As mentioned on my personal Facebook page I have Oesophagus Cancer. I have now had 3 out of 4 pre-op Chemo sessions and if the tumor has shrunk enough they plan to operate for its removal in a month or so. However it is clear that the already almost impossible task of bringing the Denver’s RailRoads N scale layout (which is housed in a 4 car garage in my garden) to an operational stage is now just not going to happen, even if I regain most of my strength after the final 4 post-op Chemo sessions. I will be close to 80 years old by then and it is time to face reality.

But . . . I have been a model railroad layout builder since I was 28 years old and found this wonderful hobby that has dominated my life ever since. And I have a huge amount of rolling stock and locomotives, not to mention unbuilt kits, scenery materials, signals and various electronic devices.

Consequently I have began the planning of a new 4′ x 8′ (with a staging extension) N scale layout that I can build inside my house and will enable me to achieve, be it on a smaller stage, a number of modelling activities (eg weathering, signaling, auto train control, scenery and kit building) currently awaiting the completion of at least the wiring of the Denver’s RailRoads layout.

Watch this space . . . for step by step planning and details of the new layout!