Commission: California Daydreams, table top in N...

My Layout Design Process proves, again and again, that its structure and process provide a useful and reflective journey for my customer - producing a result, that in the end, gets to the heart of the project they want to realise...

This latest example from a nice chap called Alex in the US began with us exploring parallel threads of Boston and Maine and British 1970s branch lines. But the process is designed to allow reflection and pick away at the reason we're drawn to a prototype AND the reason we're wanting to recreate something in miniature.

So what we have here is neither - instead a table top N gauge double sided layout to give a home to collection of rather lovely Kato passenger sets along with the option of a little street running switching of an industrial spur - designed to fit on the 'standard' hollow core door... a layout to enjoy without stress, no switch lists or operating schemes - just turn on the power and run trains, on his own or with his young family - a wonderful result, and one that chimed with his life and the balance of this versus other model railroad projects already in hand.

California Daydreams - illustration by James Hilton, prototype photos from customers collection.

So if you've pondered commissioning me to design you a layout, I'd venture you perhaps didn't expect to be designing it yourself. We work collaboratively, through a process that feels collaborative and uses my experience to explore your reasons and inspiration as well as the usual space, time and financial constraints. The result always seems to resonate with customers, and I enjoy bringing these schemes to life of them... get in touch via the contact form and I'll discuss with you how things work and when we could start. In the meantime, more soon...



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Comments

  1. Hi James,

    Thank you for sharing this charming layout design with everyone. If you don’t mind sharing, I am curious what software tools you use to create your layout design boards?

    Myles

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  2. Great reminder that it's still okay to build a layout to just watch trains run.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, it would have been fun to do a full illustration for this but we went round the houses a few times… so in the end you just get a plan! Hopefully, you can imagine it as I do!

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