Commission: Renfrew Wharf in OO...

Earlier in the year I worked on a layout design scheme with a customer who had fond memories of train spotting in the 1970s across Scotland, and a hankering for a small layout set on the banks of the Clyde...

Renfrew temporarily becomes the Ruabon Brook Tramway, 1659 with a short train.

Well, I don't have any Scottish rolling stock (yet!) so you'll have to do with something Welsh - that said, these photos were taken under the layout lighting alone, using an iPhone SE2 on a tripod, with focus stacking software in Affinity Photo - no tricks, no adjustments, just careful composure and cropping. They follow completion of the layout (whereas in the Victory video there were a few small things that needed finishing off).

The overall layout is 120cm long with an additional ~70cm fiddle stick, with an integral lighting canopy.

The layout itself is just 1.2m long, and I'd describe it as a compact cameo. It will sit in my customer's study, and hopefully is presented in such a manner that it can be presented as part of the furniture. To be sat on top of an IKEA shelving system it meant a very thin base was required, as I used on Pont-y-dulais and Kinross, although this is much larger than both (closer to East Works actually). To be viewed at close to eye level means the photo backscene of an overcast sky should work well in most angles, the 'pasted' on buildings are actually from photos of the area in the 1960s that I lightly colorised in Affinity Photo.

So here are some 'beauty' shots without stock from left to right... the over bridge on the prototype had more than one track, but here reduced to one with space constraints. We've also got variety in buffer stops, which adds character and allows the 'middle' siding to still fit three wagons and enable Inglenook operation without fitting the fiddle-stick. I'm really pleased with the litter and undergrowth around the tracks in this area. The fence atop the embankment is scratchbuilt but the girder is a cut down Peco one and the bridge abutments a modified Wills kit. Track is a mix of Peco code 75, with Bull-head plain track and standard flat bottom points as the bull-head points would take up too much space in this plan. This was carefully painted, each sleeper individually painted varying the tone of black/brown/grey. Rail sides were painted a rusty mix of brown, black and orange - noting that sidings are often lighter in shade than the running lines. Ballast is Woodland Scenics fine cinder around the rails, with fine grey along the edges and in the yard.

Looking across the centre of the layout you can see footpaths worn in the grass alongside the track, and the platform road is more heavily overgrown. The starter signal has been decommissioned but the post and relay box remain on place... The platform and rear corrugated fencing are scratchbuilt, the platform fencing and Midland signal post are Ratio, I love the texture in the brambles between the sidings and platform road. The ground materials are a mix of Peco-scene and Mini-natur static grasses of more autumnal shade. The short Peco fibres are great for the scrubby grass around the rails - I use lighter shades for the longer patches, which are added over the top by spraying adhesive through pre-prepared templates in paper. The bushes are Woodland Scenics foliage clusters, the underground a mix of Woodland Scenics foliage as well as postiche (fake hair) spangled with Green-scenes foliage material in several shades - as described by Gordon Gravett in his excellent series on scenery and trees, available from good bookshops.

Finally, the right hand end, the front track features a sleeper across the rails as if the line once continued to the banks of the Clyde. The litter again adds that run down character, and, not visible in this photo particularly are puddles in the yard. These were created by applying Peco basing glue to the baseboard and letting it dry (it's a little shiny). Once dry, I carefully applied more scenic glue around the patches and the ballast material was applied over the top. Once dry, I vacuumed up the loose material, revealing glossy puddles just below the surface of the gravel.

Covering off operation, the fiddle-stick simple 'tucks' under the baseboard, track connects to the layout with standard Code-75 fish plates opened a little to ease the transition on and off. The boxing in around the opening ensures there is less light shining under the bridge on the layout side, as well as providing additional support to the fiddlestick. I try to operate a 'KISS' principle on my carpentry and electrics... you'll also note the NCE panel, this has been modified to allow the power supply to be plugged into the front of it (using a spare 2.5mm female socket that is wired to the terminals on the board). The electrofrog's are switched using frog-juicers from Tam Valley hidden within the embankment, so that all electronics are contained on the layout.

Shades of the Ruabon Brook tramway and the brick and tile works as my 57xx sits in the centre siding, the overcast sky and texture in the greenery really blend well with the pasted on buildings, black and white allowing you to appreciate this more than fully saturated...

It's great fun to operate (see the Victory video), and offers plenty of play value whilst being a lovely composition to just look at - whilst taking these photographs I enjoyed seeing the stock in place, just sitting in the layout. The 16xx, a Rapido UK model sits with a train of stock I built for the Bala branch project, since abandoned... the brake van is a Hornby model repainted and re-lettered with custom transfers I designed from photos of the real 'Trevor' restricted use van, used on the Ruabon Brook Tramway (which may one day be built, especially once exhibitions become more of a thing again). 

Pot holes and puddles visible in the yard, note the platform road is a lot more overgrown than the sidings and headhunt in the foreground. Points are controlled by wire-in tube with the un-obtrusive white knobs scratchbuilt in styrene.

The cement wagon is a re-worked and carefully weathered Bachmann model, the 12t van is a Dapol moulding with extra parts on a Parkside chassis. That a train from North Wales looks at home in Scotland shows that the flexibility of layout can be increased by playing down the 'cameo' elements that would perhaps have given it a greater sense of place - instead requiring the actors on stage to place the location - a similar mindset and strategy to my own Pont-y-dulais and Beaverbrook.

It has been a wonderful experience working on this commission from start to finish, taking a design brief to generate a scheme, working closely with my customer to understand their drivers, emotional connection and specific layout space constraints - through to creating this model in reality, drawing on both their imagination and my own, working through ideas and challenges that result in a successful composition, and one that is both part of me, and part of my customer - a personal commission and once that I would love to repeat, so if you've got an itch you'd like to scratch, specifically focused on smaller layout design, then do get in touch and we can discuss your ideas and work up a proposal. Email is available through my Facebook page, otherwise the contact form here, Messenger on Facebook or the forum private messaging systems are all available. More soon...