Weymouth Model Railway Association's:

    MODEL RAIL 2003 exhibition

Layouts featured:

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Other layouts exhibited but not featured here due to lack of photographs...

Barton Hill by Don Dickson, an impression of Rail Express Services depot near Bristol in 2mm scale.
Berliner TT Bahnen by Steve Frackrell, 1:120 TT gauge RTR display.
Connaught Road by Weymouth MRA O Gauge Group, Early BR, 7mm finescale. This layout is featured on the  Group's website.
Hasslewaite by Mike Banks, modern day preserved railway mix of steam & diesel, N gauge.
New East Lear Depot by Dave Lear, OO gauge imaginary modern image.
S & B Light Railway by Barry & Shelley Thomas, imaginary 009/HO9 narrow gauge.
Springfields by Geoff Sawford, dual gauge scenic test circuit for 7mm scale trams.

Ashburton by John Birkett-Smith - N gauge
Yet another Ashburton layout! This one began life in the late 1970s as the branch line appendix on a much larger fixed layout comprising Totnes main line station & the Quay branch with the River Dart and Dainton Bank. The whole formed an L-shape, about 3.6 x 3.6m, occupying a large room in our flat in London. However when we moved to Somerset in 1987 the intended rail room - the loft - was only about 3m wide so something had to go. The appendix was removed. There is stayed, preserved in a plastic bag for six or seven years with the vague idea that one day it may come in useful. Perhaps it would form the basis of a small portable - even exhibitable - independent layout. Thus in 1997 it was reborn. Of course, little of the original baseboard remains but at least the need to construct buildings and rolling stock was minimised. The layout is set in the 1920s, give or take the odd decade, and takes the form of a simple diorama. From the familiar Ashburton track plan the single line runs across a small stream and enters a (mythical) steep rock cutting. This hides the sector plate which connects to storage roads and a run-round loop buried under the rolling hills of south Devon! For normal operations, stock includes a 517 with a rake of four-wheeled coaches, a 14XX and autocoach, small prairies, panniers and a saddle tank with passenger, cattle and goods rakes. However, don't be surprised to find the odd more exotic visitor!

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Bridehaven (Weymouth MRA) - 00 gauge
Bridehaven is the Weymouth Model Railway Association's modern image layout. The 4mm scale layout portrays a terminus station in the diesel era of British Railways. The period covered is the 1950s to date. We have envisaged that the real village of West Bay (in truth more of a suburb of Bridport) has developed into a larger town and has been renamed Bridehaven, and that the line has remained open to Bridehaven. The layout is now nearing completion; more buildings and the backscenes have recently been added; the latter have been created by pasting scenes from travel brochures onto a previously painted sky background. Members of the Weymouth MRA Modern Image Group operate the layout and will pleased to answer any questions that you might have.

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Carolann by Barrie Baker - American H0 gauge
The "Mixed train daily" was an American railroad tradition, which endured until the 1960s, chiefly in the southern states. An ageing combine (passenger/baggage) coach, a few freight cars, and a third-hand diesel loco would creep along weed strewn tracks, linking communities and providing much needed transport for the region's people and industries. Carolann is a fictitious, end of line terminus for one such railroad, the Georgia Western. A local lumber mill is served 'off scene' whilst a feed mill and a general public siding see occasional freight activity. The layout measures 5 ft by 1 ft overall, proof that everyone has room for a model railway. Listen out for railroad sounds coming from speakers under the layout.

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Clare's Tramway by Pam Phillips - 4mm scale 00 gauge
Starting as a simple test track, the layout was developed to represent a typical urban scene of the early to mid 1900s. Trams are mainly plastic or white metal kits, mounted on a variety of trucks.

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Deviton by Keith Redding - N gauge
Set in the transitional period of the 1960s, Deviton is a busy Western Region junction somewher in Southern England. Southern and Midland Region trains also use the branch line. Whilst the 1960s is the main period as both steam and diesel locomotives can be seen, occasionally more modern motive power makes an appearance on this layout.

