What have I just done?

The neurodiverse brain works in odd ways.

Imagine an AI LLM that isn't well-calibrated and reacts unexpectedly to certain inputs.

OK you don't have to imagine that. It is what they do.

I have never had the slightest interest in building a modern image BR layout. Bear in mind that for people my age, that means anything from up to fifty-five years ago.

But I do like the idea, you might have noticed, of modelling slightly esoteric things, fitting them to the space I have available, and returning to variations on a theme.

So why have I just pre-ordered a BR blue TT120 Bubblecar?

Although I don't remember it myself, one of the first family layouts I ever set eyes on was my father's factory provided demonstration TT layout.

The baseboard went on to serve under our first OO9 layout.

And I don't know how, but some of the TT stock is still in my loft, despite my plans to use it for a OOn3 layout.

Then there is Minories, that seminal CJF plan first developed to showcase 3mm scale TT. Combined with the "layout on a bookshelf" built by, IIRC, Dave Howsham?

I don't remember Cyril or Mr P, though apparently I met them both as a toddler, but I do sometimes go by the initials CJF myself. Anyone calling me Charles gets the death stare. I now know the widened line stations Minories was based on rather well, which increases the appeal.

And, of course, I have endless memories of the days of BR blue and blue and grey. Many of them quite emotional for reasons nothing to do with trains. DMU trips from Bournville to New Street, Birmingham, to Southampton when I was at university, and, in my first few jobs, catching the Cathedrals "Express" to Hereford and then the depressing return tripto London.

There is the wild card. Those heady days when people like Palitoy and Airfix entered the market. I was committed to N gauge by then, but that isn't to say their products didn't influence me. 

So now those threads all seem to be coming together:

I think I have the right space for the layout in my office, which wouldn't fit anything else.

I have a vision for the look of the layout. Think dirt, think smokers, think fumes...it was reality.

Obviously, with Minories, I have a track plan

Best of all, I have constraints, which I like.

So, two rakes of four coaches. one of "modern" Mk2s one of Mk1s.

A parcels train, probably mostly vans and either a goods or passenger brake.

One or more DMUs.

No more than three locos plus a station pilot, but to begin with, a 37 and a Gronk. A 31, 25, even a 45 would be nice, but not essential.
 
If I were to be indulgent, a steam loco to run with the Mk1 rake. One that had a mainline ticket in the early seventies.

Services:

Early morning/late evening parcels and newspapers 

Half-hourly DMU shuttles using the parcels platform.

Interregional regionals at interlaced two-hour intervals with arrivals a quarter to the hour, and departures at quarter past.

Hourly intercity departures, on the hour, and arrivals at half past the hour

Realistic operations, with the arriving loco following the departing service out to the platform starter - which presumes DCC operation.

I suspect it would end up being rather tedious to operate  - but then operation has never been my thing.

Good Riddance to January

 That was not a good month.

My Mother-in-law died after what should have been a routine knee replacement. 

A dear friend and colleague lost his wife of fifty years.

And many of you will know Phil Parker also lost his father.

Our youngest grandson was rushed to hospital with massive lung problems - though he seems to have made a full recovery

Then there are all the minor things that have gone wrong, most of which have been about frustrations with technology, but also including losing a crown and a filling, and concerns about the declining health of our older pets.

There were some good things, I suppose.

Issy and I managed a couple of nice trips out. I took the younger dogs for a walk through Buxton Country Park in the snow, whilst she and mum sat in a warm cafe, and, at the end of the month, we walked them along part of the Cromford and High Peak trackbed.

Issy also managed a quick trip to Poland with the eldest daughter, although Barb's death overshadowed it.

I also ended up on the centre pages of an American IT magazine, pontificating, as usual.

What about railways?

I was hoping to have a bit of a push on Dark Hall, helped by the discovery of detailed photos of the later station structure, but what spare time I had got eaten into by my volunteer commitments.

Whilst Issy was away, I had another blitz in the garden. Largely repairing the damage done by a rogue tree surgeon, but also clearing away a lot of creeping groundcover plants that were beginning to dominate the colour scheme and smother anything else. That did get me reassessing where the 7/8ths line(s) should go. There are a couple of possibilities, but I'm favouring a relatively small continuous run to make running steam that bit easier. The next step is to remove three 6ft high concrete posts next week to open up the space.

A Pensive New Year

 Hopefully, not an expensive one.

The Black Dog is snapping at my heels.

My diary is already filling up with speaking engagements, but TBH I just hope 2026 isn't as bad as the last two years have been. The portents aren't good, just before Xmas one of my long-standing collaborators died unexpectedly, and my biggest client is being as unorganised as ever, leading to endless delays in commissions and payments.

