How does Allan do… trees?

“I’m the worst tree maker because I’m impatient… but I’m definitely the fastest! “Hold a piece of seafoam in a gloved hand [latex glove]. Take a can of aerosol varnish and completely cover the foam. Then sprinkle on Noch Mid Green Leaves all over. Plant it where you can’t see the trunk. “I also use dried cow parsley. Cut it long at the stalk and stick it in a vase or bucket with a solution of three parts water to one part glycerine. Leave it for a week and it’ll be preserved indefinitely. You can also use elder tree blossom or gypsophila and spray it green.” simply build two sets of buildings with exactly the same footprints, so any building could be lifted out and replaced by its counterpart. The only significant scenic difference would be the backscene. In its Southern branch guise it would depict a rather large and imposing brewery for the backdrop, whereas the GWR layout backscene would feature a row of ‘chocolate box’ cottages. There’s a fundamental rule to building a small layout like this: you have to build it so that nothing distracts the eye on first glance. What this means is that you have to pick a finish – brick or stone – and stick with it throughout. Obviously, the real world wasn’t built this way, but a model isn’t the real world. By following this rule nothing clashes and, therefore, nothing offends the eye. This isn’t so important on larger layouts. Any changes in architecture and wall finishes are lost in the grand scheme of things.

With this in mind, the GWR setting was built using Wills’ SSMP200 Coarse Stone plastic sheet (suitable for both ‘OO’ and ‘O’ gauges). The Southern buildings were built in brick (using Model Railway Scenery’s downloadable TX81 brick paper). It almost goes without saying that the track is all from Peco, which almost lays itself. I really like Peco points as they have all the frog polarity wiring built in. With only a few points to worry about, these are switched by hand, thus eliminating the need for bales of wire, switches and control panels. This is an aspect of layout construction that has never really appealed to me. What you see here is a layout that works just as well with a minimum of wiring and an old Hammond & Morgan controller, which is probably about 30 years old and works faultlessly. So there you have it – two layouts for the price of one. Why not get yourself down to Wickes, grab a door and make 2018 your year for building something?