‘Piddlewick Yard’ and ‘Dunmovin Mine’
‘Piddlewick Yard’ and ‘Dunmovin Mine’ are more ‘conventional’ layouts, even though there are one or two classic Laurie cameo scenes. Originally, both layouts were combined with a third to form a modular layout. However, that third member has since been removed, leaving these two scenes to combine into one 6ft by 4ft exhibition layout. ‘Dunmovin Mine’ is an abandoned Texan gold mine, while ‘Piddlewick Yard’ is set at an unspecified English location. Since the photographs for this article were taken, Laurie has separated the two layouts as he says they didn’t work together. “I tried to exhibit them once, but unless I set it up jutting into the aisle the audience could only see one side anyway. I used to use the non-showing side as the fiddleyard, but this didn’t work very well either so I took the decision to separate them. “The layout only took me a week to build. Once the baseboard was built [6mm ply on 2in by 1in frames], the tracklaying was very quick. They layout is quite flat so I didn’t have to wait for a lot of scenery to dry before moving on.”
SCRAPYARD CHALLENGE
Brian Bassington’s model of ‘Columbia Wharf’ ship breakers yard in Essex inspired Laurie to model a scrapyard. He decided to go with a railway scrapyard as it enabled him to devise inventive ways of depicting decomposing steam locomotives. “One technique is to apply paint and sprinkle on salt, which partially dissolves, but then also leaves a raised effect as though things are turning rusty,” he says. “I also dry-brush on streaks. Sometimes I use weathering powders and then seal them in with matt varnish. Just make sure you cover clear plastic windows or the matt varnish will cloud them over. Also you can cut away for sharp edges, or melt away holes into the models for softer edges, and for that I use an old soldering iron bit. You have to be careful of the fumes but it is great fun.” Laurie doesn’t take his railways too seriously. Look past his North American fleet
“When it is at an exhibition I can leave it going and concentrate on audience participation”
of a Walthers ‘GP50’ and a Bachmann ‘NW2’ switcher and you’ll see a figure putting out a bonfire with a ‘call of nature’. The small space doesn’t mean there isn’t much going on. “Each layout has three audience-controlled switches. On ‘Piddlewick Road’, the tank turret rotates, the building light comes on and the ‘Just Married’ caravan starts rocking while, on ‘Dunmovin Mine’, they operate the bonfires, illuminate the gold and activate the ‘call of nature’ figure. I use the SS2A Blocksignalling shuttle controller from Layouts4u, so when it is at an exhibition I can leave it going and concentrate on audience participation. “‘Dunmovin Mine’ has a run-down, neglected feel to it. I found some wooden building kits, which really kick-started this side of the layout, although they were all moved when the layout went under the knife. The backscenes on both layouts are photographs, which really help make it look real when I film it.”