Alloa station BR steam and diesel period
Alloa is a meticulously built 4mm/OO gauge layout depicting the busy Clackmannanshire junction as it appeared in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It was the project that originally brought the Scottish Region Study Group together and has since appeared at exhibitions across the UK, as well as in several issues of Model Railway Journal.
The layout reflects Alloa’s significance as a railway hub, with lines stretching towards Stirling, Alva, Dunfermline, Kincardine, Perth, Larbert and Alloa Harbour. Every structure is scratch‑built from detailed drawings, and the 31ft by 12ft 6in layout showcases years of dedicated research and craftsmanship.
Coal traffic forms the backbone of operations, supported by a wide range of ex‑NBR, LNER and WD locomotives, along with visiting engines diverted through the area. The result is an atmospheric and engaging portrayal of a once‑thriving Scottish railway centre, rewarding
Altstetten is our original Continental N gauge layout and, when built, was one of the few winter scenes in the country. This layout has four running tracks built on two levels, with a small station on the upper level while the lower level runs beside a busy road. The upper-level tracks often feature preserved trains from the local Preservation Society, while the lower level occasionally sees an odd TGV diverted from its normal route to pass through this scenic area. The arrangement of four tracks allows us to run fourteen different trains, seven on each level.
If you have time, try to count the trees — we believe there are around 1,000. To keep the snow looking fresh, a new coat of white emulsion paint is applied every two to three years. Look out for the hunter being stalked by a black bear.
This layout was featured on the cover and insidthe December 1992 issue of Continental Modeller magazine.
Ashgrove Sidings could be anywhere in Britain, but it’s probably somewhere in Scotland. Set in the 1960s, as steam was giving way to diesel traction, it represents a yard servicing a number of local companies but operated by British Railways. Located in a large but unidentified town, it connects to the wider rail network via an access line running behind the premises of one of the companies it serves. As a result, some interesting shunting manoeuvres are often required to ensure the correct wagon or van ends up in the right place.
Goods trains enter the layout from the rear, where they are marshalled before moving onto the scenic section. Because the layout is operated from the front, it’s often believed that whoever prepares the trains at the rear takes a perverse pleasure in creating a mixture and order of wagons designed to cause as many problems for the operator as possible. There is no passenger operation, though an Inspector’s Saloon may occasionally appear. Otherwise, due to restricted space, operations are handled by small locomotives—both steam and diesel—though every so often a driver seems to lose his way and a larger locomotive appears, only to be promptly told by the yard foreman to “ !”
The yard is crossed by a bridge carrying another line over the sidings. It is little used, but some shunting does take place on it—provided you use your imagination.
The layout was one of two inherited by the club from a member, Ian Noble, who passed away a few years ago. It had always been the intention to develop it properly. Ian had laid all the track and had it operating, but scenery was limited and the placement of buildings was only loosely defined. We hope we have now developed the layout into something Ian would have appreciated.
UK Contemporary
Ashton Steel is a small steel terminal located somewhere in Northern England. It is served by a trip working from a larger yard, after which the wagons are shunted using the works shunter. The layout has no points in order to maximise the length of the three sidings; all track changes are carried out by means of a sector plate off‑scene.
You will see locomotives from EWS, Colas, GBRf and Freightliner. The layout is operated using DCC control with a Gaugemaster Prodigy Express. All trackwork is Peco Code 75. Every locomotive is sound‑fitted, using a variety of sound manufacturers.
Austria / Switzerland
Auswiss is a fictional location, based on the Eastern side of Switzerland, in the Canton of Graubünden, close to the Liechtenstein and Austrian borders. The layout has an Alpine area, under which tracks from Austria and Switzerland emerge from tunnels to converge into Auswiss station terminus. In the background area, the layout there is an extensive, scratch-built Cement Works, containing a ‘cyclone’ pre-heater tower and kiln, with raw materials and finished product silos, and adjacent sidings with a locomotive service shed.
The layout is scale 1:87/3.5mm and dual gauge, with standard gauge HO (Peco code 75) and metre gauge HOm (Tillig ‘elite’ code 83) track. Passenger and freight movements mainly involve Swiss (SBB CFF FFS), Austrian (ÖBB), and Rhätische Bahn (RhB) motive power and rolling stock, with some other private carriers also evident.
