This is the first OO gauge layout that father and stepson team have built together. It has taken just under 12 months to complete and we have even surprised ourselves how it has turned out.
Myself, and my stepson, Nathan have wanted to build a model railway for sometime but have not had the time, space or finances to do so. |
We have for the past few years been reading a whole array of magazines such as Railway Modeller, Hornby Magazine and Model Rail to get inspiration on what to build.
However final inspiration came from a layout that came up for sale in Peterborough, by a company that specialises in Little Layouts. This layout was called EDDINGTON YARD*. It was build by Neil Mason of The Little Layout Company. It was small, bursting with scenics and offered a realistic shunting scene that we wanted to recreate on our own layout.
I contacted Neil to find out how much the layout was selling for and arranged to view it at an up and coming exhibition. Nathan and I went along and Neil let us play with the layout. We looked at all the other layouts too and discussed what fun we would miss out on if we didn't build our own! Therefore we decided to build Wickham Station, and would start as soon as we got home.
The first thing we did was to make a track plan;
I contacted Neil to find out how much the layout was selling for and arranged to view it at an up and coming exhibition. Nathan and I went along and Neil let us play with the layout. We looked at all the other layouts too and discussed what fun we would miss out on if we didn't build our own! Therefore we decided to build Wickham Station, and would start as soon as we got home.
The first thing we did was to make a track plan;
I was very nervous about messing things up so chose a very simple trackplan with just one point. We had lots of ideas about what we wanted on the layout, church, factory, warehouse, shops, houses, garage, but then realised that the baseboard would only be 148cm x 52cm, so some things had to go!
The base board was then built using MDF that had been collecting over the years and we purchased Peco Setrack 100, and a lovely Gaugemaster backscene that resembled Norfolk, which is where we wanted the layout to be set in.
The base board was then built using MDF that had been collecting over the years and we purchased Peco Setrack 100, and a lovely Gaugemaster backscene that resembled Norfolk, which is where we wanted the layout to be set in.
Next was to be the electrics. Now this was something that I have never tackled before in my life. Nathan and I set about wiring up the baseboard. We decided that we would use two controllers, and have a line each to run on the layout. I would operate the mainline that would see passenger trains pull into the station platform, and Nathan would operate the freight line that would see shunting carried out into the engineering works section.
Please check out our GALLERY pages for further pictures of the layout as it was being built. We have been extremely lucky to have received loads of positive comments about our little layout and have been booked for our first exhibition in 2016.
We also have a WICKHAM STATION FACEBOOK page with more pictures and articles.
Here is some of images of how the layout looks now, although we keep changing and adding bits! They do say that you never ever finish building a model railway!
Please check out our GALLERY pages for further pictures of the layout as it was being built. We have been extremely lucky to have received loads of positive comments about our little layout and have been booked for our first exhibition in 2016.
We also have a WICKHAM STATION FACEBOOK page with more pictures and articles.
Here is some of images of how the layout looks now, although we keep changing and adding bits! They do say that you never ever finish building a model railway!
*Eddington Yard can be seen in Model Rail Magazine September 2015 or click here for details.
Check out our blog for details on what we plan to do next. Below is a clue ....