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Doveford by David Barker - 4mm EM gauge
Based on a plan from Iain Rice's book on layouts in small spaces, Doveford represents a small West Country branch terminus of the Great Western Railway during the mid-1930s, reminescent of the Culm Valley branch that ran from Tiverton Junction to Hemyock in Esat Devon. Small locomotives and short trains are the order of the day, although I doubt many branch lines saw the variety of motive power that can be seen on Doveford. Originally built ot Finescale 00 standards, and exhibited in that form for a couple of years, Doveford was completely rebuilt to EM gauge in 1994, and an article on the layout and its conversion appeared in the November 1994 edition of British Railway Modelling. Track is SMP with hand-built pointwork. The scenery and scenic accessories are from many sources; the mill and dairy buildings are scratch-built. Locomotives are from both kit and ready-to-run sources, the latter being detailed and rebuilt to EM standards. Coaches and wagons are mainly from kits, with a few detailed or rebuilt ready-to-run items.

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Gravity Siding by John Coggins - 00 gauge
This layout offers you the chance to see something rather different. It is based on the operating practice at Maiden Newton (junction of the Bridport Branch) where, owing to the restricted area, the rurn around procedure for the branch train was unique and involved 37 lever movements in the signal box. On arrival the branch train pulled into the bay platform and unloaded its passenger; the engine then reversed the train up into an inclined siding where it was uncoupled and the guard applied the brake. The engine then departed to collect water whilst the guard released the brake, allowing the train to travel back down the incline 'by gravity' to the bay platform. The engine would then return, couple up to the train, and depart for its journey to Bridport. Although the layout is only 10ft by 2ft, including the fiddle yard, the track plan accurately reproduces the original. Engines are all kit-built; stock is ready-to-run,having been re-wheeled and repainted. Trackwork is proprietary PECO Streamline with Electrofrog points and motors. Buildings are mostly scratch-built from 3-ply, covered with Slaters Plastikard. Trees are made from wire & string with hedges being made from sponge dipped into scatter materials made from sawdust and paint.

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Henderson by Neil Lancaster - American N gauge
This American N Scale layout is loosely based on the area around Henderson, a small town in North Carolina. No specific track plan or actual buildings have been modelled, but the whole scene has been created and inspired by photographs of the real town as served by the Seaboard Coastline Railway in the early seventies. The layout consists of two scenic boards or 'modules' which normally form part of a much larger 'N' Trak layout operated as a continuous run. However for this exhibition a hidden yard, end board and lighting fascia have been added, so that it may be operated as a self-contained switching layout. The layout is normally operated by DCC control, although it can also be run on conventional analogue control.

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Holcombe by Tim Tincknell - 7mm finescale O gauge
Holcombe is a small village situated on the Mendip Hills in North Somerset. In reality, the railway system never reached Holcombe, the layout being a fictitious extension of an indepedent mineral line which served Vobster Quarry and Newbury Colliery. The layout depicts the terminus of the branch as it may have been around 1955, having been taken over by the GWR, then British Railways. The line was built to serve a stone quarry, the loading facility being at the right-hand end of the layout, but there is some agricultural traffic and a meagre passenger service. Due to sharp curves and steep gradients, the line is worked by small tank engines and train lengths are restricted.

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Kensal Green MPD - 80A - 00 gauge
The layout set in the late 1950s depicts three eras in the development of this (fictional) London are, Western Region (BR) motive power depot. Originally steam locos were serviced in the 19th century Dean "Northlight" stone building, which has long since fallen into disuse, the glazing having been replaced with asbestos sheeting for safety reasons, and this now serves as a 'stock' shed for stored and withdrawn locomotives awaiting the scrapper's torch. The larger, replacement steam shed was built in the 1930s under the
then government's Loan Act, introduced to ease the severe unemployment situation of the time. Close by the stock shed you will see the site of a new diesel maintenance depot in the early stages of construction with a temporary refueling point in situ. This new structure will, in due course, naturally replace the steam sheds, which will be redundant in a few years with the demise of steam power. Most of the GWR built steam loco types now serving the BR Western Region under nationalisation may be seen at work on the layout - together with a few of the BR 'Standard' classes native to the area at the time, and of course a small selection of the new diesel regime. The majority of the locomotives are of proprietary origin, a few are kit built, and there are a couple of 'specials' which have been constructed from a selection of parts from various sources. All the items of stock have been repainted, re-lined and detailed with lamps, real coal, etc. Weathering has also been carried out to varying degrees to present a realistic scenario of the steam era. Look for the cameo scene on the track in front of the main shed, a 'Castle' is being cleaned and prepared to head the 'Torbay Express' - but a disposal crew have placed a 'Manor' in front to clean out the smokebox, an extremely dirty job which has resulted in the shed foreman issuing a real 'ear bashing' to those responsible!! A listing of the individual locomotives which may be seen on the layout is shown on the fascia panel.

