New blog!

This new blog is a place where i can share my thoughts on 009 modelling and to show the initial thoughts that are going into my new 009 layout Port na Cailliche (pronounced Port na-Kaleesh - although i'm open to correction on that!).

The layout is to be set in Scotland on the coast of the West Highlands, rather loosely located somewhere between Oban and Ullapool, and is inspired by many holidays to this area. Other inspriation has been drawn from various locations, including the Lochaber Railway which was one of the largest narrow gauge systems that actually operated in Scotland.

I have been working on my current layout Dunbracken for some time, and this was just a test to see what methods work well, what pleases me and what areas i'd like to improve. Dunbracken was always intended to be a short term project, and hopefully Port na Cailliche will be started some time next year.

I feel that my modelling has reached the level where i can try enough new things to warrant building a new layout. On Dunbracken i've experimented with DCC, and this will hopefully be up and running soon. The scenery is more advanced than that of previous layouts i've worked on, and finally it was the first time i'd attempted water. One new area i'd like to try for PnC (Port na Cailliche is far too long to keep typing!) is to make my own track.

At present i'm finalising the trackplan and will hopefully work on a scale model of the layout to check that everything fits and looks good over this winter. The plan is an L shape with curved edged boards inspired by David Bickerton's layout Pudley Lane, this gives a nice flowing feel to the presentation of the layout and gets rid of any harsh edges that right angled boards give.

This layout will contain elements of various places which i've visited in Scotland or have found appealing in photographs. As such it's been in my mind in some form for a number of years. Now i've moved out of home i have enough space to build it in my loft, but would like to finish Dunbracken first to continue learning lessons from that.

Real life locations and buildings i intend to include a representation of are:

• Plockton - this will form the backing to the curve in the L shape.
• Portree - the station will sit on a wooden quay built out into where the harbour is in this photo.
• Castle Moil - a remnant of the areas past which the railway has had to be built around.

The aspect of modelling that i most enjoy is the scenery, and i always like to try and get this as real as possible, but as this layout is basically the one i've always wanted to build it's a long term project so i will be going to town on most things. I've found some very useful and interesting products which i hope to use, as well as thinking up new items that i may well look into producing for myself. I hope to share these in future blog posts. This approach has partly come from frustration that certain items are not available from current manufacturers, or are not suitable for what i would like to achieve, and partly from seeing what John de Frayssinet has achieved on his 009 masterpiece County Gate.

I think that's enough rambling for now, especially as i don't have any pictures or a trackplan to share at present. Future blog posts will include areas which i feel will help improve my level of modelling and various methods i'll be trying out to improve the overall quality of the layout and it's stock before starting on the main layout.