Chris Leigh
offers meanderings we couldn’t fit into the issue elsewhere, but which seemed terribly important at the time…
layouts, with problems of my own, this layout is posing a different set of problems. If you are building, or thinking of building, a layout of your own it would be well worth considering how it might be dealt with when you or your successors eventually need to remove it.
For all that the disposal of my ‘Polwyddelan’ and ‘Railway Children’ layouts is causing problems, they are of a different nature. Firstly, I have to find someone who wants them. That process is ongoing at least in relation to ‘Polwyddelan’. Sadly, no one has come forward for the ‘Railway Children.’ Given the disappointing performance of the sequel movie, I can understand if the franchise is no longer the draw it once was. Secondly, there is the problem of transporting them, economically. Crating them up in containers, as Rod Stewart did when he brought his ‘HO’ layout from the USA to England, is not an option and would be overkill for relatively small layouts. But at least my layouts are designed to be taken apart and to be portable.
This latest disposal project is rather different as the layout is ‘built-in’, much like fitted furniture, around three walls of a spare room. The likeness to fitted furniture is a good one, because this is a first-class job. It is attached to the walls and all exposed timber surfaces are stained and varnished. Even the complex analogue control system is built into a cabinet-style polished panel and it includes wiring to around 20 point motors and a fully working turntable, plus some illuminated buildings, including a motive power depot.
However I tackle it, it is going to be difficult just to remove it from the walls and break it down into small enough pieces to move. It has been assembled with woodscrews. Whether it has been glued and screwed, I don’t yet know. If glue has been used, it will be impossible to move without damage to both the layout and the walls. If – with luck – it is just held by woodscrews, access to the screws – particularly those contained within the structure, underneath the baseboard – will be the biggest problem.
The track – Peco Streamline – is well laid and ballasted. If I strip it off, it will inevitably be damaged, and even carefully salvaged second-hand track is usually more trouble than it is worth.
If I manage to split the baseboards and leave the track in place, who will want them? Especially bearing in mind the difficulty I’m facing in disposing of my own fully finished layouts.
I fear it will eventually involve scrapping the lot and simply trying to minimise damage to the walls of the room. A sad end to something that was clearly a modeller’s pride and joy.