Occasionally, some paths produce chartered CIWL (orient Express) arrivals.
Stock is mainly by Roco, Bemo, and Rivarossi. The layout is in Box-theatre format and DCC powered, with sound equipped ‘electric and diesel’ locomotives. Points are servo powered using a MegaPoints system - via a control panel.
We operate mainly from the front and use an 8-track traverser to generate train movements.
Bains Reach is a small town dominated by an industrial shunting layout based around a brewery, with all the comings and goings associated with the delivery of ingredients and materials, and the export of ale.
The town is served by a high‑level branch line operating DMUs.
The two levels are independently operated: the higher passenger level is powered by analogue control and can be switched between manual and automatic shuttle operation. As with all our club layouts, the lower level can be operated using either conventional analogue control or DCC.
The period is set in the British Railways green diesel era or early blue, to remain compatible with the wagons being shunted. More modern stock would look out of place.
There are numerous wee cameo scenes around the layout, most with a touch of humour or frivolity—see how many you can spot. We hope you enjoy viewing the layout; we’ve certainly enjoyed building it. While the operators are usually stressed (we do try to keep the trains running for everyone), there should always be another club member nearby who’ll be happy to answer your questions. Please don’t hesitate to ask.
If you’re interested in any of our modelling activities, we currently have vacancies for a few new members.
You can follow our endeavours on our website: www.clydesidemrc.com
You can also arrange a visit to our clubrooms, located on the east side of Glasgow, to see our other layouts, run your own stock, have a chat, and enjoy a cup of tea.
Chairman / Secretary: Alan McPhillie
Contact: alan.mcphillie@ntlworld.com
Backbury Junction is a fictitious station, but it is based in Southern Scotland. The layout represents an ex‑London Midland and Scottish Railway station, and many of the buildings are modelled on real structures from that region. The signal box follows a standard British Railways design, as do the lattice‑post signals installed throughout the station area.
The layout depicts a specific period in British Railways history: 1955 to 1965. By the early 1960s, steam traction in Britain was nearing its end, with diesel locomotives and multiple units taking over across the network. Maintenance standards for hard‑worked steam locomotives were not what they once were, and on the layout you will see heavily weathered locomotives and rolling stock to reflect that decline.
Operation of the layout and rolling stock is by DCC digital command control. Steam locomotives, diesel locomotives and diesel multiple units are sound‑fitted to create a more realistic atmosphere.
A mixture of fast express passenger, freight and Pullman services, along with slower local passenger and goods trains, all pass through the station.
Control of the points and signals is handled through three separate control panels. One panel manages the outer half of the fiddle yard, and another controls the inner half. These two panels are recessed into the fiddle yard boards at either end, where trains enter the scenic section. The station control panel, which operates the points and signals in the scenic area, includes basic electronic interlocking so that if a route is not correctly set, the relevant signal cannot be moved to the “line clear” position.
Bowater paper mill in Gravesend Kent
An industrial railway serving Kemsley Paper Mill
Bowaters operated two paper mills in Kent from 1924 to 1969, one in Sittingbourne and one at Kemsley. A steam railway transported wood pulp to them from Ridham dock on the Swale estuary. It was one of the last privately-owned industrial steam railways in the UK.
The layout features the north-west corner of Kemsley mill and its associated outbuildings. The railway operated 24 hours a day, so the layout has day and night lighting. All the buildings are lit and have interior detailing. Trains are seen delivering wagons of wood pulp and china clay to the mill, and staff to work in converted flat wagons.
Peco code 100 O-16.5 track is used throughout. All buildings are scratch built, all locos are scratch built or modified brass kits, and all rolling stock is 3D printed. Control of locos and turnouts is DCC, and route selection is via a mimic diagram on touchscreens, phones or tablets.
UK Contemporary
Boxwell–C is a restricted nuclear flask‑unloading facility with wagon‑maintenance capabilities, serving the nearby Boxwell–C power plant. Operated by DRS, a wide variety of flask wagons and low‑level waste vehicles can be seen working to keep materials moving into and out of the plant.
