Which layouts have really inspired you?

[Timara]

It's a tough choice, but here goes....

 

Llandudno Junction: The layout that made me realise what I actually wanted to do in terms of period modelled.

Retford: The one that made me certain I wanted to do what I'm doing! For once, a decent length mainline train looks small and yet so right.

Pempoul: For the sheer attention to detail of everything. Utterly amazing!

 

Like I said, a tough choice to make!

[Will Vale]

Taking "inspirational" as "making me look at the pictures over and over, and making me want to have a go" when I was younger:

 

* Craig and Mertonford, from a much-thumbed collected volume of those PSL books.

* Harry Brunk's Union Central and Northern. Amazing scope, detail and above all colour choice.

 

And much more recently, in the sense of "I want one of those"

 

* Steilstrecke by Jacq Damen and the Modelspoor Collectief. Beautiful scenery and structures. I like it best in the original form before the extension was built. Again, the colours are stunning.

 

At long last I'm in the process of acting on the latter inspiration - essentially the idea that you can build a really scenically interesting single track "steep" layout. I spent a lot of time finding a good prototype which had some of the same features that I liked in the model, and the aim is to build it relatively accurately modulo the usual contraints of space, time, money and scale.

 

I mention this just to point out that inspiration doesn't necessarily mean copying, just that a vital spark has been conveyed. It would be a shame to come home from a show or read a magazine and not be jolted into modelling activity just because what you saw wasn't the real railway.

 

Will

[atseyes]

Like many others here, I'd find it difficult to name just three layouts, but of those I first heard/read of way back when I first started, my main inspirations to 'get modelling' were probably Craig & Mertonford, Charford and Berrow, all from the pages of the Railway Modeller. Since then, there have been so many layouts that have, one way or another, inspired me. But those are the ones that I first think of, even now!!

[Michael Delamar]

Ive been looking everywhere for my old copy of railway modeller with Bradwell in it.

 

would love to see pics of that again, one of my favourites.

 

now, what was this layout I saw at a show once or twice. I remember seeing it at the Crosby Merchant taylors school show in Liverpool, late 1990s.

 

it was a large scenic run round layout, plenty of green scenery, 00, LNER period, had a large curved viaduct on one corner which stretched down to the floor.

[Revolution Mike]

I'm with people that say it is really places that inspire me more than layouts but a few stick out for me:

 

Pengwyn Crossing - it just all looked right when it appeared in RM and an interesting area (that I knew nothing about)

 

Acton Mainline - simply stunning mixture of a "mundane" urban scene with lovely N gauge stock

 

Cement Quay - fantastic scenery and industrial buildings in a small space

 

After that there is any number of excellent layouts that I have taken bits and pieces of inspiration or ideas from.

[Geoff Endacott]

Pengwynn Crossing - it just all looked right when it appeared in RM and an interesting area (that I knew nothing about)

That's another one from this thread which will be at Trainwest next year.

 

Geoff Endacott

[kevinlms]

I had a few copies pf that publication, including one long since disappeared which I would love to see again. It was a feature about a North Staffordshire Railway layout, set I think early 2oth century; and again it was a fair size and the trains actually went somewhere.

I think it was 3mm.

Chris

 

Was it Foxfield Junction, MRC 1977 March?

 

 

Kevin Martin

[shortliner]

As someone who likes designing small layouts - to quote the advert " Small and Bijoux, Mosrtyn! Small and Bijoux!" The two that fire my imagination currently are Chris's "Brewery Quay", and Julian Andrews "Yard 6" from the current CM - both demonstrating that you CAN get a model railway into a very small space without it looking twee!, or resorting to Ngauge or smaller.

[kevinlms]

Ive been looking everywhere for my old copy of railway modeller with Bradwell in it.

 

would love to see pics of that again, one of my favourites.

 

now, what was this layout I saw at a show once or twice. I remember seeing it at the Crosby Merchant taylors school show in Liverpool, late 1990s.

 

it was a large scenic run round layout, plenty of green scenery, 00, LNER period, had a large curved viaduct on one corner which stretched down to the floor.

 

Railway Modeller 1995 June issue. I think it was an ex-LMS station in West Yorkshire.

