(Featured below: “Pointless Shunting ” (009),“Shipmeadow” (009), “Ashfield Green” (009), “Shortwaite Hill” (009), “Staines Barn” (009), “Old Chapel Yard” (009), “Reeds Beck Waterworks” (009), “Bird’s Folly” (009), “Nibley Knoll” (009), “Priory Waterworks” (009), “Hawkins Tower” (009), “Chapel Mills” (009), “Davedale” (009).
POINTLESS SHUNTING (009)
by David Churchyard
One of “Challenge 2023” entries, a unique, novel layout, “Pointless Shunting” is a freelance layout based on a shunting puzzle/game using two turntables rather than turnouts (hence it’s title). At one end, a train is built-up wagon by wagon using a dice to decide which wagons are collected in which order. Once the train is complete, it is hauled down to the other end. The wagons are then split one by one into the two sidings. Much of the stock, the loco bodies, wagons etc., and the buildings are 3D printed at home. The turntables are run by electronics to stop at the correct tracks.
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SHIPMEADOW (009)
By Richard Doe
This is Richard’s first layout in 009 scale when Peco announced their 009 Setrack. The (fictitious) layout is set in wartime in the Waveney Valley south of the river. The railway was financed by local printers W.H.Clowes with a few other businessmen and narrow gauge was decided to keep costs down. “Shipmeadow” is a small rural station and is situated about half way along the seven-mile line. The layout measures 49″ x 20″ including a rear fiddle yard, the track uses 009 “mainline” turnouts powered by Peco point motors and analogue control is using a Gaugemaster hand-held unit. The higher ground was made with polystyrene sheet and covered with filler and brown powder paint, and a variety of scenic materials have been used. A basic passenger shelter is a Hornby Bus Shelter with added wartime advertising signs. As a newcomer to 009 a variety of ready-to-run, kits, 3d prints and second-hand items have been used all painted/repainted in “Beccles & Bungay Railway” livery. A special moment was receiving the Reinier Hendriksen award at Expo Narrow Gauge in 2018. Locos are repainted or modified Minitrains models, Narrow Planet kits, Bachmann and 3D prints.
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ASHFIELD GREEN (009)
By Chris Seago
Ashfield Green was built for the Group’s 2015 Challenge, which was to build a narrow gauge layout with a scenic area of just two square foot, the equivalent to 288 sq. inches. The total layout length is 4ft 5″ x 9″ wide. The baseboard was built from MDF and has a simple single track sector plate off-scene. The track layout cleverly contains a passenger terminus, loco facilities, a carriage shed, small goods yard for freight and a siding extending to the local corn and seed merchants. The rural terminus is inspired by the North Suffolk countryside. The corn merchants building is built with card walls covered in Howard Scenics brick paper the roof is Wills plain tiles. The railway cottage is built with a Hornby “Clarabelle” carriage with a Wills sheet and batten roof. The station building is a modified Heljan kit and the engine shed and carriage shed are made with Wills and Evergreen sheets. The locos that are run are tram locomotives mainly white metal kits based on Kato 11-103 “N” gauge chassis, the coaches are Dundas kits and goods stock by Dundas or 009 Society flat wagon chassis with scratch built fittings and loads.
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SHORTWAITE HILL (009)
By Graham & Caroline Watling
After a spell modelling in Gn15 scale, Graham returned to 009 to build a layout based on a Cyril Freezer plan in the Peco booklet “60 plans for small railways”. It had appealed to him for a long time so when he found a suitable piece of ply wood (44″ x 24″) in his garage, construction began. The plan has been modified to a continuous run and runs from a lower station with goods siding, up “Shortwaite Hill” to an upper station with an engine shed and goods yard. The structures are mainly scratch built from Wills materials sheets, although there are some modified kits too on the layout, they represent North Yorkshire buildings. Locomotives are two Minitrains Bagnall wing tanks, a Narrow Planet Bagnall saddle tank, an old Jouef Decauville, a Peco “James” mounted on a Kato 11-103 as a tram loco, a scratch built diesel tractor and a Corgi die-cast rail bus conversion. Most of the stock is Dundas or Ashby/009 Society 4-wheeled types.
