13th Street Yard, USA 1970-1990s
3.5mm:ft/ 16.5mm gauge (HO)
John Baggaley – Set in a fairly vague period of the later 20th century, 13th Street Yard is a small fictitious switching yard set on the edge of a city somewhere in the USA.
The situation of line running on the streets and through buildings is common across the USA, a well known example being in San Franscisco until the late 1960s. The incoming trains are hauled by diesel road locomotive which then hand-off the freight cars onto a switcher for distribution around the various industries.
A Glimpse of the Algarve, Portugal
2mm:ft / 9mm gauge (N Gauge)
John Cannons – This represents a typical small town on the Sotovento, or leeward coast in the south of Portugal. In this region the railway traverses the wetland, between the sea and the mountains.
Portuguese railway rolling stock has been purchased from various international manufacturers. Similarly the models come from a variety of sources, all being repainted in the correct livery. Some have been scratch built using proprietry chassis and mechanisms.
Buildings have been scratchbuilt, all are based upon prototypes drawn or photographed in the region. Some architectural drawings were supplied by the Camara Municipal do Faro.
Broadwater Depot, BR 1960-1970s
7mm:ft / 32mm gauge (O Gauge)
Mark Pollard – Broadwater Depot is an imaginary motive power depot built to display a growing collection of O Gauge kit-built locomotives in a realistic environment. The layout is very minimum space for O Gauge, with just 4 points and a turntable and scenic features of a busy secondary engine shed in southern England. The shed is home to a number of Southern and Western Region locos from small tank engines which work local services and larger locomotives for inter-regional and through trains to London.
The layout is DCC controlled and a few locos can be heard ticking over or just simmering while awaiting their next duty.
Croxley Wiggenhall Road Depot, BR 1970s
4mm:ft / 16.5mm gauge (OO Gauge)
Nigel Spate – based loosely on the LMR Croxley Green Depot, our layout attempts to capture some of the key elements of the area just south-west of Watford, in the 1960-1980 period. Both the owners of this layout have an interest in the DC North London Lines as well as links with another layout based on the same network, therefore this project seemed a natural progression. The main shed building is a cut-down version of that at Croxley Green and accommodates BR Class 501 EMUs and LUL 1938 tube stock as well as a selection of other appropriate EMUs.
Kidmore Magna Curve, GWR/BR
2mm:ft / 9mm gauge (N Gauge)
David Mitchell -When the GWR decided to extend its service between Williton and Listock Harbour on Bridgewater Bay, the Quantock Hills, particularly Kidmore Hill at the edge of the Quantock Forest, required that the line had to be curved very sharply before entering a tunnel through the hill. Unfortunately the only suitable location for a station for Kidmore Magna (the village being some half a mile distant to the east) was on the inside of what became known as ‘The Curve’. As a result, Kidmore Magna station became famous for having one of the most curved station platforms in GWR history.
The layout started life as a continuous run test track, but rather than bare boards a scenic finish could be easily and cheaply achieved to demonstrate that a successful model railway can be built in the smallest of spaces at minimal expense!
Little Binfield Light Railway, Col Stephens 1920s
7mm:ft / 32mm gauge (O Gauge)
Tony Dean – Inspired by the playwright Oscar Wilde, a compressed version of the real track plan at Bembridge (IoW), this little Colonel Stephens’ style light railway terminus is set in the mid-Berkshire town of Binfield, sandwiched between the towns of Bracknell and Wokingham.
The line to ‘little Binfield’, the imaginary country estate of the fictitious family of Lady Bracknell and her husband who built the railway, characters created by Oscar Wilde in his 1895 play ‘The Importance of Being Ernest’, supposedly brances out from the northern end of the real SECR/LSWR junction station at Wokingham to run a couple of miles to little Binfield, on the north west edge of the real Binfield village.
As is common with light railways, it has an eclectic and somewhat haphazard selection of locomotives and stock.
The characters on the layout are those from the play, it’s creator and real historic personalities of Binfield Village in the late Victorian and Edwardian period, discovered from documents in Binfield local library. The layout is primarily designed to run in the 1897-1914 period, but can also be adapted to depict more modern periods when desired.
Portskerra, Highland Rly, Circa 1915
4mm:ft / 18.2mm gauge (EM Gauge)
Tim Tincknell - Portskerra is the terminus of a fictional Highland Railway branch line on the north coast of Scotland. Although a branch to Portskerra was proposed as a Light Railway in 1898, and some surveying work carried out, the line never progressed beyond that.
The model uses buildings of typical Highland style and the track layout has features of other Highland termini incorporated. The time period is spring 1915, the increase in traffic due to the Great War bringing many wagons from ‘foreign’ companies to a usually quiet line. The layout is constructed to 4mm scale, but uses EM Gauge track for greater accuracy, plain track being C&L with hand-built pointwork. Buildings are constructed from plasticard or wood.
Grassland uses Noch electrostatic fibres to give a rougher look, while leafless trees are made from twisted wire covered with filler. Locomotives are kit built from a variety of sources, rolling stock is kit built, modified or scratch built from drawings available from the highland Railway Society.
Prospect Wharf & Yard, LMS 1930s
Gauge: EM (18.2mm)
Mike Bell - The setting is LMS/MR mid 1930s The original site was owned by a canal company and purchased by the Railway, who converted the wharf warehouse to railway use by opening the end wall for track access. Due to the restricted space and to accommodate a new warehouse a diamond track plan was adopted. As a result the shunter's and loco men had to plan all movements carefully to avoid blocking in the locos. A thumbnail sketch of operation is -The train arrives and enters the reception road then either the yard shunter removes the brake van into the departure road or the train loco runs round and does this. If it is a perishable good's train for the coldstore the train loco will shunt it into the coldstore siding then go to the loco service siding. If the train is general good's traffic the yard loco's will sort the wagons to their various sidings.
Ravenscroft Sidings, Post-Br North East UK, Late 1980s
4mm:ft / 18.83mm gauge (P4)
Simon Bendall - Ravenscroft Sidings is a fictitious layout set in the industrial heart of Teesside. Taking its inspiration from the heavy industries found in the area, the layout features a rail-served steel distribution terminal with overhead gantry crane. Other passing freight traffic also features whilst the line still supports a spartan passenger service in the form of DMUs.
Set during 1988, the layout depicts the early period of Sectorisation as Railfreight adopted the sub-sector structure and associated triple-grey livery, with freshly repainted locos rubbing shoulders with classmates still variously in BR blue, Railfreight grey and assorted other colours. With Thornaby being the local main depot, its fleet of Kingfisher emblem-shod diesels is much in evidence, working a variety of trip, mixed and bulk freights.
The layout is built to 18.83/P4 gauge using P4 Track Company products. All structures are scratch built with some incorporating items from Walthers. Locos are variously from Bachmann, Hornby and Heljan with freight stock being a mixture of ready-to-run and kits. |
