4mm:1ft SCALE LAYOUT CASTLEDERG
Gaelic Symphony
Sometimes modellers shy away from creating something with which they aren’t familiar. Not so for Andy Cundick, whose layout explores a relatively obscure but nonetheless charming corner of British railways.
Words: Chris Gadsby
Photography: Chris Nevard
What makes this layout great?
"Modelling a real-world location often results in compromise, but Andy was lucky enough to be able to model everything to scale. The result is that the buildings don’t feel squashed and have room to ‘breathe’, resulting in a more pleasant viewing experience.”
W henit comes to deciding what to build for their next model railway, most modellers will choose a location with which they have some sort of connection, usually because they visited the area or lived near there at some point. Another option is to do what Andy Cundick has done with his layout and model something with which you have absolutely no emotional connection, just because it’s a bit different.
“My interest in Irish narrow gauge stems back to buying some County Donegal railway tickets at an open day at Swindon works, where I did my apprenticeship. It wasn’t until the 1990s when I took a previous layout to Donegal that I paid a visit to Castlederg, seeing what was left of the railway. The station building was still there, even though the line closed in 1933, so I took the opportunity to measure it, as I could see the potential for a model in the future, and you never know with these buildings – they might be gone the next time you visit.”