Anthony Yeates’ layout Inverneuk is a compact 2mm finescale model railway built to fold and store within an A4 box file. It was created as a “micro” layout and began as a practical test-bed, following Anthony’s earlier experiments with 2mm wagon kits and short sections of plain track.
The idea was sparked by a 4mm scale competition where entrants had built layouts in box files. Anthony decided to adapt this approach to 2mm scale and began experimenting using 2mm Association turnout templates and rolling stock. The box file provided enough space to accommodate a classic “Inglenook Sidings” track plan, even with standard radius pointwork. The layout’s overall shape is slightly tapered, wider at the yard end and narrower at the headshunt, and it folds in half along its length. When unfolded, the layout measures approximately 70 cm by 20 cm.
Setting and Concept
Anthony intended Inverneuk to have a clear sense of time and place. The layout is set in the 1970s in a remote part of the Scottish Highlands, somewhere north of Inverness. It is designed to suggest a lightly used, slightly run-down railway serving a sparsely populated area, with the scenery and architecture carefully chosen to establish the Highland setting without overstatement. A cliff face was added at one end to help disguise the narrow width of the baseboard and to reinforce the impression of rugged Highland geography.
The layout was built to test whether a small-scale operational layout in 2mm finescale was a viable concept. In doing so, it provided a controlled and manageable introduction to handbuilt track and finescale construction techniques.
Baseboards and Folding
The baseboards were constructed from thin birch plywood, cut by hand using a Stanley knife. These were reinforced with bracing strips of the same material glued to blocks of softwood. The two boards are permanently hinged together at the back, allowing the entire layout to fold. At the front, a second hinge is used to hold the boards securely when unfolded; the hinge pin was filed to allow it to be removed easily, making the layout rigid when in use but quick to collapse for storage.
To aid transit, the roof of the goods shed and the top part of the warehouse building are removable.
Track Construction and Ballasting
The track was made using plain rail soldered to copperclad sleepers, following the Beginner’s Guide published by the 2mm Scale Association. Anthony found the turnout construction easier than expected, though one point was discarded after a failed attempt.
The layout was constructed before the introduction of Easitrack, so traditional handbuilt methods using PCB sleepers were employed throughout.
Track was constructed in short sections away from the baseboard, painted, then glued down using a layer of PVA. Ballast was applied at the same time, using the method described by Bill Blackburn, and additional ballast was later added to cover any bare patches. Several ballast materials were tested, referencing photographs of the prototype, before Yeates settled on a mixture of Carr’s ash ballast and reddish-brown sand collected from a beach in Scotland.
Point Control and Wiring
Turnouts are operated manually using square-section brass tubes that slide underneath the baseboards. These are connected to the turnout tie-bars and to miniature slide switches mounted beneath the board, which handle electrical polarity switching.
Wiring is kept simple. A DIN socket is installed at the yard end of the layout for controller connection. A home-built walkabout controller, based on a design by Frank Lax published in The 2mm Magazine, is used to operate the layout.
Scenery and Structures
Basic scenic contours were added before the layout’s first exhibition using corrugated cardboard formers covered in plaster bandage. Bridge abutments and the platform in the goods yard were made from thin plywood. A partial Highland goods shed had also been constructed by this point. A cliff face was shaped and added at the headshunt end.
One of the first items of motive power was a converted Bachmann Class 04 diesel shunter, intended to match the 1970s setting. The layout was made operational in time for the 2008 2mm Scale Association Expo in Oxford, where it ran reliably and received several favourable comments.
The buildings on Inverneuk are all scratchbuilt. They were based on photographs of various Highland locations, helping to reinforce the intended setting and period.
More Information
- Yeates, Anthony. “The Inverneuk Files.” The 2mm Magazine, Apr–May 2009, pp. 22–26.
Epilogue
Inverneuk began as an experiment — a test of whether 2mm finescale techniques could succeed within the confines of a box file. What emerged was more than a proof of concept: a compact Highland cameo with reliable operation, a clear sense of place, and a convincingly remote atmosphere. Portable, practical, and carefully observed, it demonstrates that serious modelling does not require serious space.