Layouts:
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Bincombe
Junction (Weymouth
MRA)
N gauge, BR
Bincombe
Junction is a freelance double track layout set in the BR
Southern Region. It features a branch line leading to a
small country terminus not modelled, and an industrial
branch with a pair of sidings. A between London and the
coast location has been chosen to allow the running of
main-line express passenger trains interspersed with heavy
goods traffic. This layout
in under construction by the N Gauge Group.
Broadoak for
Pilsdon
(Bridport MRC)
OO, 4mm scale, BR 1960s
This end to end layout depicts a country branch line in the Marshwood Vale in
the heart of West Dorset featuring, as its centrepiece, the Broadoak station. The
operating era is around the early to mid 1960s and includes an engine shed and
goods sidings with the main station with a bay platform for the branch. All the
buildings are scratch built from a variety of materials, whilst the locomotives and
rolling stock all belong to different club members, which means you will see quite
a variety of traffic operating around the station. The layout has undergone a major
refurbishment by the club members over the past three years.
Connaught
Road (Weymouth
MRA) 7mm Finescale,
early BR
Connaught Road is a freelance urban mainline station set in
1950s British Railways steam period. Its location in the suburbs of London is somewhat unusual
as stock from the "Big Four" can be seen both in
original company livery and that of the nationalised
railway. The layout, which connects to the
Association's Test Track for train storage, features four
running lines, a goods yard and loco stabling area with
coaling stage. The
booking hall is located on a road over-bridge which spans
the platforms, construction of these is progressing with
the ply-wood shell being covered by layers of plasticard
& ordinary card for the walls and roof respectively.
This layout
is being constructed by the O Gauge Group who build and run
their own locomotives and rolling stock, both from kits and
scratch.
Ddouallt
(David
Waller,
Risborough & District MRC) 009, 4mm scale, Ffestiniog
Railway
Ddouallt, on the Ffestiniog Railway, wild and remote with its unique spiral, is perhaps
the most famous station on any of Britain’s narrow gauge railways. The volunteers
and enthusiasts who saved the railway in the 1950s were forced to divert
the line beyond Ddouallt because of the hydro-electric power station scheme at
Tanygrisiau, which flooded the original track bed in the Ystradau Valley and the
old Moelwyn Tunnel. The remains of the original 1842 line can be seen behind the
signal box on the right hand side of the layout. The spectacular new ‘Deviation’ line was built entirely by volunteers, mainly at
weekends with miniscule resources and little more than the power of their own
muscles. As well as the spiral around Ddouallt station they blasted a new tunnel
through the Moelwyn mountains and built a new line along the lakeside. Work
began in 1965 and Ffestiniog trains finally steamed back into Tanygrisiau in 1978.
Our layout shows Ddouallt station in the late 1980s when trains used to pause &
cross in the passing loop. Although the passing loop & signals have since disappeared
and the station is now a sleepy request stop, the spiral remains as a monument
to the Deviationists who rebuilt the Ffestiniog. All locos on the layout are built from brass & white metal kits. Many have been
altered & improved to show the locos as running today. Some of the coaches &
wagons are from commercial kits, but the vast majority, including the modern
corridor coaches, have been scratch built in plasticard. Although our model of
Ddouallt station is firmly 1980s, some locos & coaches have changed with the
times and many of the railway’s latest trains make an appearance. The large & impressive
Garratt locos & coaches for the new Welsh Highland Railway at Caernarfon
can sometimes also be spotted having a ‘trial’ run.
Die
Garteltalbahn
(Trevor
Coburn,
Nailsea & District
MRC),
Oe 16.5mm gauge, 1:45 scale East German
narrow gauge
This layout is built to the European ‘0’ scale and depicts a typical East German
narrow gauge (750mm) railway. The line runs among buildings, through the town
square, as well as through the countryside. The station building and goods shed
are based on those that were at Grotigen. There are sidings to serve the goods shed
and the local brewery, which is situated in the main street. A small loco shed is
also provided. The locos are a mix of Fleischmann ‘Magic Train’, Marklin
‘Minex’ & scratch built. Rolling stock comes from the same sources. Standard
gauge wagons are carried on transporter wagons or “Rollblocs”; these dwarf the
narrow gauge locos! There are two diesel railcars & a diesel loco. “K-D” couplers
are used throughout. All rolling stock is weathered to an extent in line with its duties. The layout is populated
with figures from Omen, Slater’s, Preiser, etc. Many can be seen in buildings.
Road vehicles have also come from a variety of sources and have been
weathered like the rolling stock. The track is Peco 0-16.5(0e) laid on rubberised cork underlay and ballasted with
Woodland Scenics ballast augmented with Noch grass to give the typical run
down narrow gauge look. Either Peco or Seep motors, operated by stud & probe,
power the points, with the motor switches used to power the frogs. Two working
signals control entry to the station.
