Layouts 2026

The following layouts are expected to be at our 2026 exhibition. Click on any of the layout names to see pictures or videos of the layout.

Bowaters Paper Mill (O-16.5, St Neots MRC) models the industrial railway serving Kemsley Paper Mill.  A steam railway transported wood pulp to them from Ridham dock on the Swale estuary. It was one of the last privately owned industrial steam railways in the UK. The layout features the north-west corner of Kemsley mill and its associated outbuildings. The railway operated 24 hours a day, so the layout has day and night lighting.

Braughing and Standon (N Paul Dunn) is based on two stations that formed part of the Buntingford Branch line in Hertfordshire which was closed to passengers in November 1964 and goods traffic in September 1965 as a result of the Beeching cuts. The layout is modelled to the 1963 & 1964 period, when steam had been replaced by diesel. I have tried to build my layout with as much accuracy as possible, to faithfully reflect the real thing, therefore I have resisted to add anything that would feel out of place. Today there is nothing left to indicate that Standon station ever existed but Braughing station now a private residence owned by the grandson of the last active station master before closure.

Brixcombe (P4, F&D MRC) depicts a busy fictitious seaside terminus located somewhere in the Torbay area, and catering for both freight and passenger traffic. The main layout has been exhibited for a number of years, but is appearing for the first time with an extension board with a line leading to a quay and a narrow gauge feeder line from a quarry with dual gauge track.

Buxton (2mmFS, Dave Tuck) is loosely based on Buxton station and yard in Derbyshire around the 1970/80s. The track is built to 2mm finescale and stock is a mixture of modified ready-to-run, kit-built and scratch-built. The two-track passenger line to Manchester is serviced by DMUs with the odd merrymaker tour and parcels train. One freight-only branch line is from Peak Forest and the Hope Valley whilst the other spur goes towards Hindlow quarry. Locomotives from the stone trains are serviced at the depot between duties. The wagons and locos used are as close as possible to those found around the Peak District at that time.

Corsham (N, Martin Reynolds) a fictitious N Gauge layout based on the geographical area of Corsham in Wiltshire. Set in the summer time on BR(W) in the early 1970s when diesel hydraulic motive power was still a common sight and with inter regional workings providing a variety of locomotives and rolling stock. The old goods yard is still busy providing goods services for several local businesses and the newly built Traction Maintenance Depot and refuelling point are home to a number of locomotive types.

Haydon Square (O, F&D MRC)  It is a real location in East London just to the east of Fenchurch Street, though severe liberties have been taken with its history! The very restricted site at Haydon Square resulted in only inner suburban trains on the lightest used routes being sent to this station. It was also clear that Haydon Square was very well situated for parcels and newspaper traffic from the printing works in Fleet Street. Thus a very healthy traffic flow serving much of Essex was funnelled though Haydon Square from the mid twenties.

 

Hexworthy (OO9, Michael Campbell) lies in the middle of Dartmoor by the West Dart river. The model is set in the real location and viewed as though looking across the river, with suitable scenery and a back-scene of photographs overlooking the spot, although there never really was a railway there.  In the late 19th century a narrow gauge railway was built from the station at Buckfastleigh, on the edge of the moor, to serve nearby tin mines and granite quarries. Although abandoned by the middle of the 20th century, it was later revived by a preservation group who managed to reopen the line for tourists.

Friedrichstrasse (HO, Liphook MRC) is a station with a complicated past. Today it still is a major station, but for 40 years was also a frontier post – the boundary between East and West Berlin. A busy station, it is served by a mixture of local s-bahn services, outer suburban, express, and ‘inter-zonal’ (services to West Germany) trains. All supported by a busy tram service. This model is not a slavish copy of Friedrichstrasse; more an impression of the area and the types of trains seen in Germany (mainly the East) during the late 1960s and 1970s – the period when this layout is set.

Lochty (EM, Andy Cundick) is a model of the goods only terminus of the East Fife Central Railway operated by the North British Railway. Opened in 1900, it ran until 1960. After closure it ran as the Lochty Private railway, chief stock of which was the A4 Pacific “Union of South Africa” and a Coronation observation coach.

