Layouts - Ground Floor, D Block

Layouts on the Ground Floor of D-Block

ANGST LESSPORK (OO9)

Hugh Norwood

Angst-Lesspork draws its inspiration from and is a tribute to the "Discworld" books of the late Sir Terry Pratchett.

Although superficially a Victorian / Edwardian townscape, many characters and architectural features give clues to the layout's true identity. Helping to set the scene are the Alchemists' Guildhall (complete with stuffed alligator), one of the many Watch houses, a Clacks (telegraph) tower and, of course, Mad Lord Snapcase's Cruet set. Most of the buildings have been built from card (breakfast cereal packets). A number have internal illumination and so are internally decorated.

The human figures are mainly from ModelU, Langley Models, Andrew Stadden and Aidan Campbell, with some from Peter Goss. Wargaming suppliers provided wizards, dwarfs, trolls and other out of the ordinary figures. The Librarian and the stuffed alligator were commissioned pieces. The Luggage is hand-built; members of the Watch started life as Airfix Roman soldiers.

All the rail power is steam-driven and all the road traffic is horse-drawn, in keeping with the "time-frame" of the layout. If you look closely, you will see that most of the locomotives are named after Discworld witches.

CARTERTON (OO)

Chris Chewter

18 miles west of Oxford lays the small town of Carterton. Founded in 1894 and previously renown for high quality tomatoes produced by the small holders of the village, it has now grown into a town serving the largest RAF station in the United Kingdom. Despite its relatively modern history, most people are surprised to know that Carterton used to boast its own railway station. Once a halt on the Fairford Branch, Carterton sadly lost its station when all passenger services were withdrawn in 1962, and the branch was finally lifted in the 1970’s.

The model shows Carterton as it existed in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. A reminder that the Great Western Railway and later the Western Region of British Railways was about moving people, and wasn’t all chocolate box scenes. An echo of its wartime past when troops disembarked for RAF Brize Norton and RAF Broadwell, many sadly never returned. Whilst its nowhere near the most attractive station on the Fairford Branch, it shows that just about any location can be modelled. The layout has proven to be a piece of history, with many people remembering their times travelling by train, when Carterton was connected to the railway.

COLLEGE HALT (OO)

Uckfield College Railway Club

Uckfield Model Railway Club (UMRC) has had a link with Uckfield College since 2008, supplying an experienced modeller, firstly Keith Nock, then our President, but after he passed away, Keith Harcourt took over the work with students at the College’s Model Railway Club.

In 2017 students visited the Uckfield Exhibition and saw the standards of modelling attained. They were inspired by what they saw and during the following academic year spent their club sessions planning and building this layout. In October 2018 the layout saw its first exhibition appearance at the Uckfield show, to universal acclaim.

An article about the layout appeared in British Railway Modelling (November 2023) with photographs by Phil Parker. As well as coming to the college to take them, Phil gave a lesson to the students on how model railway magazines were produced, modelling methods and layout photography.

College Halt is based on historic photographs of Whitehall Halt on the Clum Vally line which closed in 1963, but the students decided to make it into a preserved railway and added a passing loop for operational interest, hence changing the name to College Halt. The track, electronics (DCC), scenery, trees, platform and exit steps were all made by students. UMRC members helped by funding and building the baseboards and supplying locos and stock to supplement those owned by the students.

HALDEN LANE (OO)

Keith Askey/Uckfield Model Railway Club

Previously owned and operated as ‘Halden Lane’ by Worthing MRC, it has been exhibited successfully at several shows in the South-East in recent years. The layout came into my possession in 2024 and is currently being refurbished and updated.

It is an end-to-end semi-rural layout set on a branch line railway somewhere in the Midlands countryside between the mid 1940’s & 1960’s.

The layout can provide a variety of passenger and goods services although there is no specific regional theme to the motive power; expect to see several regional and BR early emblem tank and tender engines, with branch-line style rolling stock to match. To increase diversity occasional diesel shunting and even military traffic takes place.

The layout operates as a semi-rural setting to the front with cattle pens, a wood yard and crossing; light industry, a rural station and garage take up the background area. Several scenic elements/dioramas are added for each exhibition, which change each day.

