Who was there?...

1. Cherwell

4mm Scale, OO Gauge

Solihull Model Railway Circle

A scenic OO gauge, 26 feet 6inches by 10 feet 6 inches, four track mainline with an integral branch line. It features working automatic signals and has largely scratch built buildings with a local theme (The Manor House, The Mason’s Arms, The George Hotel, The Fat Cats, Kings Heath libuary, Tyseley Station, and Water Orton Station). The layout was built mainly to display scale length mainline trains, those being run reflecting the varying interests of the membership. Trains run are usually British outline, but can come from any part of the UK mainland and from any date between about 1900 and 2009. If you look carefully you can see: Pigeons roosting under the station bridge; Foxes using the trackbed as a shortcut and one fox eying lambs, gulls eggs and the shepherd on the upper pasture; Cats watch building work in the arch from the platform; Gulls above the sea and on the cliffs with a lonely Cormorant.

2. Millbenton Lane

4mm Scale, OO Gauge

Mark Miller

A DCC Diesel Layout set in the Late 1990's to present day, fictious layout set in the West Midlands, all types of traction can be seen from a class 08 to a class 66 the layout being inspired by Bescot Yard in Wallsal the layout has 4 main sidings which disappear under the local bypass and a small TMD and Stabling sidings to the front of the layout

Hornby Select DCC Controllers are the souce of power and rolling stock is Hornby, Bachmann ,Vitrains and Heljan.

3. Merlinwood

7mm Scale, O Gauge

Bulit by the late Mike Cole,

owned by John Ross

The idea for Merlinwood, which represents part of large MoD establishment came from the workings of the Bicester Military Railway during the late 1980’s/early 1990’s.  This ordnance depot on the outskirts of Bicester in Oxfordshire used a fleet of small diesel locomotives specially purchased from Thomas Hill to shut an amazing variety of refurbished mainly vintage short wheel base vans and wagons between the numerous warehouses on the site.  Merlinwood located somewhere deep in the heart of Wessex, is responsible for the receipt, storage and distribution of mundane but essential supplies necessary for the day-to-day operations and well being of our armed forces.  This means the depot has a very low security rating and although organised and managed by military personnel, employs mainly civilian workforce. The locomotive fleet operating at Merlinwood, unlike the fleet at Bicester, is a mixture of British Railways and other privately owened diesel and steam.

4. Waterfall Junction

2mm Scale, N Gauge

Ken Jones

This freelance N gauge layout measuring less than 2ft by 18 in [60cm x 46cm] was built in 1999 by me to act as a test bed for some of my rolling stock but went on to become a layout in its own right. It could be anywhere in rural England, Scotland or Wales and various locomotives negotiate this tight single track line passing under the waterfall which was the place that the main line, now a mere siding, joined this delightful scene. The waterfall and river are made from a 2 pack Faller system, the track is Peco and the controller is a special one built locally by Len Bane to enable slow running. The Bridge is a cut down Kibri Kit painted with Humbrol paints. The accessories include people from Preiser, tents from Busch and the land rover and grounded wagon are white metal kits from P & D Marsh. Tender locomotives and those with a long wheelbase cannot negotiate the tight curves. 0-6-0 tank engines can run around the circuit, but usually you will see diesels from Graham Farish and Minitrix pulling Lima coaches. Look out for campers, a train spotter, and a man with his dog and another one cycling home from work. Closer inspection will even show the ripples in the river.

The suitcase is a Python rigid expandable suitcase from the 1960’s, the middle one of a set of three that my friend Peter Dale was throwing away. More information and photographs at www.kenjonestrains.co.uk

5. Pending

2mm Scale, N Gauge

Ken Jones

An N gauge layout designed and built by Ken Jones using an A4 box file in 2003, inspired by a 009 layout by Barrie Etter. The staples holding the front panel of the box were carefully removed and the spring and fitting for holding paperwork in the box discarded with.  The layout is a scene from an industrial heritage site, that some people want to preserve, and others want to demolish and redevelop. Sometimes the developers arrive by helicopter [Revell customised kit] but most days the conservationists have a 0-6-0 working a circular track throughout the site. Normally it is a Farish Austerity in ex works NCB livery or black livery or even a 08 shunter. There is an abandoned mineral line and the buildings were made from bits and pieces from other models including Kestrel Kits. Everything used to make this layout [except the helicopter] was acquired second hand. The track is actually Peco 009 gauge “crazytrack” as it was impossible to bend N gauge track to fit the box file even by removing several sleepers. The layout appeared in N Bahn Magazine in 2004. The same year the layout made its first public appearance. 

The name “Pending” comes from the fact, like in real life, no decision has been made on the future of the site, or because “Pending” is often put into a box file. More information and photographs at www.kenjonestrains.co.uk