Commission: Nithsdale in N...
This spare room sized scheme mixes traditional with cameo to meet the needs of my customer who found my layout design process really helped pinpoint what he wanted (and why) from his model railway…
The process guides you through a series of questions that we then discuss and refine that help not only narrow in on prototype inspirarion and some of the technical considerations most focus upon - but also some of the softer but more important aspects that lead to the resulting design (and hopefully layout beyond) being a real success.
In this example childhood memories of time spent with a parent watching the end of steam from the lineside in some specific locations helped focus and sharpen the content of the scheme. The off-stage on stage balance was interrogated and a solution found that matched the needs of my customer. The result is a simple layout that focuses upon running trains through a landscape, presented in a cameo box to focus and sharpen that particular element of the experience, somewhere to get lost in - the box helping to ‘filter out’ the real world distractions.
Each time I work through this process is a learning experience for me as well, and I love working with new customers and helping make their dream an achievable reality. The focus that can come from a well reasoned, detailed and illustrated plan can really help motivation. If you’d like me to help with your own project I’d love to help, my Layout Design Process starts from £175. You can get in touch with me on here (contact form in the menu), Facebook or the forums. Any scale, any gauge, any prototype. Until next time, more soon…
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I love the plan, I think some dcc automation would make this great to sit back and watch a progression of trains passing by.
ReplyDeleteThank you, indeed that would certainly make operation easier! Beyond me though.
DeleteThis is interesting, seems like a fun combination of hands-off roundy-roundy operation with the option for a bit of shunting, all with the benefit of the visual impact of a cameo scene to get lost within - I like it! Would it be feasible to build in such a way that the circuit modules could be swapped for a couple of fiddle yard modules as and when?
ReplyDeleteIf you look at the plan you can make out the board joints, proposed by my customer that I worked within, and yes, the ends could be theoretically swapped for fiddle yards. Traditionally we build larger trainsets around the edge of the room but here N means it fits within a room. I don’t have a preference rather working to the brief and through the decisions and constraints my customer has themselves…
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