 

Kevin Martin

[Michael Delamar]

cheers Kevin,

I remember it because it was the first railway modeller I actually went out and bought new.

 

my dad had quite a few from the late 80s but had worn them out looking at them at that time

 

 

the other layout Im trying to think of, I think there was scenery on all 4 sides, but with tunnels and the fiddle yards under the hills

[Grafarman]

I think I would have to list:

1. Allied Marine and Loco Co (RM 1979), OO gauge industrial "plank" - mainly for the wonderful atmosphere and sheer exuberance of the creators; I still have the RM with it in...

2. Millhouse Lane (MR 55 May 2003) - O gauge with Allan Downes buildings...anyone know what happened to this layout? A real afternoon watching the trains come and go type of layout...

3. Gransmoor Castle (RM 1980-ish) - N gauge cross country with rolling hills and scratchbuilt buildings - the first "proper" N gauge layout I had ever seen and was my inspiration for ages...many trackplans for layouts ensued after seeing this one...!!

[CullingworthGNR]

1 - Ardlui (by Peter Marriott)

2 - Wells Green

3 - Glenuig

 

All fantastic layouts in their own way. Each helped inspire me to keep going and finish a project!

[Anglian]

Buckingham Great Central – it might not have been the most realistic in terms of the aesthetic but it was still a totally plausible scenario and beautiful in its own right. It represents my ideal of being capable of intense operation.

 

Chiltern Green – the drama of a main line trunk route and the first layout that I'd seen that didn't really focus on the station but on that vast viaduct. It made me realise that it's the intensity of the mainline that really captivates me.

 

Number three could be many layouts as there have been very many finescale models that have inspired me but I'm going to go for an odd one perhaps – Ashley Bridge GWR/LNWR in OO. It might not stand up to scrutiny by todays standards but for a very long time it represented everything I wanted to achieve in a layout and through my teens was my benchmark. No idea if the layout still exists… but I spent so much time pouring over the articles in RM magazine that they are quite fresh in my mind over 30 years later. My god 30 years!!!!

[clecklewyke]

Can anyone remind me of a layout built by Arthur Whitehead, probably some time in the 1970s? I'm pretty sure it was ex L&Y - certainly LMS - in the industrial north. I never saw this layout in any magazine but I did see it at a show - probably in Scotland where I then lived. It was a relatively small terminus but was beautifully realised with careful attention to mundane detail. I cannot remember its name and would be very grateful if anyone can supply more details (especially photographs or a plan) of it.

 

Arthur was an architect and a superb modeller who wrote a lot of excellent stuff in the old RM. For instance his "Just Supposing" was an inspiring set of articles, fleshing out "might have beens" but he also contributed a lot to the LMS Society drawings of rolling stock.

 

Ian

[Bad Rabbit]

As someone with little space and less modelling talent I am drawn by small (micro) layouts which somehow create an illusion of space and atmosphere. I'm also biased towards locations (fictional or fact) that I feel I know. So for me:

 

 

Shell Island - probably the layout that inspired me to have a go again

 

Catcott Burtle - 'nuff said about this elsewhere

 

Llanstr - only saw it in the flesh for the first time last year but hugely evocative

 

 

 

Honourable mention should go to Marc Smith's Cardiff trilogy as well (Hendre Lane, Bracty Bridge and his new steelworks). He creates fantastic atmosphere in the smallest spaces.

[Barry Ten]

 

 

Number three could be many layouts as there have been very many finescale models that have inspired me but I'm going to go for an odd one perhaps – Ashley Bridge GWR/LNWR in OO. It might not stand up to scrutiny by todays standards but for a very long time it represented everything I wanted to achieve in a layout and through my teens was my benchmark. No idea if the layout still exists… but I spent so much time pouring over the articles in RM magazine that they are quite fresh in my mind over 30 years later. My god 30 years!!!!

 

I spoke to the builder a couple of years ago (Robert Tivendale, who now runs Powsides) - my recollection is that he said he'd dismantled it; it had served its purpose and he'd moved on to other things (7mm). Like you I was a big fan of it, I don't know whether it was the sweeping curves or the convincingly railwaylike atmosphere but it definitely had a certain something.