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Millsite by Pete Curtis - 009 gauge
This layout represents a section of the "Woodstone Light Railway". Local industries are served by a variety of sidings, providing a healthy amount of goods traffic whilst there are also through passenger services which stop at the local station. The layout demonstrates how much operating potential is possible in a small space modelling in this narrow gauge format.

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Pamela's TT by Pamela Fackrell Triang - TT gauge
A collector's layout showing original Triang type 'A' track. The rolling stock was built between 1957 and 1959. Some rarities will be shown. Pamela is keen to expand her collection; if you can help please let her know.

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Portolegno by Tony Wood - Italian HO gauge
Buongiomoo e benvenuti in Italia. Portolegno is a medium sized town situated on the Promontor del Gargano on the Adriatic coast of Italy. A single line track connects it to the main line at Foggia some 60km away. To the north are Ancona, Rimini and Milano and to the south are Bari, Brindisi and Lecce. Traffic is mainly passenger to cater for the many visitors to the area, ie. InterCity and Espresso with Interregionale and Regionale forming the local connecting services. There is also a small industrial facility dealing with a well known product from the local grapes which usually sees two or three freight services per day.

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Thomas's Junction by Richard Pretious - 00 gauge
Specially for the children of all ages, this is a layout of "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends". Included in the many characters you will see are, of course, most of the character locomotives (Thomas, Duck, etc). There are also many other characters on the layout; see how many you can see. If you have any questions or requests, please feel free to ask, Richard will do his best to answer them and run the required trains.

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Williton (Burnham & District MRC) - 00 gauge
Williton is a small country station on the GWR branch line from Taunton to Minehead, now preserved by the West Somerset Railway. This layout is a representation of what the station would have been like in the 1960s. Whilst an attempt has been made to re-create an exact replica in model form, it has been necessary to use 'modeller's license' in some areas. Many site visits have been made as part of our research into this layout. The trains operated on the layout are intended to represent the sort of traffic that would have been run on the branch line. Once again, however, in order to keep visitors entertained the levels of traffic are much greater than would normally have been the case. Additionally, some types of motive power to be seen on the layout would only rarely have ventured down the line in real life. Trackwork is all PECO code 100, in order to allow all makes of rolling stock to be used without modification. In common with all other Burnham club layouts Modelex controllers control the train movements. The layout is controlled from a home made control panel, which includes indicators to show point and controller settings.

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Yeovil Pen Mill (Weymouth MRA) - 4mm finescale 00 gauge
This large layout has been under construction by members of the Weymouth Model Railway Association for several years and is now nearing completion. The buildings have all been scratch-built and are accurate models of those in the station area in the period modelled (the inter-war years). The track plan also faithfully reproduces the prototype although it has been curved at the ends to provide a continuous run via the fiddle yard at the back of the layout. Powers for the line were granted to the Wilts, Somerset & Weymouth Railway. They sold out to the GWR in 1850 and the line from Frome to Yeovil opened in 1856. In the 1950s a good variety of ex GWR locos and rolling stock were to be seen but there could be ex Southern ones as well. This year has seen much work undertaken on the scenery following completion of the trackwork and the associated electrics. One of the ongoing activities is the installation of lighting in buildings and under the station awning. Our members operating the layout will be more than happy to tell you more about the layout construction, the prototype and the trains that ran there.

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All rights are vested in the layout owners and Weymouth Model Railway Association.
Photographs are the copyright of R Miller & D Riches.