Hi Jam,

Sorry this is so late but you may have observed that I have been off line for over a week.

Great pictures! I haven't seen Calshot for quite a long time and am once again impressed by you layout.

I haven't previously seen picturess of your Goods shed. It really is very good!. I admired all the pictures. The only down was the base on that tree!

Hello Jam, the layout is looking very promising. I really like the grey warehouse with green doors. You say that the layout doesn't look so good when viewed from above, which is often the case with models; somehow real railways when viewed from a high level seem to flow naturally but their model counterparts often don't. I hope you don't mind me suggesting something here? If it were me I'd work on all the paved track a bit more; to my eye paved track needs to be flush with all rail surfaces as per prototype practice. If you brought up the level of the centre paved area and the outsides this would improve the overall look of the layout a great deal. Many people don't bring the paved level up to the rail surface because of cleaning issues but in my experience it is still easy to clean the track if you are careful. Likewise, if there are check rails in the paved areas try to keep the gaps as minimal as possible; OO gauge can be made to look very fine with care. Then carefully paint all of this with nice realistic road colours and perhaps add a few pot holes and cracks in the tarmac, then weather it all using some reference photos of roads found in industrial areas. Really concentrate on all of the tarmac/paved areas (and heavily ballasted track) lifting it up scenically and you'll really notice the difference. Your layout looks superb as it stands - full of light railway charm - but just needs that extra oomph! I'd also add a lot more rough vegetation over the green areas - something like horsehair (brown and bare, plus dyed dark green with some foliage added), plus bleached/painted carpet under felt and Silflor grass. This layout really deserves to be a cracker and certainly will be...

All the best

Simon