I like/dislike foreign layouts - discuss

[PaulRhB]

8 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

This is a public forum, and this is an area where it would be easy to stray into areas where someone alighting on the discussion without context, could get a very wrong idea about railway modellers.

I agree to an extent Phil but the thread itself is context to the sensible comments and I feel it needs a sensible questioning because the subject is so wide ranging and within the topic we then need to ask about others like US Civil War models.  Someone being provocative in it could be taken alone but I’m sure it would be rapidly reported as inappropriate making it disappear and any other media quoting it could easily be challenged for context through the usual comments sections and their social media. 
As very good organisations like the tank museum who do very respectful work on the subject are selling sets like this there is a quandary on where the dividing line to Celebratory and wrong ideas lie already. 

 

Corgi and others have sold soldiers, aircraft, tanks etc for many years, and still do, in the toy market to young children so it’s not like it’s a hidden adult subject. 
Wargaming software and model shows also display the SS and Gestapo symbols in public as a game so I don’t think a reasonably accurate model is new but straying towards the war crimes versus combat is a step too far. 
Would someone going to a model railway show really be justified in expecting no military trains? In which case Warflats and Warwells carrying equipment associated with the Gulf war of 91 are equally morally questionable in light of the reasoning for that since exposed? 

We had a 1/6 scale tank demo by a group associated with the Tank museum for many years without any negative comments because they displayed them and would talk about the context. Choosing a layout of the subject is an opportunity to spot any questions of moral taste and it’s the responsibility of the show organiser to pick the layout appropriately.

I suspect the multi disciplinary nature of the April NEC show may show model railways alongside the static subjects too. 

I’ve reported it myself for your consideration and won’t repost if it’s deleted but I do feel the subject is able to be sensibly discussed as on the previous page. 

[Phil Parker]

I think part of it stems from the British attitude to WW2. There's a generation who think we won and should celebrate. Lots of "bang bang you're dead" style war films that gloss over the reality of conflict. Apart from the first half hour of Saving Private Ryan, it's all very sanitised.

 

Having taken Overlord (a model of Southamption Docks in the run-up to D-Day) to Germany, I know they, understandably, have a different attitude to conflict.

 

Anyway, mod hat on again, I'm just being careful, not trying to stiffle anything.

[Craigw]

While I model German WW2 subjects and have a large collection of books on both army and Waffen SS units, I am also painfully aware of what those same units were ultimately fighting for and that is something that never leaves me.

 

The thing with modelling German railway subjects in WW2 and after that troubles me is not the flat wagons loaded with the material of war. It is the cattle wagons and vans that I know were being used for something else and travelling across other countries too.

 

Most of the wartime layouts I have seen have tanks and things everywhere and seem to have no understanding of the organisation of units and the composition of them, in particular they display little knowledge of the timeline of AFV construction.

 

There is quite a selection of 1:35 locos and rolling stock kits available, and they are seriously large.

[adb968008]

Personally I have mixed feeling about WW2 German modelling, I dont think its an era many would want to reminisce over, on any side really….

it would be a bit like modelling Ukrainian Railways today… really ?

 

However numerous models of BR42,52,50 etc have been made. Liliput even made coaches of the German high command, back in the 90’s, which are detailed to a level we are only just seeing in OO today… complete with tiled floors etc.

Roco has also made various war related sets including occupation stock, even more recently the s160 in various guises.

You can find any number of grey, camo livered locos and stock out there.

 

But for me its this loco being preserved and steamed…

 

 

 

it was an ex-Auschwitz allocated loco, during the occupation of Poland.

 

That doesnt quite sit well, especially as they openly discuss its history in the owning groups publications, but not neccessarily the trains it operated, or why, at the time it was there.

 

History is real, even if it asks hard questions.

 

 

Edited March 12 by adb968008

[Bernard Lamb]

8 hours ago, APOLLO said:

The bridge over the River Kwai would make a good model - Nothing like in the film though.

 

 

 

 

You had better not do that at Wigan North Western !!!!!

 

 

The nearby museum is well worth a visit.

 

 

The military cemetery across the road is very well kept.

 

 

Brit15

That last photo is a  familiar scene.

I was searching for graves of men from the Beds and Herts a few years ago. Over to the front left I think.

While the railway would make a good model would you want to include scenes like the first two photos. Sadly Germany can be discussed openly these days but much about Japan and Asia in general is still taboo.

Bernard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PaulRhB]

3 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

That doesnt quite sit well, especially as they openly discuss its history in the owning groups publications.

