South Hants Model Railway Club 2010 Exhibition

The SHMRC 2010 exhibition was held on Saturday 13^th March 2010 at
The Admiral Lord Nelson School , Portsmouth , PO3 5XT

LAYOUTS
Cornwallis Yard    Kitehouses    Mason's Bridge Yard    Millford    Nine Mills    Otterbridge    Ropley    Selsey Town Station - 1925    Soberton    The Broadway    Weydon Road    Widley & St George, 00 gauge.(Thomas)

TRADERS
Kytes Lights    Kevin Robertson Books    Masterpiece Falcon Figures    Model Collectors Corner    Model Railway Developments    Page Components    Trains and Boats and Planes

Exhibited by Fareham & District Model Railway Club, Soberton is a "might have been" layout based on a fictitious Meon Valley Railway station somewhere between Wickham and Droxford in Hampshire.

Rather than running to a strict timetable we have settled on a style of operation where up to 10 trains tail-chase in each direction with pick up goods trains entering or leaving the goods yards in either direction and a branch shuttle running in and out of the bay platform; at the same time a pick up freight shunts wagons in the yard prior to departure. This style of operation ensures that there is always something going on visible portion of the layout, something important for a layout of this size.

The main feature remarked on by people viewing the layout is the feeling of spaciousness that it portrays; the trains really do give the impression that they are moving through the rolling chalk downlands of Hampshire.

Set in the period between the two World Wars, the layout represents a town somewhere in East Anglia. In fact it is based on Ilford Broadway after The 1923 alterations, with a lot of modeller's license.

Kevin is a specialist retailer in all books relating to transport, railways and railway modelling. He will have on sale an extensive collection of new and second hand railway books, covering a range of prototype subjects and modelling topics, for you to browse through and purchase.  There is usually a selection of special show bargains available at much reduced prices, so come and buy early before they disappear!  Kevin also publishes in his own right under the Noodle imprint, including the flagship publication title “The Southern Way”.

Based (very) loosely on Seahouses, the terminus of the North Sunderland Light Railway, Kitehouses represents an independent light railway whose operation was taken over by BR around 1949. It ran from an undetermined station on the East Coast main line to the small fishing port of Kitehouses. The line staggered on for many years, just about making it into the early diesel era, although by this time passenger traffic was very sparse with freight traffic just about justifying the line's continuing existence.

Our (self imposed) aim was to build this layout as an essay in illustrating how easy it is to build a starter P4 layout from available "ready to run" and kit items. We have used Exactoscale "New Track" components for making the trackwork. The buildings have been constructed using "off the shelf" kits (suitably altered by David) from Wills and Ratio. The stone walls are "out of the box" Hornby "Scaledale" while the cattle dock is a Bachmann resin cast item.

The Hundred of Manhood and Selsey Tramway opened in August 1897 and was constructed under the supervision of its engineer, Holman F Stephens. Built as a tramway to reduce costs, with lightweight rail and without having to provide normal safety measures at road crossings, the line was able to operate for many years without any legal authority. In 1924 the railway received a new title - the West Sussex Railway - possibly in an effort to encourage a takeover by the newly created Southern Railway. This was never to materialise and a steady decline in traffic forced this line to close finally in 1935.

The layout portrays a fairly accurate scene of Selsey as it would have appeared in 1925 and is modelled at a scale of 7mm to the foot The baseboards for the layout were constructed professionally the Old Barn Model Craftsman, who also laid the Marcway hand built lightweight track work and installed the electrics. The back scene was painted by a friend and local artist, Lawrie Crisp, and is a good representation of the scene at this time.

The scenery has been built using a variety of methods, as have the buildings which are all scratch built. The railway bungalow under construction and the blacksmith's barn are both figments of my imagination, but have been added to create interest.

The timetable is not intense (it never was!) as in 1925 there were only nine trains a day leaving Selsey on a weekday, with five on Sundays.

Questions are welcomed or you can read all about this line in Branch Lines to Selsey, published by Middleton Press and available at this exhibition.

