New Bryford - 4mm ‘OO’ - website
New Bryford is an attempt to portray the railway scene in the Northwest of England. The last couple of years have seen a considerable upheaval in railway freight operation with the emergence of the English, Welsh & Scottish Railway as a company that is to increase the amount of goods carried by rail. A wide variety of goods traffic will be shown, from block coal, steel and oil trains, to ‘enterprise’ mixed services that carry almost everything. Passenger services are by Sprinter, Pacer and 158 units on Trans-Pennine duties. The operators will be happy to discuss aspects of operation, modern BR practices and layout construction.

Dimsdale View - ‘N’Gauge
This is a first attempt at ‘N’Gauge. The layout depicts a suburban station & yard in a city somewhere in England. This enables many different types of trains to be operated. The large variety of wagon types, some of which are unusual, provide a feature for the layout, as does the hands off shunting which uses electromagnets to uncouple the trains. Ask about the building construction. You may well be surprised.

Overlord - 4mm ‘OO’
The inspiration for the exhibit came from a book describing the part played by the Port of Southampton in D-Day landing in 1944. (Codename ‘Overlord’ - hence the title). It also provides an opportunity to combine the interests of railway, military and boat modelling. The buildings and cranes are loosely prototyped at Southampton, Liverpool and Sharpness Docks. Over 80 vehicles are depicted, these are mostly standard Airfix and Matchbox kits & the unusual tanks come from war-gaming specialists. The model ships themselves are a mixture of kits and scratch built items. The landing craft was scratch built from plans and from the memories of Reg walker. The centerpiece destroyer, HMS Grenville took two years to build and is a fully working radio-controlled model.

Kimbolton Castle - 7mm ‘O’ Gauge
The proposed construction of a railway line in 1885 from Bedford to Peterborough did not materialise. However, under a light railway order it has been assumed that part of it was built from Castor Junction, near Peterborough, to Kimbolton. In the 1930s running powers were granted to the LNER and this resulted in considerable upgrading of the track standard etc. This arrangement continued until final closure in 1956 when the line became known as Kym Valley Railway. The period modeled is 1947 - 1956.

Middlepeak - 4mm 18.83 Gauge P4 Standard
At first glance, you could be excused for thinking that this is a slice of the 19th century in model form. However, a closer look at the subject of the model reveals that this is the Cromford & High Peak Railway in the early 1960s. Middlepeak recreates the atmosphere of one of those inclines. At the foot of the hill is Middlepeak Wharf, where the railway works nestles alongside the Cromford Canal. The connection to the Midland mainline leaves to the left. Leaving the yard at a steady gradient of 1 in 8, Middlepeak Incline stretches upwards into the trees. The small goods yard perched on the hillside is where the wagons are detached from the wire rope ready to be shunted by another locomotive for their onward journey. Operation of the incline is, as close to the prototype as a scale model will allow. Middlepeak is the cumulation of over 20 years research on this railway.

Feniton - 3mm ‘TT’ Gauge
The layout is supposedly situated in Devon and represents the ex GWR and LSWR lines between Honiton & Exeter. The station is based on Botley near Southampton located near to Sidmouth Junction as if the GWR main line from Paddington to Exeter had followed the LSWR route through Honiton to Exeter. The period modelled is in the 1940s/50s. The locomotives and rolling stock include standard and modified ‘Triang’ kits and scratch built items.

Wantage - 7mm ‘O’ Gauge
This layout is closely based on the Mill Street Terminus of the Wantage Tramway Company. The period is approximately 1920, before the demise of the passenger service. The railway buildings are all based on the prototype structures but the gasworks, which hides the fiddleyard, is pure fiction. The rolling stock is believed appropriate for the location and period. It does, we hope give the right atmosphere, including the hanging of the red lamp on the coupling hook of the last vehicle. For the kids among you, (big or small), there are four cats lazing about on the layout, see if you can spot them. (All four are based on prototype cats that have owned us and all are known by name)!

Carne - OO9 Narrow Gauge
‘Carne’ is a fictitious village in the West Country and the layout depicts the run-down narrow gauge branch line entering the village during the late 1960s. The preservation society is trying to keep the trains running with borrowed locomotives and ageing rolling stock. The aim is to restore the whole line. The layout’s emphasis is on scenery and an area of Carne village and it’s neighbour ‘Chapel End’ have been modelled amidst typical British countryside.

