thinking when it comes to layout design. I won't waste time rewording everything said in the blog as I recommend reading it yourself, but in short the concept comes down to taking what could be a large station and narrowing it down to separate parts. Taking an elephant and breaking it into bite sized pieces 

My current idea for a first bite is a model of Knapford, which may take multiple different layouts to capture its scope. The plan is to slowly build up a collection of independent small-micro layouts that can act independently but connected by location and stock. Again very inspired by The Farthing Layouts. 

Finally heres a map of the Ffarquhar Branch 

Watch This Space.