THE STATISTICS
The layout incorporates over 2000 metres of 1mm diameter fibre optic cable, cut into more than 13000 individual six inch lengths and using no less than 10 Christmas tree lighting sets comprising a total of 360 individual bulbs.
A small portion of the "behind the scenes" wiring. The clear coloured strands are the fibre optics, the green is electrical wiring and the black parts are the connectors enclosing the bulbs and fibre optic strands
More than sixty photographs have been used to construct the backgrounds, each building requiring a number of photographs taken from the same distance and the same angle in order to maintain the correct perspective when viewed on the layout. These photographs are cut and joined then rephotographed before being photocopied in correct scale and colour on a colour laser copier.
Blackpool in the box will have attended no less than 42 exhibitions when it is retired after the Truro exhibition in 2000. It has attended every major exhibiton in the South West including the Taunton, Central Bristol and Trainwest exhibitions together with many smaller ones. It was one of only two model layouts featured at Blackpool Transport's Depot Open Day as part of the Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramroad Centenary in 1998 and also appeared at the Festival of Model Tramways at Fleetwood later the same year. The layout has appeared in the Home Counties plus Crawley Down and Horsham in Sussex.
Many hand-built trams are in use on the layout or form part of the display which accompanies the layout. Additional trams are continually being built in order that the layout can replicate a number of periods in Blackpool's history, many of which feature authentic, true scale, hand made decals.
The new layout which is now under construction will use 4000 meters of 1mm diameter fibre optic strand with a further 1500 meters of 0.5mm diameter fibre optic strands A further four Christmas tree lighting sets, approximately 400 grain of wheat bulbs, approx.1500 sub-miniature LEDs and several hundred other LEDs together with a number of specially designed and built electronic circuits kindly supplied by Derek Burdett of Burdett Electronics whose help and kindness is greatly appreciated.
