Hope-under-Dinmore

EM Gauge (18.2 mm) 4mm / 1 ft Scale

The Shrewsbury & Hereford Railway Company obtained an Act of Parliament in 1846 to build a narrow gauge (4’ 8½” gauge) railway from Shrewsbury to Hereford . The line covered a distance of 50.5 miles and work commenced in 1850. The line opened from Shrewsbury to Ludlow on the 21st April 1852. The Hereford section of the line opened on the 30^th July 1853 for goods traffic and for passengers in December.

In 1862 the Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway was jointly leased by the London & North Western Railway (LNWR), the Great Western Railway (GWR) and the West Midland Railway (WMR). By 1871 the WMR had amalgamated with the GWR, so the LNWR and the GWR jointly acquired the Shrewsbury & Hereford line.

In 1887 the traffic levels on the line were increased by the opening of the Severn Tunnel and in May 1892, the conversion of the broad gauge lines to standard gauge to the west of Exeter meant even longer distance through services on the line.

A station was built to the south of Dinmore tunnel, Dinmore, which was closed in 1958. The layout is based on a fictitious station that is assumed to be at the north end of the tunnel, close to the village of Hope-under-Dinmore .

The layout is 6.00m (19ft 8in long) and 3.35m (11ft) wide and features a double track main line with a single-track branch line. Track is to EM gauge (18.2mm) using a mixture of C&L plain track and hand built turnouts. Turnouts are operated by “Tortoise” point motors.

Signals are based on LNWR design and are operated by “The Bouncer” system which utilises programmed model aircraft servos. See website -http://www.copnor.enta.net/FS/TheBouncer.htm

There are two signal boxes that are based on the signal box at Leominster . The station building is a mirror image of that at Dinmore that still exists as a private house.

The layout is set in the pre-grouping period 1904 to 1920. Trains are operated to a schedule and are a mixture of LNWR and GWR.

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Last updated: 09 June, 2011

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