Well-known EM Gauge modeller Tony Wood built Barber’s Bridge in 1999 as an exercise in minimum-space modelling for use at home and shows as part of a modelling demonstration. Tony used many items he already had to hand, so the total build cost was just £20!

 The trackplan is a simple ‘Inglenook’-style arrangement, single road fiddle-yard (9”) leading onto 2 points, giving 3 sidings – the front pair of roads will each take a single Bo-Bo locomotive and the rearmost siding will take 2 Co-Cos at a pinch. Operation is also simple – diesel locomotives run onto the 27” scenic section for fuel and stabling until their next diagram. A selection of classes may be seen, primarily ER and LMR locos from classes 08, 20, 24, 25, 31, 37, 40, 45 and 47. The middle and rear-most sidings are served by an either-side single-pump fuelling point with the storage tanks at the front, these filled via pipework and connectors on the front siding – an occasional single 45t TTA tank provides sufficient diesel for an average week’s operation.
Control is usually via a NCE PowerCab DCC system, and many locomotives have been fitted with sound decoders.

The scenics are left exactly as originally done by Tony and feature working lights throughout the layout

Barber’s Bridge was featured in Rail Express #44 (January 2000).