Layouts confirmed for Rail-Ex 2024

Layout 1:

Addison Road

O Gauge 1920s

Addison Road is nowadays known as Kensington Olympia, on the busy West London route between Willesden and Clapham Junction. Because this was a joint line, formerly involving the L&NWR, GWR, LB&SCR and L&SWR, this O gauge fine scale model shows the station as it was around 1925, enabling trains in both pre- and post-grouping liveries.

As you face the layout you are standing on the site of the Olympia exhibition halls, with Willesden Junction and the north off to your left; at the right-hand end of the layout the tracks disappear southwards under Hammersmith Road bridge towards Earl’s Court and Clapham Junction. The terraced houses of Russell Road form a natural backdrop to the station. Most of the trains running through the station at this period were general goods, coal or milk trains and our operating schedule is designed to provide a balanced representation of these services. For passengers, a frequent local service ran from the bay platform to Clapham Junction. The main lines were electrified in 1914 (3rd and 4th rail 630 volts DC), and the layout features models of the distinctive ex-LNWR 3-car electric sets which ran a through train which linked the northern cities of Liverpool and Manchester with the southern resorts of Brighton and Eastbourne. A Southern loco took over the southbound train at Willesden and the model shows the distinctive D213 carriages still in L&NWR livery; these had to be built from scratch. Amongst other items of interest on the layout are servo-operated scratch-built models of the original LNWR signals and the use of the MERG CBUS system to operate the layout from a representation of the lever frame in Kensington South Main signal box without the use of section switches.

Pictures of the layout courtesy of Tony Wright BRM

Layout 2:

Hatch End

N Gauge 1980s

Hatch End is based on the real location on the West Coast mainline north of London Euston. Set during the 1980s, with the four main lines under the 25kV AC wires running alongside the Watford lines of London Underground, you can be sure of plenty of lineside action on this busy N gauge layout. Look out for the full length APT!

Layout 3:

Ropley

OO Gauge 2000s

The layout is based on Ropley station on the Mid Hants Railway or Watercress line and is modelled to show its preservation appearance between 2009 and 2012. Ropley is the principal location on the railway, home to the line’s workshops where restoration projects are undertaken, as well as being the sheds for all the loco fleet. The railway is a long single line but the station has two roads, allowing trains to cross one another. Departing trains head off to either Alton or Alresford.

Layout 4:

Bevois Park & St Denys

N Gauge 1990s

Bevois Park and St Denys depicts the railway in this part of Southampton as it was in the pre-privatisation era of the early 1990s with locos and rolling stock that are correct for the period. The overall length from Mount Pleasant Crossing to the footbridge at St Denys station is slightly more than a scale half mile. Through this scene run typical services from the period including passenger trains from Network South East, InterCity and Regional Railways.

Bevois Park Sidings closed in 1990, but there is still plenty of freight on the main line. Regular traffic includes petroleum products from Fawley refinery and liquefied gas from Furzebrook. Steel arrives for offloading at nearby Northam yard and there are trains to and from Marchwood Military Port. Freightliners serving the two Southampton terminals pass through often and there is the occasional boat train to meet a cruise ship at the docks.

Make sure to look out for the train movements that are described in more detail on the flip card system at each end of the layout.

Layout 5:

Norge

HO Gauge

Norge is a fictitious Norwegian seaport with a busy local fishing industry. The layout is best described as “all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order”. From left to right the first buildings depict the beautiful Art Deco city of Alesund. Moving to the right the old warehouses are a snapshot of the Bryggen in Bergen. These have been scratch-built from holiday photos. Moving further to the right we find a scratch-built fishing village similar those in the Lofoten Islands and the Kjeungskjaer Lighthouse. The houses have been scratch-built in different sizes depicting typical Norwegian dwellings. The barn is typical of the grass roofing employed in Norway. The last structure is the depot at Hell just outside Trondheim. Animations include a peddling cyclist, some pecking chickens, a reindeer traffic jam, some mooing cows and a flashing lighthouse.

