Until I decided to make my own Magnorail diorama, I had never seen this rather magical way of adding movement and animation to a model railway layout or diorama in person. I had watched many videos and decided that I would like to make a village setting with cyclists whose legs go round, weaving in and out of buildings and market stalls. I bought a starter kit that contained everything I needed to create the cycle track for my village. The exercise proved challenging, but very worthwhile.
Why a diorama?
My own large layout ‘The Edge Hey & Strines Railway’ (EH&SR) fills a whole bedroom in my Victorian house and was largely made during lockdown.
Because EH&SR is so large and not transportable, I decided to make a diorama of the village with the cyclists (whose legs go round when they move on the track and look amazing), rather than the alternative of the cars. I wanted to take this out to demos with my team, the LocoLadies, at model railway exhibitions. We will be at the Warley National Exhibition in just a few weeks.
