Layouts - Sports Hall

Layouts in the Sports Hall

BATH GREEN PARK (OO)

Taunton Model Railway Group

Our well known and popular Bath Green Park model continues to excite both our visitors and our members with the challenge of operating such a large layout. First conceived in 1997, the actual construction began 2 years later following considerable research. Two versions have been built, with the main station yard and engine shed areas being common to both. In the “home” layout, the Bath Junction area is a fixed section which connects to return loops with auto call-on storage.

On the exhibition version this is replicated in an expanded form to enable the full-scale model to be exhibited when away from home, with automated storage sidings behind the main layout and avoiding the need for stock handling. This is achieved with reverse curves beyond the junction giving additional track length while reducing the overall “footprint” of the model by about 4 metres (13 feet). This allows the model to fit in most venues.

Such a comprehensive model requires regular maintenance, and a few years ago was completely rewired. Signalling is illuminated, working, and as far as possible fully interlocked with the turnouts. Stand-alone mini-control panels for the Midland and Southern improve operating flexibility. The home version is regularly operated during our open days in support of the West Somerset Railway special events.

BROADWELL (OO)

Cardiff Model Engineering Society

Broadwell is a recently completed 21ft x 10ft finescale 'OO' exhibition layout featuring early 1960s BR (Western) & BR (Southern) train operation. It is the latest club layout built by the Cardiff Model Engineering Society, based in Heath Park, Cardiff and continues the club's 50-year history of producing quality OO gauge exhibition layouts. Being new on the circuit Broadwell has only attended the Cardiff and Bristol Model Shows up to this point.

Our depiction of this fictitious Devon/Dorset coastal route covers a broad ten-year span of British Railways ownership between 1955 to 1965.  The predominant traffic is BR (Western) & BR (Southern) steam hauled local passenger trains and freights, although early diesel classes were beginning to appear.

Our imaginary route departs Exeter St Davids following the LSWR line up the bank through Exeter Central before branching off in a south easterly direction towards the Devon coast.  The line skirts the Devon coast until it reaches the newly built through station at Broadwell which is located just to the west of Lyme Regis. After Broadwell the line continues eastwards along the coast joining the existing GWR line at Bridport.

CANADA STREET (EM)

Carole Johnson

Canada Street’ aims to re-create a little of the working environment of the numerous small diesel shunting engines once operated by British Railways. Many of these engines spent their working lives on hidden-away freight-only branch lines and sidings left from the pre-WW2 heyday of rail traffic. As road transport and container boxes gradually took over the distribution of more and more loads in the late 1960s or 1970s, these branch lines faded into neglect, and most of the engines that worked them had gone for scrap in the late 1970s.

The exchange sidings behind the Canada Street dock wall are visited by a variety of mixed traffic locomotives, working short mixed freight trains to and from the nearby large marshalling yard. The shunting engine stabled in the sidings then sorts the arriving train, before taking strings of wagons around the tight radius curve of the dock branch for delivery to the wharves or wagon repair workshop within the docks. Occasionally wagons may be checked on the weighbridge located within the yard. Return ‘trip’ trains emerge from amongst the dockside mills, before being shunted into the departing mixed trains for the onward journey towards their destination.

Operation of the layout portrays various locations around Britain between 1960 and 1979. The engines and wagons in use seek to accurately model the rolling stock from whichever year and area are being displayed. Many of the shunting engines modelled were found in only a few local areas, so the scenery aims to provide an industrial backdrop typical of many waterside regions. The buildings modelled are based on real prototypes from a variety of different dockside locations including Ipswich, Gloucester and Liverpool.