This layout was built as part of the Scottish Modellers’ Layout in a Box challenge, with the scenic sections designed to fit into two plastic storage boxes and be transported in a small car—legs, electrics and rolling stock included. The baseboards were laser‑cut to ensure an accurate fit and a sturdy foundation. Trackwork uses Peco Bullhead and is wired for DCC.
All rolling stock featured on Boxwell–C is weathered ready‑to‑run, with DCC sound fitted to every locomotive. The maintenance facilities occasionally host a ‘special’ visitor, attracting a steady flow of spotters.
Austrailia
Broadford is a service and dormitory town located 72Km north of the City of Melbourne in the sheep and cattle district of south central Victoria.
The town is served by a station on the double track broad gauge (5ft 3in) railway from Melbourne to Albury/Wodonga on the border with New South Wales. Running alongside is a single track standard gauge line which was laid in the 1960s to allow through running to Sydney. Just south of the station there is a passing loop, ballast and cripple sidings.
The layout depicts the station and the nearby standard gauge passing loops as they were in the mid 1990s. This allows the running of the broad gauge up and down passenger services and intra-state freight traffic; and the standard gauge Melbourne to Sydney XPT and interstate freight traffic to New South Wales and Queensland. Signalling is a mixture of automatic colour light and manually controlled somersault signals.
Rolling stock is from almost all the Australian ready-to-run and kit manufacturers.
The layout was featured in the January and March 2010, January 2013 and June 2019 issues of Continental Modeller Magazine.
Current day UK
The period of the layout is set from 2010 to present day, which allows me to run the many modified and resprayed stock I have done, such as Colas,DB Schenker and GBRF loco’s, including at least seven class 69 conversions.There will also be a Network Rial SGT train running comprising of scratch built and kit bashed wagons.
The layout consists of two main running lines, from which a siding runs into a head shunt that services a large steel fabrication and pressing plant. A separate line leads into a small depot where locos can be re-fuelled, basic servicing and minor repairs take place. An unusual feature in the design is the use of two double slips back-to-back which would not normally be seen in the real-life prototype but was used here to save much needed space. The backscene is dominated by the large fabrication plant, made to scale which gives the structure a real imposing look, and a great back drop for loco’s shunting steel wagons in the yard, under the overhead gantry crane. This gives the layout real depth and the impression the layout is far larger than in reality . There are quite a few small cameo scenes dotted around, to give lots of interest for the viewer
UK 1930's - 1960's
Castle Morris is an O‑gauge country terminus‑to‑fiddle‑yard layout which can be operated from the front.
It is set in the North West Midlands, within the former Cheshire Lines Committee area, where both LNER and GWR stock can be seen. Goods traffic is mainly agricultural, with short mixed trains hauled mostly by tank engines. The station is served by short passenger trains, as well as a push‑pull set and a steam railmotor.
Control is DCC, with most locomotives being sound‑fitted. Several excellent buildings have been scratch‑built by one of the members, depicting an agricultural depot and yard. New points have been added along with working signals; platform lamps have been upgraded; scenery has been enhanced; and a working level crossing has been installed, complete with a lit signal box.
Czech Republic late 1990's
This layout is based on an imaginary station, located on a secondary line in the Czech Republic, set somewhere after 1995.
The line is located in the West of the country near the German Border.
Passenger services are run by the state company České dráhy and the trains are a mixture of both locomotives and railcars. The trains are often short just like the prototype.
A “pick up freight” runs daily, which serves the local sidings.
There is also freight traffic to the local cement works, which reverses in the loops next to the station. The cement works receives coal for its boilers and sends out cement by train.
Enthusiast railtours are common and this allows for further variation in rolling stock, including steam locomotives.
Track is Peco code 100, the majority of the buildings are modified kits.
Rolling stock is by the main European manufacturers as well as local Czech produced models.
Control is DCC using a Roco Z21 with signal and route setting on a mobile phone.
All locomotives are fitted with sound.
