Marcus' Model Railway Journey

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Bicsdale - OO Gauge - Gwynne Chivers​

Situated somewhere in the Forest of Dean, Bicsdale is a fictional place where one of the typical drift coal mines is operating in the Forest in the 1950's.

Originally built to serve a somewhat remote nearby small township, the mine has a connection from the Ross and Monmouth Railway and there is still plenty of passenger traffic with station facilities and a timber merchant also on hand.

The extension into the yard through the bridge to the side of the tunnel entrance was formed when Bicsdale number 1 drift (this now closed the entrance can be seen close to the coal drops), was found to be capable of producing sufficient coal to export via the railway. Later on the mining operation was transferred to number 2 drift and the tramway runs off scene towards that entrance which is still in use.

Regular service both passenger and freight run from the Chepstow and Pontypool directions normally with ex GWR locomotives and from north of Ross with ex LMS stock, still maintaining the joint running of pre nationalisation days.

Pointwork is all handbuilt using C&L components these are matched to their flexitrack.

Operation is completely DCC, including point control which is managed by JMRI and normally controlled using tablets and smart phones.

All stock is fitted with Kadee coupling for ease of shunting.

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Broadwell - OO Gauge - Cardiff Model Engineering Society​

At the start of the 19th Century the fictitious Dorset seaside town of Broadwell had grown into the largest of the Jurassic coast resorts. However it was without a rail service until the Great Western Railway partnered with the LSWR to build a double track main line along the Devon/Dorset coast. Junctions were made with all the other established branch lines from Exmouth though to Bridport.

Our snapshot of this imaginary line covers a ten-year span of British Railways ownership between 1955 to 1965. The predominant traffic is steam hauled local passenger trains. We depict Western Region local trains from Exeter via Bridport to Weymouth alongside Southern Region locals to and from Exmouth, Sidmouth, Seaton and Lyme Regis. Through express trains from Devon and Cornwall head to and from London Paddington and Waterloo respectively. Inter-regional expresses from the North are seen, sometimes with through engines.

The track and points are hand built. The majority of structures are scratch built and are based on real-world prototypes. The sequence of trains and the automatic route selection of points is computer controlled. Details of train movements are output to the public-facing video screen along with real-time on-train video and background information about the layout.

Broadwell is the latest club layout built by the Cardiff Model Engineering Society, based in Heath Park Cardiff. It continues the club's 50-year history of producing quality finescale OO exhibition layouts. We open our club's facilities to the public 12 times a year providing 5" and 7¼" gauge live steam train and 18" gauge tram rides.

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Cwm Castell - OO Gauge - Merthyr Model Engineering Society​


Cwm Castell is an imaginary town set amongst the Welsh valleys.

It serves as a distribution point for coal deliveries to Cwmbychan Power Station.

It also has a dedicated body of volunteers who operate a preserved railway that connects into the town's station with a shuttle service.

Nearby is the RAF Airbase of Aberatholl where low flying jets can be observed.

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Ffordd-y-Deryn - 16mm Scale - Gaynor & Tony Bird​


Gauge '0', 16mm Scale, Narrow gauge model railway.

The layout was designed to allow the continuous running of live steam model locomotives, also it was to be as compact and light as possible for a portable model railway. The layout when erected is approximately 21 feet by 14 feet and along with its scenery and accessories fits into a trailer 5 feet long, 3feet wide and 2 feet high.

The track and points are scratch built using 10mm bullhead rail reclaimed from a garden railway. There is no electric power to the track the locomotives used being either steam or battery powered.

The layout isn't a copy of any particular railway.

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Kleine Albula - HOm Gauge - Nick warren​

Set in the late 1990's, Kleine Albula is a representation of a fictitious passing loop station, many of which can be found on the largely single track network of the Rhatische Bahn, in South-Eastern Switzerland. The layout is set in winter depicting clear roads and tracks but with plenty of snow still in evidence.

The snow effect has been achieved using multiple layers of artex on top of the traditional scenery. The buildings, tunnels and the viaduct are all from commercially available kits by Faller, Peco & Kibri.

Rolling stock is primarily from the Bemo range with a few D&R Modellbahn items also included. The catenary comes from Sommerfeldt but is purely artificial. The trains running represent the various types of traffic seen on the RhB, including the Glacier Express, various freights, and enthusiasts specials. The layout is controlled with Gaugemaster handheld controllers with the track layout being fully sectionalized.

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Llandafal - OO Gauge - George Haylock​


This authentic 'OO' layout was started at the beginning of lockdown and and captures a slice of 1950s South Wales steam railway nostalgia all fitted nicely into a 1.2m x 0.4m space.

Llandafal was the northernmost station on a small, ex-GWR line in the Ebbw Valley in Blaenau Gwent. The track emerges through a Skaledale tunnel into the station, passing the heavily modified signal box.

There is a bay siding for dry goods and a single platform serves the very short single coach passenger workings. There is the makings of a coal yard in the front right of the scene.

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Llawryglyn - EM Gauge - Richard Loudall​

Llawryglyn is a 4mm scale EM gauge layout based on the passenger terminus of the Cambrian Railways branch line from Caersws.

The line closed to passengers in 1914 and the goods facilities were withdrawn in 1917.

All traces of the line are now gone and the only surviving building of those modelled is the Smithy which was rescued by the Welsh Folk Museum and is now re-erected at their site at St Fagans, Cardiff.

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Margam Moor - OO Gauge - Kyle Williams​


Margam Moor is a recent addition to the exhibition circuit and faithfully captures in 'OO' scale the internal shunting operations at the Port Talbot Steelworks.

The road network, finely detailed infrastructure and impressive blast furnaces are beautifully modelled along with the grime and reality of day-to-day operations on a piece of railway that the public rarely see.

