Club Layouts
Detailed below are the club layouts – either under construction or permanently assembled in the clubroom for regular weekly running. There is an entry for all of the current layouts, layouts that have recently left us and also a link to a page where you can our Member’s Layouts. As a club we try to accommodate every option when it comes to layouts, be it scale, era or geographic location.
Each layout below has a brief description of it’s operation, type of control system and Exhibition details, if appropriate. Click on the layout name or thumbnail to see the picture gallery of each layout.
| BLANDFORD ST MARY – ‘O’ scale |
 This is the Club’s British ‘O’ scale entry into the exhibition circuit. In ‘O’ scale terms it can be considered to be a simple track plan by its operational potential is extreme. It features a large Brewery complex that hides one of the fiddle yards and a re-modelled creamery hiding the other. The station has a through platform together with a bay siding for local traffic. |
| CARIBOO RIVER – ‘HO’ scale DCC |
 One of the new breed of layouts is this ‘HO’ layout. It primarily designed for modern image diesel hauled freight trains that are sound equipped & DCC controlled. Not built for the exhibition circuit. |
| HAMILTON – ‘N’ scale – layout details for Exhibition Managers can be found here |
 Originally built for the society’s exhibition, Wycrail, in 2004 it has become a popular layout with visitors at exhibitions, with plenty of activity, and has featured in magazine articles. Named after one of the club’s founder members, Ray Hamilton, the layout depicts a through station somewhere in the wilds of Iowa. |
| HINTON PARVA – ‘OO’ scale – layout details for Exhibition Managers can be found here |
 As a ‘OO’ gauge layout Hinton Parva doesn’t come much bigger. Devised many years ago by members such as Dave Potter, Harry Fielding, Graham Muspratt and many more, HP has evolved into what is exhibited today. It was featured in ‘HORNBY’ magazine Issue 9 March 2008. A complex amount of electronics and a maze of wiring ensure a compulsive display at any exhibition. |
| IT’L’DO – ‘O’ scale DCC – under construction |
 An American O Scale layout using DCC. A 24ft run with a number of industrial sidings and a rail barge connection at one end gives plenty of scope for further scenic development and some interesting moves. Not planned for the exhibition circuit. |
| LEIGH QUAY – ‘O’ scale DCC – under construction |
 A new exhibition layout being built by the British O scale team. It represents a dockyard scene with hand built track, largely embedded in concrete and cobbles. A high level line provides additional variety. The DCC control will be via the MERG DCC system with throttles, command station, etc., built by team members. |
| LITTLE BOURNE – ‘OO’ scale DCC – under construction |
 Purchased from a current member, this layout was a frequent visitor to the exhibition circuit under it’s then name of Bridport. As it was based on a Southern Railway theme, its new guise will be the Great Western Railway. A complete stripping of buildings and wiring was necessary to make it into a DCC layout. |
| OXFORD – ‘OO’ scale DCC – under construction |
 Oxford will be a large, DCC controlled, finescale ‘OO’ exhibition layout of the eponymous city’s GWR station, set around 1960 on a summer Saturday. Featuring steam and early diesel’s it will be as prototypically accurate as possible in operation as well as visually within the confines of the need to provide intensive and interesting operation for the entertainment of the public and the robustness needed by an exhibition layout. The MERG DCC system is being implemented here with the layout group members building all of the components. |
| PROSPECT POINT – ‘HO’ scale DCC – layout details for Exhibition Managers can be found here |
 A 12′ x 12′ L-shaped layout of a logging/mining railroad in Montana in the last days of steam. Logs arrive to be sent on, or milled and pulped on-site. Ore from two mines is delivered on three different track gauges. Switchbacks (zig-zags) up the hillside climb 50 feet and connect three small junctions. Geared steam locos – Shays, Climaxes and Heislers – enable a scale mile of switching runs in difficult terrain. |
| PROSPECT VALLEY – ‘HO’ scale DCC – layout details for Exhibition Managers can be found here |
 As part of the American members exhibit Prospect Valley is a small neglected town containing a small amount of switching (shunting to the un-initiated) and a transfer point for the ore mine up in the hills. Strange engines can be seen emerging from the forest pulling loaded gondolas for the waiting main line locomotives to disperse to various off scene locations. |
| SOCIETY TEST TRACK |
 In addition to the American ‘O’ scale test track mentioned above, the club also has a 20′ x 13′, three gauge test track – our members use this for testing new purchases / builds / modifications. Each gauge (‘N’, ‘OO’ & ‘O’) has two tracks, each with a passing loop and all six of these tracks can be operated using DC or DCC. |
| Layouts that have recently left us: |
| CHALFORD |
| OCEANSIDE |
| MEMBERS LAYOUTS |