 

History is real, even if it asks hard questions.

Those hard questions and explaining why they are hard is essential though. 
 

As a 13 yr old I stayed with a German family and the grandparents lived on the ground floor. He had served in WW2 as a Condor pilot and was interested in my reaction to being told that. He liked that I had talked to my great uncle and understood at least a little of the normal man’s view of war as he’d billeted in Germany at the end the war with a family who’d lost a son his age. 
I’d also talked to a chap who’d served in Normandy in Sherman’s who’d also told a less rosy, and fairly brutal, story of survival. I think the excellent World at War series was an honest and ahead of its time telling of the reality as far as you can on tv. 
 

9 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

would be a bit like modelling Ukrainian Railways today… really

Well see the endless ‘boys own’ content of drones on YouTube desensitising war. Just as bad as the war movies Phil mentioned. Modelling Ukrainian railways accurately is fine but it should not be propagandised or trivialised any more than the WW2 railways. 
Good modelling in a sensitive way can be an education that starts conversations or someone researching it leading to real understanding. There’s a lot of very good social history interviews online and speaking to family and my hosts grandfather was much in line with those I’ve seen over the years. As with any layout research it should be done from multiple sources to see the extremes and the commonplace. Dad’s Army, Allo Allo and others poked fun at all sides and have a following on all those sides which shows that even that can be a suitable theme if done in the same context. Even those ‘boys own’ films can be sympathetic to both sides as individuals like Kelly’s Heroes did and show the grim realities. 
I’ve mulled a small French layout based on the Normandy theme showing the aftermath of surrender with medics treating the vanquished troops as they wait for transport. 
I think it can show the camaraderie of the average troops once guns are laid down without modelling a horror scene. 

 

 

1 hour ago, Phil Parker said:

Having taken Overlord (a model of Southamption Docks in the run-up to D-Day) to Germany, I know they, understandably, have a different attitude to conflict.

It would be interesting to hear how that was presented there and received. 

[Darius43]

Before returning to model railways I spent many years as an aircraft modeller building plastic kits of mainly UK and US aircraft both military and civil from the birth of flight to the present day.  I made a conscious decision not to model German WW2 aircraft based on what I felt they represented.  Participating in US model aircraft web forums I couldn’t fail to notice the keen interest of a number of modellers in German WW2 “Aces” and their aircraft (mainly FW190 variants) - an interest that frequently seemed to verge on hero worship for some modellers.  That is their choice but it did seem somewhat disturbing to me at times.

 

Nonetheless I enjoyed the “Bridge at Remagen” thread here on RMWeb and like watching “foreign” layouts at exhibitions.  
 

Cheers

 

Darius

[adb968008]

35 minutes ago, PaulRhB said:

Those hard questions and explaining why they are hard is essential though. 
 

Thats my issue with it though… they dont.

the owning group only refer to it as “Upper Silesa” on its website.

 

https://www.uef-dampf.de/joomla_01/index.php/fahrzeuge/triebfahrzeuge/58-311

 

you have to go into the book to get to the detail..

in a Germanic way they describe the locos route and journey to Aushwitz, its repairs and works, and its retreat.

 

 

Bw Lazy (Ostfront): 24.03.1942 - 13.08.1942

Bw Auschwitz: 14.08.1942 - 15.05.1943

Bw Groschowitz: 16.05.1943 - ?.01.1944

 

https://eisenbahn--museumsfahrzeuge-de.translate.goog/index.php/deutschland/staatsbahnfahrzeuge/dampflokomotiven/baureihe-58/58-311?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc
 

But they dont mention why, an aging 2-10-0 German freight loco, would be sent to a rural part of Poland, which wasnt a military centre, or an industrial area, nor was it on a critical war route to the Eastern front, for what can only be “non-essential” war work on rural routes to Czechoslovakia or Polish towns.

 

its basically left to the imagination, for those who think question it… or simply dont know and just see it as any other preserved steam loco…

 

I compare that to “Singapore”.. the 0-4-0ST whos history is documented and promoted, as a loco surviving being captured at Britains biggest military defeat in Asia, and those who subsequently became pows on the Thailand Death railway, shown above.… both locos are not just war loks… but ones with a known history, date and time events, amongst many that are anonymous war locos… just the BR 58 is glossed over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 12 by adb968008

[bbishop]

My late friend, Tony Adams, modelled the DRG in 1937.  I asked him the obvious question and his reply that, in a Franconian town, the only indication might be an NSDAP flag flown outside the Rathaus (town hall).