Click to view images:
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STAINES BARN (009)
By Richard Doe
“Staines Barn” was inspired by a Farmer Pykes short-lived sugar beet line in Norfolk running from near to Claxton to the River Yare for loading into a Wherry, and on to Cantley sugar beet factory. On the layout, which is built on two Norfolk Heath Works module boards, the beet is tipped into larger wagons for onward shipment. It also carries general freight and a few passengers. A feature of the line is strange loco built from a 1914 Model T Ford and a skip wagon chassis which has been modelled for the upper line from the fields.
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OLD CHAPEL YARD (009)
By Jim Bamber
This is Jim’s second 009 layout and it features his 2017 Challenge entry, a repair and maintenance shed (with fully fitted interior) in a railway yard set on the edge of a small town. There is a passenger station, quayside sidings and an access road from an over-bridge. The layout is 4ft. x 2ft. with a fiddle-yard stick to introduce new trains. He has built-up a large fleet of tramway style locos and there is new stock it seems is appearing all the while.
Gallery images: click to view:
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REEDS BECK WATERWORKS (009)
By Chris Seago
This layout depicts a busy corner of a Victorian waterworks built at a time when there was great pride in such municipal utilities, this is reflected in the smart buildings and well-maintained grounds.
The narrow gauge railway delivers the materials required for the steam pumping engine, water filters, water treatment works and the workshops. The beam engine can be seen working in the pumping engine house along with the coal fires in the boiler house beside it.
Click images to view:
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BIRDS FOLLY (009)
By Stewart Green
Just to the east of Halesworth was once a Southwold Railway engine shed near Bird’s Folly, it was made quite flimsily with wood and asbestos and usually the Manning Wardle No.4 “Wenhaston” was stored there. This layout is just under 5ft x 3ft and features the engine shed (made from plastic sheet), the gravel pit, Bridge No.2 and an image of Folly House nearby. There are SR locomotives made from Golden Arrow kits of No.4 “Wenhaston” running on a Minitrix 2-6-2, Sharp Stewart No.2 “Halesworth” and No.1 “Southwold” these run on MicroAce 2-4-0 chassis. Due to the layouts small size, usually one coach is run with a selection of wagons and vans of wagons and vans including of course six-wheeled Cleminson vehicles.
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PRIORY WATERWORKS (009)
By Chris Seago
The layout depicts a busy corner of a Victorian waterworks where the railway serves the pumping engines, workshops and water treatment works. The beam engines can be seen working in the engine house and there are coal fires in the boiler house. It was originally built for the Expo Narrow Gauge 2016 Challenge – to build a working layout using just one point and three lengths of track in an area of 50cm x 25cm. It is operated as a “shunting puzzle” with stock selected by cards.
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CHAPEL MILLS (009)
By Chris Seago
“Chapel Mills” depicts a Suffolk milling site where the traditional post mill is still at work. With the arrival of the narrow gauge railway a new steam mill has been built. The layout was built for a competition to build a narrow gauge “pizza” layout up to 600mm in diameter. There are three animations in the scene: the post mill revolves with the variable “wind speed”, the grain hoist lifts bags of grain in the steam mill, and the steam boiler fire burns. The pictures were taken a few years ago showing some of Chris’s earlier locomotives.
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DAVEDALE (009)
By David Churchyard
Dave’s 4ft x 2ft layout “Davedale” follows-on from his previous project “Pointless Shunting”, however, this is a more systematic continuous run layout, again using Kato Unitrack set track. The main feature is a 10 shed roundhouse with the turntable electrically controlled by a stepper motor. Dave chose to design and 3D print all the rolling stock and locomotives himself, so too are the buildings which are covered with brick and tile papers. All the loco and stock mis-prints that he has accumulated are in a scrapyard behind the roundhouse engine shed.
NORFOLK & SUFFOLK NARROW GAUGE MODELLERS 