UK Contemporary
Based on a river in Cornwall, Clay Bridge is a combined rail and ship loading point for china clay slurry and rock aggregate modelled in 00. Cutdown HYA wagons are loaded with actual stone at the loading point at the front of the layout. At the rear of the layout the china clay slurry loading points regularly see ICA silver bullet tank wagons. Wagons are shunted in in pairs due to weight restrictions between the loading point and the mainline exchange sidings. A private owner locomotive works the loading area while hired in locomotives bring the wagons in and out. A small workshop area looks after the site’s vehicles and equipment.
The layout is operated via an ESU Ecos DCC controller with all the locomotives sound fitted. All the trackwork was hand built and the points are controlled by Tortoise point motors for smooth operation. A sector plate provides access to the hidden fiddle yard.
The layout features two live loading points on the right hand side of the layout which can actively fill the cutdown HYA wagons with quarried aggregate. If you look closely through the mesh on the front loading point you can see the wagons being filled up with real stone. The loading hopper and mechanism is scratch built and manually controlled to allow different wagon types to be loaded if required.
If you have any questions about the layout please feel free to ask one of the operators.
North Clyde electric line 1980's to 2000
Clydemuir is loosely based on the North Clyde electric station at Dalmuir. The park and flats have swapped sides compared with the real location, as has the bay platform.
The era varies from the 1980s to the 2000s, with kit‑built Class 314, 318 and 320 units operating the suburban services. The catenary is a mixture of 3D‑printed components and Dapol masts. For trains to and from the West Highlands, Sprinters, Class 37s and Class 66s provide the main traction.
Trains are operated on DCC using a Gaugemaster Prodigy controller, with lights and sound. Points are set the traditional way via a control panel using stud contact and a CDU.
The working main‑line signals are from Train Tech, while the shunting signals are 3D printed. All buildings are scratch‑built, with the signal box and station buildings constructed from plasticard. The tenement flats feature 3D‑printed fronts and backs with card construction for the remainder, and the modern flats also use a mix of materials.
Narrow Gauge line in Cornwall.
The layout represents a 2’6” main line narrow gauge railway, not in the first flush of youth, but well maintained and capable of handling heavy traffic. Set in Cornwall, the railway runs between Port St George (aka Padstow) and Bodmin and handles significant China Clay traffic as well as passengers and general goods. The section modelled is the area between Wadebridge and Bodmin. Starting at St Breock, just outside Wadebridge, the line leaves the river valley climbing to a remote moorland junction at Buckland Newton. Heavy freight trains are banked up the gradient to the junction where the branch to Blissland Abbey diverges from the main line to Bodmin.
This is a “might have been” railway – exploring a “what if” some standard gauge secondary lines in mainland UK had been built to narrow gauge. These would most likely be in the more remote corners of the country and in many respects the concept is more reminiscent of the 3ft gauge lines of Ireland, such as the Cork, Blackrock & Passage, Lough Swilly or County Donegal. Other inspiration comes from the Welshpool and Llanfair Railway (2’6” gauge). The stock and infrastructure reflect this “larger” narrow gauge outline.
The layout is DC and stock is kit-bashed or scratch-built. The operators will be more than happy to discuss any aspect of the model. More information is displayed on the fiddle yard panels.
The layout appeared in the Railway Modeller in April and May 2020 and won the David Glascott Trophy for Best Narrow Gauge Layout at the 2023 Warley Exhibition.
Typical Scottuish terminus satation in 1960's
The layout is displayed in an end‑to‑end configuration, representing a freelance interpretation of a typical small‑town terminus somewhere in semi‑rural Scotland during the mid‑ to late‑1960s, when steam was slowly giving way to the new era of diesel power.
To the left is a small halt with sidings, the remnants of the ‘old’ town station, still used by some connecting services and providing additional siding space for the town yard. Tracks emerge from tunnel mouths on the left of the scene, passing the mill and crossing a working canal used for transporting coal from nearby mines. After another short tunnel, the line emerges onto a wooden viaduct over a valley with a camping coach, then crosses a road before running past the small loco shed and entering the station approaches, platforms and nearby houses.
