In amongst the cull of my model railway stock (now slowly coming to its end) I've been thinking about suitable stations to model within my two core areas of interest. A recap, they are both geographically the same, based around the Bournemouth area and its lines, but two distinct periods, 1961-ish, and 1985-ish.

For small, simpler layouts, the best candidates seem to be the likes of Parkstone for 1961 and Moreton and Holton Heath for 1985.

Parkstone is very short, even today not even capable of holding an entire 8TC, perhaps holding six Mk1s and a loco at best (I forget the actual length of the platforms). In 1961 there was a reasonable goods yard for a station of that size, not least due to the presence of an industrial potteries line to Parkstone Bay. That particularly adds colour for what is otherwise a simple through station. If designed carefully, the Parkstone Bank sections before and after could be extensions for a somewhat long and probably quite impressive layout for the exhibition circuit, but the main station is less that twelve feet!

In 1985, Moreton was (and I believe still is) again a somewhat short station with little of interest. The main buildings were out of use at that point, so it was basically a halt. The simplicity appeals as the only trains running through would be 33/1s and 4 or 8TC formations and the odd summer Saturday inter-regional from Weymouth.

Holton Heath is long enough for an 8TC, very straight if my memory serves me right. While again like Moreton there was little variety in the traffic through it, some details in the scenery are more of interest as it was the station for the Cordite factory nearby and in 1985 there was still a military facility there.

For longer more elaborate layouts, I'd pick the likes of Poole and Bournemouth Central for 1985, as they had the most operational interest at that time. For 1961, there can really be only one choice, Bournemouth West to Branksome, including the triangle out to Gasworks Junction. But such a long layout would only be possible in the most well heeled of times, which most certainly is not now.

Bearing in mind I have virtually no space to do any significant construction or modelling, these are just pipe dreams at the moment.