Continuing from the two previous entries...

The layout was full operational within a few months of starting work. Track had been built using copper clad sleepers and bullhead rail from the 2mm Scale Association, built to 9.42mm gauge. Here is a closeup of the fiddle yard board from the operating side. It was a combination of a sector plate with 5 tracks and 5 fixed sidings, plus two running lines onto the scenic area.

Here is a closeup of the scenic board, done fairly closely to the Wantage track plan. The main difference was to build more generous curves and pointwork for the larger locos I intended to use.

I also did a lot of work preparing buildings and other scenic details ready to install on the layout. In such a small space, I didn't think the actual scenery at Wantage would have worked very well. Instead I planned to have a much more crowded scene with buildings behind the trackwork suggesting an urban scene framed with old town walls. This is an early shot of an idea I later rejected.  

The tower, minus steeple and the other wall would have been fixed at the other end of the scenic board in the final scheme. I did take photos of this final scheme, but somehow have unfortunately lost them!

Putting all these scenic features in place made me realise that they created a big operating problem. I simply could not see the trains from the operating position without leaning right over the layout. It would have been even worse with a backscene in place. This would have been very uncomfortable - especially at an exhibition, where I would be operating the layout intensively all day long.

This was just one of a number of problems that made me feel more and more dissatisfied with what I had produced. Some were rectifiable, but others could only properly be solved with a redesign of the layout. These included...

1. The passing loop was too narrow. Clearance between tracks was too tight, even though (or more likely because) I had closely followed the prototype. This was likely because I was planning to use larger stock than the Wantage Tramway used.

2. I could never get the small turntable in the fiddle yard to operate reliably.

3. The baseboards were very light. When I operated the points, the whole layout moved.

4. The viewing window for spectators would be very narrow, making it difficult for more than one or two people to observe the layout at any one time.

5. It was going to be difficult to have more than one train at a time.

6. Shunting two of the sidings was going to be challenging - as it must have been on the prototype.

I had recognised some of the problems from the start, but felt the compromise was necessary to meet the rules of the 2mm Scale Association's Diamond Jubilee Layout Challenge (DJLC). I had planned to get over most of them by expanding the scenic area later, after the DJLC was over. Unfortunately, some of the problems, like the passing loop restrictions and other operating problems, would have been difficult to change.

After a long period of contemplation, I lost heart and decided to start again from scratch.