There is also a small goods yard, a run‑round loop, and a typical coal‑staging area for the local coalman. On the approach to the locomotive‑servicing area stands a coaling stage—now a relic of a passing era, but still available
A play on words, as the origins of this layout come from the estate of one of our Garden Group members, John Ross, who sadly passed away before he was able to join us in our new venture, the Moray Coast Gauge O Group. In many ways, this layout is dedicated to him.
Loosely based somewhere in Scotland, it represents the end of a goods‑only line in an industrial setting, complete with a small locomotive‑servicing facility.
Trains arrive from the right, emerging from the hidden fiddle yard. They usually drop the guard’s van near the engine shed before proceeding to the run‑round loop. Depending on what needs to be spotted at various locations, the locomotive will either run around its train or shunt into the appropriate sidings. Once all shunting is complete, the locomotive moves to the service road to take on water and/or coal or fuel. More than one locomotive may be in service at the same time.
Wagon destinations are determined using coloured pins: each destination has a coloured marker, and each wagon carries a matching marker. When a wagon is placed in the correct location, the marker is removed or replaced with a new colour for the next move.
The layout is controlled by an NCE DCC system, with all points motorised using slow‑motion point motors operated by toggle switches on the front of the layout.
Please enjoy the layout and feel free to ask any questions.
UK
The sidings are used by the various engineers departments to load materials. The signal engineers are using the yard to load wagons for a local re-signalling scheme whose wagons carry the colourful Satlink livery of red and signal yellow. The permanent way department also use the loading pad for local maintenance projects.
The layout is designed to operate at home and incorporates several scenarios from the yards in Northampton from the 1980’s e.g. sleeper built fence, water tower and salmon wagon resting one end on a buffer stop.
The rolling stock is mostly RTR Bachmann, Hornby, Rapido and Parkside/Cambrian kits. Class 08’s are detailed Hornby.
Selection of PD Hancock's Craig and Mertonford Light Railway which is set in the fictional county of Craigshire in Southeast Scotland.
Philip David (P.D.) Hancock (1928–2011) is regarded by many as the pioneer of narrow‑gauge railway modelling in 4mm scale on 9mm gauge track—what we now know as 009. Three versions of the Craig & Mertonford Light Railway (C&MR), set in the fictional county of Craigshire, were built in his Edinburgh tenement‑flat bedroom. The first, begun in 1949, was possibly the first 009 layout ever constructed and is widely considered the first significant British narrow‑gauge layout. The C&MR had its own official charter, history and characters, including its chairman, Lord Craig.
Dundreich is a corner section from the third and final version of P.D. Hancock’s C&MR. After his death, Dundreich was presented to the Edinburgh and Lothians Miniature Railway Club, where it has undergone conservation work to secure it for future generations and allow it to be displayed at exhibitions.
Like many modellers of his era, Hancock kept anything that might prove useful in the future. With each re‑incarnation of Craigshire, parts from earlier layouts were recycled. Much of the current Dundreich landscape appears to originate from the second layout, built in the early 1960s, although Dundreich station in its present form was created around 1975 on the site of the 1960s narrow‑gauge station. It is believed that the remains of the 1960s station platform now support the MacKays/Wests terraced building at the rear, with the rest of the original station site cleared and rebuilt.
One of the very earliest elements of Craigshire lies partly hidden within the hillside behind the crofter’s cottage. The tunnel mouth featured in the first published article on the C&MR—Why Not A Narrow Gauge Layout? in the October/November 1950 Railway Modeller—appears to have been reused first as the standard‑gauge tunnel mouth for the line to Dunbar in the late‑1950s version of the layout, and then incorporated into both versions of Dundreich. Also surviving from the first layout is Dundreich signal box, which served as Craig signal box when the standard gauge reached Craig around 1956. The footbridge now at Dundreich was previously used at Craig, providing access between the standard‑ and narrow‑gauge platforms on both the first and second layouts.
This is all that remains of a bedroom layout that appeared in dozens of magazine articles and books, inspiring generations of modellers to explore the world of narrow‑gauge railways.