[bbishop]

8 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

Thats my issue with it though… they dont.

in a Germanic way they describe the locos route and journey to Aushwitz, its repairs and works, and its retreat.

 

But they dont mention why, an aging 2-10-0 German freight loco, would be sent to a rural part of Poland, which wasnt a military centre, or an industrial area, nor was it on a critical war route to the Eastern front, for what can only be “non-essential” war work on rural routes to Czechoslovakia or Polish towns.

 

its basically left to the imagination, for those who think question it… or simply dont know and just see it as any other preserved steam loco…

 

Not sure about aging, the Prussian BR 58.0 were less than 30 years old. the BR 50 were a couple of years old and the BR 52 Kriegsloks were brand new.

 

Auschwitz impacts me more than many of you, as my father was a prisoner-of-war in the camp.  I'm very aware of the subject but this hasn't stopped me modelling German railways.

[Happy Hippo]

How German based WWII fighter aircraft are marked up in this era.:

 

 

I have also seen the tail symbol with the centre bars retained and forming what looks like four squares in a diamond formation.

 

Photo by Huw Hopkins

[APOLLO]

Holiday to Germany 2006, the fantastic Technik museum at Speyer.

 

This is the first exhibit in the entrance foyer, recognise it ?

 

 

Why it's the engine that won WW2, better than any German engine they admit !!!

 

 

There's even a Jag or two in there !!

 

 

And some locos, like this monster. A huge model railway layout also.

 

 

Can anyone translate this ?

 

 

It was on the one of the coaches below.

 

 

Das U boat englander crew !!

 

 

Well worth a visit if you are over there.

 

Brit15

 

 

[009 micro modeller]

55 minutes ago, Craigw said:

The thing with modelling German railway subjects in WW2 and after that troubles me is not the flat wagons loaded with the material of war. It is the cattle wagons and vans that I know were being used for something else and travelling across other countries too.

That’s what I thought we were getting at in the original discussion about theoretical layouts set in Nazi Germany (and in particular, the sections of railway specifically built for this).

 

The Bridge at Remagen (which I’ve seen at exhibitions) I would say is completely different in concept and content. And having recently done a talk for school groups about the Blitz in London for one of my museum jobs it is sometimes a bit of a difficult balance - for instance, for that talk we want the schoolchildren to have an enjoyable and interesting visit, but without trivialising what happened during the war, and similarly to be able to imagine and empathise with what it would have been like for ordinary people during the Blitz, but without making it too traumatic.

 

12 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

Thats my issue with it though… they dont.

in a Germanic way they describe the locos route and journey to Aushwitz, its repairs and works, and its retreat.

 

But they dont mention why, an aging 2-10-0 German freight loco, would be sent to a rural part of Poland, which wasnt a military centre, or an industrial area, nor was it on a critical war route to the Eastern front, for what can only be “non-essential” war work on rural routes to Czechoslovakia or Polish towns.

While it’s an extreme example, it’s not the only case of railway history being presented in a way that ignores the wider, more difficult, context. I’m tangentially reminded of this NRM research project, and some of the more outraged reactions to it.

 

Models of ‘colonial’ (and sometimes post-colonial) railways can have a similar issue, especially where the physical infrastructure was affected (see the apartheid footbridge here for example).

 

30 minutes ago, Darius43 said:

Participating in US model aircraft web forums I couldn’t fail to notice the keen interest of a number of modellers in German WW2 “Aces” and their aircraft (mainly FW190 variants) - an interest that frequently seemed to verge on hero worship for some modellers.  That is their choice but it did seem somewhat disturbing to me at times.

A secondary effect being that all those who model said aircraft risk being tarred with the same brush, even if they don’t share the same sentiments (which I agree are rather disturbing).

 

But nonetheless, I think my original point was not that we shouldn’t have layouts addressing difficult subjects, just that it might not be very easy to do this in a reasonably effective and sensitive way within the context of a normal model railway show. Even with my display of narrow gauge micro layouts, which I sometimes exhibit together (none of them featuring anything that could reasonably be considered particularly dark or controversial), one of them is very definitely based on a real place, but has a different name in recognition of several detail differences from that place. Another is rather more loosely based on a real place, taking enormous liberties with building design, prototype track gauge, loco rather than horse or hand haulage. A third (based on a particular industry but not on a particular place) is reasonably accurate in some ways and influenced by several different real locations but can’t possibly be said to represent any individual location specifically. I’m currently constructing another micro layout, which is completely freelance and generally fairly implausible, but I still hope to lend it some vague sense of realism through references to a wide range of prototype railways and operating practices. The point being that these layouts all have a slightly different level of connection to reality and would need to be interpreted as such, but can all be exhibited together. Museum dioramas on the other hand tend to represent a specific place (or occasionally a more highly researched ‘typical’ composite of a few similar places), and the accompanying interpretation explains very specifically which bits are based directly on evidence and which are based on speculation (which sometimes might need to be suitably combined, for instance at some archaeological sites that are only partially intact).