Exverton
/ Sodor
Vale
(N Gauge Soc, N Somerset Group)
N gauge, 1:148,
GWR/Thomas
& Friends
Exverton:
Inspired by the much-lamented GWR Exe Valley line, this layout
hopes to capture the feeling of a small Devon station, serving a village and farming
community. It is not a branch line, but a single track through route with passing
loops, such as that shown in the layout. It is used both for its own local traffic
and as an alternative route to the main line, very much like the Exe Valley line.
Some local trains are seen to stop at the station, whilst others pass through. Longer
passenger and freight traffic, which may have been diverted from the main line,
also pass through, and there may be the occasional train from a company other
than the GWR. The layout is operated in both the pre-war period and
post-nationalisation. However, license is applied to assume the line never closed and it is also
presented in later periods up to the 1990s.
Sodor Vale:
The layout also doubles as a “Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends”
exhibit and in this format is called Sodor Vale. All the Tomix range of engines and
rolling stock is used, including Henry the Green Engine, and James the Red Engine
with his Troublesome Trucks.
Fellows Peak
(Roger
Rickman) HO, 3.5mm scale, USA, digital control demonstration
Fellows Peak is a small farming and mining area in the North West United States.
Although the main railroad that goes through Fellows Peak was once owned by
the Santa Fe railroad, it is now owned by the BNSF and usually gets one through
train a day. So, if you don’t stand in front of the layout for 8 hours, you have more
than likely missed it, but there is always plenty to see. This layout is run by Digitrax DCC. If you have any questions about DCC (digital
command control), please ask one of the operators.
Holcombe
(Phil Dawling) O Gauge, 7mm scale
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 independent mineral line which served
Vobster Quarry and Newbury Colliery. The layout depicts the
terminus of the branch as it may have been in the mid-1950s,
having been taken over by the GWR and 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.
St. Denys
(Andrew & Simon Tucker)
N gauge, 1:148, 1990s Network
South East
The London & Southampton Railway started running trains between Southampton
and Winchester in 1839. Twenty years later the LSWR (as it had become) opened
a station at St Denys, just outside Southampton. At that time it was known as
Portswood and in 1866 the station became a junction with the opening of the
branch to Netley which eventually reached Fareham forming the route for the
present day services to Portsmouth & Brighton. The main line was electrified to
Bournemouth in 1967 by British Rail using the Southern’s 3rd rail system and this
was extended to Weymouth in 1988.
Our N gauge model is set in the Network SouthEast era in the early 1990s. From
the station footbridge the west end of the platforms and all of the junction
trackwork, including the quadruple track towards Southampton, has been modeled as
far as the Dukes Road bridge to scale length. A typical service of trains will be
operated as can be seen passing through the station in this period including
‘Wessex Electrics’ en-route to Weymouth. In addition to the EMUs there are the
long distance InterCity Cross Country and Regional Railways passenger services.
Tank wagons bring oil from Fawley refinery and liquefied gas from
Furzebrook. Steel bars for offloading at nearby Northam yard arrive on bogie bolster wagons.
These are also used on a return working of imported steel from Poole. Freightliners
for the two Southampton terminals pass through regularly and you may see
one of the occasional boat trains coming to meet a cruise ship in the docks.
SE28
(Basingstoke
& North Hants MRS)
OO, 4mm scale, BR(SR) DMU/EMU in S. London
This layout was designed by the group to represent a typical railway scene in
South London, the major feature being the main lines carried on a 26 arch viaduct.
The layout features two high level main lines merging at a junction with three
tracks continuing on the 12 foot long viaduct until merging with another track that
provides a link to freight sidings on a lower level via an incline.
Stock is a mixture of BR(SR) EMUs and DEMUs plus freight stock and
interregionals. Operation at exhibitions is to an accelerated schedule to give as much movement
as possible. The group has mass-produced the viaduct arches from resin cast in
rubber moulds as used on the club’s award winning 2mm layout
Arlesford.
Seahouses
(Kevin
Cartwright)
O gauge, 7mm scale, North Sunderland Railway
& North Eastern Railway, featured in British Railway
Modelling, July 2000
The Location: In 1898 a small company, the North Sunderland Railway, opened
a line from Chathill, on the main North Eastern line, to Seahouses, a small fishing
community on the North East coast. This line was to be used primarily for the transportation of fish, coal, livestock and
other commodities and so increase the prosperity of Seahouses and the surrounding
villages. It was originally proposed that the railway ran right up to the
harbour, but in reality, the line terminated in Seahouses village itself, and was never
extended. The last train ran in October 1951 and the company was wound up in
1952.
The Layout: This layout is designed to show how the line might have looked if
completed to the harbour and depicts a scene on Race Day in the 1920s. All the
buildings are copied from the small number of pictures available and are as authentic
as possible, the signal box being the one exception. All rolling stock used
is prototypical of this line and period. The whole layout including buildings, rolling stock, boats and scenery has been
built by Kevin, who hesitates to say it is now complete! We hope you will enjoy observing “Seahouses” in operation and welcome your
questions and comments.
