Plate 15:  The first 1/12 scale “concept model”, north face
(This plate added SEP 2003)

HE first “concept model”, a three-dimensional guide to the appearance of the proposed layout, was constructed from scrap cardboard and colored construction paper. This view of the concept model shows the north face of the proposed layout.
This concept model was constructed in 1/12-scale. That is, the model is one-twelfth the size of the proposed layout. 1/12 scale is sometimes called dollhouse scale, because most doll houses are one-twelfth the size of a real house. The arched masonry viaduct in the background of the model was inspired by various illustrations in the book Railways and the Victorian Imagination by Michael Freeman (1999: Yale University Press). --more--
The single-span arched truss viaduct in the foreground was inspired by an illustration in the same book. The book’s illustration of the arched truss viaduct was from a lithograph by Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait of an actual viaduct on the Manchester and Leeds Railway. This is the same A. F. Tait who later emigrated to the United States and became a popular illustrator of American sporting and hunting scenes. Note that in this first concept, the upper loop of track, at an elevation of 12 inches (shown in the scale model as a 1-inch elevation) is not connected to the lower level (baseboard level) of the layout. Go to top of page