The Shankly and Gdynia Railway

[IanAlan]

The absurdly short tunnel and girder bridge to nowhere can be seen in these photos.






As mentioned in a previous post, I plan to build up the area around the church, so that the bridge has somewhere to go. It will link with two stone road bridges, one over a road and the other over a stream ( both bridges are already made and waiting installation). I'm hoping that there will just about be room for the church and vicarage as well. It'll be a squeeze to say the least. Until the hill is made, I've got workers and their construction vehicles on site to make the bridge to nowhere it a bit more logical - construction started but not finished ( I've picked up that idea from the forum). When the bridge actually goes somewhere, I'm thinking of calling it Klopp Bridge.

The driver of the brewery horse and cart is well overscale and will need to be wrenched off and replaced, but until that happens, he can keep the beer flowing.

The bright green locomotive is Little Giant and belongs to My Friend Stan who has been a big help with EVERYTHING technical. I've got several of his locomotives on extended loan.

The windmill is a Dapol kit and I'm very pleased with it even though it looks too clean next to the scratch built Roman tower. One day there will be a Roman wall with gateway arch joining the tower. The miller lounging by the door was originally an Airfix cowboy. One of my more successful metamorphoses, I think.

[IanAlan]

The plan is to run a footbridge from the base board edge (just out of the photo on the left) to the platform on the right of the photo (with the kiosk and station building with the orangey-brown tile roof) with stairs down to the island platform (in the middle) as well. I've got the two staircases all ready and painted and "just" need to make the walkway across. I've got a lot of plans, but not so much time.



I like the ornamental Napoleonic cannons on top of the tunnel. More leftovers from my boyhood that I couldn't resist putting on the layout.

[Chops]

Delightful layout. One of its hallmarks is the propensity of people. I rather like that they are all facing at the same
angle towards the expected train- a nice touch.

[IanAlan]

Thanks for your kind words Chops. I've got a goodly number of figures half painted, and I hope to get them finished and on the layout soon.

The photo shows some of the 36 Dapol workman working on the track and bridge. There's also a column of khaki-clad World War One infantry being lead by an officer on horseback. These are a mixture of various nationalities including British and Australian Airfix figures made in the 1970s. I like the shadows cast by the figures, which come from the skylight.

I've got it in my head that one day I'll make an incarnation of the layout set in 1940 with preparations being made to repulse the enemy. I've already got a Hornby readymade pillbox and a military freight train on the layout. I inherited from my dad some display models of a Spitfire and a Messerschmitt Me 109 that would fit the scene. Obviously, the Spitfire would be behind the Messerschmitt, which would be manuvering futilely.



The water tower in the foreground is a Wills kit. I read somewhere on the forum that functional buildings and structures would in real life be painted nicely in company colours if they were in clear view of passengers, so I've gone to town on it.

[JohnSmithUK]

I like this layout a lot. Loads of little stories are in it.

[IanAlan]

Here are enlargeable versions of the photos from post 1.







These are good general views to give an overall impression, so I won't waffle.

[IanAlan]

These are the photos that originally appeared in post 2 and are described in detail.







As a footnote, the white building in photo 3 is a 1970s HO kit by a company called Pola from one of the German speaking countries. The continental European look fits well with the Polish Gdynia end of the layout. I've also seen some Piko kits that I rather fancy despite the obvious lack of space. As I said previously, I can change the scenic features around to my heart's content.

[IanAlan]

Thanks for your supportive comments JSUK. I have got rather draw into the scenic aspect of the layout. It's a great outlet for creativity. At some point I'd like to hang up my paintbrush and glue for a while and just get back to playing trains.

In case any of the members are wondering why this sudden burst of me uploading posts, the answer is simple. I'm on holiday in Poland and so I'm making use of my free time away from the layout. I've actually been looking forward to this for some time and did a mass photography session immediately before leaving home (I should have been cleaning the house, but what's a little dirt).

And here are a few more photos just for fun.

[IanAlan]

In these three photos there is a black British Rail steam locomotive by Hornby. I bought it along with three coaches and am very pleased with it. It was an impulse buy, the last one in stock, and I've lost my receipt, so I don't actually know what it is. If anyone can identify the type, I'd be grateful to know. Many thanks, Ian Alan

[RogerB]

Quick check of the running number on WWW found this. Does that help? R-