‘OO’ GAUGE LAYOUT HAFOD VIVAN SIDINGS
Resurrecting a ruin
Determined to bring a locomotive shed back to life as he knew it before the council redevelops the site, Andrew Morris set about building a memoriam in miniature.
Words: Chris Gadsby
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What makes this layout great?
The framing of ‘Hafod Vivian Sidings’ completely fools your brain into believing you are viewing a scene through a broken window. The beauty of this is that your brain then understands why the scenery is so small, as your mind believes you’re looking down on the scene from an elevated position rather than floating in the sky.
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Photography: Chris Nevard Artwork: Andrew Mackintosh
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‘Hafod Vivan Sidings’ can be operated in any period from the 1960s onwards, but is usually run in the BR blue period, as that is the era for which Andrew has the most rolling stock.
There is much to be said for the argument that growing up in the 1960s was far easier than growing up today. Children were given far more freedom to explore, there wasn’t such a thing as health and safety, and so long as you were back home in time for your dinner your parents didn’t really care what you got up to. It sounds much nicer than the world of social media and doom scrolling that many teenagers deal with on a daily basis today. Nor do youngsters nowadays have the freedom to go and explore some abandoned buildings next to a railway line that will become the focal point of their ‘OO’ creation half a century later as Andrew Morris did. But he explored, and here we are in 2025.