[Neil]

Such a hard choice, I can't seem to stop hoovering up influences, but trying to whittle down to three has thrown the really important key moments into focus.

 

My first would have to be Totnes by Mike Cook. I joined the Castle Railway Circle at twelve, just as Totnes was heading towards completion. Seeing the more senior members and Mike himself working on it helped me bridge the gap between trainset and model. I still use plasticard for buildings and varnish for water nearly forty years on.

 

The second would be Ken Gibbons Sheepwash. A few have been kind enough to mention Shell Island in this thread, well Shell Island wouldn't have happened without Sheepwash. It's simplicity gave rise to the less is more philosophy that underpins Shell Island (and my later layouts) and the no nonsense approach to EM made me realise that improving my standards was within my grasp.

 

I'm not sure that I can single out any other layout that's had such a profound effect on my own model making, though plenty have made my jaw drop. However I've got to mention Ste Coline des Champs by the late Dennis Allenden, the model making was exquisite, the concept highly original, but it's his prose that really hit the mark. Whenever I put pen to paper of my fingers on the keyboard I realise that I'm never going to be able to write in such an easy unforced style, but it still gives me something to strive for and the motivation to try an do better.

[steve1]

Arcadia by Martin Brent

 

How to build a small layout with style and imagination.

 

steve

[Anglian]

I spoke to the builder a couple of years ago (Robert Tivendale, who now runs Powsides) - my recollection is that he said he'd dismantled it; it had served its purpose and he'd moved on to other things (7mm). Like you I was a big fan of it, I don't know whether it was the sweeping curves or the convincingly railwaylike atmosphere but it definitely had a certain something.

 

 

Barry

Thanks for that. I had a feeling the layout lived in my neck of the woods and I would have loved to have seen it…

[PGN]

trying to whittle down to three has thrown the really important key moments into focus.

 

And that, my dear Neil, was exactly why I invited people to limit themselves to three ...

[clecklewyke]

Just three? Well, today's three are:

 

Buckingham Great Central - Peter Denny. A complete system, with all aspects of the layout realised to a consistent standard: design, scenery, buildings, timetable, signalling: all in a credible geographical and historical "aspic" (Iain Rice's word).

 

The Little Long Drag - David Jenkinson. Again, a system, not just one scene. A shame it was never completed.

 

Ravensbourne = G Iliffe Stokes (and Mrs Stokes!). When I first saw the photographs of the harbour scene from this in a 1960s RM I was unsure whether it was a model or a real scene. The best buildings, trees and scenic effects I had seen at the time, and beautifully photographed. Only the Triang 0-6-0's crude wheels gave the game away.

 

But I cannot swear that tomorrow's might be different. For instance Charlie Wehrli's Milwher and Llenli (sp?) cast a completely different light on what a model railway might be.

 

There may be more recent layouts which are technically better, and RMWeb has its share of these, but the three I have listed were inspiring to me when at an impressionable age, and therefore have had the most lasting effect on my modeling aims (if not my achievements).

[Tudor Rose]

My three are:

 

Hepton Wharf - fell in love with it and used it as direct inspiration for the overall "feel" of my own layout

Wheal Elizabeth - shows just how much you can fit into a small space and still make it really interesting

and lastly, absolutely anything by Iain Rice, but then it may be him rather than the layout that is inspirational.

 

From the mists of time a bit - Heckmondwyke, and still around after all these years, Bodmin - because they were there and were the first layouts I can remember seeing in any detail

[Tim Hale]

Taigatrommel wrote:

Pottendorf. Made me realise continental European modelling doesn't have to be shiny and clean.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaaPOics5QY

 

This was Pottendorf with a different name and timeframe, unfortunately the layout is no more.

 

Tim

[HSB]

One of the first Railway Modellers I bought was the Peter Denny special around 1964 so Buckingham was one of my early inspirations along with Frank Dyer's Borchester. My third would have to be the Gorre and Daphetid.

[atseyes]

Browsing this topic again, it occurred to me to wonder, just who inspired the builders of our inspirations. I reckon, if you could follow the line back, two names would stand out right at the beginning: Edward Beal and John Ahern. Any other thoughts?