Kevin Sweeney

Thank you all for the kind comments and positive feedback. I started my railway modelling career in OO but soon developed a bigger interest in modelling buildings rather than railway modelling itself. That pushed me to make the switch to 2 mm scale. Being late middle aged this was challenging on my eyes and would not be possible without my headband magnifier. The great advantage of working in 2 mm scale card modelling over 4 mm, is that it halves the amount of card that has to be cut. This is a blessing for my late middle aged hands. My scratch building really took off when I discovered the Chandwell YouTube channel. Michael, the host works in 2mm scale and he is creating the most amazing scratch built layout I have ever seen. He uses the free windows graphics program Inkscape. His work inspires me and makes me constantly strive to up my game. https://www.youtube.com/c/Chandwell My most ambitious scratch build so far is Bellmont House, in Coothill Co Cavan, in 2 mm scale. Not quite finished but getting very close.

The railway station at Ballywillan has long fascinated me. In spite of being closed since 1960, it is amazingly well preserved, apart from a few huts and the tank on the water tower, all the buildings are still in place and very well preserved. If it were still open it would be my local station seven miles from home. My local station now is Edgeworthstown, 18 miles from home. Every time I head for the train at Edgeworthstown I pass Ballywillan and always take the opportunity to curse Todd Andrews. This will be first attempt at building a proper layout. I got into the hobby about 4 years ago, and became a big fan of Scalescenes downloadable kits. It has taken me that long to go from building kits to scratch building. I now feel ready to try an actual layout of an actual station. So far I have completed the Station House, next part of the project is the good shed.