FARINGDON (P4)

Rex Davidson

Built by the well-known model maker and author, Stephen Williams, the layout is a scale model of the former GWR branch station at Faringdon in Oxfordshire and is entirely hand-built in 4mm scale to P4 (18.83mm) gauge. The model depicts the station as it might have appeared during the transition from GWR to BR ownership during the period between 1947 and 1955. As was typical of minor routes at this time, the buildings retain the colours of the former GWR, but most of the engines and stock carry the new liveries of British Railways. Although at various stages of its history, Faringdon saw passenger services that linked the town to both Swindon and Didcot, by 1945 the service was little more than a shuttle service to the junction at Uffington and these ceased at the end of 1951. Some artistic licence has therefore been used in extending both the time frame for the model and in showing a more varied range of typical branch line trains that would actually have been seen at the time. So in addition to the “Pannier” tank with its curious “Concertina” coach that formed the real Faringdon branch train in the final years, viewers may also see Large and Small “Prairie” tanks as well as a Collett goods on local services from Swindon and Didcot and branch freights.

The construction of the layout adopted entirely conventional approaches. The trackwork is all hand-made using the “rivet and ply method” with cosmetic chairs, the buildings are made from card and painted with water colours, following Pendon practice, and the scenery shows the influence of Pendon and Barry Norman’s work. Engines and rolling stock include some converted items of R-T-R models, but most originate in good quality kits.

GRANTHAM – THE STREAMLINER YEARS (OO)

Graham Nicholas

Grantham – the Streamliner Years is a OO-gauge exhibition layout, depicting this well-known location on the East Coast mainline in the 1930’s. Specifically, the target timespan is 1935-1939, to allow the iconic streamliner trains to be run.

The layout features an extensive collection of pre-war LNER rolling stock, many of the items being specifically built for the layout. This includes a complete collection of Gresley pacifics (as they were in 1938), based on repaints/ renumbering of the standard Hornby products, as well an extensive collection of kit-built locos. The streamliner trains (Coronation and Silver Jubilee built; West Riding planned) naturally feature, as well as the 1938 Flying Scotsman set and the unique Leeds Quint dining set. Contrasting with this are the humble everyday LNER stock, including elderly ex-GNR local stock and the distinctive pre-war iron ore wagons for the High Dyke traffic, adding greatly to the variety of trains that would have inevitably have been seen at the location.

The layout is operated to a day-time schedule based on the summer 1938 timetable, depicting a representative selection of trains (including all the streamliners) and featuring loco changes, arriving/departure passenger trains (from Derby/Nottingham, Leicester, Lincoln and Boston) and goods traffic, all served by the adjacent loco depot.

The layout has also featured in British Railway Modelling 2013 Annual and March 2014 issue. A two-part ‘layout complete’ article was published in BRM during 2022. A selection of photographs by Tony Wright are attached.

HARTBURN (EM)

Ian Manderson

A study in rural Northumberland tranquillity at the end of steam.

Hartburn is a small village in Northumberland. It was never served directly by rail but lay just north of the old Wansbeck Valley Railway from Morpeth to Redesmouth, with the nearest station being Angerton.

However, the original plan put forward in 1855 to link Morpeth and Rothbury proposed a line via Meldon, Hartburn and Longwitton. This proposition pre-dated the Wansbeck Valley. A survey and report was produced by John Willet but nothing came of the project and Rothbury was eventually linked to Morpeth by the Northumberland Central Railway (NCR) that joined the Wansbeck Valley at Scot’s Gap.

I have therefore based the plan for the layout on the assumption that this original route was built. The track-plan is based on an amalgamation of the 1862 and 1896 layouts for Angerton. The station buildings are based on those at Brinkburn on the NCR. The layout is set around 1962/3 just prior to closure.

HOLMESHURST (O)

Ian Burford

The passing of the Light Railways Act in 1896 prompted many proposals for the creation of light railways. Amongst these was the proposal for the development of a new coastal resort to the southwest of the existing town of Winchelsea. Integral to the design and promotion of the new development was the provision of a good railway connection to South Eastern Railway at Rye Harbour.

