sammyboy

For me it all started one Christmas when I was little when I recieved a Hornby HST Train Set in Intercity Swallow livery, which I played with for ages, the train wizzing round the oval on the front room carpet! I still have the train stored away in a box under my current layout. The teenage years began building proper model railway layouts in my old attic bedroom and attending various exhibitions, the first of those layouts was a basic double track oval in OO Gauge, with a hole in the middle for me to stand and operate the trains in! My second bedroom layout was much bigger, my Dad building me another double track mainline, but this time it went around the walls of the room on narrow baseboards with the station area with sidings and an engine shed. This layout was never complete and sadly eventually having to be dismantled, due to having been evicted from the attic due to my younger twin sisters attending college and for my Mum wanting to give them more space! Now in my early twenties, I had begun work (with my first 'proper job' in Sheffield station after a fantastic work placement in a Tourist Office) and earning my own money, I had decided to start modelling in the smaller N Gauge (which still is the scale I currently model in), due to now being in a smaller bedroom. After changing jobs (now at B&Q from 2010-present - the job at Sheffield station in 2008/09 didn't last long, I was only there for just 6 months!) several N gauge layouts came and went. Currently, I recently discovered how much fun you could have with a N Gauge layout built on a internal house door sized baseboard with room for a 6 platform station, sidings, engine shed, 6 track fiddle yard, and still room left over for scenery! Sam

A fictional UK offshore island with a railway on it is a good idea for a layout! I'd like to see more of the land of 'Ballybongle' please... Sam

A nice little layout you've got there. Am I right in knowing that St. David's is the smallest city in Britain? Sam

I'm sad after tonight's bad result for England, but proud for just how far they had come in this tournament. Sam

I've also had a look at your plan, and I would have more of the track visible around the curve to the fiddle yard before it reaches the tunnel instead of the tunnel mouth being right next to the level crossing. Good luck with your layout project! Sam

I watched the whole series throughout last summer on YouTube - really, really good. I've even went and bought myself a 'All The Stations' T-Shirt in a purple colour to support the great cause. Sam

Make it even better by waving a big South Korean flag from your car window down the Autobahn at speed...

I'll be there as a visitor again this year on Friday. A great and truly unique show and very popular and enjoyable!

My current layout in N Gauge (Newbridge Junction) is set in the Edinburgh area. I chose this perticular location on a UK rail atlas, because mainly I have visited the city of Edinburgh at least twice, and found it a very nice place to spend some time. And also I fancied a general change of location, because all of my previous layouts were set in different areas of England, so I decided to have a go at modelling another part of the United Kingdom! Sam

I like your idea - keep up the good work Sir! Sam

I've just come back home from this exhibition (getting there on the train straight after finishing work!) and yet again, I had a great time and came away inspired. Sam

It's a good compliation of nice layouts, but there's only one minor problem - every single one of the featured articles are in OO Gauge! I clearly understand that 4mm scale is the most popular for modellers in the UK, but you could have found layout articles in more of a broad spectrum of different gauges? Sam

Thanks for that info regarding iPad photos 'GWRPhil' - I'll remember to take my pictures of my layout in landscape mode in the future! Sam

My fantastic brand new Class 68 diesel (Which was a birthday present yesterday!) on the layout - but can anyone tell me why my photos (which are taken with an iPad) always appear sideways on here? Sam

Finally got my hands on a Class 68 diesel (Scotrail livery) yesterday (For my birthday!) and it was fantastic! Runs superbly on the layout straight from the box, super smooth running. It is by far the best locomotive I have in my veried fleet for the layout. Sam

I'm going to add my own thoughts on this as I did exactly the same - by changing down in size from OO to N Gauge about 10 years ago, basically I thought that I had very little room for a OO Gauge layout when I changed to a smaller bedroom in my parents house, so that N Gauge was to be the answer for layouts in small spaces. And it worked, because I am still a N gauge modeller enjoying building a nice layout which lies on a door sized baseboard. From now on I believe that I will be modelling very happily in N gauge for the rest of my life! Sam

Nice Layout!

I'd like to know more about this layout - track plan, more pictures, etc... Sam

Have you made any more progress with this layout as it's a good plan! Sam

Hello! Spent most of the afternoon having a great time just running trains around the layout, and being able to just relax in my big desk chair with music on and watching the trains go by! Now what I really want to see running on the layout is the new Class 68 in Scotrail livery, will call into my local model shop to see if they've got it in stock tomorrow. Sam

I like the simple track plan, but out of interest, just how long is the layout? Sam

Good idea, but could you imagine just how many locos and rolling stock you would have to bring to an exhibition! Sam

I like the look of all these computer generated track plans, very clear to understand. Sam