Midfield - 7mm ‘O’ Gauge
Construction of the layout started in 1989 with the first showing in 1991. From 1991 to 1997 the period set for the layout was late LMS, however to allow for the use of additional rolling stock the period is being changed to early 1950s. This allows a mixture of pre and post nationalization liveries and rolling stock to be seen alongside each other. Traffic consists of the typical four or five times passenger service plus extra on market days. Freight traffic mainly consists of mainly the collection and delivery of farm produce and wagons to and from Midfield’s two largest employers; the biscuit factory and, through the narrow overgrown cutting the gas company. All signals etc are interlocked with the points as in full size practice. Don’t miss the main attraction, the working steam crane rescuing a derailed wagon.

Melbridge Dock - 4mm 16.5 mm Gauge - website
Melbridge Dock represents a small part of a large, fictitious dockyard complex somewhere near the borders of England and Scotland. The period is between 1952 and 1962; steam is being ousted by diesel but a variety of both types can still be seen operating. Many of these have been designed especially for dockyard use because the tight curves preclude the use of larger locomotives. Road transport is increasing in prominence. Meanwhile one of the last operating Clyde ‘Puffers’ is moored at the quayside. Locomotives and rolling stock are mainly kit built with a few scratch built and modified RTR items. All have been chosen for their suitability for a dockyard. Couplings are Spratt and Winckle Mk 1 operated by permanent magnets. The track work is scratch built from code 75 rail and copper clad sleepers. All points are operated by Peco point motors. Melbridge Dock was featured in the February 1997 edition of British Railway Modelling.

Abbots Dale - OO9 Narrow Gauge
Originally planned to connect Sheffield and Macclesfield, it has been assumed that this section of the line was built to a gauge of 2' 3" in the 1880s to connect the upland area of the Derbyshire Peak District around Tideswell to Buxton and to the Hope Valley at Bamford. The canal represents the proposed extension of the Peak Forest Canal to Padley and has slowly been sliding towards bankruptcy since the opening of the Midland Railway’s Hope Valley Line. However, at the beginning of the 1920s there is still sufficient traffic to sustain both railway and canal with the railway additionally benefitting from a steady growth in tourist traffic.

Mill Ridge - 4mm ‘OO’ Gauge - website
Mill Ridge is an imaginary station located on the Edgeware Branch of the London Underground Northern Line. Built as a result of the 1935 New Works programme, Mill Ridge was opened to serve the rapidly expanding residential commuter areas beyond the Edgeware terminus. The model represents the station and its surrounding area as it might have been during the late 1970s. The station is based on Arnos Grove at the eastern end of the Piccadilly Line. Details include: - WH Smith kiosk, ticket office, toilets and amber uplighting as installed on the prototype. Trains are formed of 1931 standard stock and 1938/1959 Metro Cammell stock together with track maintenance trains, operated by a pair of battery locomotives. All track work, including the live rails and over 1000 conductor rail insulators, are from Peco. Look for the characteristic blue flash as trains pass through the tunnel and under the station bridge.

Vintage 60s - ‘OO’ Gauge
Mike Fowler and his friends from the Train Collectors’ Society have brought along a vast selection of trains from the 1960s. These are the forerunners of today’s super detailed model railways in 4mm scale. Mike and friends will be only too pleased to chat about their trains or about the Train Collectors’ Society. They hold an exhibition every year at Sandy in Bedfordshire.

Nuts Lane - ‘N’Gauge Trams
This layout features 10 ‘N’ Gauge trams working from an overhead wire on a simple oval. Look for the six items (one of which is a red herring) which will give the day of the week. There are two items that stand out like a sore thumb which show the precise date in the year. The town hall clock tells the correct time. Also spot the footballers, Fred Dibnah, the Mayor and the Twins.

Ddaullt - OO9 Narrow Gauge
Dduallt Station marks the start of the Llyn Ystradau deviation on the 2’ Gauge Festiniog in North Wales and represents one of the major achievements of the British steam railway preservation movement. In 1956 the 1842 route of the Festiniog Railway was flooded in the Ystradau Valley above Moelwyn Tunnel, as part of the CEGB’s Tanygrisiau pumped storage scheme. The Festiniog Railway then being revived with help of the Festiniog Railway Society, proposed to rebuild the line to Blaenau Ffestiniog bypassing the new lake and power station to the North. To gain height this spiral formation was built around Dduallt Station. The layout depicts Dduallt Station circa 1988 with its now sadly disconnected passing loop in use.

Milldale - ‘Z’ Gauge
Milldale is a small ‘Z’ Gauge layout. It was built as a compromise between an exhibiton layout and one which could be used at home for playing trains. The layout depicts the LNER prior to nationalization somewhere in the North East. All stock and buildings are scratch built, the former using Marklin chassis. A double track mainline in the foreground is for watching the trains go by whilst behind is a single track branch line with station, goods sidings and turntable. Milldale gets its name from the imposing windmill on the bridge above the village.