Short layout descriptions

[hornbyandbf3fan]

What are people's tips for writing a short layout description for an exhbition programme. Any examples would be helpful as all the examples I have which I could take inspiration from are elsewhere.

 

Thanks

[mike morley]

Hmm . . .

You might be into "How long is a piece of string" territory with that question because it depends so much on both the nature of the layout and the nature of the exhibition.

 

For instance, a big, sophisticated, high-quality layout like, say, Copenhagen Fields could easily submit a paragraph or few for the programme of a high-end exhibition like Railex, where the majority of people reading it are likely to understand and appreciate what they are being told.

 

At the opposite extreme is, I suppose, the one-sentence wonder I've submitted for the first exhibition of my small, simple, very basic first-attempt at an exhibition layout for an ordinary club exhibition.  "A minor halt on an extremely obscure branch line in the deepest, darkest depths of 1920's Mid-Wales".  No mention of historical background or the fact that its EM Gauge and that everything running on it is kit built because that would mean absolutely nothing to 90% of the people ever likely to read it.

[corax67]

I have a description which runs in under 100 words for my layout - this is down to the first show organiser who invited me having stated a maximum to fit in the program.

 

It contains the essential info about it being a small shunting puzzle (4'x2') in OO operating on DCC or DC suitable for any time period with a variety of steam and diesel rolling stock running during the show. I include the fact it is made from off-the-shelf Peco track and that detailed info is available from the operator if required.

 

This is backed up with a small representative track plan which some managers use in the program if space/finance allows.

 

Try to keep things simple with size, gauge, era & DC or DCC and hopefully interested visitors will ask you for more detail if their interest is piqued.

[hornbyandbf3fan]

I have a description which runs in under 100 words for my layout - this is down to the first show organiser who invited me having stated a maximum to fit in the program.

 

It contains the essential info about it being a small shunting puzzle (4'x2') in OO operating on DCC or DC suitable for any time period with a variety of steam and diesel rolling stock running during the show. I include the fact it is made from off-the-shelf Peco track and that detailed info is available from the operator if required.

 

This is backed up with a small representative track plan which some managers use in the program if space/finance allows.

 

Try to keep things simple with size, gauge, era & DC or DCC and hopefully interested visitors will ask you for more detail if their interest is piqued.

Thanks to both of you and are you talking about my layout there (minus the DC bit)  

[corax67]

If you are feeling brave you could post a draft on this thread and let the grammar nitpickers give it a once-over, it won't hurt (much)

[beast66606]

Widnes - Watch it.

[Tim V]

Or else?

[hornbyandbf3fan]

I hope there won't be too much nitpicking; I'm predicted A's

 

 

A small, rural goods yard set somewhere in the Midlands during BR days. Despite the current cuts, the yard and associated branch continue to thrive and serve a number of communities with some trains coming from as far as Cornwall! The layout is 00 gauge and DCC controlled using Peco code 100 track. Any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

 

Not so sure about the second sentance

[PLD]

Keep it brief and interesting. Say something meaningful about the railway modelled not a blow by blow account about how you built the layout...

 

As I viewer at an exhibition I want details to help me understand and appreciate what I'm watching, so give some background about the prototype if it's based on a real place, or what inspired your layout for a non-prototype or even a fictional history. I don't need to know what brand of glue you used to stick down the ballast or where you bought whatever widgets. If someone really wants to know that sort of thing, they will ask.

 

It's a matter of taste whether you mention things like scale/gauge (it should be fairly obvious to the viewer if they are paying attention!) and I certainly wouldn't bother including things like what brand of track/rolling stock/controller etc you use unless it is something particularly unusual.

 

And finally don't finish it like an Oscar speech with a long list of thanks to everyone from your mate at the club who makes the tea, to Uncle Tom who bought you your first trainset...

[MartinWales]

Can only agree wholeheartedly with Paul in this respect.

 

Make it pithy and to the point with the major points covered, including a possible history if it's 'could have been but never was' layout.

 

And maybe the reason why you're modelling this particlular line in the first place  

[Dagworth]

This is what I used to send out with Dagworth

 

Dagworth showguide text.doc

 

Andi

[bbishop]

How short must a layout be for it to be entitled to a description? Höchstädt is 28', is that too long?

 

Bill

[Adams442T]

I hope there won't be too much nitpicking; I'm predicted A's

 

 

A small, rural goods yard set somewhere in the Midlands during BR days. Despite the current cuts, the yard and associated branch continue to thrive and serve a number of communities with some trains coming from as far as Cornwall! The layout is 00 gauge and DCC controlled using Peco code 100 track. Any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

 

Not so sure about the second sentence

 

Might I suggest you amend the second sentence to read something like:  Despite the cuts at the time, the yard and its associated branch continued to thrive and served a number of communities, with some trains coming from as far away as Cornwall! 

[newbryford]

Make sure you include a trackplan........

 

Cheers,

Mick

[hornbyandbf3fan]

I don't know about that, it only has 3 points and 4 lengths of flexi track in the scenic section

 

[HillsideDepot]

What you have written is fine, Adams442T's amendment enhances it. My only comment is that "BR days" is a very wide time span. "British Railways days" suggests (to me anyway) steam and/or green diesels, "British Rail days" suggests blue diesels, with sector era perhaps being "late British Rail days". Not that the original statement is wrong, just a bit vague.

 

I'd suggest that the entry in the show guide should say more about what you can't see than what you can see. By that I mean, no need to say "OO" or "Peco code 100", since half the audience will recognise that and the other half won't understand what you've just told them. Instead perhaps an indication that the branch serves the local widget factory and booming demand for widgets fills a dozen vans a day which are despatched to all parts of the country - or whatever. Sure we can see the vans, now we know what they carry and where they go. 

 

Don't forget that the show guide can be just part of the information package; you can have more displayed with the layout. This might repeat the show guide and then go into more detail, or be something different. The last show I went to had a layout which had several ring binders of information attached to the front so people could understand what they were looking at, although, to be honest, they didn't seem well used on the occasions I was watching the layout. I simply took along some of the photos of the real place which inspired my layout - photos complete with notes and comments scribbled on from the build process - but I kept them under the fiddle yard until someone showed an interest in knowing more than watching the layout could tell them.

 

Finally, and not really related to the guide text, inviting questions at the end of the description is great, but people tend not to. Instead you'll find that you'll develop a way of joining in with conversations, or perhaps even starting them and from that questions will arise which you can answer. And the best bit of getting into a conversation is that you might end up finding out something too. 

[Long Line]

Be concise in your narrative, but don't be too sterile or abrupt, it will be read by a human being and for me should give the reader some small sense of the person relaying the tale to them through the text and style.

 

Problems can arise from the often unperceived difference between a show guide which should augment the attendees experience and a souvenir programme which should recount the experience, each suggests a different approach and may be a fair argument for having both a brief and a more complete description to offer the organiser and let them decide which too employ.

 

Whichever version you use it should be accurate and include the accepted minimal key descriptive components of:

- Exhibit title/name

- Owners name

- Scale

- Track Gauge

- Depicted region or period or operating company e.g. GWR Swindon C-1939.

 

if space permits you can then consider:

- Where you have come from/home location (Useful for other event organisers)

- Products and methods employed.

- Layout dimensions

- How long it has taken you to build the model to date.

- Mode of transport and number of operators (again useful for other event organisers and can be of added interest to other modellers)

 

Finally you could use the entry to subtly advertise your layout, modelling association or club.

 

Best of luck with it,

 

Cheers  Mark