The Portsmouth and Southsea Model Railway Centre: OO and N gauge Model Railways - New and Second Hand.

This is our 'Thomas the Tank Engine' layout where the young at heart and the not so young, can get some hands on experience at driving the trains. One of the locomotives has an on board camera so you can get a driver's eye view of the passing scenery.

The model demonstrates various methods which can be used to produce a working model railway using mainly proprietary items 'straight out the box', modified or simple scratch builds. Please feel free to ask. It's great fun watching the trains go by.

Nine Mills is a fictitious MPD located in the South Midlands, where the LMS and GWR both had depots. By the early 1960's the Midland shed had been replaced by a new diesel facility, the GWR shed remains in use, but the steam locos continue to use the LMS coaling and ash plant.

Behind the depot runs a London Midland main line, running a wide range of local and long distance cross country passenger services, including some displaced from the west coast main line due to electrification work. The line also sees extensive freight workings, often pausing near by in the passing loops. The engineers department has taken over some of the rationalised sidings, due to declining traffic.

A 44 train train fiddle yard, capable of holding over 1000 wagons or 400 coaches, provides a steady flow of trains for the main line from its Peco Streamline code 80 track. The scenic sections use Peco finescale code 55 track. Scenic structures are a mixture of modified kits, scratch built and SD Mouldings. Selected Hornby Lyddle End will also be seen.

Motive power is mainly Graham Farish (old and new -Bachmann), with Minitrix, Dapol, Union Mills and Peco, making up the 100 loco fleet. Many have been detailed, extensively modified, or are now completely different locomotives using body kits. Over 40 steam types and 20 diesel classes are represented.

DG couplings are widely used on locomotives and close coupling on many of the coach rakes. Farish, Dapol and Ultima kits provide most of the coaching stock. Wagons are a varied mixture of RTR and kits, many from the "N" Gauge Society.

The work of the late Bob Haskins, Cornwallis Yard represents a fictional section of the GWR's Millbay branch in Plymouth circa 1935. The branch was famous as a railhead for Ocean Liner traffic, with the GWR providing boat trains between Plymouth and Paddington.

On the upper level is part of Millbay Road Station and Cornwallis Yard goods depot. The lower level includes a small engine shed and a couple of carriage sidings. A working wagon hoist provides access between the two levels for a wagon works. The goods warehouse is based on Canons Marsh, with Millbay Road station modelled on Parson Street (both prototypes in Bristol). Other buildings are models of structures in the Plymouth and South Devon area. Many of the retaining walls, Millbay Road bridge and various other structures were built by Bob from polystyrene meat/pizza trays, scribed and painted with acrylics to represent the local stone.

Cornwallis Yard was completed after Bob's death by some of his friends, who added several more buildings and the wagon hoist, together with final scenic detailing, various figures - and a sizeable population of gulls. Since acquiring the layout, we have modified the fiddle yard arrangements into a continuous run, added our locomotives and rolling stock to some of Bob's originals and hope that he would ` these developments.

Model Railway Developments uses new methods and technologies to providing better models which are easier to build, and build well. The range is for 4mm scale components (00, EM and P4), and for 7mm scale narrow gauge wagons and includes:

• Kits for the Ratio GWR Iron Mink to modernise it to post 1928 condition.
• Jigs for fitting rain strips to the roofs of GWR vans.
• Etched wagon under frame system, including brakegear to give a sprung suspension and a 'contained rubber' spring system which is virtually invisible.
• Sprung buffers for wagons and coaches.
• Basic bogies, with swing link suspension for bogies from 7ft. to 10ft wheel base.
• The coach underframe system which can be used with proprietary and kit built coaches, or as part of a scratch built special.
• Cast wagon axle boxes.
• 7mm scale narrow gauge kits.
• The Victorian Collection - 4mm scale cast figures and animals.

We are a traditional model shop with over 700 square feet of floor space and we stock a wide range of products supporting many branches of model making such as railway modelling, model boating, aero modelling, Scalextric, etc. We supply all of the major brands and almost 200 different brands in total. We are continually expanding our ranges.

