Cheshire Railway Modellers

On-line Model Railway Club

Members' Layouts - Charlie Stewart


Troysdale

After a 7 year break from modelling I decided to return with a layout in O16.5. I had a false start but the layout wasn't going how I wanted it so it got tore up and a fresh start was made,

So the saga continues…. A lot further up the line from Troysdale town is the main reason for the line in the first place… an iron ore mine, Between the town of Troysdale and the iron ore mine lies the subject of my new layout, the much needed service & repair centre for the locos and all the rolling stock, from mining skips to passenger coaches. Everything is dealt with here from a full rebuild to just greasing axle boxes. This gives me the chance to run a wide variety of locos under the premise of its “just visiting for a service”. Also if I model two versions of some wagons, one in dilapidated condition & one freshly restored, along with some clever backscene work I can mimic the repair & return to service of these vehicles via the workshop.

I have come up with a plan to suit all my requirements:

It has varied shunting via an “inglenook” type arrangement
Has a continuous loop for free running
Has the sliding traverser contained within the baseboard size
All fits into my original 4-foot long baseboard limit
Has some contours so the whole layout is not “flat”
Allows me “free rein” on scratch-building buildings/scenery etc.

The photo above shows the layout under construction. The continuous run is disguised by the large shed, the through track is the one with the van standing on it.

Click here for a short video of the layout in action...

... and here for a slideshow of the layout's progress from March to June.

Gracelands, Lakeside Miniature Railway

My son Troy has the O scale narrow gauge layout named after him, but toddler daughter Grace is now getting aware of this!

I wanted to use some of my old stuff up and now I model in o-16.5mm gauge I have some old 4mm and a little 009 bits left, something narrow gauge but DIFFERENT, so this will be a branchline halt which is adjacent to a privately built/owned miniature railway, the sort you see at the seaside/ country parks. Basically a simple circle with a "false" tunnel & ornamental bridge. The setting will be picnic/snackbar area near a road layby, with a man-made lake to the centre of the track. This will mean scratchbuilding loco bodies & carriages but should be fun in its own right as we can operate the miniature railway at home on its own as well as running standard gauge trains when Gracelands will form part of the modular assembly making its debut at our 2009 show (more details of which can be found here). The image below is just the initial plan and will be updated/amended as work progresses.