Greetings, all!

It has been kindly pointed out that my last entry belonged in a different section...I'll figure this site out eventually, I'm sure...I'm slow with computers . I appreciate any and all "how-to" tips and tricks anyone shares!

As stated previously, this blog shall follow the construction and development of the fictional standard-gauge Welsh Midland Railway. Opened in 1867, it linked narrow-gauge slate and coal traffic in the mountains with ports in the south of Wales, along with the competing Cambrian and Taff Vale railways. Less than twenty years later, in 1886, the line was purchased by the Great Western, and operated into Nationalization, though becoming more and more decrepit, until the WMR eventually cost more than it profited and had to be closed.

The typical operating period is fairly loose. Covering between 1900 and World War I allows me to operate a myriad of different liveries and locomotives in combinations I doubt would be seen in any other time period. I'm a sucker for anything painted in GWR chocolate and cream, but that lake livery is quite taking! I choose freelancing my own line over a specific prototype because it allows me more freedom to build as I like...I model what I think looks good, without venturing too far out of ordinary practice.

The current state of the two-piece layout is one table complete, the other needing assembly...with the completed table being covered in a mess of tentative track plans and unsecured foam...rather unpleasant to the eye, but it will get there sooner or later. A rushed model shall certainly be of lower quality than the model time was spent on. The station (still in need of a name) is based roughly on the old King's Wharf station on the Talyllyn, although turned ninety degrees, so that the standard and narrow gauge lines run parallel to one another. The standard gauge line leaves the station and enters a tunnel, looping around underneath itself 4 percent into staging, while the narrow gauge, closest to the operator and the front of the layout, loops up 4 percent over the standard gauge to a small station at the back of the layout and possibly a slate mine's incline...though a lot of this, especially the narrow gauge, may change as space (or lack thereof) dictates. Suggestions are heartily welcomed!

I shall post some pictures as soon as I have pictures depicting some kind of progress.

Happy Modelling,

Rob