"Bigger" layouts - a few thoughts

[Mr Brunel]

Afternoon all,

 

Recently I was thinking about those layouts that are built on a large scale when I noticed that most of them are based on the LNER - Retford, Little Bytham, Peterborough North and the Gresley Beat all come to mind.

 

Perhaps there are some I'm not aware of, but it does seem like there are very few "large" layouts for other regions. Plenty have commented on the plague of GWR BLT layouts - but has anybody ever depicted a chunk of the Great Western main line? Dawlish or Newton Abbot, say?

 

Don't mind me - just thinking out loud...

[chris p bacon]

I've noticed that too, my own which is 28' x 11' is East Coast (Sandy) although I still live here which is my reason for modelling it.

 

It could be that the reason people don't model large GWR layouts is because the word "Western" should be substituted with the word "Northern",  then it would be somewhere worth modelling

 

Could it be something to do with those Pacifics ? or can't we talk about that.....

[edcayton]

Ifit has to be a prototype then Hungerford and Totnes come to mind. If "based on" counts then both scenes at Pendon, and King's Torre and our own homage to Brent. There are many others.

 

Ed

[Kris]

Possibly fewer of them about because of the GWR BLT factor and the negative attitude that this is viewed with by quite a few people. 

[Barry O]

You need to define "large".. Mike Edge has two largish layouts Cwmafon - a BR (WR/LM) region layout

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/78572-cwmafon/

 

and Herculaneum Dock - which if we nag him enough he may start a thread on - this is ex CLC in BR Days , plus the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board and Liverpool Overhead Railway.

 

And he is a major part of the guys building a very large model of Carlisle in BR days in EM gauge.

 

Baz

[queensquare]

I'm building Bath Queensquare in 2mm finescale in 20'x10' - thats 40'x20' in 4mm so a descent size. 

Period is first decade or so after the First War so MR and SDJR - lots of lovely red and blue engines.

See   http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/52798-bath-queen-square/

 

Jerry

[griffgriff]

I think some of the most impressive layouts in terms of size are based on LMS prototype locations. Tring, Liverpool Lime Street, Mostyn. Oh a certain Manchester Central.

[griffgriff]

PS how could I forget Birmingham New Street.

[RJS1977]

There was the late Mike Cook's "South Devon" series of layouts which all slotted together to represent Dawlish/Newton Abbot/Totnes/Ashburton/Kingswear (GWR).

 

And further back still members of the Manchester and Macclesfield groups in the 1960s built a model representing most of the principle stations on the Isle of Man Railway before the closures (Douglas, Port Erin,St John's, Foxfield, Ramsey, Peel) - though whether this counts as "main line" of course is debatable!

[RJS1977]

There was also a "Reading, Bristol and South Wales Railway" in RM about 40 years ago and another layout which purported to represent Paddington-Aberystwyth plus various branches! Both were massive layouts which never left home and although many of the stations bore little resemblence to their prototypes, the principal operations could be carried out.

[Barry O]

There was the late Mike Cook's "South Devon" series of layouts which all slotted together to represent Dawlish/Newton Abbot/Totnes/Ashburton/Kingswear (GWR).

 

And further back still members of the Manchester and Macclesfield groups in the 1960s built a model representing most of the principle stations on the Isle of Man Railway before the closures (Douglas, Port Erin,St John's, Foxfield, Ramsey, Peel) - though whether this counts as "main line" of course is debatable!

His last OO layout was Castle Cary - which he never finished as he went EM, the  O gauge and On16.5

[Andy Kirkham]

Afternoon all,

 

Recently I was thinking about those layouts that are built on a large scale when I noticed that most of them are based on the LNER - Retford, Little Bytham, Peterborough North and the Gresley Beat all come to mind.

 

 

Don't forget Stoke Summit and Copenhagen Fields!

[trisonic]

Where’s your cut-off in size? Peter Midwinter is a serial builder of “rather” large exhibition layouts which are invariably interesting and of different locations but all good quality.

Best, Pete.

[Andy Kirkham]

Afternoon all,

 

Recently I was thinking about those layouts that are built on a large scale when I noticed that most of them are based on the LNER - Retford, Little Bytham, Peterborough North and the Gresley Beat all come to mind.

 

Not just LNER but specifically the Great Northern. So it can't just be the allure of Gresley pacifics, otherwise you might expect the North Eastern and the North British to be just as popular.

