A build of E. L. Moore's Schaefer Brewery kit

Greg Cassidy builds the E. L. Moore designed Schaefer Brewery kit and generously mentions the E. L. Moore eBook. Thanks Greg!

A sketch for the structure at Inspiration Point

I've started to work on sketches for the buildings for the Mt. Lowe layout. That one is for the observation structure at Inspiration Point. The real one is much larger, more sprawling, and has a few more features. I've had to try and capture a few of its key styling cues in a structure with a far smaller footprint. I haven't put in all the details as these will be dealt with during construction, but I think I've figured out the shapes and sizes for starting a model.

Experimental Farm layout in January 2025 issue of Continental Modeller magazine

News Flash from the 30Squares Shameless Self-Promotion Department: The Experimental Farm layout appears in the January 2025 issue of Continental Modeller magazine! Six scintillating pages illustrated with 18 glorious, never seen before colour photographs! Just in time for Christmas: makes an excellent stocking stuffer for mom, dad, hubby, wifey, the kids, and that hard to buy for uncle! On sale now wherever fine model railway magazines are sold! Don't delay, get yours today!

Oh, no, I've worn out the ! key!

But seriously, I'm very happy that the editor at Continental Modeller published the story. Back in the 1970s when I was model railway obsessed I would often make the long hike from our house to the W H Smith in Scarborough Town Centre to peruse, and sometimes buy, English model railway magazines. That's how on one such mission I became familiar with Vivien Thompson's work in an issue of Model Railway Constructor.

To the best of my knowledge W H Smith hasn't had any stores in Canada, well, at least here in Ontario, for a very long time. But, my English cousin who lives in Solihull tells me there's one near his house and they stock Continental Modeller. It's quite satisfying to me that my first full length article has been published in an English model railway magazine and is for sale at Smith's. It's one of those 'circle of life' things :-)

As built geography, track plan, and route map

One design principle that I try to adhere to is to think about the routes that can be travelled through the layout's space so people can get to the various areas. It's related to using sight lines as a design principle that I discussed earlier this year.

I like to have the roads, tracks, sidewalks, trails, and so on mapped out and understood how they connect up the layout's areas. As I'm working on that I try to make sure these things have fairly realistic dimensions as they're being laid out. The roads can't be too narrow, the walking gradients can't be too steep, and so on. Thinking about these things helps me keep the scenes within the realm of possibility. I often think getting the routes through the space physically right is more important than detailing, well, at least as important. 

Shown above is one such route map. It isn't the only one of course, but thinking about it helped me a lot in developing scenic possibilities.

Mountain views

Future site of the Circular Bridge

Granite Gate Pass

Inspiration Point

Parked at Poppyfield Flats

Approaching the Circular Bridge