A second ‘first’ 009 layout…

Although not quite the first layout my son has built, this is the first proper layout. Constructed over the last 12 months or so, it depicts a mishmash of Welsh Narrowgauge influences in just 34 cm x 26 cm…

The beauty of a small rectangular layout like this is the number of scenes that it can support. By thinking of the centre of the layout as a view block, you could split the board into four and think of the views from each side as windows into the world. In this instance the photos that follow show each of the scenes and how other elements have been used to stitch them together. First though, a note about the track.

This is Peco 009 ‘crazy track’ that has been bent using a KB scale rail bender. For this the rail is removed from the sleeper web and put to the bender to achieve a fixed sharp curve. Sleepers and then fed back onto a pair of rails, and for strength these are soldered into the fish plates that connect to each point.

From a lush green landscape where rails run tightly between fence and field, across the small road into the station and locomotive sheds, just a pinch of Pendre on the Talyllyn here…

… from the station the line runs between slate fencing and across a small river on a timber framed bridge inspired by those at Farquhar quarry in the Reverend Awdry’s ‘Tramway Engines’ book…

… Before arriving at the slate transshipment siding with small office.

It’s nice to have been able to reuse elements from both my som’s first layout and my own childhood layouts, the office and trees were built by my late Father, the bothy is from the earlier layout and was built by my son from the Wills kit. The station and engine shed were scratchbuilt specifically for this project by the pair of us, and despite the compact nature of the layout it’s fun to play with, and fun to just watch trains run by!

When not in use it lives in a similar box to Creech Barn (and Kisten Torfwerk before it) and hopefully demonstrates how much potential 009 has for small space but real modelling. Until next time more soon…

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