 

I have just been reading a piece by the journalist Ian Jack in which he writes

 

I have travelled this way on the East Coast Main Line many times - by my calculation (there being not much else to do at this point) hundreds of times - and this bit of England has always seemed unknowable to me. One part looks much like the next. I continue to confuse Retford and Newark and not be quite certain that the large river, brimming and rippling when we passed it a few minutes back is the Trent. To the east lies Lincolnshire (Skegness, Cleethorpes), where I have never been; to the west Nottingham, where I have almost never been. Perhaps this is the real Middle England.

 

I know there is a risk in quoting this that some people will find it arrogant and dismissive, but from reading some of Ian Jack's other writings I know he is neither. It is a subjective view reflecting my own impression that the Great Northern passes through parts of England that people from elsewhere seldom have reasons to visit.

 

I have a theory that the major split between people's regional affinities is not north-south but east-west. I was brought up in Bristol and it may be for that reason that I will always prefer the Caledonian to the North British, the LNWR to the North Eastern , the Furness to the Hull and Barnsley, the Cambrian to the Great Eastern and the LSWR to the South Eastern & Chatham.

[sub39h]

You forgot about Dorehill St Stevens, which is neither GWR nor LNER

[MPR]

The late Jim Savage's "Tone Vale" EM gauge layout, featured in MRJ 69/120 would definitely count in the mainline category, as it had Taunton at its heart (as well as almost every station in Somerset!).

[Accurascale Fran]

 

 

and Herculaneum Dock - which if we nag him enough he may start a thread on - this is ex CLC in BR Days , plus the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board and Liverpool Overhead Railway.

 

And he is a major part of the guys building a very large model of Carlisle in BR days in EM gauge.

 

Baz

 

Dear Mr. Edge, Please Please Please start a thread on Herculaneum Dock. I remember seeing it in Railway Modeller back in the 90s and being blown away by it. Inspirational layout! 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

...I have a theory that the major split between people's regional affinities is not north-south but east-west...

Look at the settlement pattern. All those touchy-feely Celts pushed West, by progressive waves of cool and rational Nordic types. And yes, this is a gross over-simplification, but there is something in it. Of our two ancient English universities, to the West Oxford, to the East Cambridge. There's the historical marker for where the progress is, dry feet getting across the river.

[chris p bacon]

 to the West Oxford, to the East Cambridge. There's the historical marker for where the progress is, dry feet getting across the river.

With Sandy right in the middle of them. !

 

I suppose that really makes Sandy more important than the 2 of them

[Mr Brunel]

Evening all,

 

Firstly, can I say 'thanks' to everybody who's contributed so far? Some interesting opinions - not least from those who observed (rightly) that I was too vague as to what constitutes a "large" layout.

 

That, of course, opens another kettle of worms/fish/other wriggly creatures! I suppose for me, a "large" layout would be something like Peterborough North or The Gresley Beat - so at least 20/30 feet in length.

 

And of course, I'm very much aware that I'm one of the younger (i.e. less productive, more annoying!) people in this hobby, so naturally there'll be plenty of larger layouts based on non-LNE prototypes of which I'm not aware.

[Classsix T]

Maybe you yourself have a penchant for Eastern Region "mega-layouts" Mr. B and are thus more inclined to be drawn towards their loveliness...?

 

C6T.

[Mr Brunel]

Maybe you yourself have a penchant for Eastern Region "mega-layouts" Mr. B and are thus more inclined to be drawn towards their loveliness...?

 

C6T.

 

Lies! It's all lies, I tell you!

 

(How much do you want to keep this quiet...?)

 

[clecklewyke]

I think Mike Norris' Preston must count as a large layout - much more complex than any of the roundy-roundy ECML layouts mentioned, except, possibly, Retford - six running lines, eight platforms, four or five signal boxes, one of which has more than 160 levers, laid out exactly as the steam-era prototype. 

 

And it's in P4 - not that this makes it better per se but that it requires more care and precision than OO, i.e. rather more work.

 

Ian

[t-b-g]

There is the EM gauge model of Carlisle that has appeared in photos on RMWeb from time to time. There was the large layout based on the LNWR line out of Euston in New Zealand.

 

The biggest GWR layout I have ever been involved with was one that has not appeared in public. Around 12 stations, including a representation of Paddington and with a loco stud running into several hundred.

 

So they are out there. Perhaps the LNER/GNR ones are better known because the people building them are a particular sort of folk, more willing and able to share their work with us.

 

Tony 

[Classsix T]

Lies! It's all lies, I tell you!

 

(How much do you want to keep this quiet...?)

 

The psychiatrist/patient relationship code of ethics means your secret is safe!

 

C6T.