HillsideDepot

Wiltshire

Having been interested in transport all my life it was inevitable that I got into railway modelling. My first exhibition layout was Hillside Depot which appeared in Railway Modeller a couple of times and was set in the west country city of Westonmouth (Weston-super-Mare/Avonmouth = holiday traffic & industry) in 1986.

My next layout saw me stay in Westonmouth, but take a step back to the 1970s with Morimore's Yard where freight train trips were split into short rakes for delivery to local businesses in the city's historic docklands. But just like Bristol, by the 1970s the city docks were run down and almost closed following the development of newer facilities to the north of the city.

Then came part of the main city station itself with Westonmouth Central (known as General in GWR days), which was entered in the DEMU/Minories layout competition and again represents the 1970s. However the layout only represents a small part of the whole station, the bit modelled is "over the back, by the dustbins".

Both Mortimore's Yard and Westonmouth Central are active and gradually being developed/refined and gaining more rolling stock. Even so, a new project has just begun, representing another small part of Westonmouth Central, this time the small stabling point at the station's western end. The layout is based on the former stabling point next to the platforms at London Liverpool Street, but will be suitably "Westernised" and adapted for the new location.

Besides model railways, church activities, Explorer Scout & Scout Network leadership, kayaking, cycling and photography fill the time that work doesn't claim.