Layout 6:

Bethesda Sidings

OO Gauge 1950s-60s

When the Kington & Eardisley Railway completed their branch from Kington to New Radnor in 1875, the final piece of a small network of branches on the border of Herefordshire and Mid-Wales was put in place. Throughout the Victorian era there was much talk of extending the New Radnor line westwards towards Rhayader, and eventually to Aberystwyth. Although New Radnor station was laid out as a through station, it remained a terminus throughout its sleepy existence, until final closure was forced by the coal crisis in 1951. Capel Bethesda was an intermediate station, situated approximately halfway between New Radnor and Rhayadar. Due to topographical considerations, the goods yard was built a short distance from the passenger station and accessed down a short single line. In 1901 an independent light railway was built (under the auspices of the Light Railways Act of 1896) from Capel Bethesda northwards to Llanddewi, to tap into agricultural and other local traffic. Operating on a financial knife-edge from the start, the Vale of Radnor Light Railway was bolstered by the creation of an Army depot at Llanddewi in 1937, which provided the majority of the traffic until eventual closure in the 1960s. The layout depicts the period after the withdrawal of passenger services in 1962, when the section west of Capel Bethesda was closed completely and a goods-only service operated between Leominster and Capel Bethesda, with some services also serving Presteigne. As the light railway exchange sidings at Capel Bethesda were also closed by this time, the locomotives of the Light Railway were authorised by British Railways to run over their metals down into Bethesda Yard.

Layout 7:

Kyle of Lochalsh

2mmFS 1970s-80s BR Scottish Region

Kyle of Lochalsh was originally built in Barcelona, Spain as a micro layout capable of being transported via box-files. Since then the layout has since had two refurbishments and is now formed of two separate sections. The trackwork was built using 2mm Association Easitrac components with the storage sidings using the more conventional code 40 rail soldered to pcb sleepers. The intention was to try and capture an extract of Kyle of Lochalsh through the inclusion of the bridge, ramp, station and quayside. The backscene is formed by use of a panoramic photo stitch of the location which has been printed onto vinyl and applied to a thin perspex sheet. The layout era begins late 70’s to capture the overlap between class 24’s and class 26’s with the gradual replacement by class 37/4’s. The rolling stock modelled, all being visitors to Kyle, are primarily ready to run models, which have been detailed and the wheels reprofled to 2mmFS standards. Over time, chassis are gradually being replaced with 2mmFS etches. Originally a DC layout, it has now been converted to DCC and uses the Uhlenbrock Daisy II system. Photos are courtesy of Chris Nevard

Layout 8:

Brixcombe

P4 1930s GWR

Brixcombe is the Farnham club’s first P4 layout and portrays a South Devon terminus of the Great Western Railway. Situated somewhere between Newton Abbot and Plymouth, the station serves a small fishing port in an area popular with holidaymakers. As a result, traffic is suprisingly heavy with 2 daily expresses from London, a north to west cross country service and local trains from both east and west. Goods traffic is dealt with by 3 daily services and there is an early morning collection of the overnight fish catch. Once a year the local squire organises a very popular point to point meeting necessitating the insertion of a horsebox special into the schedule. As a result of the different interests within the Brixcombe team the layout can be running Dean liveried Cities and Bulldogs with early chocolate and cream stock, Churchward liveried Counties and Moguls hauling lake stock or Collett liveried Halls and Granges with 1930’s shirt-button stock. In the course of an exhibition weekend you are likely to see them all. Photos are courtesy of Chris Nevard.

Layout 9:

Middleton Top

OO 1950s-60s

The Cromford and High Peak Railway was built almost 200 years ago along similar lines to a canal, with rope-worked inclines powered by steam winding engines replacing locks where height needed to be gained. At the head of one of the inclines is Middleton Top with its engine house still surviving today. This remote windswept Derbyshire location has been extensively researched and modelled in 4mm scale across the last 4 years by Jay Dean. The majority of the items on the layout are either scratch or kit-built.

Layout 10:

Lydbrook Dean

OO 1950s-60s

Lydbrook Dean is an imaginary station set in the Wye valley area of the Forest of Dean in 1962. Passenger services ceased many years ago and the line is now freight only. A small quarry at Whitehill supplies the railway with ballast and there is a small goods yard behind the station for local traffic. The model is 00 gauge, 4mm to 1 foot scale (1/76). Trackwork is by PECO, except for the 3 way point which is hand made. Lydbrook Dean is DC controlled and the rolling stock has been carefully chosen from commercially available items. The layout is 8’ by 1’9” and folds in the middle so it can be transported on the back seat of the car, with uninterrupted vision through the rear window. The landscape is built up with plaster and sculptamold over formers of expanded polystyrene, while trees are a mixture of florists wire armatures and seafoam.