Llanastr began as a practical compromise. Forced to abandon a larger layout based on the Brecon & Merthyr station at Rhymney due to a cramped flat, Rodney Hall turned to a more compact idea. He wanted something portable, quickly assembled, and satisfying to operate. The result was a small but beautifully formed Protofour (P4) terminus set in an imagined valley in South Wales.
First described in Model Railway Journal, No. 4 (Christmas 1985), Llanastr has since become one of the most quietly influential small exhibition layouts in British finescale modelling.
Location, Period and Fiction
Although fictional, Llanastr is placed in the “Rhymni Fach” Valley, an invented branch off the South Wales coalfield. The setting represents the pre-First World War peak of the South Wales coal industry, with frequent coal traffic alongside passenger and general goods services.
A narrative device underpins the operating pattern. One colliery is imagined to lack a southbound connection, requiring loaded coal trains and returning empties to run via the station. This allowed Rodney to justify running his private owner coal wagons, which might otherwise have had limited use.
Rodney was explicit that the story serves the railway. The fiction exists to justify traffic, and the traffic gives the layout operational credibility.
The name Llanastr, Welsh-sounding but invented, was deliberately chosen to reflect the layout’s imagined geography.
Design and Track Plan
Llanastr represents a compact rural terminus on a fictional Brecon & Merthyr branch. Rodney observed that much of the length of a typical terminus layout is consumed by the run-round loop. To reduce overall length, he placed the scenic break in the middle of the station and used a fiddle yard sector plate to complete the run-round and facilitate shunting.
One of the prime goals throughout planning was to avoid the cramped look that can afflict small layouts. The station can handle a three-coach passenger train comprising six-wheelers and a four-wheel brake van. The run-round accommodates a 2-4-0 or 0-6-0 tender engine, though the B&M was effectively a tank-engine-only line after 1895. Two sidings are provided: one serves a bay platform, the other the goods shed. The minimum curve radius is 4ft, and all turnouts are B6 or larger.
The overall dimensions, including fiddle yard, are 6ft by 15in. The layout folds in the middle into a 3ft × 2ft 6in unit, designed to fit into a small car and can be carried in one hand.
Baseboards and Presentation
The baseboards are conventional: plywood surface with 5in-deep framing. No intermediate support was included, and some sagging has occurred, though not enough to affect running.
Originally displayed at 3ft 6in, the layout was later raised to approximately 4ft (1200mm) to improve the viewing angle. This shift toward eye-level presentation significantly strengthened realism, though it made viewing harder for smaller children — a periscope occasionally accompanies the layout at exhibitions.
Following comments by Iain Rice in his Creating Cameo Layouts book, a more complete fascia and framing treatment was later added. With the addition of wings and top framing, Llanastr moved decisively toward cameo presentation rather than simple table-top display.
Permanent Way & Signalling
Track is to P4 standards, nominally 18.83mm gauge, though Rodney admits it varies between “18mm and a bit” and “almost 20mm” across the layout. He used plywood sleepers, brass rivets, and nickel silver rail, with cosmetic white-metal chairs. Rodney sought to model Brecon & Merthyr permanent way rather than automatically follow standard drawings. Turnouts use straight-cut blades and four-bolt chairs throughout. Because four-bolt chairs were not commercially available, he combined two different three-bolt chair castings, discarding the single-bolt halves and pairing the two-bolt halves to create accurate four-bolt representations.
Much of the Brecon & Merthyr used fine ash ballast, visually distinct from the coarser stone used elsewhere. To represent this, steelworks slag was sieved to produce scale particles between ¾in and 1½in. A finer grading of the same material was used for the platform surface.
The result is a permanent way that subtly conveys regional identity without calling attention to itself.
Despite fine P4 tolerances, the fiddle yard sector plate aligns by eye and operates reliably. It contains four roads and can align with any of the three scenic tracks.
Points are mechanically operated using wire-in-tube and cranks. Colin Waite etched brass point cranks provide visible movement at the tie bar, creating the illusion that the rodding itself drives the blades.
One signal adorns the layout: a McKenzie and Holland somersault signal of the type widely used by the B&M. Built from D&S etched components with Sprat and Winkle castings, it is mechanically operated from a lever beneath the road bridge.
Electrics: DC to DCC
As originally built, Llanastr was wired for DC. The scenic section was permanently live, with a rotary switch selecting the active sector plate road. Control was via an AMR handheld controller connected through a 5-pin DIN plug.
