Stuart D
Active Member
Having heard a good deal about Western Thunder, and all of it very positive, I thought it was time to 'sign up'.
My interests have mostly been in 7mm scale (standard and narrow gauge) but for most of my life never had the space or settled long enough in one place to build a layout. For about fifteen years I had 16mm scale narrow gauge, live steam, garden railways (in three different gardens) and enjoyed that enormously. But the constraints of outdoor railways made me hanker after an indoor layout and I began planning for a layout that I would build when I retired.
Now, in that position and having undertaken a major alteration to an outbuilding I found myself with an attic room above garaging measuring 30ft by 19ft. After many versions, a final plan was adopted and the layout started three years ago. Many years ago I was describing my "pipe-dream retirement layout" to other modellers, and after a short pause one of them responded with "Hmm, sounds like a club layout to me". I am now realising what he meant, as there is always a very long list of things to be done and sometimes it seems like I will never get any aspect of the layout "finished". But having spent twenty years planning this ( latterly with the use of Templot), acquiring appropriate stock, and now having the space, it would have seemed foolish not to give it a go.
I won't bore you with all the background to my chosen plan, suffice to say it's based in the north of England - a secondary standard gauge route (LMS) with an adjoining narrow gauge line principally serving quarries; and set in the late 1930s.
That's probably more than enough for starters!
My interests have mostly been in 7mm scale (standard and narrow gauge) but for most of my life never had the space or settled long enough in one place to build a layout. For about fifteen years I had 16mm scale narrow gauge, live steam, garden railways (in three different gardens) and enjoyed that enormously. But the constraints of outdoor railways made me hanker after an indoor layout and I began planning for a layout that I would build when I retired.
Now, in that position and having undertaken a major alteration to an outbuilding I found myself with an attic room above garaging measuring 30ft by 19ft. After many versions, a final plan was adopted and the layout started three years ago. Many years ago I was describing my "pipe-dream retirement layout" to other modellers, and after a short pause one of them responded with "Hmm, sounds like a club layout to me". I am now realising what he meant, as there is always a very long list of things to be done and sometimes it seems like I will never get any aspect of the layout "finished". But having spent twenty years planning this ( latterly with the use of Templot), acquiring appropriate stock, and now having the space, it would have seemed foolish not to give it a go.
I won't bore you with all the background to my chosen plan, suffice to say it's based in the north of England - a secondary standard gauge route (LMS) with an adjoining narrow gauge line principally serving quarries; and set in the late 1930s.
That's probably more than enough for starters!