The roundtuit (part 2)

Something I neglected to mention about this roundtuit. It was built with the idea in mind of mounting it on a turntable and being rotated to view each different scene.

This obviously plays merry hell with the idea of a conventional backscene. Which is why some of Neil Rushby's Blog entries entitled "presentation" 1, 2 and 3 have interested me somewhat. They are ideas that have buzzed around in my own head from time to time over the years. But I'd always discounted them because "staged presentation" was the vogue and I liked that too especially when the examples I'd seen were done well. Plus for a while there it did almost seem like heresy to be against it.

Now with a rotating layout there is no way I can have a conventional backscene attached to the rear of the layout. But some kind of freestanding backdrop (tree covered mountainside) like in part 1 would seem like a good idea. Of course then there is the issue of changing trains out via the cassette access at the rear of the layout. The backscene would then get in the way.

I need some clever lateral thinking here...

Getting a roundtuit..

The one great thing about being a serial layout builder is that I have started many layouts. Equally so I have not finished many layouts. So I have a ready supply of baseboards around the house. I have one at 4' x 14" one at 4' x 18" one at 4' x 2', a triangular one 4' long along the longest edge and the one that just caught my eye a circular one 3' in diameter. I don't know why it grabbed my attention. Perhaps because you don't actually see many circular layouts about. I can only think of two. Stephen Browns' Belfield Estate Railway which really excited me when I first saw it and Christopher Creightons Ganaraska Stone Quarry Tram layout. A layout that equally fascinated me when I first saw it featured in Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette. Perhaps I can do something with the circular baseboard.

Perhaps I could do something with the triangular baseboard. You see even less of them about Once again I only know of two. Both from Roy C. Link the second of his incarnations of the Crowsnest Tramway and his current Narrow gauge Sand and gravel layout.

Maybe it's not such a good idea to plan a layout around an already built baseboard. I might find myself compromising my ideas to make them fit the space. But as I've gone to the time and effort to make them already it would be foolish not to use them and with plenty of sizes and shapes to choose from I should be able to get an idea to fit.

A Train in my Brain

That's what it feels like when the creative juices start flowing. I'm seeing all kinds of things in my minds eye that I'd like to incorporate into the layout. The line sharing the road with horse drawn traffic in the village of Betws-y-Coed. A stop outside the Swalllow Falls. Travelling along an embankment along the river valley with the Ugly House (Ty Hwll) in the background...
A station along one edge of the village green in Betws at right angles to the standard gauge railway station...
Sometimes I hate my brain...