[009 micro modeller]

19 minutes ago, APOLLO said:

Holiday to Germany 2006, the fantastic Technik museum at Speyer.

 

This is the first exhibit in the entrance foyer, recognise it ?

 

 

Why it's the engine that won WW2, better than any German engine they admit !!!

 

 

There's even a Jag or two in there !!

 

 

And some locos, like this monster. A huge model railway layout also.

 

 

Can anyone translate this ?

 

 

It was on the one of the coaches below.

 

 

Das U boat englander crew !!

 

 

Well worth a visit if you are over there.

 

Brit15

 

 

All looks very interesting. Is there a reason one of the fireless locos (I’m assuming that’s what they are) is on a trailer and the others are just on the grass?

[adb968008]

21 minutes ago, APOLLO said:

 

 

 

 

Looks like they must have got a special offer on the Meiningen fireless locos ?

😛

 

cracking museum Speyer… and the only place you can see a tu144 next to Concorde.

 

 

 

[ianmianmianm]

I wanted to come back again on this thread at the risk of a bit of self-promoting of my project.

 

I've just spent 17 days building a layout which I have loosely placed on a fictitious island that is either a current or former UK Overseas Territory (AKA colony) and is set in the 1980s. It's a very simple tuning fork track plan, but a key scenic feature of it is an open roadway area where I am using a radio controlled bus and car that will come into the station yard and each able to reverse and turn round. It about 4 frrt by 15 inches.

 

This project has literally thrown on its head the way the layout needs to be designed because structures, scenics, trees and telegraph poles, as well as track plan, have to allow the right amount of turning space for the road vehicles - it's not as precise as a buried-wire based system, but the bus is fun to drive and can be driven very slowly. It also has working lights and sound on board.

 

The bus and car models are HO scale which has meant I needed to set some pathways as to what scale I use for stock and other accessories. This in itself meant blending HO and OO buildings, while sticking to HO for figures, vehicles and stock. Being a supposed British territory, I managed to locate an HO scale Rover P6 police car, and ford transit, and the prototype allows me to mix some of the HO scale American Oxford diecast vehicles with more European models - as happens a lot on islands close to the US. 

 

At the moment the only aberration is the OO scale british phone box - I am witing to see how I feel about that one but it could always be replaced by a Brawa HO one if needed. Stock on the layout is in European and Japanese HO scale but the randomness of narrow gauge loading gauges might allow others to be tried out.

 

I've really really enjoyed building this as it's an unusual prototype, its been fun to research what's available out there (not to mention the endorphine of finding what you need on Ebay). Blending the building styles without it looking like a kid'd train set has also been a challenge and almost all the buildings were cheap exhibition finds of between 50p and £9 which have had reworked roofs, repaints or been decorated with signs researched on the net. I've also lived and worked in 3 UKOT locations as well as Malta, so being able to 

 

If it ever makes it to an exhibition then I'd hope it would provoke discussion and be a break from all those diesel depots.... or maybe it might be too abstract for some tiny minds to cope with....

[jjb1970]

It's an interesting ethical question, and far from being limited to modelling stuff from national socialist Germany. 

 

If anything, questionable regimes are common. Examples of highly questionable country - era combinations include Imperial Japan of the 30's and 40's, Communist China of the cultural revolution, the USSR of Stalin and South Africa of the Apartheid era (all of which had interesting railways). And our own history is far from blemish free, the Empire wasn't a benevolent society. As an example, the South Manchuria Railway is a fascinating subject which had some wonderful locomotives and trains but the Japanese occupation of Manchukuo was brutal and some of the crimes committed by Japan in China matched the excesses of their ally in Europe (an interesting and odd aspect is that Japanese diplomats in Eastern Europe found German behaviour in the USSR repugnant just as German diplomats in China found Japanese behaviour ghastly). I really fancy a model of the SL7 Pashina streamlined steam locomotive, they were wonderful machines but built to highlight the 'civilizing' mission of Japan in Manchukuo and a symbol of an awful regime. 

