Older Inspirational Layouts

[faulcon1]

Does anyone remember these layouts

 

 

[faulcon1]

Here's part two

 

 

[faulcon1]

Here's part three

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

Part one- yes I saw Chiltern Green/Luton Hoo at Imrex, years and years ago. The OO gauge garden railway later got converted to LGB stylee.

[New Haven Neil]

Part two - Petherick, saw it......somewhere!  The rest only in magazines.

 

I had a crepe tash like the first guy too......

[New Haven Neil]

Part three - Bevleys and Bevette later, almost had me converting to P4 they ran so well.  I was blown away by them at the time.

[Nearholmer]

Some real memory-joggers in there. What date is it?

 

I got into garden railways c1995 I think, and went ver to lol at the Daventry one, which I think was G scale by then.

 

At the real Chiltern Green the track bed is now a cycleway and it always makes me think of the layout when I pedal along there, relieved to have got Dunstable and Luton behind me.

[Nick G]

Dyserth Road (from 2002) seemed to inspire a few depot layouts. DCC sound and (Express Models) lights in mainly Lima locos back then. 

[faulcon1]

I saw the Chiltern Green layout at the South Devon Railway where it was housed in a BR MK1 coach.

[Barry O]

Lummy that take me back.. Barry Norman with Windlesham cove, Chiltern green and Luton Hoo ( where the Minitrix 9Fs had problems passing each other), Bob Symes with his diesel powered R/C Hymek, Bevleys, Martin Brent...top quality modelling.. top quality people.

 

Baz

Edited December 18, 2022 by Barry O

[Donw]

I can remember quite a bit further back than that including Bob Symes 00 layout at Central Hall

 

Don 

[Chris M]

There may have been others before it but to me Chiltern Green and Luton Hoo was the first layout that showed the true potential of N gauge. I was in the 00 camp at the time but I remember being extremely impressed with the work that had been done on Chiltern Green. Many years later when I finally went to N gauge the memory of Chiltern green was very much part of my inspiration. I think it's fair to say that my lesser layout efforts in N gauge, Little Aller Junction and Dawlish Warren, would not have happened if it wasn't for Chiltern Green so I am eternally grateful to the builders of this layout.  While Copenhagen Fields is a truly exceptional modelling project I still rate Chiltern green as the more inspirational. It doesn't look so good now on display in Devon because it is old and it is automated but at least it still exists and still works.

Edited December 18, 2022 by Chris M
spelling

[t-b-g]

It is making me feel my age when layouts that I saw at shows and which I even exhibited alongside are appearing in a thread about older layouts.

 

Petherick was a real game changer for me. With the baseboards being wider than they were long and a real railway in the landscape feel that is usually 2mm scale territory.

 

I am hoping to see Barry Norman in the not too distant future, so I will ask him what he thinks about seeing himself on film all those years ago.

[john new]

11 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Some real memory-joggers in there. What date is it?

 

I got into garden railways c1995 I think, and went ver to lol at the Daventry one, which I think was G scale by then.

 

At the real Chiltern Green the track bed is now a cycleway and it always makes me think of the layout when I pedal along there, relieved to have got Dunstable and Luton behind me.

Saw the Daventry garden line when it was OO, hadn’t realised it had gone G.

[Clive Mortimore]

13 hours ago, Nick G said:

Dyserth Road (from 2002) seemed to inspire a few depot layouts. DCC sound and (Express Models) lights in mainly Lima locos back then. 

I remember a chap from Rhyl saying something nice about this rubbish, Pig Lane.

 

I can only apologise to the GWR branch line terminus modellers that Nick's and my little train sets started a trend more boring than a GWR  BLT.

 

[D-A-T]

Agree!

When I saw my first TMD layout I thought that’s clever if you really only want locos. Then I saw my next, and my next, and my next…..

Now they are beyond clichéd. They are now one of my barometers when I am deciding to visit an exhibition or not.

Don’t get me wrong, each to their own etc but they are now just too numerous. As a comparison it’s like liking a Brass Band as opposed to an Orchestra. The Orchestra has so much more depth to it, strings, percussion etc, than a Brass Band.