Following a long hiatus, the layout was converted to DCC. An NCE Power Cab replaced the DC controller, and the sector plate was made permanently live. All locomotives were fitted with decoders, primarily Zimo and CT Elektronik units. Even very small locomotives, such as Lady Cornelia, were successfully converted. The only problematic conversion involved a GWR 517 class with an open-frame motor live to the chassis.
Scenery and Atmosphere
Contours are formed from expanded polystyrene, covered with Carr’s earth mix and finished using a powder paint and plaster “zip texturing” technique derived from Model Railroader magazine.
Rodney aimed to capture washed-out mid-winter tones. Trees are modelled without foliage, made by Mike Clark. Vegetation includes nylon scourers, selected lichens, Woodland Scenics materials, etched brass ferns, plumbers’ hemp and surgical lint. A gorse bush behind the station was built from picture hanging wire and scenic scatter.
Rodney deliberately avoided pure black and pure white anywhere on the layout, believing subdued tones produce a more natural appearance. The colour restraint is deliberate. Llanastr is not dramatic; it is convincing.
Buildings and Detail
All the railway structures are based on Brecon & Merthyr prototypes: the station and goods shed are from Rhymney, the signal box from Rhiwderin (mirrored), and the overbridge from Machen. The only non-railway building is a mirrored image of a cottage near Machen. All were scratchbuilt from various forms of polystyrene. The overbridge uses Will’s coarse stone, with individual polystyrene blocks for capping and arch stones textured using blunt knives and dental burrs.
Four types of fencing appear: custom-etched post-and-rail brass (drawn by Rodney and produced by IKB Models), modified Ratio fencing, rail-and-wire lengths, and Scalelink etched spear fencing.
The water column, based on examples at Torpantau and Tal-y-bont, was added after the original MRJ article.
In 2009, a painted backscene by Mike Clark was added for Scaleforum. Based on winter studies at Rhymney and Pontlottyn, it deliberately avoids eye-catching detail and serves primarily to control the viewer’s sightline. The addition of the backscene marked a significant evolution in presentation, transforming Llanastr from an excellent small layout into a fully framed exhibition piece.
Locomotives and Rolling Stock
Rodney’s stock is limited by the scarcity of commercial support for the Brecon & Merthyr. His first locomotive, a Robert Stephenson 2-4-0T developed from GWR Metro tanks, was built in school and retains a dimensional fault due to an erroneous published drawing.
Later additions include:
- 0-6-2T No. 39, based on a Cotswold white-metal kit for a Rhymney Railway Class R with a sprung Studiolith chassis
- No. 35, a Kerr Stuart ‘Victory’ 0-6-0T from a Centre Models kit. The prototype was built for the Inland Waterways Board during the Great War and sold to the B&M after hostilities.
All are driven by Portescap 1616 motors.
Passenger stock includes modified Ratio GWR four-wheelers and PC Models etched brass coaches, originally Midland Railway designs sold to the B&M in 1920. Rodney has struggled with their suspension, though others have had more success. A set of Trevor Charlton etched sides awaits construction.
Goods stock includes a mixture of scratchbuilt and kit-built wagons, with a growing number representing B&M prototypes.
All stock uses Alex Jackson couplings, with home-made electromagnets for remote uncoupling. Rodney rejected manual couplings because of their visual intrusion when an operator’s hand enters the scene.
Exhibition History
Llanastr toured widely from 1985 through the early 1990s, appearing at major finescale and national exhibitions.
After a twelve-year hiatus, it returned at Scaleforum 2009 and has since appeared at numerous Scalefour and national events. At ExpoEM Summer 2022 in Wakefield, Llanastr was awarded Best in Show — nearly four decades after its first appearance.
More Information
- Rodney Hall, “Llanastr”, Model Railway Journal, No. 4 (Christmas 1985), pp. 127–134.
- Official Llanastr website:
http://llanastr.website/llanastr/
Epilogue
Llanastr demonstrated that physical size does not determine seriousness. By combining correct geometry, disciplined permanent way modelling, restrained colour, mechanical authenticity and operational logic, it set a benchmark for compact finescale exhibition layouts.
It has influenced many other notable layouts, including:
- Carron Road by Nigel Bowyer
- Chapel Wharf by David Mallott
- Bayards Dock by Bob Haskins
- Fegg Hayes by Keith Hayward
- Ruyton Road by John Spencer
- St. George’s Hill by Ian Hopkins
and I imagine, many, many more!