Your Top Ten Favourite Layouts

[Bealman]

Just thought I'd kick off a new thread here, which is obviously going to be very much a matter of personal opinion.

I have been involved with model railways all of my life, and have been very much influenced by various layouts I have seen in the press over the years. Many of these were long lived and constantly evolving. So here, in order, are my top 10 influential layouts - regardless of scale or gauge:

1) The Buckingham Branch by Peter Denny
2) The Craig & Mertonford by P.D. Hancock
3) The Berrow Branch by Mac Pryke
4) The Aire Valley by Derek Naylor
5) Borchester by Frank Dyer
6) The Sunset Valley Railroad by Bruce Chubb
7) Charford by John Charman
8.) Copenhagen Fields by the MRC
9) Chee Tor by MMRC
10) Equal placing: The Madder Valley by John Ahern and The Gorre & Dephedid by John Allen

These are all layouts that have had a major role in shaping the way I approach the hobby. I can state reasons why,  and maybe will in future posts, depending on the reaction to this one.

Which layouts of the past or present stand out in your mind?

George

[ParkeNd]

A tough one to answer George. But give me a few months and I hope it's going to be the layouts by Chris in Prague, Pete33, and BobWild.

[Bealman]

Cool. I'll go with that. Good layouts in the making!

[Agrippa]

Littleton Curve by Brant Hickman, less is more as they say!

In O gauge Pete Waterman's set up. Not a great deal of scenics, but plenty of big trains thundering along.

[Bealman]

Of course. Pete Waterman's Leamington Spa. Awesome, eh.

But Littleton Curve is great too! (By the way, when Littleton Curve featured in the RM in 1997, my layout was in same issue..... plug plug).

Cheers!

[Bealman]

Folks,

This thread is not meant  to be life-threatening. Just have a think about your favourite or influential layouts, and put 'em in a 'top ten'.

I can assure you it is not a poll - I certainly could not be bothered tabulating the results - but I reckon that with the wide range of members' ages on this forum, it could be interesting just seeing what (if any) these historical layouts have on modellers when they are developing their layouts.

Cheers, George.

[ozzie Bill.]

Hi George, what a great thread. I honestly don't have any favourites at this stage and cannot say which layouts have influenced me, however, I will look up your list and the web (if they are on there) and get a feel for them. Thanks for coming up with this, cheers, Bill.

[red_death]

Acton Mainline - one of the seminal N gauge layouts.
Hedges Hill Cutting/Stoney Lane Depot - showing what can be done in small spaces with N
Pengwyn Crossing - probably the layout which kickstarted my renewed interest in modelling.
Chee Tor
Warren Lane
Jim S-W's P4 New St (if ever finished!)
Loch Tat and Banbury - both flying the flag for D&E N.

I'm sure I'll think of a few more.

Cheers, Mike

[Bealman]

Kingswear....Me too!

But I'm suggesting a top 10... I know it is  so, well, yukko kids stuff (I remember Top of the Pops, etc), but thinking up a top 10 really made me think about the things that have influenced the way I look at the hobby. I didn't just come out with my list off the top of me head... in fact I had my first idea about starting this thread a couple of years ago, but I really had to think hard about what I was going to put on the list.

Yeah, I know, this is supposed to be fun and an escape from the worries of real life,  but thinking about what I was going to put on that list made me sort of assess why my current layout is the way it is.

Umm. Just read that back to meself. Umm. However, it's easy to quote just one or two layouts, particularly current ones.. try thinking of a few others - it's a bit harder!

I'm either trying to encourage the grey matter here, or just stirrin' - might not be a lot of diff, when it comes to it!

I've just thought of another one.... even though it never got finished - the late David Jenkinson's 'Little Long Drag'

Cheers, George.

[Bealman]

Acton Mainline - one of the seminal N gauge layouts.
Hedges Hill Cutting/Stoney Lane Depot - showing what can be done in small spaces with N
Pengwyn Crossing - probably the layout which kickstarted my renewed interest in modelling.
Chee Tor
Warren Lane
Jim S-W's P4 New St (if ever finished!)
Loch Tat and Banbury - both flying the flag for D&E N.

I'm sure I'll think of a few more.

Cheers, Mike

Just saw your post, Mike - yep, all great layouts!

George

[Bealman]

However, I'll stick with my original post... let's see your TOP TEN lists!?! 

[Pengi]

Really tough choices -  can't do top ten, just too hard.

These are the five layouts that have been inspirational to me.

Loftus Road - this OO gauge layout is one of the few where it is nearly impossible to judge if it is a model or the Big Railway. The layout is based on Kensington Olympia and features scratch-built Electrostars and very realistic rusty Connex South Central EMUs (Really find it hard to nominate this layout though because of it's terrible name should have been called St Mary's )

Quinntopia's fantastic layout. Wonderful modern EMUs plus phenomenal lighting. Quinntopia's work has been truly inspirational to me and I have learned new skills as a result of his work. This is a layout that I aspire to.

Wells Green TMD - is a sister layout to Loftus Road and based on Crewe. Again the standard of detailing is superb - particularly with the overhead wires etc

Hatton Parkway - featured in Hornby Magazine, this layout was instrumental in me switching from OO to N

Yamanouchi Oshika The first N layout that I saw that really convinced me to ditch OO and go to N. I have many pictures of my own of YO and have based my own layout on it. It also introduced me to bullet trains and all the buildings etc that you can get from Japanese suppliers. Simply superb.

[Bealman]

Thanks, Pengi, it's lists like yours which I (and hopefully other members) will find interesting.

You have provided links too, which is excellent. (I'll do that when I finally get the hang of it, but some of my inspiration is so old we may have to go underground).

George

[Newportnobby]

Ok - mine are all N gauge and didn't take a great deal of thinking about
Glad to see there are some of our members layouts in the list, too
In no particular order other than alphabetically:-

Batty Moor
Broadwater Junction
Chee Tor
Dantown
Dentdale
Elvinley
Franklands
Melton Mowbray North
Mini MSW
Scarworth Junction (North of England Line)

[keerout]

I'm not a list-maker, but if I would have a list, Elvinley would be on it!
Gerard