SUMMIT 009      Now sold


"Summit" is the latest addition to my layout collection and I'm now custodian of it. It is part of the CRM's set of 00 modules and appeared at the Huddersfield Show over the weekend of 12st/22nd January 2012, as part of it, but can also appear as a layout in its own right (as it did on Saturday 14th July 2012 at the Llandrinio Model Railway Show at the Village Hall - SY22 6SB - just a mile off the A483, 9 miles north of Welshpool and 9 miles south of Oswestry).

Originally built by Andrew Milner, as one of the original modules, it is based on Fantasonics (TM) Engineer's delightful "Incredible Dizzying Heights Railroad" on their popular website, "The Model Railroad Magic Website". This little railroad series of drawings by Canadian artist Dan Sawatsky.

Andrew Milner states, "Summit is a 00n9 loop based on the drawings found on the covers of the Fantasonics sound CDs. The layout is built on 1/2" plywood, so getting the lower level to look like it was in the clouds was a challenge. I used girder bridge sides an cotton wool for the clouds to try and give it the effect. The narrow gauge locomotive is a scratchbuilt body on a 0-4-2T chassis converted to 0-4-0T (a number of chassis have since been tried). Everything else has been scratchbuilt - buildings, bridges, etc, from stripwood, with painted plaster for rocks.

The layout measures 36" by 12" and was built as a 00 module for an eccentric modular layout, created by members of the online Connected Railway Modellers, where independent modules were designed so they could be joined together to create a co-operative layout. (This explains the 00 lower track on Andrew's layout). Summit premiered, alongside other CRM's members layouts at the club's annual show at Crewe Heritage Centre in January 2009.

It has also been featured on the legendary late Carl Arendt's superb 'small layouts' website:                                                 http://carendt.us/scrapbook/page48a/index.html#summit

I have constructed two trams, a 4 wheel and a Bo-Bo. I've also got a diesel shunter running on a Bachmann chassis.

The two pictures below were taken at Crewe Heritage Centre in March 2013





and a freight train for a change!