In a hobby where the fictitious location is generally the preferred option, we felt that there was a certain appeal in the prospect of creating a model of an actual location. The configuration of Blair Atholl village, between the old A9 road which ran through it and the Highland Line was such that it could be modelled to the exact ordnance scale and although it would take a large layout to do it, it would provide an opportunity to create a layout different in shape to the normal oblong box.

The geographical location of the village in relation to the railway resulted in a triangular shaped projection on the front of the layout. This also produced an unusual feature for an exhibition layout since the track bed between the station and the River Tilt Bridge would be some six feet from the layout's front edge. By keeping the baseboards at either end of the front to a minimum width, close quarters viewing at the track-side would be available together with a straight line view of the track running through the station.

Another thought was that being the village in the tourist Mecca of Highland Perthshire, through which passed the many thousands of annual visitors to the historic heart of the area, Blair Castle, it might well be a layout to which many of the visiting public at exhibitions could directly relate.

That, as it turned out, proved to be the case wherever the layout has been exhibited