New heights

Isaac's brother had a birthday and got a present of a viaduct and some points from his great aunt and uncle. Apparently the idea for what to get him partly came through viewing this blog and seeing some of the layouts.

Whilst his brother was distracted with cake and other presents Isaac set to work creating this layout. The centre piece was definitely the viaduct with the points added at either end. The engine shed and repair shed were added as destinations for one side of each of the points and then the others were joined in a simple loop.

About half an hour later Isaac felt that the viaduct was serving little purpose so he added a second loop that went under the arches. It took a couple of attempts to get this right as the placement of the points and the subsequent curves within the tight confines of the first loop were difficult to negotiate. One of the arches formed a tight squeeze for the engine and its carriage. As it passed through it reminded me of the clearance on the tunnel on the old Crab and Winkle line in Whitstable.

By the end of the afternoon's play it was clear that each of the arches had a dedicated purpose. The other one being for people, the tall middle on of buses and lorries, while the remaining two (other than those for rail traffic) were for cars.

The layout is still up as I write and I'm expecting some development of it for tomorrow. I'm secretly hoping all the bridges might come out because I think that could lead to a visually stunning layout.