Ian Holmes

Pretty sure the layout was in November 1978. If I recall correctly '78 was also the year of Roy C Link's seminal "The Art of Compromise" Article. Ian

Ah yes, Allied Marine, one of my favourite layouts from way back when. Ian

Many, many moons ago now, I had a rather successful layout called Wingetts recycling. It was the seven day model railroad http://7daymodelrailroad.blogspot.com you’ll have to scroll all the way to the first post to get the flavor of the project. http://7daymodelrailroad.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-did-i-get-here.html Damn, but that was a good layout. So very popular hereabouts. I really missed it once I had scrapped it for my British Oak APA box layout. In the intervening years since those projects, I have gained a circle of friends who model in Proto 48 US 1/4” O scale finescale. Over the last couple of weeks I have weakened and have been working towards starting a P:48 layout that will probably be a scrapyard. You can take a look a https://protocrastinator.blogspot.com and get a feel for what has happened over the past few weeks.

I think I've said it once already. Pages are waiting in a future issue of The Dispatch... Ian

Brilliant! What more can I say? Ian

"Will 'Tyteford Halte' ever be considered to grace the pages of 'Micro Model Railway Dispatch' maybe, but I will need to move house first and then perhaps contact Ian Holmes to see if it could feature in a future edition. All the best for now and good luck with all your railway modelling projects." Just drop me a line when you're ready Ian

Thanks for the kind words. Thanks to the contributors, and if you haven't contributed yet. Please do. Ian

"as the whole aesthetic is scrap and reused" That's a brilliant, (and brave) idea for the presentation. Ian

Here's the link.... https://micromodelrailwaydispatch.com. all the issues are just a click away. Ian

I'm really pleased that the Micro Model Railway Dispatch is influencing other modellers. This layout is looking great! When you get this little layout finished pleased email me (MMRDeditor@gmail.com) and we'll see about featuring it in a forthcoming issue. Ian

As @F-UnitMad rightly pointed out The Micro Model Railway Dispatch now has a website. I haven't done any serious web design since the days of Adobe PageMill. So bear with me on the initial look of the website. Now you can now go to https://micromodelrailwaydispatch.com/ and download the Spring Issue, It's available. I hope you enjoy it. Plenty for everyone from the smallest scales to the largest scales.

Great little video. Good view of your automatic uncoupler at work. Enjoyed watching it. Thanks Ian

A great looking micro layout. Clever of the Scalescenes kit ian

According to his obituary the late Roy C Link was a frequent user of the RM Staff nom de plume as well Ian

That reminds me of watching test cricket on the TV in the early 70’s it was not unknown for players to be known by their initials then. A.P.E. (Alan) Knott for example, even R.G.D. (Bob) Willis slipped in once in a while. I wondered if it was a Gentlemen and Players thing. Thanks for all the interesting answers everyone.

I was doing some research on inglenook model railways just now. The general consensus is that A R Walkley was first to exhibit the concept in 1925/26 with his portable goods yard layout. Walkley was a prolific, skilled model maker, scratch building locomotives in scales as small as 1mm =1foot. Indeed this portable goods yard layout seems to have been scratch build in H0 scale. Revolutionary for its time. All this information is pretty easy to come by. But what was his name? Arnold Richard? Alan? Does anyone know? My curiosity is getting the better of me. Ian

I’m sorry reading The Dispatch can have unexpected side effects. Please consider subscribing to my little publication and building a Micro Layout. Ian

Nice job. I built a layout in a week once. A close deadline really sharpens the mind. Ian

Yes, it is considered extending it, and it's very rude. I drew a line under our discussion, which was going nowhere and people seemed to be getting fraught. Yet you see fit to carry it on. This would be an interesting subject, suitable for its own thread and discussion. But you seem to want to score some petty "last word" point.

That’s enough. There’s no need to turn this into a schism of P4/S4 proportions. I’ll just reiterate my comments from October and let that be an end to it. “Personally, I have always considered four square feet as a rule. There has to be a hard and fast upper limit, otherwise you receive submissions from 8 square feet to as much as 16 square feet. Carl often referred to large scale layouts that exceeded 4 square feet as “in the spirit of a micro”, which is something I’ll gladly carry on as the magazine develops. Right now, its early days and I’m still trying to find a direction for it. I have features I want to run and things I want to try, but still carry the spirit of Carls original“Micro layouts for model railroads” website I appreciate you taking the time to read it and share your opinions.” Ian

Looks great! Nice use of the scalescenes buildings Ian

Well, I don’t know why I bother. I really don’t. Way to go to destroy someone’s enthusiasm. Two issues in a row now you’ve queried the accepted definition of a Micro Layout. I hope this is not going to happen every three months from now on.

It's the first day of Winter so that means it's time for the Winter issue of The Micro Model Railway Dispatch. There's lots to see and enjoy. Including a special Winter/Christmas layouts special section. https://www.dropbox.com/s/5oejrx0kvyhr1p0/Dispatch Issue 3_final.pdf?dl=0 Enjoy.

December 1st if you have a winter or Christmas themed micro layout you’d like to share. Otherwise the issue is jam packed, and I’m working towards the spring issue. Maybe I’ll have to go to bi-monthly. Ian