RMweb Premium Colin Posted February 21, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 21, 2011 1. Charford - the first Southern layout I remember reading about (RM Jan '66) 2. Either of the first 2 Borchesters - they just had that certain "something". 3. Dewsbury Midland - urban grot on a grand scale! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 This is a hard one: ....WS Norris' O gauge layout. - I don't care that he had loads of money and access to tiger whiskers... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poggy1165 Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Buckingham - I first saw this in the Railway Modeller when I was just a little kid. Even then my jaw dropped. It looked like a real railway, unlike most layouts of that era that looked like a stepped-up version of my train set. As I grew older and learned more I was amazed at how much of it was built from scratch. Whetstone - sadly a short-lived layout, but if I had the space and money to build something similar in 7mm scale I should die happy. Those long trains of coal wagons were the highlight. For me that's what railways were about. The third I don't recall the name of, but it was a large main line O layout by the Keighley Group. Seeing this at exhibition was the final kick to get me into O Gauge, even though Whetstone was in the same room. I find the restriction to three quite hard. I could easily name a dozen more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Ian Rice's North Cornwall Mineral, a very beleivable freelanced railway company, uncommon in this country outside of narrow gauge models. I think his writing helped as much as the actual layout with the inspiration, he managed to weave the trials and tribulations of building and running the model locos into a story about the trials and tribulations of running the (imaginary) real thing. Flemming Örneholm's Eaglecreek & Northern (Model Railroader October 2006), Very good modelling, but it was the concept that I love. I like the US idea of a layout that actually goes from-to somewhere (as Buckingham and Jas Milham's layout do) but this fits into a reasonable UK sized room. The seperate diorama concept works very well to allow different sections of scenery without any unrealistic transitions. Chiltern Green and Luton Hoo, I think partly because it was somewhere I knew. Whilst walking along the trackbed fo the Hatfield Luton and Dunstable we came across a ditch across the track that we decided must have been a baseboard joint! I find it interesting that for some people, the inspiring layouts have to be in their sphere of modelling interest. Not a critism, just an observation. To me great layouts transcend subject. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivercider Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Very tricky this..... A bit like choosing my 3 favourite tracks of music, it depends on my mood. But sticking the the brief, and restricting to layouts I have actually seen (I don't get out much!) I have referred back to programmes since I re-started visiting exhibitions after a 20 year break, and..... three that stand out for me are:- 1 (2008) Haven Wharf 00 (Originally known as Tetley sidings and built by Graham Gatehouse) I had a long chat with the new owner while watching the theraputic shunting take place. Only 2 meter x half meter, I realised I could find room for something like that in my flat. 2 (2009) Easington Lane EM by Ian Manderson Fictitious location in the North East in 1976, blue diesels, run down, passenger service hanging by a thread, just as I remember things from my serious train spotting days. Bigger than Haven Wharf and oozing atmosphere, may be I could try something similar. 3 (2009) Penhallick 00 Finescale Fictitious ex LSWR location in North Cornwall 1950s/60s. The real thing was before my memory but what a stunning layout. This is much bigger than anything I aspire to, but one can dream. I do take the point that inspiration should come from the real thing, most railway modelling must, I presume, be based on nostalgia, but those 3 layouts, amongst others have helped me to try to build my own little world. cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
37114 Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 2. Pengwynn Crossing. There's something inherently "right" about this layout and I never tire of seeing it. A good example of the benefits of not trying to cram in too much track. The boys at Bentley MRC are right to retire it for a makeover and I look forward to seeing it after its revamp. Not only does it look great track plan wise it is good fun to operate. The revamp will be mainly electrical, scenery wise it was attended to and extended 3 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10800 Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Whetstone - sadly a short-lived layout, but if I had the space and money to build something similar in 7mm scale I should die happy. Those long trains of coal wagons were the highlight. For me that's what railways were about. I never got to see it other than the feature in the first MRJ Compendium I understand that Andy Gibbs lost all interest in model railways not long after and the whole lot ended up in a skip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 I never got to see it other than the feature in the first MRJ Compendium I understand that Andy Gibbs lost all interest in model railways not long after and the whole lot ended up in a skip. Is he the same fella who then went off to the US / Canada shortly afterwards? Or am I confusing him with Andy Wiles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 I'm very much with Tim here when he says great layouts transcend subject - and I'll qualify the following as taking the word "inspiration" as having concepts or ideas that I can take away and apply, not "I want a copy of that layout". 1. Buckingham GC - I count myself very lucky to have had a go on this many years back. I've minimal interest in the prototype (and nearly didn't go because of that, more fool me!) - but the "real railway" feel was inherent in how it was worked irrespective of the modelling (which was impressive in it's own right). Learning points = ops focussed layouts can work in UK outline and not to dismiss things as having no interest too quickly! 2. Jims P4NS - Inspiring to me in terms of both scope and commitment. Learning point = Just because an idea looks impossible/implausible/simply bonkers doesn't mean it can't be done - envelopes are there to be pushed. 