Buying a pre-built layout worked out well for Andrew Morris, who soon realised he had something rather special on his hands.

Words: Chris Gadsby

Photography: Chris Nevard Artwork: Andrew Mackintosh

What makes this layout great?

“ Andrew has accomplished a delicate blend of old and new with this layout, making sure he stayed true to the one he bought while also adding his own flair for modelling. ”

Many of us have bought something on eBay at one point or another. It may be that you only dabble occasionally, or you might be checking it daily for new railway slides to try and add to your collection. The great thing about the site is that you can almost always get exactly what you need for an excellent price. It might be a part for your car, a birthday present, or, in Andrew Morris’ case, a model railway.

“This layout, which I have since named ‘Graig Merthyr’, was spotted online by my then-wife and it was located fairly close to me as we were living in Wales at the time. It seemed as though it would be perfect. I won the auction, headed up to have a look at it and was taken aback when I first saw it. Something didn’t seem right, but at first glance I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Then I realised – this isn’t ‘OO’ gauge!”

TRACK INSPECTION

For a second I felt disheartened, but upon closer inspection I discovered that no, it was the right gauge, but all the track had been handbuilt from C&L sections of track and Scaleway points with the correct sleeper spacing for ‘OO’ gauge. It really threw my eye when I first looked at it. When I got the layout home and could give it a proper inspection, the same trackwork that had originally thrown me off completely blew me away. The quality of the work was astounding and encouraged me to up my game when it came to adding the extension. I’m not a rivet counter by any means, but still wanted a reasonable representation of a railway and couldn’t let the layout transition from stunning handbuilt track to off‐the‐shelf pieces.”