The Breakwater...

The idea of building a model of the Holyhead breakwater railway, in some form, in some scale has been gnawing away at me for at least a decade. Why then, has it until now, never progressed to paper?I guess there are two reasons - and the same two reasons I've never seen anyone else do a layout built around the same theme either... One, the locomotive requires kit building and two, the operational interest is somewhat lacking...What then, was the Holyhead Breakwater railway? If you've never stumbled upon this time capsule before it's a fascinating prototype. Built in the 19th century to help construct and maintain a breakwater for the port of Holyhead, it ran, at its height, for 1.7 miles from a quarry to the end of the breakwater. It's sole purpose in later years to transport heavy boulders along the structure, where a travelling crane was able to lift them up and place them on the seaward side, to sure up the structure or effect repairs.In the 1970s it became something of a mecca for…