Things have been a little quiet at the club for a while as decisions are taken on where to go next. Restrictions over storage and the type of layout the club wishes to embark on resulted in a number of proposals being suggested. In the event, an initial phase of smaller layouts will be considered, with something a little more ambitious in the longer-term.

There are currently two new club projects now under way; Warehouse Yard and Petworth Town, plus a member's layout with club participation being planned.

Warehouse Yard - H0

Two of our members have embarked on a small H0 layout set in 1950s Milwaukee, to be called Warehouse Yard. It will be just under 8' in length, featuring a small station (or to get the terminology right - Depot!), plus some sidings.

This will be a DCC operated layout, using code 83 track, based on an adapted plan from Model Trains International (Issue 88/June 2010)

Work has already started on the baseboards, and track templates have been out in force over last last couple of weeks!

Petworth Town - N Finescale

I have had this idea for the last few years...made more viable by the arrival of the Dapol Terrier!

This is a small LBSCR terminus set in about 1890. The station area will be quite small, and feature a run-round loop, plus a couple of sidings. A very rough plan is sketched out below...although the board sizes actually chop out most of the town along the front of the layout for now...

As with Warehouse Yard, the boards are in existence, although these measure 9' x 1'. The layout is designed to be assembled on tables, as opposed to having legs, and will make use of code 40 Easitrack and finer-scale points.

Apologies for the deeply suspect photograph quality...the lighting in our club room is not conducive to good photos.

This will be a finescale N gauge layout, but will use a number of techniques for 2mm modelling, paving the way for at least one of the membership to further explore these dark arts!Control will be DC for the time being.

LMS Depot - 00

This is a layout still in the planning stage, but will be a small depot layout set somewhere in the LMS territory in the 1930s. It will be DCC.

On top of these new activities, Yamanouchi Oshika is still very much in evidence, with some remedial work being timetabled into the near future in readiness for a couple of shows next year... the Crawley MRS show in April and Wycrail the following November (2013). The layout had a quick spin a couple of weeks ago at the local rural fair...performing well, but giving us some food for thought with some wiring and a few areas of track work...

More details of all layouts concerned will no doubt crop up on here over the coming months...you have been warned!