HARTON GILL (P4)

Carshalton & Sutton Model Railway Club
Although everything on the layout should be prototypical for the southern Tyneside area in our chosen time period of the late 1960s, nonetheless Harton Gill is a fictional location. I’ve always believed that this is the way to do a model railway: every detail looking as though it belongs, but no need to try and copy a real place. Thus, we have in the foreground an overhead-electrified private line connecting the colliery to some imaginary staithes off to the left, just like the real-life Harton Electric Railway. At the back of the layout, we have a British Railways North Eastern Region secondary through line, with an occasional passenger service. In the middle is a short passenger line terminating at a halt, with a DMU shuttle service, recently electrified with third-rail, to allow different trains to be run. Wherever possible the buildings, such as the signal box and the footbridge, and the signals, follow ex-NER prototypes. The timescale allows us to run a mixture of steam and early diesels, in both green and blue as well as the dedicated colliery electrics. The latest additions here are a Tyneside Bo-Bo electric operating off the third rail, and the EPB parcels car which ran on Tyneside for a while.

KINGSFIELD (OO)

Barnhill Model Railway
Club Kingsfield is a fictitious town nestling in Oxfordshire 15 miles west of Oxford. The population of the town is approximately the same as Oxford and has grown in a similar manner over the years. The local commerce comprises of metal fabricators, breweries, timber merchants and other small to medium sized industries. Some of these were served in earlier years by the canal which runs through the town to link with both Gloucester docks and the river Thames. There is a strong farming community surrounding the area, and also a nearby race course. The Great Western Railway served the town, with a terminus station built in the mid to late 1800’s. This connected Kingsfield with Swindon, London and Paddington, South Wales and the West Country. A local branch line also served the nearby village of Fairford. It was not long before the Midland railway who were extending their routes south, intersected the Great Western at Kingsfield with their own main line. This provided a direct link between Birmingham and Bournemouth, causing the station to be re-developed with through platforms, and a junction being added. As years passed the traffic steadily increased, with both through and terminating services of both passenger and freight to serve an ever-growing community. With increase in traffic, the yard and engine shed grew with an additional building being added to the sheds to accommodate the ever increasing ‘diesel locomotive’.

LEGO CITY ABINGDON (L)

Dominic Hardisty

Do you like both Lego and trains? Then Lego City Abingdon is the layout for you! Running a range of Lego trains through mixture of GWR inspired and more modern buildings, Lego City Abingdon is designed for pure enjoyment from ages 5 to 95!

LEICESTER BELGRAVE ROAD (OO)

Abingdon & District Model Railway Club

The Great Northern entered Leicester from the east in 1883 with grand ideas, and built a six-track station with twin overall roof like the one at Kings Cross. They could only manage four trains a day to Peterborough (until 1916 when it ceased) and six trains a day to Grantham (it was faster Leicester to York that via L.M.S. or Great Central because the express – J6 0-6-0 with non-corridor coach – connected with the ‘Flying Scotsman’ at Grantham).

The main passenger traffic was the excursions to Skegness and Maplethorpe and in 1953 when the local services were lost; this alone remained until closure to passengers in 1962.

Freight was more successful with the goods warehouse well used until closure of the line in 1964. Even after this fatal blow the link at Forest Road (truncated since 1900) was reinstated to provide access to the goods depot until 1969.

The Track plan was one devised by Eric Young which had evolved over a three-year period. The initial idea was for a terminus to fiddle yard large enough to accommodate 8 coach or 25 wagon trains. The main line was in the shape of a U with a connection across the centre forming a reverse loop for loco turning. Each train arriving from the fiddle yard would require several movements in view of the public before returning out of sight. The three operators should keep three trains moving at all times.

At this stage a prototype was required and after researching many Termini, Leicester (Belgrave Road) was discovered and the basic track plan was altered to suit the prototype as closely as possible without losing the operating potential of the layout.

The view from Catherine Street Bridge towards the station and goods warehouse is fairly authentic while the engine shed, although prototypical in content is on the wrong side of the main line, and forest road crossing as a diorama is correct it faces the wrong way.

