Scarborough North Bay Railway

The layout is my interpretation of the 20inch gauge real railway that runs for just under a mile from Northstead Manor Gardens to the Sea Life Centre above the beach at Scalby Mills in Scarborough. The railway has been a tourist attraction since 1931 and still remains popular. It runs to a published timetable every day from April to October and on a limited number of days at other times.​

 

The locomotives had always been diesel powered with three representations of Gresley A3 outline and a 4-6-4 tank locomotive which I am advised is a Robinson A5 – although that seems to have been a 4-6-2. In 2016, the charity which ran the railway had an industrial, steam operated locomotive built – it is an 0-4-0 and only 8’6” long.

 

Since the layout was completed in 2021, it has been well received at seven exhibitions around East Anglia and is booked for three more so far in 2025.

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With the help of my two co-operators, we are able to keep trains moving continuously and the working water chute keeps children and adults entertained in equal measure.

 

The layout is DCC controlled, using NCE Power Cab and Procab with points also operated via the hand sets. The A3 outline locomotives are Dapol N gauge models whilst the tank engine is a Graham Farish 2-6-4 Fairburn. Georgina, the little green locomotive is scratch built using a TU Koppel A motorised bogie and a Shapeways 3D printed body. We use Dapol Easi-shunt couplings with tiny neodymium magnets to operate them. All structures are scratch built from plastic sheet painted with acrylics.

 

The track is Peco code 80 flexitrack and electrofrog points, except in the reversing loop at Peasholm Station where restricted space required set track, insulfrog points. As a result, Georgina has needed a permanently attached, small carriage with pickups.

Harold Thompson February 2025