I will now duck! 🤣

[kevinlms]

On 28/01/2013 at 23:34, peanuts said:

surprised to see no mention of Manchester mrcs Gransmoor Castle  was lucky enought to see this 2mm & 2mm finescale layout on its final outing at Macclesfield model railway show 

There were 3 articles in the 3 magazines of the period, depicting this layout. They showed it was possible to have a realistic layout in a large space and not just a coffee table layout, because you could.

It still didn't inspire me to ever try N Gauge.

 

https://www.magazineexchange.co.uk

Search for Gransmoor and they will show up.

 

Edit to add.

 

Nothing quite like resurrecting an old post!

Edited December 18, 2022 by kevinlms

[Chris M]

2 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

There were 3 articles in the 3 magazines of the period, depicting this layout. They showed it was possible to have a realistic layout in a large space and not just a coffee table layout, because you could.

It still didn't inspire me to ever try N Gauge.

 

https://www.magazineexchange.co.uk

Search for Gransmoor and they will show up.

You should have given it a go. 🙂

Edited December 18, 2022 by Chris M

[Allegheny1600]

Clive,

What was great about your layout is that it was innovative and full of at the time, unusual locos.

Now, anyone can buy all those models but you had skill and vision to be able to put on such a show.

More power to you, I say.

Cheers,

 John 

[Chris M]

I'm not keen on MPDs/TMDs (especially with sound) but to me the most recent worrying trend is the plethora of 7mm layouts that consist of a nicely weathered diesel and a couple of wagons shunting up and down a straight piece of track. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Edited December 18, 2022 by Chris M

[kevinlms]

44 minutes ago, Chris M said:

You should have given it a go. 🙂

It's too small.

[Clive Mortimore]

46 minutes ago, Chris M said:

I'm not keen on MPDs/TMDs (especially with sound) but to me the most recent worrying trend is the plethora of 7mm layouts that consist of a nicely weathered diesel and a couple of wagons shunting up and down a straight piece of track. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I agree Chris, well the noise bit. Many don't seem to have been designed using prototype track plans which would give the running foreman a nightmare. I have seen quite a few where the fuel storage capacity is far less than the fuel tanks parked alongside, unless as suggested the other day by a friend, the modellers concerned had worked out how to compress a liquid. Massive 12 cylinder engine blocks on a flatrol with no signs of how in the one road shed the fitters got the thing out a loco.

 

But don't dismiss all small depot layouts, some are researched to how a depot works. Some have some modelling on them like scratch built buildings, scratch built little people, and in the last photo of the above post 2 converted locos and 4 scratch built.

 

One scratch built loco and one cut and shut in this English Electric line up.

 

A row of non RTR shunters.

 

The nose of a scratch built loco and a converted loco.

 

See what people miss when they say "Oh another F***ing Diesel Depot". As heard at many a show.

Edited December 18, 2022 by Clive Mortimore

[CF MRC]

Some photos of Chiltern Green at the time that Luton Hoo was being added to it. Taken by Pekka Siiskonen in 1981.  Soon to feature in an article in the MRC Bulletin. 

 

 

 

 

Last photos taken by Len Weal, when the branch was complete. 

 

The Midland Pullman was scratchbuilt by Bernard Taylor-TPM: it probably did more miles on Chee Tor than CG!  Frighteningly,  the Midland signal cabin was one of the first buildings I scratch built fifty years ago…

CG & LH are now in private hands - I have no idea where. 
 

Tim 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by CF MRC
Credit BernardTPM.

[t-b-g]

On 18/12/2022 at 11:17, D-A-T said:

Agree!

When I saw my first TMD layout I thought that’s clever if you really only want locos. Then I saw my next, and my next, and my next…..

Now they are beyond clichéd. They are now one of my barometers when I am deciding to visit an exhibition or not.

Don’t get me wrong, each to their own etc but they are now just too numerous. As a comparison it’s like liking a Brass Band as opposed to an Orchestra. The Orchestra has so much more depth to it, strings, percussion etc, than a Brass Band.

I will now duck! 🤣

 

I went to a show a while ago that had 10 O Gauge layouts of which 8 were diesel depots. All were DCC sound fitted.

 

I walked out after having my ears battered for about 30 minutes.

[woodenhead]

1 minute ago, t-b-g said:

 

I went to a show a while ago that had 10 O Gauge layouts of which 8 were diesel depots. All were DCC sound fitted.

 

I walked out after having my ears battered for about 30 minutes.

I think I was also at that show!!