[APOLLO]

July 1971, age 19, steam hunting in Germany, first stop Hamburg.

 

We spied this Deutsche Reichsbahn loco on a Berlin bound train and I took these photos with some trepidation, thinking the guy on the steps was Gestapo !!!

 

 

 

Trips behind steam Hamburg to Westerland, Rheine to Norddeich and Koblenz to Trier followed. A most enjoyable holiday and first trip overseas (by boat from Harwich to Hook V Holland)

 

I bought a Rokal TT pacific in Trier and was a little miffed when I found out it would not run through my Tri-ang TT pointwork. Not to be outdone I fitted the outside loop with modified GEM points ans all ran OK (altered the guard rails inwards a tad). I still have the loco in a display case.

 

Brit15

Edited March 12 by APOLLO

[fezza]

I think so much depends on context.

 

I have seen a model of a concentration camp at a Holocaust museum, complete with railway and wagons delivering "passengers".

 

If you built a model railway like that for Ally Pally, you'd probably be arrested for a hate crime.

 

The Heritage Railway Association has banned all Nazi/German WW2 costumes from 1940s events. Watch Peep Show if you want to understand the reason.

 

[DavidB-AU]

4 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

Dad’s Army, Allo Allo and others poked fun at all sides

 

I'm pretty sure there have been layouts based on both.

 

On the other side of the pond. Hogan's Heroes poked fun at both sides while mainly making fun of the Germans. One of the more subtle ways they did this was casting Jewish actors to play the most incompetent Germans.

 

A lesser known one is the Bosnian comedy series Konak kod Hilmije set in occupied Sarajevo during WW2. See if this sounds familiar. The main protagonist is an innkeeper who pretends to collaborate with the Germans while secretly working with the partisans. The main German character is secretly gay and terrified of being sent to the Russian front. There is ongoing tension between the partisans and the Chetniks. There are two partisans hiding in the cellar of the inn.

[BachelorBoy]

8 hours ago, Phil Parker said:

With my mod had on, I'd suggest we let the topic rest. This is a public forum, and this is an area where it would be easy to stray into areas where someone alighting on the discussion without context, could get a very wrong idea about railway modellers.

 

A fair point. I shall recuse myself from this thread.

[Phil Parker]

In all this, a good (and less controversial) guide is the Luton club's model of the Great Train Robbery. It was a static diorama, in a tent, where visitors were treated to a somewhat dry telling of the whole story, based on facts. The team had put a terrific amount of work in, to produce an accurate history, devoid of lurid detail.

 

Despite this, I know people who not only wouldn't look at it, they said it should be destroyed.

 

Online, magazines that featured the model saw comment sections with people screaming that they would never buy the magazine, and often anything from that publisher, ever again.

 

If we can't deal with a relatively minor (in comparison) event, I suggest that many wartime railways are far too challenging for us to deal with. Leave it to a museum.

[PaulRhB]

1 minute ago, Phil Parker said:

In all this, a good (and less controversial) guide is the Luton club's model of the Great Train Robbery. It was a static diorama, in a tent, where visitors were treated to a somewhat dry telling of the whole story, based on facts. The team had put a terrific amount of work in, to produce an accurate history, devoid of lurid detail.

 

Despite this, I know people who not only wouldn't look at it, they said it should be destroyed.

 

Online, magazines that featured the model saw comment sections with people screaming that they would never buy the magazine, and often anything from that publisher, ever again.

 

If we can't deal with a relatively minor (in comparison) event, I suggest that many wartime railways are far too challenging for us to deal with. Leave it to a museum.

Yes that’s exactly the type of context that the more extreme subjects need and while not surprised some screamed the thing is if you sanitise things totally you feed the denial too. 
I went to the Imperial War museum about five years ago after their last refresh and was very disappointed by the atrium and balconies which had little to no info with artifacts. 
Several things stood out:

A V2 rocket which a father told his son was probably the first British space rocket, I pointed them to the info board 20 feet away with the comment it’s actually a German ‘missile’. Just poor display design leading to wrong assumptions. 

A Japanese Admirals sword, who had been praised by the Allies for humane treatment of prisoners, was displayed with swords confiscated dishonourably from officers, only a tiny card mentioned his story. No mention to balance that against the morally questionable heritage of the others. 
A Japanese Zero planes wrecked skeleton with no picture of the plane in flying condition. 
A cabinet with the simple title Rommel’s map. 
There was no context in a major museum and I saw the worst result of that with the V2 but equally the sword and map represented soldiers who acted honourably in the forces with appalling records and no attempt to tell a balance story of people who bucked the establishment at great personal risk.

