Whitton-on-Lugg

    This is an introduction to the second of my planned diorama’s, it made sense to plan both at the same time so I could work out how much material I needed for the baseboard frames. Whitton-on-Lugg is purely fictional, another figment of my imagination so you won’t find it on any map. You will however find a real place called Whitton which is just off the B4356, four miles south of Knighton, in Radnorshire or if you prefer Powys. Whitton is situated almost midway between Presteign and Llangunllo, and was the fictional location for my old layout Penhydd. Like Llangunllo it is only a small village, but for the purpose of my latest fantasy I have come up with the idea of there being a smaller hamlet on its outskirts called Whitton-on-Lugg. There is little doubt in my mind that the Lugg Valley Railway, had it been built would have passed through the neighbourhood, and who knows – there might have been a small halt?

If you thought Llanbister Rd. shed was pushing my ‘less can mean more’ ideas to the extreme you haven’t seen anything yet, for Whitton-on-Lugg is purely an exercise in modelling a short stretch of railway in the landscape. I make no excuses for that, because landscape modelling is my main interest. I am forevermore coming across lovely scenes and think to myself, now that would make a lovely model. The same goes for buildings, especially those you see everyday, and yet probably take little interest in. The diorama has the same footprint as Llanbister Rd. shed at 1000 mm x 350 mm, and will share the same support system and cassette deck. The plan below was mocked up full size to prove that it would fit within the dimensions quoted.

This simple scene is heavily inspired by a photo taken at Talybont-on-Usk by Ben Ashworth, which features a Pannier tank on a short goods train as it crosses over the ‘Brecknock Canal’. Rather than model the canal my old friend the River Lugg will appear once again to meander through the scene. The public house won’t be modelled on the ‘White Hart Inn’, that stands beside canal and railway, for there is a rather nice alternative at the top of the lane where I live. So instead I will model the aptly named ‘Pack Horse Inn’, or more accurately my version of it. I also intend modelling an old stable block around the back of it, along with a few outbuildings, their differing roof profiles and building materials adding interest to the scene. There is room for a small building across the road from the ‘Pack Horse’, and my thoughts have turned to modelling one of those rustic tin chapels, with perhaps a small overgrown graveyard, shades of the one at Pendon to keep it company. ………So many ideas, so little time and space.

Way back in 2015, was it really that long ago? I built a 2mm scale mock up of this scene just to see if a model of it might work. Three years later, and here it is again but this time it is full size in 4mm scale. I still haven’t got the approach, and angle of the bridge right but I’m getting there, perhaps it will be a case of third time lucky? The buildings are the same ones that I used when mocking up the diorama of Llanbister Rd. shed, and are larger than those that I have in mind for this scene. Which is a good thing because I know in advance that they will fit comfortably with space to spare, restraint will be the name of the game with this one.

Earlier on, I mentioned a photo taken by Ben Ashworth of a Pannier crossing over the ‘Brecknock Canal’, it looked something like this, but it was taken looking down on the scene. Ben was more than happy to climb a tree or anything handy to get the perfect shot. I find the different designs of bridge most interesting, they certainly sit well together. The backscene will be very different from what you see here, as Whitton-on-Lugg is close to the ‘Marches’ with its gentle rolling countryside.

I misjudged things when mocking up this part of the diorama, the angle of the Inn is completely wrong and it is too close to the embankment. But that is no real problem and easy enough to rectify. Once the road has passed beneath the bridge it will gently climb to the left, and disappear amongst some trees. Though I’m pretty certain that I have everything covered, there is always the chance that something, or other won’t work as intended. Who knows I might even find a better way of doing things, only time will tell if that is the case.

    I can well imagine some readers mumbling what’s the point of a couple of small diorama’s? Well I didn’t get it myself years ago either – but as I’ve said many times before, I’ve drifted away from operating, and am now happy to sit and watch trains pass through a scene, which begs the question why bother with a layout? Despite the small size of the diorama’s there is plenty of interesting, and challenging modelling to keep me occupied for a couple of years, God willing. There is also another thing to consider, for now that I’m beginning to push 70, crawling under a baseboard to carry out maintenance is a pain in more ways than one! So for me, building a couple of light, easily managed diorama’s makes perfect sense, and as a bonus I will be able to take them outside for photography under natural lighting conditions.

Geoff