The prepared scheme, found that it would be possible to get authorisation much more simply under the Railway Construction Facilities Act 1864. By structuring the line as a tramway, the public road level crossings would not require the special safety arrangements required for railway operation, and accordingly they formed the Dinsdale & Dogs Hill Tramway.

Built on three 3ft x 2ft boards the layout features a passing loop and a single siding served by a cassette type, fiddle yard.

Built over a period of 4 years the layout reflects the vernacular architecture of the ancient Sussex towns of Hastings, Rye and Winchelsea.

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.

LISWORTH BAY (N)

John Spence

The London and South Western Railway forged its way south-west during the railway age of the 19th Century, sprouting branches to coastal towns on its way; Lisworth Bay was one of these. Although originally a terminus, during the Great War the line was extended to serve a nearby ordnance depot and the road access to the station was interrupted by the installation of the level crossing across this extension. Improvements in roads in the post-WWII years also saw a decline in its use and the extension was due to be lifted during the 1950’s. However, the increased tension of the Cold War years encouraged the government to retain it as a precautionary measure. The branch was “rationalised” shortly after nationalisation and became a single line, the track-plan simplified and part of the original down line retained only as a storage siding. Trains are typical of those seen on the region; portions of express passenger services, split at various stations en route, reach the terminus alongside local passenger workings, freight, parcels, newspaper and milk traffic. The whole branch to Lisworth Bay, was condemned to be closed as part of the Beeching Report and trains last ran in the early autumn of 1966. The trackbed has recently become a cycle route.

The layout, which was Railway of the Month in Railway Modeller in July ’22, is modular with the main fiddle-yard at 90° to the scenic section and a later traverser added to the opposite end representing the Ordnance Depot. The original format featured only the station approach, terminus and main fiddle yard but has been extended by the addition of two more boards, the first featuring a farm and the second a 60’ high viaduct over the River Lis.

MELTON MOWBRAY NORTH (N)

Ashford Model Railway Museum

The line through Melton Mowbray was a joint venture between the Great Northern and London and North Western Railway companies, opening for traffic in 1879. The Great Northern Railway built the northern part of the line, from junctions on the Nottingham to Grantham line, where one branch also ran north to their main line at Newark. The southern part of the line, from Market Harborough to Melton Mowbray was built by the LNWR, as an extension to their line from Rugby. In addition, there was a spur, some several miles south of Melton, to a terminus at Leicester Belgrave Road. Traffic was diverse, coal and ironstone being the two major minerals conveyed by the railway, and, during the hunting season, the aristocracy would send their mounts and later arrive themselves at the rather grand station on the north of the town centre, very near to the cattle market which was also a major source of trade in the town. After WWII, as social conditions changed, the line gradually fell into decline and local passenger trains were terminated in 1953. However, during the summer months, excursions from Leicester to the east coast resorts, particularly Skegness, were a feature at weekends. Freight traffic continued until the final closure in 1964. Sadly, little remains of the railway and this model is a tribute to its former glory.

Also built as a joint venture, the model is run in two eras. The first is from 1948 to 1953, showing the line as it was with local passenger and freight traffic regularly passing through. However, we also imagine what things might have been like between 1957 and 1962 had the line come under the supervision of the Midland Region of British Railways following the Modernisation plan of 1955 and seen the dawn of the diesel age. In an attempt to revive usage, we imagine through trains were re-introduced from Rugby to both Nottingham and Newark, the latter accessing the East Coast Main Line.

OULTON TMD (OO)

Allan Cromarty

Oulton TMD (Traction and Maintenance Depot), is a fictitious location set in the midlands, utilising locos and rolling stock that typically ran from the early nineties until 1997 - the changeover period from British rail sectorisation to privatisation.

