After approaching layout design from a theoretical point of view, I started doodling around with some basic shapes. Taking Rich Chiodo’s railway design as a basis, I created a basic dogbone-shaped loop with a wye coming off one of the the loops in 3rd PlanIt. The basic footprint is 36 foot square. Every curve has a minimum radius of 60″ (5 feet) with spiral easements and all turnouts are #6’s.
The MQR at a Glance
Scale: 7/8″ or 1:13.7 (45 mm gauge track as 2-foot gauge)
Prototypes: Penrhyn Quarry Railway & Talyllyn Railway
Locale: Wales
Time Period: late 1950’s
Size: 36 x 36 feet
Layout Style: Point to loop
Layout Height: 24″
Benchwork: Retaining wall (Celtik system for example)
Roadbed: Trex splines
Track: Handlaid Code 215 on cedar ties
Turnouts: #6 stub turnouts with 60″ radius curves
Minimum Radius: 60″ with spiral easements
Maximum Grade: none
With the basic design in place, I then started to think about what scenes for the two prototype railways would fit the design.
MQR using PQR Vignettes

Overlaying the PQR on the basic design, I found that, outside of Felin Fawr, there weren’t as many well-known scenes to model.
MQR using Talyllyn Vignettes

The Talyllyn key scenes are a much better fit for this design and I can easily see how things would work here. At the moment, this would be the design I would build.