And then there is the modelling...

...well it would help if I could get rid of all the Xmas decoration storage boxes that are filling up my office, so I could get to a worktop.

On the plus side, I suppose, I've been reappraising Dark Hall in the light of some really useful photographs that I've not seen before. They have changed a lot of my plans for what was meant to be a quick and dirty intro to modern N gauge. But I'm struggling to convert them into concrete models. 

One of the delights of Apa was building the road bridge. It almost designed and built itself. But the one at Park Hall Halt just seems to throw up issue after issue. The same is true of the "simple" CI station building and even the lamposts. Yes, I could just substitute commercial items, given it is a "based on" layout, but it has evolved as I've got back to grips with the scale, which I suppose was always the intended purpose. I could have finished it in a weekend, but if I had, I would have scrapped it and started again.

At the back of my mind is a question about whether I will stay with N gauge once Gerralt Rd is finished. There is only one other UK based idea that I'm tempted by, and I can't think of anywhere it would physically fit in the house. If anything, the American dockside cameo seems more promising, with a footprint that would fit in a shelf unit that is sat empty in a corner of the office.

But if N does turn out to be a bit of a dead end for me, I don't think it has been a waste of time. It has given me another visual language that willl be useful in other scales. Especially when it comes to composition and integrating the vertical dimension. I think I'm going to be a lot braver in building height into projects and also using more forced viewpoints.

On top of everything else, it feels like the house has been full of people for days on end, and my social battery is running close to zero charge. 

Manchester Micros

There is an active Facebook group about Micro Layouts. Well there are several. Outside of the garden I've no interest in building a big layout. I don't dislike them, two of the first layouts I knew well were massive. One was Teddy Boston's, the other was a model of Quorn & Wodehouse that matured as the hobby did. 

But I like a layout that can be built by just one person and works without a single train moving. I prefer a cameo layout, with the theatrical presentation, over a simple micro.

So there were a lot of layouts for me to like at Manchester, despite my negative tone.

It is worth thinking about the pros and cons of micros.

What is that Welsh word?  Hiraeth. The railways I remember and should be nostalgic about, and I am in a way, are the last days of steam in the North West and BR blue in the Midlands. Going home for Xmas in an inter-regional buffet car, sat on a plastic chair, eating a pre-packed BR fruit cake slice.

But the railway I mourn is the quiet country branch that was gone before I was old enough to know it.

So often, micros scratch that itch for something unknown and now lost for ever.

Sorry, what was I saying? Where was I?

Oh yes, micros. Forget all that. It doesn't need much to happen on a micro for it to be interesting. Often, nothing happening is interesting in its own way, because you can take in the life around the layout.

And the audience can talk to the builder/operator. They can ask practical questions. And they can go away and build their own version.

So, in no order here are some of the micros at the Manchester show. If I had to name a favourite, it would be Old Parrock, but I know a lot of people love Littledean. College Halt is an outlier. It had some interesting scenic ideas, but didn't quite work. Or, it doesn't work yet, but it will with some weathering. Where it scored highly was engagement with the audience, as did all the micros, and, most of all, this is the layout I think most people went away thinking "I could do that"

Trerice is an oddity. I think we all know it was built as Iain's final home layout, and the subject is very much of the area he loved. Very much a Rice layout, and perhaps cruelly overtaken by the recent improvements in commercial models.

Old Parrock

Littledene

College Halt

Trerice

Manchester Musings Part 2

 Copper Wort

An old favourite from the Spalding show. There is always a lot to take in.

Three Cocks Junction

The modelling is of a very high standard, but overall, this left me cold. It felt sterile. It would also have been nice to see some movement on it, but I didn't see a single train move. Impressive fiddleyard, though.

Port de Crozon

Unmistakably the work of the Gravetts, and perhaps lacking a wow factor if you are familiar with their other layouts. I suspect, from past experience, that it will mature into a great layout. As it is now, it is a little lacking in life. As you'd expect, though, the design is very thoughtful. For example the simple track layout is effectively split into views, and the Arun Quay trick with the harbour returns.

New Sharon

Another layout where nothing moved the whole time I was at the show, and whilst nicely done, just a little bit boring.

St Ruth

Another old favourite. Somehow the lighting here didn't show it at its best, or is it that, like several layouts, it felt displayed at a lower height than I'm used to?

The Trams

Always such a feature of Manchester, both large and small. They took me back to those childhood memories of the show.

Heritage Models

I managed to miss both Grimesthorpe and the Peter Denny display, I suspect because of the seating in front of them. But it was worth the trip to Manchester just to look at a Ross Pochin model in the metal.

Part 3 will focus on the Micro layouts.