Having chosen 009 guage with its limitation of heritage trains, the obvious choice was to use our holiday experiences in North Wales to help imagine a location. We did not want to try to make some exact replica but to try to create something that gave the feel of a Welsh slate village with a mine nearby.

We also had to think of an approximate period in which to set the scenery. We decided on the early fifties, but it would be too much to expect that this can be exactly achieved. We decided a general feeling rather than total verisimilitude was an acceptable objective. We called the village “Pentraeth” which just means ‘village’ and does not set anything too specific.

Another couple of constraints were to include Mike’s old model of the Duchess of Atholl that he was given ifor his 4^th birthday in 1949 .This is conveniently also in 00 guage. To include this we also needed a stretch of mainline track.  In addition were given various things for Tina’s 80^th birthday, including a model of a caravan similar to one we stayed in during our summer holidays years ago, and a number of models sheep, which call for some sort of farm and camp-site.

Also as time went on we wanted something to be able to “happen”. After a lot of thought we decided that it should reflect a particlar festival event. So we would have to make some “events” possible . There would be tours of the slate mine with engines moving slate around together with a working incline. This poses difficulties in making the trucks sometimes full and sometimes empty the solution to which is described elsewhere. We also want other entertainment, so we have the Treochy Male Voice Choir giving a concert in the Chapel. Also visiting on the main line is a famous steam engine, the Duchees of Atholl, serving tea in its restaurant car. All of this provided interesting aesthetic and technical problems which we are solving, at least to some extent.