SHMRC Annual Exhibition
The following layouts are booked to appear at our next exhibition
Butley Mills (4mm scale EM gauge) – Iain Rice presented by Andy Vincent
Butley Mills is a layout that many people will know through the black and white photographs that were included in Iain Rice’s books and articles. In many ways it helped inform his later work on cameo layouts. Originally built by Iain Rice in P4, it forms part of the sequence of layouts set in Suffolk that were built by Iain and Bob Barlow. Now over forty years old, it is being carefully refurbished and DCC enabled to enable it make a limited number of exhibition appearances and allow many people to see it again.
Ditchling Green (7mm scale) – Rex Davidson & Stephen Williams
Gordon Gravett’s “Ditchling Green” can lay a justifiable claim to being one of the seminal layouts that re-shaped the trajectory of 7mm scale modelling in the 1990s, with its emphasis on high-quality scenic modelling as a central part of the concept of the layout. Set on an imagined and very secondary route from Lewes, along the course of the South Downs, to a junction at Keymer near Hassocks, the layout captures – in a remarkably small space – an unmistakable sense of time and place in a charming representation of the Southern Region of British Railways in a small Sussex town in the 1950s.
The new owners – Rex Davidson and Stephen Williams – have spent several years restoring the layout for public exhibition. Much of Gordon’s original concept and modelling work has been retained, but the opportunity has also been taken to develop the operational scope of the model, with the addition of a second fiddle yard and improvements to the lighting and presentation.
East Lynn (S gauge) – Simon Dunkley
East Lynn is located somewhere along the north Norfolk Coast, and is the terminus of two lines. The major route over the swing bridge sees a regular service of passenger and goods trains with a variety of locomotives whereas the branch tends to see less variety: the passenger service works in and out with the same loco and coaches, and the daily branch goods is served from East Lynn by a tank engine which spends some of its time on station pilot work, shunting carriages and wagons as required. An attempt is made to show the typical workings which might have occurred during a day in the late Victorian era, when railways were the primary means of transport and communication for all but short distances.
The layout was started in 1993, and made regular appearances at exhibitions for almost a quarter of a century . Being made to a non-commercial scale, nearly everything has been hand made by the late Trevor Nunn, with use of a few key components provided by the S Scale Model Railway Society.
Photograph: Andy May
FallerStadt (3.5 mm scale, HO gauge) – Dave Harris
The layout depicts a non- electrified secondary main line in Germany around the year 2000.
It features a working tram and bus system in the town scene behind the station.
Also to be seen is a steam loco museum in the former locomotive workshop.
The layout is operated using the MERG DCC system and control modules.
Fen End Pit (16mm gauge) – David Barham
Between Ely and March, amongst the rich peat soil of the Fens, deposits of sand and gravel have been quarried for many years. In a shallow pit a Ruston 10RB dragline loads skips to be hauled away by aging Simplex locomotives.
The gift of an original manual with scales drawings for a 10RB led to the construction of the dragline and inspired this 16mm scale layout, a tribute to an age before lorries and conveyor belts replaced rails.
Janes Creek (4mm scale EM gauge) – Andrew Browne
The Invicta Engineering Works, of Aveling and Porter, and Strood Steel Works, actually a casting foundry, were served by a rail connection off the SECR North Kent Line, now the Medway Valley Line, and the River Medway, with wharfs on Janes’ Creek and Pelican Creek.
The period is around 1920, after the works were remodelled in expectation of a boom in orders which did not come.
Two of the barges are modelled with the gear down, in order to pass under firstly, the Rochester bridges, then Janes’ Creek viaduct, gear having to go up again for access to the hatches, a “huffler” would be taken on to assist in this work, they would make use of the flow of a raising tide to come in, and a falling tide to leave, oars would also be used, mainly to help steerage.
Lambourn (4mm scale, P4 gauge) – Patrick Seale
The Lambourn Valley Railway was a branch railway line running from Newbury to Lambourn . Opened in 1898 and fulfilling a local need, it was in financial difficulties throughout its independent life and was sold to the Great Western Railway in 1905.
The line closed to passenger traffic in 1960, but a section between Newbury and Welford remained open for freight traffic to RAF Welford until 1972.
Lambourn, was originally started by Ian Harrison around 1979 and published in Model Railway Journal 23 in 1988. The period depicted is the Great Western Railway in the late 1930’s.
It was sold on to Alan Ketley who modified it by adding an additional board to the scenic side in between the fiddle yard and the station approach. This was to help the visual look by preventing locos, during shunting, disappearing “off stage”. He also increased the length of the station board to include the weigh bridge, office and station approach.
Ley Hill (2mm finescale) – Jerry Clifford
Ley Hill is a small layout, approx 4 ft long by 9 inches wide (including the fiddle yard). It was originally built by David Long, and has been added to by other subsequent owners. The layout is fully operational, with remote controlled turnouts and delayed action uncoupling. Look at the attention to detail, such as weed and flower heads, tufts of grass etc.
Photograph: Mark Fielder
Pengwynn Crossing (4mm scale, 00 gauge) – Bentley MRG
Pengwynn Crossing was originally built in 1989 by Ian Metcalfe who sold it to Bentley MRG in
1994. The layout aims to convey the atmosphere of a Cornish china clay branch. China clay is the
principal traffic but a fertiliser depot and permanent way sidings provide additional operational
interest together with some passenger trains. The layout is dominated by the Wheal Mannidge china
clay works which dispatches its product by rail to many parts of the country. China clay is messy
stuff and it gets everywhere so white is very much the dominant colour on this corner of the layout
Rye Sands (4mm scale, 00 gauge) – William Lloyd
Rye Sands is a 00 gauge cameo layout, designed to fit in a wardrobe or the back of a hatchback. The scene draws heavily from the real Rye Harbour branch constructed by the South Eastern Railway in the early 1850s, although it also includes structures from Folkestone and Hastings. The barren, timeless, location means the layout can portray any time in a period between the late 1800s and 1930s, although the rolling stock is primarily of the South Eastern and Chatham period.
Photograph: William Lloyd
Pwllheli (4mm scale, P4 gauge) – Jonathan Buckie
Situated in north-west corner of Wales, on the Llyn Peninsula, Pwllheli is the northern terminus of the Cambrian Coast Railway. 8 return workings a day traverse the coastal route to Machynlleth with services continuing onward to Shrewsbury.
The layout attempts to convey an impression of the station and its surrounding area as it appeared between 2000 – 2012 prior to ERTMS coming into operation, with a regular DMU passenger service, interspersed with an occasional heritage rail tour or engineers train. Buildings and associated details have been laser cut from MDF, Rowmark, etc using drawings created in AutoCAD. Where possible these drawings are based on actual plans obtained through Gwynedd Council or where these are unavailable from photographs or a Google street view survey.
Locos and rolling stock are based on prototypes recorded as running on the Cambrian line during the period modelled.
Photograph: British Railway Modelling