Not another one you may say! Since I dismantled my first Broad Gauge layout- Bagborough West- I have no where to run my Broad Gauge stock. My permanent layout – Eggesford- is only standard gauge as is my small shunting layout- Shades of Grey.
I decided to make a small, compact layout which could easily be run at home and be available for exhibiting. I have decided that this will be my last exhibition standard layout after over 30 years of showing.
The plan is based on Lelant sidings on the St Ives branch from St Erth to St Ives. This was the last Broad Gauge branch to be built by the he GWR and the first part as far as Lelant was built with mixed gauge to serve sidings to a wharf on the river. Lananta is the old Cornish name for Lelant. The inspiration comes from a layout built in 7mm by John Hewlett, the Trade Officer of the Broad Gauge Society.
The two main boards are 700mm x 300mm and are designed to go in a plastic box for transportation. The inspiration for this comes from the layouts of Maurice Hopper which he fits in a smallish box which he can transport by public transport. For more information see his blog on RM Web. My box is a bit bigger and wont go on public transport but on the other hand it won’t take up all the space in the car!
Here is a picture of the actual station at Lelant;

Below I show a plan of the proposed layout and a picture of a half size model I have made to see if it will work;

The sailing smack ‘Mary’ (see my last posting) will be alongside the wharf. The wharf itself is based on one that used to be in the middle of Newquay harbour which is shown in a few old photographs of the harbour;

I hope to blog more on the construction as I progress,