Despite the best efforts of photobucket to defeat me, I have uploaded a selection of photos of the train layout at Kirkbean this year.
In previous years (2011-2013) I've gone for what is basically an oval style of layout (although in 2011 it had quite a bit of curving around in it and in 2012 it was more of a square with rounded corners). This year I tried something different - a figure-of-eight approach.
I used a figure-of-eight layout (or, more exactly, two ovals joined with a crossover rather than a pure figure-of-eight) because of what I had read in an LGB booklet that the figure-of-eight layout was loved by children of all ages because it has continuous visual movement with the train snaking its way round the track. Certainly, I noticed a number of people spending time watching the trains go round from different angles - children and adults - some even moving their head in a figure-of-eight as they followed the train!
So to start with, some overall views showing the shape of the layout. If you click on the photos, you can see a larger version on photobucket.
First an end on view from above. This actually distorts the layout because both oval sections are the same size.
A view now showing the town end of the layout:
And the town end again from a different angle:
Now two views of the country end:
It's getting late now (22:50 and I was up at 06:00) so I'll call it a day (or maybe a night!) for the moment. I'll post more photos, general and detailed ones, over the next couple of days.
