Experience is important, but when that experience is generic, it becomes much less important. To explain myself better. One may produce the very best project but when the project is transformed into reality, it can in no way be totally free of errors from a conceptual point of view. The project engineer, if honest, when the work is done, can say no other than, “If I were to do it again, then I would do it differently”. I have in the past built railway models but the advantages gained from previous experience can only be maximised when one reproduces the earlier model exactly. That is why I made mistakes. Previous models were different!

Mistake n° 1 – The upper part of the cabinet was made like a type of cigar box which has a hinge down the long side. This when closed maintains the vital 15cm of space on the inside meaning that the model can be hidden from view and hermetically sealed from the outside. Even if the photo exaggerates the effect (on purpose) the mistake occurred in the forgetting of the dimensions of the hinge (1.5mm.) and the successive application of the background over this hinge results in a “bubble” which is both un-natural and anti-aesthetic. It only needed me to glue a sheet of 1.5mm. wood to the surface before applying the background and there would have been no problem. The only comfort in all this is that when the top is closed, the two flaps of the background covering the hinge, fold in on themselves leaving no visible trace of the fold when it is re-opened.

Mistake n° 2 – Maybe because of trying to limit the economic costs the cabinet was designed to have six front panels of which three were hinged, two were fixed and there was a small hinged flap at the left to house the control panel. In effect, after the hinged flap there are a series of alternating hinged and fixed panels with the last one being hinged. From the start I knew that the electrical system would have been on the underside of the model's surface, but, apart from a couple of points I thought that it all would have been reachable. I simply overestimated my physical capabilities! Twenty years ago I would not have had any problems whatsoever in positioning the Tortoise motors in a place that wasn't perfectly in front of one of the openings but now...Fortunately, as opposed to the first error, this was neither visible nor anti-aesthetic but it was the reason for several difficulties and no small amount of back pain. I can only hope that nothing really catastrophic happens there underneath, especially in certain points. Should that problem ever arise I can not discount the possibility of hiring a carpenter to open all that which hitherto has been closed. The problem has been overcome – see the description on page n°8.

Mistake n° 3 – To make the access from the stairs and into the room easier, the cabinet is formed of two pieces each 140cm. Once placed into position they were then joined by means of screws. The hidden station was added later and, apart from a couple of screws the structure is easily separated. Where then is the error? The made up cabinet has become a practically permanent structure which would be difficult to move (it would have to be removed through the window). Even if I have no present idea of changing house, it would have been more better to have the cabinet built in two pieces with no upper surface. When the two pieces would have been joined then I should have fixed a single hinged upper surface to the structure. This simple solution would have not only made an eventual removal easier, it would have also solved the problem outlined in number 2.

Mistake n° 4 – It was all down in the planning. The hidden station would have been created in the space which was behind the door of the room. La stazione nascosta si sarebbe sviluppata nello spazio presente dietro la porta di accesso alla stanza. Calculated that the door would have to open at a sufficiently large angle so as to give easy access to the room, the space was not enormous. Even the length of the hidden tracks did not appear to be too great but, for the trains I had always had in mind, it was enough. When everything had been placed into the correct position I realised that the door could open more than widely enough! I could have quite easily widened by some centimetres the surface so that four tracks could have been accommodated. If I had been really really careful, reducing to the barest minimum the distance between the tracks I am sure that I could have got five in there! Some of them might have been very short, but long enough however, to contain two Aln668's. Pity!

Mistake n° 5 Even if I've placed it last, this is the one that disturbs me more than all the others. Maybe I shouldn't have bought the “long” points made by ROCO. In at least one of them I came across a really knotty problem. Often, electrical current does not arrive in the “mobile” pieces of track, those which are highlighted in red (to be precise, I mean that which is used for the principal track). This defect seems to be well known as my friend Enrico, prudent man that he is, had suggested to me that I created a bridge on the lower part before installing them. This I did not do and now I am paying the price. Obviously the problem only comes up during the slow passage of very small locomotives having two axles, but seeing the 225 stop is exceedingly annoying for me. I don't as yet know how, but this is a problem which needs to be resolved as I can in no way accept this sword of Damocles relating to electrical connections. In conclusion, should I need to acquire other points, they certainly won't be of the same type unless they are immediately modified.