Platform:
Welcome to the November issue of British Railway Modelling. Change is in the air at the BRM office and over the next few months we will be introducing some changes to the overall design and layout of the magazine. While we endeavour to make the presentation of BRM as clear and easy on the eye as possible, we always welcome your comments and criticisms, so please let us know if there is something you particular like (or dislike) about us. One visible change from this issue is that we are no longer producing a regular supplement each month so the editorial content has increased by eight pages, giving readers even more value for money.
Our bumper issue this month includes two competitions involving Gresley's masterpiece, the A4: on page 86 readers have the chance of winning one of five copies of Peter Coster's comprehensive new book on these legendary machines, courtesy of publishers Irwell Press, while on page 31 you can enter our Hornby 'Live Steam' competition and win a Mallard 'Live Steam train set worth £500. On page 82 we have the return of our CorgiTrackside'Give-away' where readers have the chance of winning brand new Corgi Trackside models each month. Finally, don't forget to take advantage of our Deluxe Products special reader offer on page 69 for great savings on this range of adhesives and scenic products.
Last month we featured some of the layouts entered in the Scalefour Society's innovative 1883 Layout Challenge. Organised by Chris Challis (it quickly became known as the 'Challis Challenge') and launched at Scaleforum in 2002, the premise was to build a 4mm scale, 18.83mm gauge layout within a footprint of 18.83 square feet. The finished layout would have to fit in a car and travel to exhibitions with two operators. Talking to Scalefour Society Chairman Andrew Jukes earlier this year regarding coverage of the event in BRM, we were privileged to look through the plans of the 50 or so original entrants.Through various reasons this number would eventually be whittled down to 27 (although a couple didn't turn up at the last minute). Tony Wright and myself were both struck by the variety of concepts and the ingenuity of the solutions to the challenge and we hope to feature even more on the winning entries, and several of the runners up, in BRM over the coming months. Hopefully, readers will be inspired by these layouts that will easily fit in home or garage showing 'that interesting layouts can be built within a reasonable space'. Meanwhile,sit back and enjoy one of our featured layouts this month - Maindee East, built to P4 standards by Stefan Lewis - based on a Western Region shed in the Welsh Valleys towards the end of steam. This evocative and atmospheric layout is dedicated to all those unsung, hardworking men who kept steam locomotives working hard on the railway system, often in indescribable working conditions.