White Swan Yard has had a lengthy gestation period. Thoughts of building a model of the yard
first surfaced many years ago as a ‘shunting plank’ to test out our skills at
building in P4. It was quickly realised
that in order to do the prototype justice would require rather more space than
that envisaged for a simple shunting puzzle type layout. As it was, the test track already built was
extended and scenified and so our first P4 layout, Saltfleet Town, was born. This
was a branch line terminus set in Lincolnshire and envisaged as a joint line
built by the GNR and GCR. After a number
of exhibitions it was decided to retire Saltfleet and using the experiences
learned start on a new layout. Thoughts
again turned to White Swan Yard.
So, at the risk of stating the obvious, what did displaying
Saltfleet teach us about the design of an exhibition layout?
- Visitors enjoy watching shunting even at smaller less specialised shows providing that the trains work properly. Just as importantly we enjoyed operating the layout in this way.
- Visitors also enjoy watching things move.
- Most importantly, P4 works, stock lent by friends worked even where our track was not immaculate
The next stage was to turn all this into a workable
design for the new layout.
