Lovely as it is, a GWR country station layout is a modelling cliché really; blame that on Cyril Freeser who beat that horse beyond death in articles he wrote for so many years. That said, that one is so very well done I can almost forgive it.
The second, though, is much more my cup of tea. I did the north end (the area around Edinburgh) of the ECML in 0 and still retain a train of teaks from that layout to this day, headed by a V2, one of my very favourite locos. On some days I even think of the V2 higher than the Streaks with a close third awarded to the wartime and later configuration A1.
I enjoyed the fact that the narrator and builder is so emphatic about reliability, and I agree wholeheartedly. On the railroad you saw, my primary efforts have been spent on reliability. Nothing ruins an operations session more thoroughly and completely than reliability issues, whether trackage, stock, or controls. I can't stress it enough.
Lastly, he mentions a person I actually know, Ian Rathbone. We've not crossed paths in many years but Ian is a fantastic painter of models and taught me the basics of the skill of lining locos using a bow-pen. I owe Ian in the UK and Roy Schnoor in the US all credit for anything I ever learned about painting railway/railroad models.
I admit just enjoying hearing the name. "Painted by Ian Rathbone" means painted by a master.
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