I've considered building this layout for a long time (about 15 years!) - and one of the hardest decisions was whether to stick with EM gauge or go bigger to O gauge. I had built the trackwork for a compressed version of Kingswear station in EM gauge in my previous garage but I became disillusioned when I realised that although I had successfully managed to build a single slip and various other awkward turnouts, it wasn't reliable enough or accurate enough to satisfy me. I had planned it but took short cuts on the baseboard construction. I started to understand as well, that layouts like Trevor Pott's Churston have taken years of dedication, and I admitted to myself that I did not want to spend my whole life doing nothing but building a layout. I do have other interests!

I think it was realising that Pendon Museum is the work of a whole team of fantastic modellers that has already taken several lifetimes to build - or that the wonderful Kingstorre layout featured in BRM and MRJ was also the work of a lifetime plus expert help bought in from outside that finally convinced me to keep things reasonably simple. I think simple and O gauge go well together.

The other thing that held me up was prototype plausibility. I suppose I am not a historian or a rivet counter but I feel a bit intimidated by those who have huge knowledge of exactly what happened in every corner of the railway kingdom. I think what has helped get past this anxiety is looking at layouts like this; the wonderful Coast Line Railroad by Troels Kirk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxhNZuuNr_4

This layout is a feast for the imagination and reminded my that my train set is not an exact model for historians but is a bit of escapist pleasure.

The other modeller who really inspires me is Gordon Gravett. Pempoul, Ditchling Green and his earlier Welsh narrow gauge layout are incredible - atmospheric and beautifully executed.

I have built various layouts in the past with dodgy woodwork and you always pay for it in the end with unreliable alignment, or hills and valleys where the track is meant to be flat. I've got past the psychological stage of being desperate to see something running a.s.a.p. which helps as well! The construction is derived from Barry Norman's book "Landscape Modelling". I've found it really helpful to make drawings in Adobe Illustrator so the shape of each cross member can be worked out by reference to the plan view and front elevation.