"The Next Step"

Plans are afoot for the eighteenth episode of The British Railway Series. There will be quite a few changes to the overall look of the series - building new sets will commence shortly, and the current set of faces are going to be replaced after four long years of good service.

It's been great fun making the series, but I've always been restricted by what I could do, with the size of the set being as it is. Now, we're going for truly modular sets, which can be set up quickly and look the part. Planned sets are King's Cross (condensed into a small space, including a side set for the shedding area), a mainline section and junction, Leeds Central, Stratford Shed (whose baseboard will double up for Norwich Thorpe), and - perhaps the most ambitious - the turntable area of the National Railway Museum.

There will also be new characters coming and going, old ones returning, and - perhaps most crucially - new faces on old characters.

But, there will also be a new series of sorts in the making. I'd made my mind up on this a very long time ago, and I'm currently planning a series of short videos - five minutes, maximum length, in documentary style, away from the railways of Great Britain, and looking abroad somewhat. There's no due date for this project coming to fruition, but behind the scenes, models are being bought for rebuilding, and a new layout is being built, hopefully to an exhibition-able standard (though by no means exhibition standard - I'm not that good yet!)

Until next time - if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to send them to copleyhill@live.co.uk