We sell model lighting for layouts and lighting products. We have the largest display of model lights in the UK.

Supplier of BA and metric nuts, bolts, washers, taps and dies, switches, wire, LEDs, grain of wheat bulbs, solder 70° - 188°, soldering irons. A large range of small hand tools for modellers, hardware, 'O' gauge kits from Parkside Dundas and other 'O' gauge accessories

Otterbridge was constructed to demonstrate the processes required in constructing a layout to an evening class in railway modelling which I ran at a local further education college. The layout represents a modest Hampshire terminal station and its surroundings as it might have appeared in the late 1930s.

Otterbridge is firmly in the domain of the Southern Railway but the Great Western is allowed to run into the station on tolerance! The locomotives and stock represent those seen in the area at that time and all were known to me during my engine spotting days in the 1940s and early '50s.

An attempt has been made to reproduce the chalk hill scenery, characteristic of so much of Hampshire. We hope you enjoy watching Otterbridge. All the operators are hopeless chatterboxes and enjoy discussing their hobby with you. Do talk to them.

Millford is an OO layout representing a small terminus in the LNER near the Yorkshire/Lancashire border. The period is the late 1940s allowing liveries from the late pre- and early post-nationalisation to be seen.

An army depot at one end means there are some movements with train loads of military equipment and soldiers. A five-road fiddle yard stands in for the rest of the world. The viewer will find lots of scenic detail to look at.

This layout is our first exhibition in America Outline. It sets out to capture the atmosphere of a small industrial switching district, somewhere in a large mid-eastern states city, during the late 1940's to mid 1960's period. Stock running on this layout reflects this, with a bias towards the Chesapeake & Ohio and Baltimore & Ohio Railroads.

The major feature of the layout is that it is controlled by DCC to take full advantage of DCC sound systems.

This club began on 16th May 2004 as a spin-off from our school railway club. The school club is made up of twenty children, who are very keen on all aspects of modelling and meet after school on a Monday and Wednesday. The senior branch of MMRC is made of up six regular members.

The layout that you are looking at is a model of Ropley Station on the Watercress Line, Mid-Hants as it was in 2008 running a varied selection of preserved stock. We have been working on this for about eighteen months. We chose a preserved railway for our first venture into the exhibition world because they are not often modelled. Ropley is about 25 miles from our club which has made photographic research possible.

We hope you enjoy our layout and will be happy to answer any questions you may have, to the best of our ability.

I have been producing quality figures for 4mm and 7mm scales for over 15 years. Recently we have been making cab crews specifically designed for each of Hornby's super detailed locomotives, e.g. King Arthur, Schools, etc. with the A4 and 7MT being the latest figures. A new range of quality figures have been recently introduced for 0n30 North American Railways. Another new range is second diesel drivers in 7mm scale for the diesel locomotives manufactured by "Just Like The Real Thing".

Weydon Road is a fictitious location depicting a GWR Station with the Southern Railway having some running powers. We occasionally run BR locos and rolling stock and other items that the owners like. We use standard 3-link and Screw couplings.

The layout is on a continuous curve, which can be more easily seen from the ends of the layout and shows one half of a 4 Track Junction Station reducing to 2 Tracks with a branch running from the Bay Platform. There is a small Goods Yard off the Up Line at this end of the Station.

The layout was designed using 'Templot' software and since there are not straight points, the track work in the viewing area is all hand built from C&L components.

The fiddle Yards are 8 ft. Turntables to reduce the handling of carefully painted stock and a sequence of actions has been prepared which is controlled by the Signaller, the Fiddle Yard Operators are the Drivers. Power to the track is controlled by the points and signals settings, unless the correct point settings and the correct signals are 'Off' there is no power to the track. This is controlled by a diode matrix.

The Baseboards are made from plywood with diagonal bracing for stiffness, they have been designed to be as light as possible and any single board can be lifted by 2 people.

Please stand back when the Fiddle Yards are being turned. Feel free to ask questions about any aspects of the layout. If you wish to take photographs please ask the operators first since a sudden flash can take people by surprise.

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Last updated 12 June 2011

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