Of special note are shunting of the the torpedo wagons conveying molten iron from the furnace buildings down to the BOS plant for oxygen injection and converting into steel.

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Midsomer Mardy - Z Gauge - Max Jones​


The layout packs a lot of detail and operating interest into just a 4ft by 2ft 6inch and features an entire village bought from car boot sales and charity shops.

The buildings are resin cast cottages sold as collectors items including 'Tetley Tea folk' houses. They are to slightly varying scales and are used to "force the perspective" on the layout by using the larger ones at the front and smaller ones at the back to increase perception of depth.

The most any of these buildings have cost around £1.50 each. The station buildings and other railway structures are scratch built in plasticard based on Midland Railway and Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway prototypes. There is a small harbour which serves Mardy Frozen Foods warehouse and Mardy marine ships handlers.

Three trains can run simultaneously two on the lower track and one on the high level branch line.

The track is a mix of Marklin and Peco and all points are electrically operated. The lower tracks are fitted with overhead catenary.

Rolling stock is a mixture of diesel, electric and steam based on Marklin chassis and includes class 47s, 56s, 90s and HSTs. Steam outline includes LNER A3s and A4s. Rolling stock is a mix of scratch built and repainted Marklin items.

Hidden on the layout (and very small indeed) the good folk of Midsomer Mardy are up to their favourite pastime, murder!

Midsomer Murders is a popular TV detective show in England set in a sleepy village full of thatched roofed houses. See if you can spot the murders that have or are about to happen.

The layout is quite ground breaking in representing the U.K rail scene in Z.

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Mostyn - P4 Gauge - Barrowmore Model Railway Group​

We are delighted to be making Mostyn's first ever exhibition appearance in Wales during this Platinum Jubilee year and so we offer you all a hearty welcome to our re-creation of the North Wales Coast main line in the Silver Jubilee year of 1977.

BR Corporate Blue rules the rails and traffic is heavy with regular passenger and freight traffic augmented by excursions taking holidaymakers to the delights of the North Wales coast resorts. Classes 24, 25, 40 and 47 dominate the locomotive action whilst first-generation DMUs in varying formations will bring back happy memories (for some!).

We operate in accordance with the BR rule book and that means everything from the humble unfitted trip freight trundling along at 25mph right the way through to principal expresses hammering along at line speed.

Mostyn has a very large collection of P4 finescale rolling stock and, thanks to the loss of exhibitions during the recent lockdowns, a record number of new items will be making their debuts here at Cardiff. Keeping this big fleet of nearly eight hundred vehicles running well requires regular attention and you can see us dealing with the latest casualties on our repairs and maintenance demonstration table.

Please do not hesitate to ask questions, stop for a chat on all matters relating to the BR blue period or simply take a lineside viewing point and let yourself drift into a world of 1977 railway nostalgia.

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Pencader - EM Gauge - Denis Simmonds - Cardiff 4mm​

Pencader was a station on the GWR line between Carmarthen and Aberystwyth. It was also the junction for the Newcastle Emlyn branch, the actual junction being some distance to the north (left as you look at the layout). The layout has been built to EM standards with most of the stock either being kit built or modified proprietary.

All the track on the scenic section is hand made using Exactoscale components. Baseboards are ply with the scenery being teddy bear fur on cardboard formers. All the buildings are scratch built using a mixture of plastic and plywood. The electrics are analogue. Set in the 1930s, before Manors were introduced, the model is an accurate representation of the period with the trains being based on the timetables of this period.

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Plaxtol Road Model Railway Layout​


This very short video of the 0 gauge layout by Tim Tincknell features the light railway terminus of the line from Hadlow in the 1930's.

It was seen at the Narrow Gauge South Exhibition in 2018 and the Southampton MRS Exhibition in 2020.

www.youtube.com

Plaxtol Road Model Railway Layout

This very short video of the 0 gauge layout by Tim Tincknell features the light railway terminus of the line from Hadlow in the 1930's. It was seen at the N...
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com

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Ryders Green Wharf - OO9 Gauge - Peter Cullen​

Ryders Green Wharf is a representation of a typical rail, canal and road interchange on the Birmingham Canal Navigations at the heart of the industrial West Midlands. The canal wharf is now disused and road transport is becoming ever more popular as the flexibility of the lorry signals the end for the internal narrow gauge railway.

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Sheep Dip - OO Gauge - Rob Gunstone​

Sheep Dip is best described as an industrial something, located just to the left of somewhere. It has no basis in fact or location. It was built simply as a playground for a couple of Hornby Peckett W4 0-4-0ST.

It is 4ft x 16ins plus a small fiddle yard. Trackwork is Peco Code 75 and control is by DC using a Gaugemaster Combi controller. The buildings are from the Bachmann Narrow Gauge Slate range and have been weathered by myself, as have all locos, stock and trackwork.

Much use has been made of static grass and overall, I just hope that it illustrates what can be done by readily available track, stock and buildings.

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Trevanna Dries - EM Gauge - Wayne Crowley​

Trevanna Dries is a recently refurbished EM gauge layout run according to prototypical practices to capture a snapshot of the Cornish china clay industry as it could be seen in the mid to late 1980s.

The layout depicts a china clay processing works that mainly despatches dried clay for use in china and porcelain production. It also generates a small amount of export traffic. In addition to this bagged china clay is also despatched in vans in small amounts.

Trevanna is also one of the last coal fired dries left so it also sees inward traffic of coal delivered in hopper wagons.

Traffic too and from the works comes from St Blazey but because there is no loop in the terminal this has to be propelled in.

One interesting working is the daily out and back St Blazey trip, this is worked by a class 08 and includes a brake van.

The layout also features a branch line which sees passing clay traffic as well as a bubble car operated passenger service which is usually operated by a class 121 or 122 bubble car.

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