Since life hasn't been stable for me over the last ten years or more with university and work, there hasn't really been a way to put down a permanent layout, what with moving from one end of the UK to the other, and then finally to Spain. But now things have settled down, and I've enough room in my office for a small layout. I could have gone bigger, but as I've been away from modelling for so long, and also having trouble finding things (more on that later), a 4 x 1.5' plan was devised just to keep me focused and get the skills back together.

However, being an ex-pat armed with a box full of UK N-gauge diesel (and electro-diesel) locomotives and multiple units hasn't made it as easy as I remember. For one, in Spain, railway modelling seems to be a very, very niche category, and the local model shop (I say local, as it's a two and a half hour round trip) seems to stock a handful of bits that are not really worth calling a 'model railway' section. The nearest place that does do anything that could be remotely similar to what we see in the UK as a 'proper' rail-modelling shop is nearly a five hour round trip to either central Barcelona or Lleida.

With this, the layout that I had planned was on computer, using parts that I knew I could get in town quite easily, but when it came to the rub, the track plan didn't feel 'right' when it was down on the board, ready to start being placed properly; and the last thing I want to do is to build up some form of locomotive maintenance depot, I want my motive power to do things other than trundle from fuelling point to wash point and then away somewhere... In the turn of scrapping the idea, it means the ideas for scenics, and for focal points has gone straight out the window, and here I am now scratching my head to what to do.

It also gave me a chance to reduce the amount of points in the layout, as the other thing I'd found was the price of point motors here is astronomical, and adding in the two out and backs for them as they are special order to the shop which is slightly cheaper than delivery, a new loco could be added to the pool for the price of two of them. The thing that has caught my eye, though, is radio control stuff is very, very cheap, and I'm wondering whether it is possible to use the servos from radio controlled aircraft to throw points and move signals. If not, it's going to be the plain old tube in wire until I can get my head (or bank balance) around some point switching equipment.

So, all in all, what with the unwanted assistance from the father-in-law, who thinks I should put in a massive tail-chasing layout with trains that 'he used to see' in his village, I'm back to square one with the plans, the ideas and a deadline to keep with this... When swmbo said that I was building a model railway to someone she knew, it got booked for the local craft showcase at the village festival in November.