LIVESTEAM ROADSHOW (OO)

OO Live Steam Club The Roadshow
specialises in OO gauge steam engines that were made by Hornby but are

no longer in production.  This layout showcases these miniature marvels which
exhibit many of the foibles and fun of their full-size counterparts. With two
independent circuits demonstrating the locos in action and a third circuit to
‘have a go’ the OOLS team offer an interactive experience for all ages.

LLANFAIR RHYD (009)

Aaron & Nigel Matthews/Oxfordshire Narrow

Gauge Modellers Llanfair Rhyd depicts the upper terminus of a “Ffestiniog”
style narrow gauge railway in North Wales. The time frame has been
chosen to be loose to allow running as if a preserved railway as well as
in late Victorian times.

LLAWRYGLYN (EM)

Richard Loydall

Llawryglyn is a very small village in the heart of rural mid-Wales. In my version of history, it was served by a branch (or twig?) off the real Cambrian Railways branch line that ran from the Cambrian’s main line station at Caersws to the lead mines at Van. My model represents the station at Llawryglyn in the years around 1910 – 12, when the Cambrian, never a well-off concern, was probably at its most successful. Passenger services terminated here, while the line continued a further ¾ mile to another lead mine.

Fellow Cambrian modellers may recognise the origins of the station building and goods shed, while the smithy is a model of Llawryglyn’s real smithy; which was dismantled in the mid-1970s and re-erected at St Fagans National History Museum, Cardiff.

The locomotives come from a variety of sources, with both kit built and scratchbuilt examples running. The coaches are mainly built from Ratio GWR and Midland Railway coach kit sides – cut up in various ways, and with new ends and underframes, they have made various Cambrian vehicles. Goods stock is from a variety of kits. Uniquely among Welsh railways, the Cambrian also had a wagon adapted for the conveyance of dragons, which has been modelled complete with a suitable load.

NINE MILLS (N)

Dave Forshaw

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Nine Mills has had to be withdrawn from ABRAIL 2025. We hope to have the layout appear in 2026.

PORT WASHINGTON TERMINAL RAILROAD (HO)

Avalon Railroaders
This model of the fictitious, Port Washington Terminal Railroad is set in the late steam-early diesel era. The Pacific Northwest and Washington State in particular has long been associated with the logging and paper industries. Longview is on the main north-south rail connection and on the north bank of the Columbia River (largest in the West of the USA). It is the centre of an area rich not only in paper and lumber mills but also in grain storage and processing for export. Much of the lumber comes from the north bank area to the west of Longview; and Port Washington was set up, about 45 miles west, with a rail connection (the Port Washington Terminal) to the main railroad network (NP, GN, SP&S) at Longview. The purpose was to tap into the lumber and associated businesses and to act as an overflow port for the export of grain. Lumber was brought by rail barges from other lumber reloads on the coast, and supplies delivered in return

ROSSITER RISE (OO)

Terry Tew

Rossiter Rise portrays a fictitious through station somewhere in the suburbs of North West London during the mid-late 1950’s.

It includes platforms serving LMR 4 rail d.c. suburban services, LMR branch line trains and London Underground services. At the front of the layout is a small LT depot.

The majority of the rolling stock is not ‘R-T-R off the shelf’ but a collection of unusual and rarely modelled items, including conversions, scratch-built and 3D printed construction.

As well as the services mentioned above freight and light engine workings mean that almost anything can make a surprise appearance as motive power!

Inspiration for the layout included locations such as Willesden, Harrow & Wealdstone, Watford Junction, Drayton Park, Lillie Bridge, Richmond and the eastern end of the Central Line.

Rossiter Rise has won ‘Best in Show’ awards and has featured in BRM Magazine, Hornby Magazine, Railway Modeller and the LURS Underground News.

SAKURA CROSSING (N)

Dominic Hardisty Japanese Bullet Trains are seen racing between scratch built buildings and landscaping built with Kato N gauge track which simply clicks together like Lego.

SODOR ISLAND (OO)

Abingdon & District Model Railway Club
A Thomas & Friends inspired layout allowing visitors of all ages to have a go at running their favourite locomotives.

Layouts on the Ground Floor of D-Block

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