2003 Exhibition
The SHMRC 2003 exhibition was held on Saturday 1st March 2003 at the Admiral Lord Nelson School, Dundas Lane, Portsmouth.
LAYOUTS
Botleigh is based loosley on Botley Station, between Fareham and Eastleigh, set in the early 1960s in the twilight years of steam where a wide variety of steam and diesel locomotives can be seen. For the purposes of the model it is assumed that a major landslide has closed the line on to Fareham and so Botleigh has become an impromptu terminus. A lot of the passenger traffic handled is due to tourists visiting the abbots palace at nearby Abbots Waltham, itself served by a branch line from Botleigh until the late 1950s.
|
|
|
The layout supposes that the LSWR developed the Coley area of Reading instead of the GWR in order to gain a stronger foothold in the Reading area. A requirement for the LSWR to service locomotives at their own depot resulted in the building of Coley Park engine shed., which after nationalisation was allocated the shed code 70K.
The trackwork is hand built to 2mm Scale Association standards using code 40 rail. The rolling stock has either been built from scratch, from kits, or are re-wheeled proprietary items. The majority of the buildings are Metcalfe, Ratio, Kestrel and Knightwing kits, with added detail and weathering.
|
|
|
Cricketer's Green is a watch the trains go by layout. It does not attempt to
represent any particular time or place but
tends to the steam era. The track plan is a double track folded circle, so
trains go round the boards
twice to complete one lap which is very close to a scale mile. There is a
simple passenger station , on an enbankment, at one side of the
layout and an extensive array of storage tracks at the other.
Bring any EM gauge locomotives or stock along to the exhibition and run them on
Cricketers Green. You will be very welcome.
The model has been inspired by the Culm Valley Railway, which opened in 1896 linking Hemyock to Tiverton Junction a distance of just over 7 miles. The layout is a total length 11ft x 2ft 6in with a scenic area 8ft x 2ft 6in. Base boards are made from 6mm ply supported on simple ‘A’ frame legs 3ft 6in off the ground. Trackwork is a mixture of C&L and SMP flexi track with Marcway points operated by Tortoise point motors laid on cork flooring tiles. All structures have been scratch built from plywood, mounting card or plastic working from photograph and drawings of the prototypes although a degree of modellers licence has been used. The layout is still under construction but should be complete for the exhibition.
|
|
|
Ferring is an accurate portrayal of a LBSCR branch terminus off the Brighton tp Portsmouth line near Goring, Sussex, and is set in 1911. Main features include the working turntable, the signals, 50 lever frame and fine collection of locomotives in four liveries. Typical LBSCR practise of the time is portrayed and to capture a 'Brighton' atmosphere, most of the buildings are based on real ones. The station building is a copy of Hove, built in 1865, the signal box is based on Eastbourne, the water tank house ooon Dorking and the goods shed from Epsom Town. The twin twin arched road bridge has a prototype in Cheam.
Designed as a through station the line was never extended to the Lizard, instead a bus service was provided. The railway certainly tried to provide a service to the community but closure to passenger traffic came on 5th November 1962. Within two years the goods traffic ceased and the line was gone forever.
The layout is an accurate model based upon a series of articles by Mr Pat English published in Model Railway News, between January and November 1967. The period modelled is 1946 to 1949. Research as well as building took over fifteen years to accomplish with information continually being received. The layout is fully signalled with working signals and is operated to an original timetable covering a full week-day. All stock is fitted with B&B automatic couplings. The layout has features in "Railway Modeller" (November 1990) and "British Railway Modelling" (April 1994) and has been included as an appendix in a book entitled "The Helston Branch Railway" published by Oakwood Press. In-Focus Video Productions have produced a complete video from construction to exhibiting the layout.
Hemlock Down was deliberately conceived as an exercise in building a layout which would be of both minimal length and weight. As such it is only 8'6" in length and can, if need be, be erected by one person. It is also small enough to be transportable in an estate car, as well as fitting entirely in one room, thereby greatly aiding its completion.
The station itself owes much to Hemyock on the Culm Valley Line, although it has been altered in respect of the siding arrangements and by the removal of the Creamery which was such a feature of Hemyock. However, it remains a small rural station in the light railway tradition, with buildings in the standardised style set by Arthur Paine for many other light railways all over England.
This is an model railway diorama project by a pair of like minded modellers who live in Basingstoke. This diorama represents elements of 1960s British Railways freight and mainline operations in a micro-space (for O Gauge), the scenic area being only 2.4 m (8 ft) long. The whole layout is designed for exhibiting at shows and all fits into an estate car for transportation.
The base of the design is a low level freight yard with 3 sidings and a higher level main line track. The freight operation is independant and not connected to the double track main line. The main line runs on a viaduct and this one seen in South West London where the Victoria lines cross the Waterloo lines, we took as our prototype. These arches are the rear of commercial units that front onto the other side of the railway. The freight line exits (stage right) under a typical British girder bridge.
Pine Bluffs is a fictitious town in Colorado, USA. The layout has been configured around a standard module format allowing both club baseboards and those built by individual members to be exhibited together. Trackwork and points are Peco code 75 finescale, operated by mechanical rods. Locomotives and rolling stock is a mixture of detailed and/or modified ready to run and kit built.
Rookfield started as a Millenium Challenge, build a layout in 1000 square inches in a year. The centre and right hand baseboards were the result. The layout was later extended by adding the left hand baseboard. At home, the left hand baseboard is replaced by a curved one and the layout then forms one of two intermediate stations on a larger layout, Yaxbury.
Kipford is a pure model railway and shows what can be achieved in a relatively small space. The layout runs at the exhibition with Thomas the Tank stock as an entertaining layout for our younger visitors.
This layout is closely based on the Mill Street terminous 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 fiddle yard, is pure fiction.
The rollong stock to be seen on the layout is appropriate for the location and period. Some of this stock has been scratchbuilt and gives the right atmosphere. The "Wantage" never had much use for either signalling or brakevans, their practice being to hang a red lamp on the coupling hook of the last vehicle.
|
|
|
Amongst the many Victorian railway plans that never materialised was one to connect the Cotswold town of Northleach, with Andoversford to its west and Burford to its east. We have imagined that this proposal was achieved and constructed. Windrush has thus become a small branch line from this plan, with a Junction situated at nearby Sherbome . Passenger services to Andoversford via Sherborne and Northleach can be seen and as the age of heavy motor transport hasn't yet happened, the majority of general goods merchandise including livestock and parcels are still carried by rail to both easterly and westerly directions. The locomotives and rolling stock typify the early aspirations of B.R. with motive power supplied mainly from the Gloucester Depots 22B and 85B on view…..with the occasional "borrowed" type. Primarily, this is a “blue disc” route, which allows a reasonably wide selection of prewar locomotives from W.R. and L.M.R. sources. No deliberate attempt has been made to replicate the village of Windrush, but hopefully what you will see before you is a slice of post-war rural English life as it existed midway through the 20th century.
Last updated 24th March 2003