The layout started life in 2005 and originally consisted of a Railfreight Distribution maintenance shed, with refuelling point and loco stabling point. In 2009 a station area and freight sidings were added, followed by an oil terminal and virtual quarry (ballast yard) in 2010. In 2012, “Kibblestone” cement works was incorporated into the layout and finally in 2017 Kibblestone station and goods yard was added. In early 2018 rebranding of the TMD took place, with a change from Railfreight Distribution to Rail Express Systems.

Now, along with the RES locos, engineering trains and stock vans that provide interest in the depot, various passenger trains and larger freight trains can be seen operating as well. All this, along with sound fitted locos, hopefully help captures the sights and sounds of a modern railway scene.

Locos and stock are all “ready to run”, their liveries range from BR large logo blue, up to Railfreight triple grey, Transrail and Loadhaul, with most classes of locos making an appearance. To add interest the occasional steam special can be seen (and heard!).

PENWORTH (N)

Mark Butler

Penworth is a ‘Pendonesque’ GWR Branch Line Terminus in N Gauge. The layout has been bult to show that similar standards as those to be seen at Pendon Museum could be achieved in 2mm.

The buildings are scratch built copies of buildings on Pendon’s Vale scene but scaled down to 2mm.

Penworth features hands free shunting for added realism.

PLUMPTON GREEN (P4)

Barry & Chris Luck

In the early 1900’s, Plumpton was a small settlement between Lewes and Ditchling in East Sussex. In 1843 the railway arrived, passing about 2 miles to the north of the village, when the link between Keymer Junction and Lewes was built by the London Brighton and South Coast Railway.

A station was eventually constructed in 1863 and Plumpton Racecourse was opened in 1886, immediately south of the station, which seems to have triggered significant improvements – a new signal cabin, with capstan operated crossing gates, and an enlarged goods yard. At either end of the station layby sidings were provided, each about 1000ft long, used primarily on race days to accommodate race specials.

The Keymer Junction-Lewes line remains an important link to London, and much of the 1863 station remains, although the goods yard has long gone. In its heyday it would have seen race specials, pick-up goods and the Newhaven boat service as well as stopping and through passenger trains.

Our model is very closely based on Plumpton as it was in the period 1900-1914. Inevitably some compromises have been made (hence the name ‘Plumpton Green’). The station limits have been shortened a little, and the layby sidings have been truncated, with most of the length of each siding ‘off-scene’. The only significant changes I have made to the facilities are the provision of the up bay to add some operational interest (principally intended for horse boxes), and the connection from a brickworks at the London end.

WIMBORNE (OO)

Wimborne Railway Society

In 1847 the Southampton and Dorchester Railway opened its line through Wimborne. For a number of years Wimborne was the busiest station in Dorset. Subsequently the Southampton and Dorchester became part of the LSWR and later the Southern Railway. After Nationalisation in 1948 the railway became part of Southern region of British Railways. Between 1847 and 1888 the mainline to Poole and Weymouth came through Wimborne. In 1888 the Direct Line between Brockenhurst and Bournemouth opened and from then on, the line through Wimborne became very much a backwater being known amongst railwaymen as the ‘Old Road’. Until 1933 Wimborne was a junction for the Somerset and Dorset Railway. Between 1863 and 1920 passenger trains travelling from Poole to Burnham reversed at Wimborne. Some freight continued to transfer to and from the S&D at Wimborne until 1933. The line finally closed in 1974 and only a few traces of the line remain in the local area.

The model has been a very long time in construction being first started in 1976. At that time the buildings still existed and site visits were made. Also, official BR plans of the station area were obtained. For a number of years, the model lay dormant but in 2006 a group of members decided to finish it and now in 2014 the model is virtually complete.

The model represents the line from just east of the low narrow bridge at Leigh Road to west of the Stour Viaduct but just short of Lady Wimborne’s Bridge. The station area is to scale but the curves at each end are considerably greater than they would have been in real life. Inevitably there are gaps in our knowledge but all the major items on the model are built as accurately as possible, although some of the buildings are slightly out of position in relation to each other due to the constraints of the baseboards.