PAGE 42a – OCTOBER 2005

Gavin Sowry, from near Wellington, New Zealand, found an old 16mm [5/8in] board, cut it to size, sprayed it matte black, attached G-gauge sectional track to it. and voilà! another Ginglenook Jr. layout was born! After a couple private club showings, Gavin took the layout for its first public display a couple weeks ago, at the New Zealand Association of Model Railway Clubs meet (two photos above).

The reception was enthusiastic! On the first day, only about 12% of the visitors actually solved the puzzle — primarily because Gavin set a 10-minute limit in order to allow more people to have a go. Note that this version of the Inglenook game is cut down to just six cars on the layout and requires making up a four-car train in the order chosen. It’s a simpler puzzle than the full Inglenook and thus is particularly suitable for exhibition use.

In the third picture Gavin demonstrates the portability of the layout as well as the need for balance and equilibrium in effective transport, symbolized by the six-pack in his other hand! If you have built a Ginglenook layout, I’d like to hear from you — especially if you have photos.

Since January, we’ve been following the progress of Alexander Lehmann, from Mannheim, Germany, who was inspired by this web site to build a shoebox layout in TT scale. He has now pretty much put on the finishing touches, detailing this delightful harbor scene, and has exhibited the layout publicly. Shoebox layouts are a considerable novelty at German exhibitions, and Alex received a lot of attention for his display — along with a challenge to produce an even smaller layout for next year!Alex has learned a lot in the process of putting together this very small layout. You can also see some progress shots during construction in the March 2005 Scrapbook. At first Alex was concerned that he was stuffing too much trackage into a tiny space, but careful choice of scenery makes the balance look very good indeed! Having the harbor in the foreground  puts the railroad into context effectively and frames the action well.

One of Alex’s experiments is shown at the right. He used a photo taken on vacation in Ireland to provide a dramatic backdrop for the little layout. The result is a striking vignette — total width of the shot in the foreground is about 3in [76mm]! It’s amazing how much railroading can be had in a shoebox using TT scale!

Barbu Wharf started out as a 23x17in [58×42.5cm] shipyard layout running between two buildings and backed by a giant mural of a ship’s prow. Somewhere along the way it became an OO9/OO dual-gauge shoebox layout, retaining the mural. Jon Songøygard, from Arendal, Norway, sent along this update showing scenic progress including a ship’s crane. The standard gauge line is in the foreground.

Below is a report of progress on the Moose Pizza, a circular layout he’s building in the unusual scale of 3:100 (or 1:33.3). Notice Jon’s first locomotive model under construction. Follow Jon’s progress on both lines at his web site.