84 registration forms were sent out for
this
competition.
From
this a staggering 57 entries
had been received by the closing date of August 31st 2003
and 25 turned up for the Scalefour
Society 1883 Layout Challenge Final, Scaleforum,
The
Leisure Centre, Leatherhead, September 24th 25th 2005
Building a layout is a challenge for most people but to build one to an
exacting scale, time schedule and size really is a challenge. This is
exactly what the Scalefour Society did when it threw down the gauntlet
and challenged railway modellers to build a P4 layout within a
footprint of 18.83 square feet. This layout would have to fit in a car
and travel to exhibitions with two operators. Large enough to be of
interest but not too big for managers' expenses.
The different shapes, sizes and concepts that entrants came up with
were astounding. There are many new ideas and innovations in layout
construction and presentation. Some have been designed as a module as
part of a larger layout giving the builders the opportunity to run
trains and attend exhibitions with the layout in embryonic state. Most
are of a size that can be easily erected in home or garage, and show
that interesting layouts can be built in a reasonable space.
At Scaleforum 2002 the Scalefour Society launched the competition which
immediately sparked an interest in many modellers. Some had thought of
building a layout for some time, but not got round to it; others were
looking to build their first P4 layout. This competition was the
opportunity that would give the incentive to galvanise them into action.
As you will see from the list of layouts there is great diversity in
the subjects modelled; some are fictitious, others are might have
been's or prototype locations.
There were 25 layouts at the final, while 25 layouts is a fantastic
number it is estimated that some 50 P4
layouts will eventually have been built in response to the 1883
Challenge. So when you visit an exhibition in the future look for the
Scalefour Society plaque to see if you can spot a Challenge layout.
With the assistance of the challenge Scaleforum 2005 had record
attendances and over a thousand visitors took part in the voting for
the challenge layouts. The finalists and the voting results
are
shown below. Photographs of the layouts at Scaleforum can be found by
following the links below or from the main layout page.
Follow the links
in the table below to
see the entries:
The
finalists have a green background.
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