EasyTrolley "Three City Block" Tomix Layout in Britain

[brill27mcb]

About a year or so ago I was surprised to spot in a Youtube video what appeared to be a British version of my 2010 Tomix "Three City Block" trolley layout:

 

 

I spent some time today re-finding it on Youtube. It turns out that a John Marfleet built a smaller and more basic, but permanent exhibition version of it. It appears that he originally used it to demonstrate DCC control at model tramway shows in Manchester, London, Croydon and possibly elsewhere. It would be a good choice for that because with the track switches set the right way, the trams circle each of the three blocks individually on the inside track, then end up going around the perimeter of the layout in the opposite direction on the outside track before repeating.

 

John's layout appears in a number of model tram show videos, which reveal that over time protective clear plastic side shields were added around the edge of the layout, as well as a web of non-functioning overhead trolley wires. John also seems to have smoothed and painted the street surfaces at some point. The layout's use transitioned to showcase N-gauge models of Blackpool trams. It's featured in this lead-in still shot for a 2016 video, and it appears in the video starting at 11:20:

 

 

You can search on Youtube for "Festival of Model Tramways" to find many of these interesting British tram show videos. Most have one or two N-gauge tram layouts among the featured displays that appear in the videos.

 

Rich K.