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Older Inspirational Layouts


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One layout that impressed me as a teenager was Warden Central. This was an O gauge layout with a through station in a shed and reversing loops built in long boxes on stilts around part of the garden. The scenics were nothing special but there were lots of trains and it was operated by Vic (surname forgotten for the mo'*) and his wife to a timetable using proper block instruments. It is probably no coincidence that this is how Bradford North Western is operated (but NOT by my wife).

 

Vic was the Warden of Warden Manor, Warden Road, Warden Point, Warden, Sheppey.  :no: This was a TocH holiday centre where I stayed with my parents on a couple of occasions. It's now for sale.

 

I never saw the layout featured in the model press although it did feature in a newspaper Sunday supplement once. I probably still have the cutting but...

 

Ian

 

* Vic Martin

 

Edited to add Vic's surname

 

I believe it received a substantial mention in Jack Ray's A Lifetime With 0 Gauge.

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Thanks all for your posts, a few in there I have on my personal list but had forgotten about entirely - it's being in my 50's....

 

Keep 'em coming!  I have had to dig out a few old RM's to look at several layouts mentioned!

 

Ditchling Green  is still voted by Mrs NHN as the best layout she has ever seen.  She has a keen eye for scenic detail, but little time for locos with 'stupid little wheels and long spindly chimneys', which kind of writes off my garden railway or anything narrow gauge!  Anything produced by Mr Bulleid is much more to her taste!

 

I too saw Lydney at Leeds Corn Exchange 1970 ish, it sticks in the remains of my mind as this was the first show 'away' I ever attended, having persuaded my parents to take me there from Tyneside, I think I met CJF there too.  Yes, there was a class 13, in TT!

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Great thread!

 

I have a folder in my library which I call 'inspirational layouts' in which I keep any articles from magazines that take my fancy (I throw the rest of the magazine away, thus cutting down storage of cr@p!) Many of those already mentioned are in there. Has the Norris layout had a mention yet? (apologies if it already has; this thread's already getting quite long to check everyone's individual posting before making your own!)

 

BRM produced a bookazine in 2001 called 'Classic Layouts'; I think virtually ALL the ones mentioned in this thread are in there somewhere! Whilst it's the more scenic creations of recent times that catch the eye, it's fascinating to read about some of the early pioneer layouts from nearly 100 years ago. One that stands out for me (for which a trackplan is shown) is that of a Mr H W Westlake whereby basically the entire Midland Railway system is depicted - in O gauge. London, Derby, Sheffield, Leeds, Carlisle, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool... it's all on there. Quite remarkable.

 

Finally one almost certainly not mentioned so far, but I've been fascinated by since the day I first read it. The August '77 RM 'Railway of the Month', where Keith Ladbury explained how he'd reproduced the GW mainline from Paddington to Aberystwyth (and a good few other places besides) in OO, in a room 24' x 15'. Granted there wasn't a great emphasis on scenery and most stations were 'representations', but what a layout!

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Finally one almost certainly not mentioned so far, but I've been fascinated by since the day I first read it. The August '77 RM 'Railway of the Month', where Keith Ladbury explained how he'd reproduced the GW mainline from Paddington to Aberystwyth (and a good few other places besides) in OO, in a room 24' x 15'. Granted there wasn't a great emphasis on scenery and most stations were 'representations', but what a layout!

Ah, I LOVED that one and it's been driving me bananas that I couldn't recall it by name... There was also another one in a similar vein which was the railways of south Devon - ring any bells for anyone?

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I believe you're referring to Tonevale, by Jim Savage, Dr G-F. Centred around Taunton. Room measured 42' x 24', all in EM. Also gets a mention in 'Classic Layouts'. And I have a video of it (remember them?!)

I have the video as well.Did not some of the stock come from the North devonshire layout?

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London, Bristol and South Wales by John Jay. We never got to see Paddington or South Wales, but Reading (including Sonning Cutting)  and Bristol massively impressed me. It was a huge layout.

Vivien Thompson's Eastbourne, which seemed to keep growing. What both these had in common with Buckingham, Jenkinson's eventual Little Long Drag and many others already mentioned was that they were multi-station layouts, systems really. Railways that went places in a very real sense.

 

Also loved D. H. Neale's amazing garden railway with superb concrete viaduct. John Charman's Charford, small but perfectly formed.

 

Not sure how they would measure up now, but I loved them as a kid.

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The late Bob Head had a rather magnificent Gauge 1 line in his garden complete with two scale length bridges. One being the Royal Albert Bridge. I believe the other was one of the bridges on a French TGV route.

 

He also had a huge 'shed' with a Gauge O layout in it and a 4mm line in one of the other outbuildings.

 

It's all gone now, although you can still see the Royal Albert Bridge as you drive out of Shifnal on the A464 heading towards Albrighton.

 

This was model railways on a grand scale that made even Pete Waterman's 'Leamington Spa' look quite small.

