Creating bespoke buildings for your layout may sound daunting, but as MALCOLM BRIGGS shows in the start of a new series, it is far easier than you might think.
MANY YEARS ago, I realised I had neither the skills or the patience to build locomotives and rolling stock from scratch. My attempts at kitbuilding wagons and coaches bear testimony to the simple fact that manufacturers produce vehicles that always run better than mine.
So how do I stop my railway layouts looking like everyone else’s? Well, to me, when I look at pictures of old railways, I always find myself looking at the railway infrastructure and the contextual setting into which it has grown – be it urban, country or even isolated.
Above: Malcolm Briggs’ attention to detail can be appreciated in this scene from his ‘OO’ gauge North Cornwall Brewery layout (HM163/165), showing different styles of building construction. Mike Wild.
Therefore, I concluded at the age of about 12 that I wanted to make my own buildings and set about doing so. Fortunately, no photographs exist of those early attempts as most of them would defy the laws of physics – I knew nothing of how buildings were actually constructed and that they had to have such things as lintels above openings.
In my …
