Looking through my collection of Railway Modeller magazines on Wednesday 21st February 2018 (some dating from the nineteen fifties) I came across Cyril Freezer’s Plan of the Month for January 1973 – and recalled how much it appealed to me at that time.
Headed “What the Public Want”, it is a large tail-chaser measuring 13′ 3″ by 9′ 6″ with a four-track through station along one of the long sides and a double track main line with goods avoiding loop and seven storage road on the one opposite, Designed for operation from the central space, the aim was for it to be viewed on all sides so that the public could see the operation of a large layout using storage roads which are more normally hidden from view. The through station was equipped with a goods yard, carriage sidings and a loco depot.
I could have built this in the loft of my then bungalow. However, sober reflection brought the realisation that the cost of flooring and insulating the loft together with building the baseboards would be financially prohibitive, let alone the cost of track and scenery and the time it would take – not long after starting a new job which entailed much travelling and late evenings,
However, with Trainz it would be a different story …
Later that day, I opened my virtual model railway room (one Trainz baseboard with walls and floor) and began work. By teatime on Friday 23rd all tracks were laid and ready for scenery to be added.
Update, 12th August 2021. Work on this project has stalled as somehow the track alignments had become corrupted and a lot of work is needed to correct the problems.
Ray's Trainz 