In
a hobby where the fictitious location is
generally the preferred option, we felt
that there was a certain appeal in the
prospect of creating a model of an actual
location. The configuration of Blair
Atholl village, between the old A9 road
which ran through it and the Highland
Line was such that it could be modeled to the exact ordnance scale and although
it would take a large layout to do it, it
would provide an opportunity to create a
layout different in shape to the normal
oblong box.
The
geographical location of the village in
relation to the railway resulted in a
triangular shaped projection on the front
of the layout. This also produced an
unusual feature for an exhibition layout
since the track bed between the station
and the River Tilt Bridge would be some
six feet from the layout's front edge. By
keeping the baseboards at either end of
the front to a minimum width, close
quarters viewing at the trackside would
be available together with a straight
line view of the track running through
the station.
Another
thought was that being the village in the
tourist Mecca of Highland Perthshire,
through which passed the many thousands
of annual visitors to the historic heart
of the area, Blair Castle, it might well be a layout to which many of the visiting
public at exhibitions could directly
relate.
That,
as it turned out, proved to be the case
wherever the layout has been exhibited