I was fobbed off with a standard reply, (they left that in the email chain!), by the museum when I suggested they look at Bovington or even their other exhibition rooms which did it far better. 
I would argue that people who scream are the ones most in need of being subjected to these facts because we are seeing identical control and erasing of alternate views of history in the current world to the 1930’s in Germany. It may not be comfortable but it does generate discussion and much like I challenged letting the subject lie above if it’s discussed sensibly without letting sanitisers and conspiracies shout it down it provides the seed to proper learning and understanding. If you aren’t exposed to difficult questions with context as a child you then end up sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting la la la as an adult when real world situations occur. Questioning the accuracy of info is just as important for good models by using several sources and asking people posting ‘absolute opinions’ for backup evidence. 
I would find subjects like concentration camps impossible to show in isolation without the full story, so best in a museum that can take you through that story which is fairly complex. Combat based models though need to respect the subject and by providing details of location etc and being faithful to reality can be part of a learning process in isolation. Even Dad’s Army or Allo Allo based models if presented as based on that provide the context to watch episodes for further context. 
Some will scream but it’s generally a problem with them and as long as the model isn’t glorifying false information they should be challenged at the start for a quiet discussion rather than letting them dictate their own narrow view of the world just because they are loud, that skewed view can spread as truth as it did in the 1930’s. 

[PaulRhB]

9 minutes ago, PaulRhB said:

and much like I challenged letting the subject lie

Just to clarify it’s appreciated that Phil and Andy took that as it was meant and allowed a difficult discussion. Thank you both. 

[009 micro modeller]

10 hours ago, ianmianmianm said:

I wanted to come back again on this thread at the risk of a bit of self-promoting of my project.

 

I've just spent 17 days building a layout which I have loosely placed on a fictitious island that is either a current or former UK Overseas Territory (AKA colony) and is set in the 1980s. It's a very simple tuning fork track plan, but a key scenic feature of it is an open roadway area where I am using a radio controlled bus and car that will come into the station yard and each able to reverse and turn round. It about 4 frrt by 15 inches.

 

This project has literally thrown on its head the way the layout needs to be designed because structures, scenics, trees and telegraph poles, as well as track plan, have to allow the right amount of turning space for the road vehicles - it's not as precise as a buried-wire based system, but the bus is fun to drive and can be driven very slowly. It also has working lights and sound on board.

 

The bus and car models are HO scale which has meant I needed to set some pathways as to what scale I use for stock and other accessories. This in itself meant blending HO and OO buildings, while sticking to HO for figures, vehicles and stock. Being a supposed British territory, I managed to locate an HO scale Rover P6 police car, and ford transit, and the prototype allows me to mix some of the HO scale American Oxford diecast vehicles with more European models - as happens a lot on islands close to the US. 

 

At the moment the only aberration is the OO scale british phone box - I am witing to see how I feel about that one but it could always be replaced by a Brawa HO one if needed. Stock on the layout is in European and Japanese HO scale but the randomness of narrow gauge loading gauges might allow others to be tried out.

 

I've really really enjoyed building this as it's an unusual prototype, its been fun to research what's available out there (not to mention the endorphine of finding what you need on Ebay). Blending the building styles without it looking like a kid'd train set has also been a challenge and almost all the buildings were cheap exhibition finds of between 50p and £9 which have had reworked roofs, repaints or been decorated with signs researched on the net. I've also lived and worked in 3 UKOT locations as well as Malta, so being able to 

 

If it ever makes it to an exhibition then I'd hope it would provoke discussion and be a break from all those diesel depots.... or maybe it might be too abstract for some tiny minds to cope with....

That looks really interesting. Is it based on a specific part of the world? I don’t think there are any railways left in the remaining Overseas Territories but Bermuda (among others) once had quite an interesting system. I have an idea for a little side project, much smaller but on a vaguely similar theme (though on mine it was going to be a very lightweight tourist line, probably in a fictional British territory to justify the use of a bit of UK-style rolling stock and make research easier but very much inspired by this railway in Honduras). I came up against similar questions around scale and gauge, whether it should actually be 009 as I normally do or 00/H0 standard gauge, even if the prototype might have used 3’ 6” in preference to standard gauge etc.