What am I trying to achieve?

The 4mm layout “St Donats 1963” is an operational diorama for trains and rolling stock, as well as a perspective scenic view from the Vale of Glamorgan across the Bristol Channel to Exmoor. It is primarily a home-based, finescale model railway requiring limited space. The original concept was of “a railway in a box”, which could be conveniently stored, wheeled from room to room, set up very quickly, and operated by one person.

I would like to explore various scenic techniques such as forced perspective, compressed recession, and narrow viewing angles. Having lived in the Vale of Glamorgan in the 1960s, I would also like to include geographical and railway features, not necessarily local to the real St Donats, which I remember from my time there. And, by the by, it will also fulfill a long held ambition to model a part of the GWR in South Wales and build some GWR locos.