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Fifth bite: The station building

I now have four small layouts in the Farthing series, each of which can be operated on my desk or the dining table. That should satisfy my daily operating needs for a while, allowing me to take on Farthing’s main station building and platforms.       For this I’m returning to the Newbury theme. When Newbury station was rebuilt during 1908-1910 four lines were laid, with loop lines along the Up and Down platforms and through lines in the center.      

Mikkel

Mikkel in Layout design

Fourth bite: The Stables

Work has started on the fourth layout in the Farthing series. This will be named “The stables” and continues our meandering walk through the goods facilities at Farthing in the early 1900s.   The layout is inspired by my interest in GWR stable blocks, including the larger variants of the standard design that began to appear in places like Slough and Park Royal around the turn of the last century.    Slough, 1928. Source: Britain from Above. Embedding permitted. https://b

Mikkel

Mikkel in Layout design

A flexible layout

I have been thinking about an idea for a "flexible" layout. This is still very much developing, and what you see here is not an actual trackplan, but an illustration of the concept. The basic idea is a layout where selected drop-in modules can be removed and replaced with other modules. So a particular cameo, building or siding can be exchanged with another cameo, building or siding – thereby changing the look of the layout. This in turn allows for variation in rolling stock and operation.

Mikkel

Mikkel in Layout design

Sketches of "The depot"

Here's a first attempt to visualize "The depot", drawn with the Sketchup programme. As mentioned earlier, it will be constructed within an Ikea "Snackbox". The scenic part will be raised to allow ample room for electrics etc in the space underneath. I've used the same principle as on "The bay", where the viewing side is opposite of what you'd normally do. The idea is to increase the sense of being "inside" the scene, rather than viewing it from a distance.       So we're

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Mikkel in Layout design

Shunting Puzzle

I've been working on the trackplan for the next Farthing layout, which will show part of a large GWR goods depot.       In order to improve the operating interest, I've decided to incorporate a shunting puzzle in the track plan. For anyone interested in shunting puzzles, I can recommend the excellent Model Railway Shunting Puzzles site, plus of course Carl Arendt's site. The simple plan above (not to scale) is an initial design, and may be revised. Any ideas for improvem

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Mikkel in Layout design

Second bite: "The depot"

Hmmm, now what can we build here?   I've decided to move ahead with the next installment in the series of micro-layouts based on the fictional Farthing station. Again, it's Edwardian GWR during the period 1904-1908. Here's a rundown of my thoughts so far.   Concept The basic idea is to model the inside of a large Edwardian goods depot. Or rather: just a section of it, showing maybe 3-4 busy loading docks. I envision an overall roof structure extending over the entire lay

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Mikkel in Layout design

First bite: The bay

"The bay" was the first of the Farthing layouts. The layout portrays the bay platform for the GWR Overbourne line at Farthing. It is inspired by the bay platforms at Newbury and Didcot, and combines selected features from these.         The trackplan is very simple, but allows reasonable scope for operation. The bay platform and its canopy is positioned at the very front of the layout, in order to provide a viewblock which forces the onlooker to look beneath the can

Mikkel

Mikkel in Layout design


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