On the 1st and 2nd September, 2018, the South of England's biggest free Model Railway Exhibition is back; The Gaugemaster Model Railway Open Weekend.
In the run up to the Model Railway Open Weekend, on the 1st and 2nd of September, 2018, RIGHT LINES we will be looking at a few of the many superb model railway layouts being exhibited over the weekend. This issue, we are looking at Ferrocarril San Maria Gandia - an HO/HOe Scale Spanish layout built by Ian Milroy and Robin Marie. STUART JORDAN gives us an insight into the inspiration behind this detailed layout. All photos by the author.
The corner of the layout, showing off the L-shape of the layout. Click image to view larger version.
San Maria Gandia was built by Ian Milroy and Robin Marie. Ian's layout Kirutu Line was featured at the 2016 Open Weekend. It was inspired by a video called ‘Spanish Narrow Gauge Steam’, and Ian took various scenes from the video and amalgamated them into the layout, which spans the years between 1965 and 1969. The L-shape of the layout means that it’s easy for an exhibition audience to see everything on display.
The Town area on the right-hand arm of the layout. Click image for a larger version.
I saw this layout in the flesh at the Angmering Model Railway show back in November of 2017, and spent a long time taking in all the details that have been put into it. It’s superbly presented, even including live on board driver’s eye view taken from one of the trains!
The layout features both moving road and rail. Click image for a larger version.
There are three working parts to the layout – A HO standard gauge line, a HOe narrow gauge line, and a working Faller Car System layout. This means that there is always a lot of movement going on – along with several other little cameos for viewers to spot, which incorporate sound and movement.
The busy market in town next to the narrow gauge line. Click image for a larger version.
Winding between the scratch-built buildings is a narrow gauge line which runs through on the road itself, as well as a tunnel in which road vehicles and trains share the same bore – which is based on a real tunnel on the Minerales Setares line.
Coal wagons wait to be moved as a passenger train passes through Cerro Blanco station. Click image for a larger version.
Make sure that if you’re coming down to the Open Weekend that you take a good look at San Maria Gandia. We hope that the whole event will reflect the diversity of interest in the Railway Modelling hobby.