Masterplan Composition casebook
MOVING ON from the train set
Our master of composition Paul A Lunn describes a few layout dilemmas he helped to solve .
Artwork: Paul A. Lunn
Track plans to get you thinking in three dimensions
Although I’ve been contributing to model railway publications since 1984, this is my first chance to present something that coincides with the festive period, a time of trains, track and hopeful expectation.
For years, especially around Christmas time, we’ve been dependent on Thomas-themed designs as a means of engaging youngsters with the hobby. But then along came Harry Potter, which has successfully bridged the gap between younger and more proficient modellers.
Having been asked to produce a Potter-themed layout plan for a family’s Christmas project, I came up with a 4ft by 4ft 6in design (above) , consisting of a basic scenic circuit and a foreground siding. Beneath the mountain and castle lies a hidden loop and a pair of sidings equipped with Peco Loco Lifts to allow for easy swapping of stock.
The loop allows two trains to inhabit the layout at a time, with a passenger service catering for Hogwarts students and a freight train delivering goods. It’s easy to operate and provides a dramatic appearance, especially in terms of the castle, which would be a mix of full and low-relief structures.
• Each square represents 1ft.
In contrast to the ‘Potter Plan’, this 4ft by 3ft 6in layout is an entry-level design for a fictitious holiday camp. Its attraction is in the diversity of operation and appearance: a standard gauge terminus is fed by a basic cassette fiddleyard (‘OO’), while a miniature railway (employing ‘N’ gauge stock) runs around the central area, accompanied by a monorail, operating chair lift, road train and static locomotive (‘OO’).
If you increase baseboard size to around 6ft by 4ft, then operation and potential scenic area increases by about one third, allowing greater variety and increased interest.
JAMES AND THE ENTRY-LEVEL LAYOUT