Loughborough Midland (OO, Ivanhoe MRS) Dave Tooley started this layout as a diorama built to be displayed at Loughborough Midland Station, having worked at Brush Transformers for many years, his office overlooked the station area. Afterwards, he extended the diorama into the full layout seen today. Most of the scenery and the buildings are scratch built from card and the backscene was photographed and printed in a subdued tone to emphasise the close proximity of the station to the famous Brush Works. After many years on the exhibition circuit the layout was refurbished in 2021-2 by the members of the Ivanhoe M.R.S. as a tribute to Dave, who sadly passed away in 2020.

Montarola (HO, Paul Hannant) depicts the electrified single track mainline on the route that links Genoa to Rome, running along the Ligurian coast. The coastal town of Montarola has a typical platform disappearing into a tunnel. The local ferry can be seen arriving in the harbour, it connects the coastal towns along the Ligurian coast. Modern electric traction haul short international passenger trains share the busy single track with long heavy freight trains linking the north to the south of the country.

Nazareth Portland Cement (US N, Phil Baggley) based upon the Cement manufacturing industry of North East Pennsylvania in the USA. The time frame is early 1970s.

 

 

Northleach (P4, David Mulvey) is a through station on the Oxford and Cheltenham Direct Railway and was the limit of the local service from Oxford much as Chalford was on the Gloucester to Swindon line. Between Witney and Andoversford Junction there were stations/halts at Burford, Barrington Halt and Northleach. The station is modelled in a “fading glory” stage at the time of the steam to diesel transition.

Okehampton (N Fine, F&D MRC) is the new club N Gauge layout we are building, a scale model of the whole of Okehampton station, modelled in summer 1961. We will be using the Magnorail moving vehicle system as well as the Faller system.

 

Rye Sands (OO, William Lloyd) is based on the real Rye Harbour branch constructed by the South Eastern Railway in the 1850s, although it also includes structures from Folkestone and Hastings. The barren, timeless location means the layout can portray any time in a period between the late 1800s and 1930s, although rolling stock is primarily of South Eastern and Chatham period.

Smalldale Quarry (N, Andy Small). Smalldale is a small village situated between Buxton and Chapel-en-le-Frith just east of Dove Holes. The quarry is now a popular rock climbing area, but it was once part of the ICI Buxton lime operations. The layout is not based on the actual quarry, but is a depiction of what it could have been like in the 1970s and 80s. The quarry building is based on a Walthers Glacial Gravel kit. On the right of the layout is the Bottling Plant which is based on the Walthers Central Beverage Distributers. To the front of the layout is the three platform station with avoiding line. A row of workers cottages is by the station.

Swillybegs (O-21 mm, David Holman) is set in County Donegal on the banks of Louch Swilly, the terminus of a branch and the start of a tramway. The layout is a reworking of a previous layout, Fintonagh, with some scenic changes and new rolling stock.

Two Bridges Up Sidings (OO, Andy Howard) is a fictitious location is the Southern Region. There is a double track main line at the front of the scenic section and yard reception siding and loco stabling sidings behind. The idea is that off stage to the left (around the corner and under the bridge) is a junction with another line and a station. Off stage to the right (past the second bridge) is a goods yard. The period is 1980 -2000 depending on the stock used.

Ventnor (O, Charles Harrison) on the Isle of Wight had a unique station, built in a chalk quarry and reached through a tunnel under the downs. This O gauge model is a compressed version with many compromises and several liberties taken. The trains are a reasonable depiction of the those running in the twenties and thirties on the Island but there is more work yet to do to finish them.

Wolfstatt (HO, Craig and Lewis Charity) built by father and son over a 10 year period. It represents a high alpine main line in the Austrian Alps set in the 2nd decade of the 21st century.  It is a parade style layout featuring accurate prototypical full length trains representing both Austrian (OBB) and private operators which highlights the rich variety of traffic to be seen on the continent. Wolfstatt was built to entertain the viewer as we aim to have something moving at all times.

Charity Layout (N, F&D MRC). Once again club members are building a layout that will be raffled at the show complete with a few trains, this time in aid of the charity Challengers who provide places where disabled children can meet, play, and make friends, including centres in Farnham and Guildford.