3. Lance Mindheim's various Miami based industrial layouts - Very simple and beautifully modelled, taking "less is more" to the extreme. Learning point = I still need to get my head round applying less is more...certainly it's not the only way forward (you'll notice the contradiction between #2 and #3 here already i'm sure!) but it certainly is a concept that I can apply in many situations. After all that If I can indulge and do an "I want that one" as well then I think Wombatty's "Warren Lane" on here is superb and right up my street... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poggy1165 Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 I never got to see it other than the feature in the first MRJ Compendium I understand that Andy Gibbs lost all interest in model railways not long after and the whole lot ended up in a skip. I count myself lucky in that I saw Whetstone at almost every stage of its (public) development. It did take a while to get everything working properly. The last I heard of Andy Gibb was that he was restoring commercial vehicles and had indeed given up model railways, at least for the time being. Some items were saved, notably engines and rolling stock, and I know where some of these are. But the bulk of the layout did (as I understand it) end in the skip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
definate maybe Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Oh what a question that is! Only 3, not 30 or 300? There are too many possibilities. I'm sorry but I am going to have to cheat and group some together and even then narrowing it down to 3 is impossible 1) The Steve Flint layouts - Kyle of Tongue & Reighton. Both really capture the setting well. Neither are too busy and really do pass for believable locations and settings 2) The Ian Futers layouts - Too many to name but all very simple but highly detailed and makes you realise that less can definately be more 3) Nether Stowey, N gauge at its very best. Mentions have to go to Hursley, Pengwynn Crossing, Tonbridge West Yard, Invergeachy, Albannach and many many more that have given me pleasure, yet many have also made me rip up my own plans and start again in hommage to their wonder! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold bcnPete Posted February 21, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 21, 2011 I think its more the approaches of certain modellers I find actually give inspiration: Ian Futers, Chris Nevard, Ken Gibbons and anyone else who can make not alot of space and stock into something lifelike and believable with good results. Yep - I am with you on this one - All of the modellers you have listed above, I regularly look at their past/present layouts for inspiration. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohmisterporter Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Too much inspiration in my case, that's why I have a yard of track and one loco in every gauge! 1. Lynbridge - Henry Holdsworth's 16mm layout that I saw on the cover of an RM many years ago. It encouraged my to buy that mag and the rest is history. It got me interested in model railways again. 2. Ditchling Green - The Gravetts layout I first saw at York one Easter as "Half term at......". 7mm with scenery, well presented stock, and an interesting layout. 3. Runswick Bay - Sorry I have forgotten the builder other than the Keighley group. Showing that 7mm doesn't have to be end to end or occupy a huge space for a roundy-roundy. Great buildings too, illuminated for night running when required. Lots of others have been inspirational, but I shall stick to three as the OP requested. So no mention for Chris Nevard, Sandhills, Worcester Road gauge 1, Bridport, Bredon, and umpteen others that have graced these pages. Sorry but there just isn't room. Geoff. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stewart Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Interesting replies to an interesting question. For me the following have been truly inspirational in constantly reminding me that this hobby doesn't always require either a very large dedicated railway space or a bottomless bank balance to fund my modelling. 1.Walker Marine by Neil Ripley and Colin Stark. I had an opportunity to operate this when it appeared at Model Rail Scotland one year. So much atmosphere and operational interest in such a compact space. 2. Catcott Burtle by Chris Nevard Oozes atmosphere and quality in just 5 foot! 3. Shell Island by Neil Rushby Yes I do have space for a model railway and just hope it can achieve the standard of Shell Island! Regards, Stewart Glendinning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plarailfan Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 I went to see Pete Waterman's, O gauge, Leamington Spa layout recently, I found that certainly is inspirational. The as yet, unpainted resin bridges, are covered in rivets, and really finely detailed, with different size girder spans on the same bridge. A green, weathered, class 37 was stabled in a siding, at the time of my visit, and the 'real - or - model' photo I took, looks pretty good, the limitation being more to do with the physical bulk and size of my camera, than the standard of modelling. The LMS 'twins' were running, and with sound too !! where did he get that from ?? remarkable... Pete's lucky, in that he can attract some of the best O gauge modellers and modelling skills, his layout really shows what you can do, with the right people on board. I was surprised by the sheer number of correctly assembled, Slaters wagons successfully running on the layout, - I tried building some of these kits a few years ago, and put them on lima chassis, as I didn't feel confident enough to build the kit chassis in case it wasn't 'square' or the axleboxes ended up out of line, as quite often, I'm a bit ham-fisted. Inspirational layouts 2 + 3, seeing the 100 wagon coal train go over the viaduct at Pendon, and the dramatic scenery on Chee Tor, including the passage of the train over the bridge, through the short tunnel and then out, into some more, magnificent countryside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Barry O Posted February 21, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 21, 2011 Could I have three from across the 60, 70,80, 90 and 2000's...... probably not What inspires me...... High Dyke - long trains of mineral wagons and fast expresses Corris - Peter Kazer -if only my locos ran half as well as his Eastwell Ironstone Company - how to get Industrial locos out int he country... Luckily I count some of the builders of these as friends. I haven't included layouts from within Leeds MRS so of course I couldn't include Herculaneum Dock/Cwmafon from Mike Edge, Denroyd and Windermere from Nick Easton, Everingham from Alan Smith, Ynysybll Fach from the Gibbons, Leeds trams from Andy Ross - and our long time 4mm layout Leeds Victoria - Dewsbury Midland - Bradford City Road - whichs et me off to build lots of wagons, carriages and locos..... and then the layout was scrapped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pointstaken Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Inspiring layouts - Calcott Burtle Fisherton Sarum, and a shot yesterday of El Davo's sidings - just the right amount of weeds for a yard. My inspiration would come from the detail in these. Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pH Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 - Craig and Mertonford by PD Hancock - Ken Northwood’s North Devonshire (built in the same part of the country as the C&M, which surprised me when I found out) - Allen McClelland’s Virginian and Ohio (specifically the version dismantled in 2001) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkSG Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 I'm going to cheat by dividing it into three categories, and listing three in each Category 1: Layouts that I have never seen in person, but read a lot about as a teenager and which and inspired me to take up railway modelling in the first place: Craig and Mertonford Buckingham Great Central Gorre and Daphetid Category 2: Layouts that I saw at exhibitions as a teenager when I was first getting into modelling: Allied Marine A layout (the name of which I can't remember) by Allan Downes Another layout the name of which I can't recall by Dave Rowe (not Llareggub, the one after that) Category 3: Layouts I have seen in the past few years that have really made me go "wow": Penhallick Whitley South Dock Chee Tor 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific231G Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Charford- John Charman's ex-SR branch terminus set in Dorset. It had the feel of a real railway, a sense of "place", had a good balance of stock appropriate to the location and it was operated in a protypical manner. Potwell Mineral Light Railway - Never heard of it? Well it appeared in two issues of the MRN in the late 1950s and I've never forgotten it. A small colliery/mineral line set in Kent. Lots of detail and very atmospheric. Anybody else remember it? I've also got those two articles on the Potwell Mineral and amazingly for a largely shunting layout it was clockwork. It was an excellent little layout based on the East Kent Railway junction at Shepherdswell and one of the coal mines it served and well worth another look. There are a number of layouts such as Pempoul, Calcott Burtle, Buckingham and the Madder Valley that I find inspirational but in terms of those that have actually inspired my own modelling I think the three in no particular order might be. Charford- I agree with everything Western Sunset has said about this layout. I've got a file with all of John Charman's articles about it and probably dig it out more than any other. St. Emilie - Giles Barnabe really captured the atmosphere of a Secondaire (well two secondaires- one SG and one metre gauge to be precise) serving its local community somewhere in France Profond. I think the standard gauge terminus got as much operation out of five points and five and a half feet as any layout I've seen and the experience of operating it at a number of shows definitely influenced many of the ideas for my current small layout (as well as providing a couple of its buildings!!) The third is probably Llanfair, a very simple 00n3 layout built on a plank by the Rev. P.H. Heath in the 1960s. Craig and Mertonford was inspirational but Llanfair looked doable so more than any other one layout probably inspired me to try NG modelling. P.H. Heath also built the original Piano line that would be well up this list and I wonder what he ever went on to model. Those are today's choice of three but, in terms of articles that I refer to most often, on another day my three might include Maybank the original pre-war terminus to fiddle based on a GCR main line terminus, Achaux and Borchester. (Can I take twelve discs to my dersrt island please ??) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy C Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Gauxholme Viaduct, perhaps the first 'northern grot' layout that I remember, also seeing some of the buildings before they were finished in a certain Saddleworth emporium http://www.rmrg.co.u...Group=1&Photo=1 not as well known as some mentioned here, but certainly my favourite ' The buildings you saw were completed by the late Harry Maden, who used to assist in the emporium on Chew Valley Road!! Gauxholme is still in existence although the last time I saw it, it looked a bit down at heel. Thanks for remembering it Red Devil - a lot of work went into that layout - not least carrying it about as everything was made of cast plaster and the thing weighed a ton! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westie7 Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Simple 1. Dyserth Road, my first inspiration to start hacking the roof on my 86's 2. Tonbridge Yard, All that Dutch 3. Carstairs and Law Junction, All that snow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrislock Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Yep - I am with you on this one - All of the modellers you have listed above, I regularly look at their past/present layouts for inspiration. Pete Personally, I would add Mikel to that list for the atmosphere and detail of his Farthing stuff. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Another layout the name of which I can't recall by Dave Rowe (not Llareggub, the one after that) Axford? What was the Leighton Buzzardesque sandpit layout called? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Blobrick Posted February 21, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 21, 2011 My all time top three 1) Garsdale Road : even today it still has that certain something that says working Railway. Its been a source of inspiration for the last 30+ years 2) Stoke Summit : Full length trains and lots of main line engines 3) Can't remember the name of this layout, I think it was Pen-y-bont It was a 00 Cambrian layout set in the 1940s It featured in a two month spread of the Railway Modeller in 1975. It had great atmosphere Blobrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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