My model of Hallatrow was built as an entry in the Scalefour Society's 18.83 Layout Challenge.

Hallatrow was a station on the Great Western's Bristol & North Somerset (B&NS) branch which ran from Bristol North Somerset Junction to Frome through the North Somerset Coalfield. The line was originally built by the independent Bristol & North Somerset Railway Company (B&NS) which promoted the line to provide a better outlet for the collieries of the Somerset Coalfield. Its act, of July 1863, authorised the company to build a standard gauge line from Bristol to Radstock to join the Great Western's (GWR) then broad gauge mineral branch from Radstock to Frome.

The first turf was cut at Clutton on the 7th October 1863 but following this auspicious occasion the company was beset with financial difficulties which caused no less than six contractors to be employed and the line took ten years to complete. By the time the line opened, on the 3rd September 1873, the B&NS had entered into an agreement with the GWR to work the line. In July 1873 the B&NS received powers to build a branch into the Cam Valley, from Hallatrow to Camerton, which was opened on the 1st March 1882. The B&NS became part of the Great Western's empire when it was absorbed on the 1st July 1884. The Camerton branch was extended by the GWR to Limpley Stoke, on the Great Western's Bradford-upon-Avon branch, in 1910. At the same time Hallatrow also under went a major re-build with the provision of a platform and additional sidings. The station became a passing point and a new signal box was built for the re-signalling.

The Challenge, set at Scaleforum 2002, was to design and built a layout to P4 standards with a total layout foot print of no more than 18.83 sq. ft. The designs were to in by the following Scaleforum, in September 2003. A progress report was required the following September and the "finished" layouts to be exhibited at Scaleforum 2005.

Of the 50 designs submitted, 25 were finally exhibited at Scaleforum 2005. If you want to see more of the designs plus photos of those exhibited at Scaleforum follow the link to the Challenge page on the Scalefour Society's web site.

The layout modelled for the 18.83 Layout Challenge shows the station after the new 'up' platform was built around 1910-1. The track plan was developed using the TEMPLOT computer design program using a copy of a GWR track plan as a guide. Construction techniques are fairly standard, 4mm ply for the base boards, nickel silver rail in P4 Track Co. chairs stuck to 'full' depth sleepers stained with Colron wood dye. The point work was built was built by my good friend Roger Sanders using his innovative jigs to construct GW curved switch blades.