A Cambrian Cameo…

Through the construction of this season's holiday project I've mentioned a couple of times an intention to build a larger Cambrian scene. Hours of research in books, maps and Flickr combined with as a few site visits and I'm getting closer...

One thing is for certain though, I won't be building this cameo - that isn't to say it's flawed in any way, just that I've decided that I want something different from this project. However, the scheme is worth considering as it is another demonstration of the art of layout composition and how elements of the prototype can be combined to still evoke the feel of a particular location, whilst remembering balance and the rule of thirds (for more on this see my book).

Whilst looking at the bridge for the original shelf scene I had noted where I found similar examples, including at Llanbedr ('Clan-bed-rr') and Pensarn near the intended location of Neil Rushby's wonderfully evocative 'Shell Island'. This small river estuary of the Artro with moored boats, small boat yard, distant hills beyond and lots of green is a lovely place to watch the odd train and relax on a summer's day, the distant waves breaking on the beach at Llandanwg ('Clan-dan-ugg') whilst the wavelets lapping in the harbour against pleasure boats and the light breeze causing the 'ting ting ting' of rigging to lull you off into a deeper more mindful state. There is a small occupation crossing here and a station too - but Pensarn (as it once was) had a loop and goods yard and as such the platform is long. Too long for a cameo... wander northwards only slightly and you find the halt for Llandanwg itself, barely the length of one coach with small wooden waiting shelter (later clad in corrugated sheeting), even with a road over bridge, the perfect scene break.

This composition works in N, with that long 100-110cm window balanced by a 25cm depth and around 20cm viewing window. I'd envisage a few options for off stage handling. If just a DMU two short fiddlesticks would suffice, if a loco hauled train appeared you could use cassettes or small turntables. Either way, I'd propose my usual box construction with inbuilt LED lighting and wrap around backscene.

So for myself, if it isn't this, what is it? Well the design process has been useful and imagine the same basic elements but spread out and re-imagined in a wintery setting back on the Dyfi estuary and you'll perhaps begin to have some idea of what is in mind. Until that's ready to break cover though I hope this little scheme has perhaps given you some ideas on scene composition and balance and how the prototype can be 'adjusted' for our needs. Until next time, more soon...

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