 

Regards

 

Richard

Edited by Happy Hippo
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Just remembered that back in the 70's,
there was a rather nice idea for a layout on a bookcase,

called "Howley Town" - maybe I was thinking about smaller layouts at a younger age?

It would have been a rather long bookcase, but a nice idea at the time....

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Bramblewick will be appearing this Easter at the York Model Railway Show, presented by Tom's family and friends as a tribute to him. This could be the last time the layout will be seen in public.

 

Mal

Thanks to Bluebottle for reminding me of the name. Bramblewick is one of the few layouts I could genuinely watch for hours. An absolute masterpiece of railway modelling, and even if nothing else was at York, it would be worth making the journey to see it.

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I remember Bevleys. That was very small - so Brevett must have been tiny! Bit of a contrast from what he does these days!

Just checked my copy of 'Layouts for Limited Spaces' by Nigel Adams in which he makes mention of Dave's layout. Turns out that Brevett (as I referred to it) was actually 'Brevet' and is believed by the author to be one of the first layouts to have the hidden sidings located behind the backscene, the scenic and non-scenic areas being connected by a sector plate.

There's a copy of the plan in Nigel's book; unfortunately, no accompanying dimensions. However, my initial thoughts of 4' x 30" (possibly 36" inc. hidden sidings) looks about right.

 

Jonte

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"Winton" was in the first Railway Modeller I ever read (1972, IIRC). Saw it at a couple of York shows and it was magnificent. Even as a youngster I could happily watch a whole sequence.

 

Ian Futers seemed to bring a new layout to York every year. Particularly inspirational to me were Otterburn, Lochside and Burnfoot.

 

The "Swaveny Branch" was probably the first P4 layout I ever saw, and it was magnificent to my then 9/10 year old eyes, with gorgeous Stirling Singles and GNR liveries. Glad that DRAG have preserved it for posterity..

 

Iain Rice's articles in Model Railways, and later as MRJ co-editor, captivated me. I never saw Tregarrick in the flesh, but lapped up his various East Suffolk layouts, especially Butley Mills.

 

Steve Howe's Roseladden Wharf remains one of my all time favorites, another I'm glad to see being restored.

 

Steve Flint's "Kyle of Tongue" and "Reighton" captured the (then) current scene perfectly.

 

Martin Brent's Rye Harbour, Salehurst and Hope Mill. Sadly missed.

 

John Wright's "Benfieldside". Tom Harland's magnificent "Bramblewick". And last, but by no means least, Chris Pendleton's "North Shields".

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I guess my most inspirational layout has to be "Eastwell", ironstone country in EM.

I have worn out a couple of copies of MRC May 1980 where the layout is featured in an article "for Sherdington, change to Eastwell".

It highly motivated my 15 year old self that 'finescale' was the way to go until I grew so dissatisfied, I chucked everything for some foreign 'muck'!

Still keep coming back for more, though!

Cheers,

John E.

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I remember Winton, I think it was in the RM in 1977 and featured some sort of taped commentary and sequence timetable with the Silver Jubilee as a highlight?

 

Smashing stuff.

 

One thing I do notice, the quality of the photographs in the old mags was somewhat 'hazy' and must have made life easier - things could get away with being less detailed and vaguely 'black five' shaped was good enough.

 

oh happy youth

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London, Bristol and South Wales by John Jay. We never got to see Paddington or South Wales, but Reading (including Sonning Cutting)  and Bristol massively impressed me. It was a huge layout.

Vivien Thompson's Eastbourne, which seemed to keep growing. What both these had in common with Buckingham, Jenkinson's eventual Little Long Drag and many others already mentioned was that they were multi-station layouts, systems really. Railways that went places in a very real sense.

 

Also loved D. H. Neale's amazing garden railway with superb concrete viaduct. John Charman's Charford, small but perfectly formed.

 

Not sure how they would measure up now, but I loved them as a kid.

Whatever happened to this layout?  - it was great but I only remember the one main article in Railway Modeller.

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The "Swaveny Branch" was probably the first P4 layout I ever saw, and it was magnificent to my then 9/10 year old eyes, with gorgeous Stirling Singles and GNR liveries. Glad that DRAG have preserved it for posterity..

 

Mothballed is probably a better description while we decide what we can do with it.  It's built like a battleship but the scenery isn't - if it were to be 'restored' it would need an awful lot of work to bring it up to modern standards.

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I have always liked layouts with an emphasis on freight working, and remember 'Chipping' by Alan Dare.

It appeared in 2 articles in the Railway Modeller in 1981 entitled "Railfreight up to date"

where he used it to illustrate how modern operations could be realistically portrayed.

 

cheers

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Whatever happened to this layout?  - it was great but I only remember the one main article in Railway Modeller.

There were 2 subsequent articles in the RM, one in September 1970 on Reading & Pilning, and then later (though I'm not sure of the date) article on his model of Bristol TM, which was based on the Brunel terminus, with a dock scene round the back! Like you I would love to know what happened after that. Never saw any pictures of Paddington or South Wales other than I think there was a picture in the original article of the Fishguard branch!

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