As part of my submission to BRM for the ‘Great Model Railway Giveaway’ contest, I knew that my first step would be to develop a story for the layout to tell. 

Although Roy Link's 1978 trackplan is loosely based on Fairford in Gloucestershire, Chris Ford’s version of ‘The Art of Compromise’ suggests a Welsh location, so I wondered whether perhaps there was scope to bring in some kind of industrial theme applicable to rural Mid Wales.

As we all know, every railway needs a reason to exist; in many places that reason was freight more so than passengers, and rural Wales was no exception with many small lines built to transport out the products of local industries.

‘The Art of Compromise’ already has a small general goods yard so I started mulling a few potential options. Should the goods facilities become something less generalised and more focused on a specific type of freight? Maybe there's a quarry nearby? Or could the setting be a particularly productive agricultural area? Or a timber yard with a sawmill perhaps?

The last proposal really caught my interest, and I remembered that I already have most of the kits I'd need for a small sawmill and light industrial scene based around forestry. After pondering that idea for a while longer, I came up with a fictional scenario as a new theme for the layout, to suit the October 1978 setting I proposed in my previous blog post.

The area modelled depicts a small former GWR branch line halt, one of the first stops a few miles along from a main line junction, perhaps somewhere in Powys or Clwyd near the border with England.

As a fairly minor route with little passenger traffic, the line was inevitably slated for closure in 1963 as a result of the Beeching cuts, which would have effectively isolated the local saw mill and timber yard from the railway network.

And although most of the line did indeed close, a group of local volunteers took inspiration from Talyllyn, Gwili, Middleton and countless other fledgling railway preservation groups at the time, working with the support of the sawmill owners to turn the short line into a combined heritage and industrial light railway.

These days, a decade and a half later, the heritage railway keeps a small number of rescued and restored locomotives busy and paid for by hauling timber up to the main line junction's exchange siding throughout the week, then running short trips for tourists and enthusiasts at the weekend.

This scenario would allow for a wide range of rolling stock to be employed and could, I think, present some interesting modelling opportunities.

It’s a story full of holes, of course, but I’m hoping it strikes the right balance between plausible and fun.

Thank you for reading and bye for now.