LLANIDRIS

Factfile

Layout name: Llanidris

Scale/gauge: 1:43.5 scale / 32mm gauge / O

Size: 3ft 6in x 23ft 3in

Era/region: 1946 GWR

Location: Fictitious (mid-Wales)

Layout type: Fiddle yard to terminus

It all goes back to family holidays around Aberdyfi in the early 1960s. I loved the dramatic landscapes of Mid-Wales, with mountains disappearing into clouds, and dappled sunlight casting shadows on the hills when it wasn’t raining. I was intrigued that many buildings seemed to grow out of hillsides, often with more storeys at the front than the rear. Old slate cottages were to be seen decaying quietly into their natural surroundings, leaving no scars on the landscape. On the same holidays, we would visit the Talyllyn Railway and see the trains, which inspired some of the characters from Rev. W Awdry’s books. Walking one day with my Dad near the end of Penhelig Tunnel, we heard the sound of a train and waited. It was a ‘Manor’ pulling the ‘Cambrian Coast Express’ and it became an indelible memory as it burst from the tunnel mouth. That was it; Mid and North Wales seemed like the perfect location for a model.

In 1993, I read an intriguing book; A Return to Corris, which mentions that there really was a scheme to convert the Corris Railway to standard gauge and extend it to a junction at Brithdir on the Bala to Barmouth line. It was never built, though apparently, there was an 1862 Act of Parliament saying that it could be. So, I could build a station incorporating all the features that drew me to the area. The tight clearances and sharp curvature of a railway passing through villages like Corris seemed very “modellogenic”.

Although I admire greatly the knowledge of people who build accurate models of real prototypes, I’ve always felt more excited by fictional models. ‘Wyndlesham Cove’ by Barry Norman, ‘Ditchling Green’