Souk el
Khemis
(Andrew Walters)
009, 4mm scale, Moroccan narrow
gauge
Souk el Khemis, inspired and created by the late Frank Saunders, portrays the
750mm gauge line that was built to convey ore from the RIF mountains to the
coast fro shipment to Spain. Other traffic is provided by the main base for the
Spanish and Moroccan troops, which is situated nearby, together with general
freight haulage, as hard top roads are almost non-existant. Like narrow gauge lines in mainland Spain, rolling stock has been purchased from
Europe, Britain, and occasionally the USA. The layout is inspired by a schoolboy fascination with desert places. It is a lurid
mix of Beau Geste, Lawrence of Arabia, and of course, The Road to Morocco
movie. The map of the location can only be found in the creator’s head.
It is a Thursday and you are invited to linger and visit this far off world.
Top-Line Tinplate
(David Corps)
Vintage O gauge tinplate
David’s
lifetime collection of Hornby and Bassett-Lowke tinplate,
electrically powered trains has been a popular exhibit in
the past and returns again this year.
West Bay
(John Coggins)
00, 4mm scale, GWR
The West Bay extension of the Bridport Branch was built by the Bridport Railway
Company, which later became part of the Great Western Railway. It opened in
1901 and closed to passenger traffic on 22 September 1930 & freight on 3 December
1962. The extension was constructed mainly for the movement of shingle, timber
and other goods from the harbour as well as passenger traffic.
Although the layout is only 10 feet x 2 feet, 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 Peco Streamline with Electrofrog turnouts and motors.
Buildings are mostly scratch built from 3 ply, covered with Slater’s
plasticard. Trees are made from wire and string with the hedges being made from sponge
dipped into scatter materials made from sawdust and paint.
West Harptree
(Mike Corp)
TT, 3mm scale, GWR
West Harptree, an actual village in North Somerset, is the terminus of a fictitious
GWR branch line with its junction at Hallatrow on the Bristol & North Somerset
Railway. The period is set between the wars when the day excursionists from Bristol
and surrounds liked to take to the waters of Chew Valley and Blagdon lakes,
who’s existence, at this period of time, is also fictitious; they have also been
greatly enlarged to take pleasure steamers. West Harptree is the main village for the lakes having a small pie, gift shops and
tearooms and is also the focal point for the area’s industry having a dairy, association
stores, builders merchant, and of course the local coal merchant. Hallatrow
was the actual junction for the Camerton branch, which has been retained but has
had a fictitious line added, that to the Somerset & Dorset Railway at Midford with
a south facing junction, at the southern end of the viaduct, which enables the
through running from that line to West Harptree for both freight & passenger
trains. All this keeps West Harptree very busy!! The model is built to a scale of 3mm to 1 foot with a track gauge of 12mm
(TT). The track is Peco rail in 3mm Society sleeper units and the points have been purchased
from 3SMR, a specialist 3mm shop. Most of the engines are kit bodies on
3SMR chassis with Branchlines gearbox & motors. The coaching stock is mainly
scratch built with most of the freight stock originating from the 3mm Society or
one of the other specialist 3mm suppliers. Both operators are proprietors of one -
Finney & Smith kits. If you like what you see and want to model railways and not just take things out of
a box, don’t be put off by the idea you cannot get anything for 3mm nowadays.
Ask the operators for details of the 3mm Society and other specialists.
Woodbridge
Halse
( Eric
Young, Newbury MRC) 00, 4mm scale, BR (exGCR)
steam
The time is the late 1950s; the place is the Great Central on the
Northamptonshire/Oxfordshire border, close to a village with a very similar name. The “Windcutter”
high-speed freight comes from the north, the locos are turned and return northwards
(to avoid overnight stops for the drivers). The trains are re-marshaled and are taken on south to London or west to Banbury
and the Western Region. The time and location are chosen to allow as many 9F
variants as possible. The tender types were very regional, the Western using the
smallest capacity, the Midland the medium and the Eastern the highest capacity.
In 1957 the ex Great Central line was passed from Eastern to Midland regional
control, so in the late 1950s the line genuinely saw locos from three regions on a
daily basis. The layout was originally built in a small bedroom so there was no room for passenger
services. It is assumed that there is an avoiding loop for the passenger and
any through freight services. Now that the layout has moved to the garage it has
been extended to give greater loco facilities and now light engine movements of
passenger locos to and from the station can be included. The layout does not run to any timetable, just one train out - one train in. A
“random” system of “where to shunt the next wagon” is used with LEDs on the
control panel being repeated on the buffer stops. Try to predict where the next
wagon will be shunted. The complexity of the layout seems to bring out the best
in the operators. Even though we never seem to get it completely right everyone
has a lot of fun trying.
Yeovil Pen
Mill (Weymouth
MRA)
OO, 4mm scale, GWR period
This
layout is based on Yeovil Pen Mill during the Great Western
ownership in the 1937-41 time period. Motive power is almost
entirely steam outline. The layout depicts the line from
Weymouth which crosses the Rive Yeo, passes under the
Sherborne Road bridge and into the station. From the station
and goods handling area, the line is modelled as far as the
North signal box in the direction of Westbury. The loco
sheds, a further extension to the layout, are currently
under construction by the OO Pen Mill Group.
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