BR Scottish Region 1960's
BR Scottish Region
This working model depicts the station area as it was in the years after WWII. The project was begun during the lockdown period in March 2020 and took almost a year to complete, each element taking many hours to create, inspiration stemming from an article in Steam Days magazine (Feb. ‘99). The railway facilities provided at the station being fairly simple, just an entry road with run-round loop and two sidings, it was the handsome row of houses along Victoria Road that was the main attraction for me. In addition, the land levels from the river to the houses provide another interesting dimension. The buildings were all “scratch built”, that is individually crafted from plain plastic sheet, laminated with stone, brick or tile sheets in the same material. Dimensions were gained by using a measurement tool on a mapping website. Traffic was limited to a return passenger service from Burnmouth, on the main line north of Berwick-upon-Tweed, freight being largely concerned with the fishing industry. The line closed in 1962 and there is little trace of it left.
BR Scottish region in 1950's/60's
Faskally Junction, if it existed, would be just north of Pitlochry on the Highland Main Line and the layout represents a junction leading west to a branch serving Strath Tummel.
The plain track is PECO Finescale with all of the pointwork being hand built from PECO components. The layout is controlled by a DCC system and the points operated by Cobalt point motors. All the main signals are servo operated and interlocked with the points.
Nearly all the buildings on the layout, together with the viaduct and dam have been scratch built. The station building is that at Newtonmore and the viaduct is a double track version of those on the West Highland line.
Lego model of Forth Bridge
Brick Coast Mainline is a club layout built by members of LUKR – LEGO UK Railway. This features an 8m long model of the Forth Bridge, and a variety of custom-built locos and rolling stock, all built from LEGO bricks – with no glue in sight! The layout is built collaboratively from a set of modular standards, and features scenery from a variety of eras and regions.
The LEGO Forth Bridge features some 100,000 LEGO bricks designed by four members over 6 months, and has been featured on BBC Scotland and national newspapers.
BR Scottish Region 1950's /60's
Glenochil is an N‑scale layout based on the distillery and yeast works at Menstrie in Central Scotland. It was featured in the N Gauge Journal 1/24.
The factory was served by rail from 1863 to the 1980s on the Stirling–Alva line, although passenger services ended during the Beeching cuts. The factory premises are also the location of our clubhouse, which is represented on the layout. To provide running interest, we modelled the area in the 1950s/1960s, prior to the station’s closure.
The factory still exists today as a yeast producer, but whisky is unfortunately no longer made there.
Old maps, aerial images and local historical photographs revealed a complex industrial site spread over a large area. Many of the buildings were substantial, with several now long gone. Representing the site on a 3.6m x 1m layout meant compressing the area and showing only a fraction of the structures. Using the information gathered, we selected key buildings and features to give a realistic impression of a working distillery. All buildings on the layout, apart from a couple of sheds, were scratchbuilt. The hand‑painted backscene depicts the surrounding landscape, including the Ochil Hills and the Wallace Monument.
The layout is DC‑operated with two control panels: one for the branch line and transfer sidings, and another for the factory sidings. All points are servo‑controlled, as are the numerous uncouplers and the wagon tipper at the end of the coal sidings. Several isolators allow multiple locomotives to be on the layout at once. MERG electronics are used throughout.
The factory is served via the branch line, where a trainload arrives from Stirling and is placed in the transfer sidings. Control then passes to the factory panel, where a private locomotive collects wagons and shunts them to the appropriate areas: coal and oil to their power sources, molasses and covered wagons for alcohol production, and general wagons for maintenance and construction. The site also includes a social club with a bowling green and a pig farm that uses draff (spent grain) from the factory.
The branch line itself is worked by local two‑carriage trains or a DMU, with a couple of short sidings for local produce.
The layout is dedicated to the late Stan Berman, who produced most of the scale drawings used to construct the buildings.
BR Steam
Greenbooth is based upon a proposed railway branching off the Rochdale to Bacup line at Shawclough and Healey, running up to Norden, Rochdale. If built, the line would have served the numerous textile mills and quarries in the area, which had extensive internal railways. Greenbooth itself was a small industrial village about a half mile to the North of the centre of Norden and is now actually drowned underneath Greenbooth reservoir. The industrial part of the layout is based on the exchange sidings of the Yates Duxbury lines in Heap Bridge, Heywood. The ex-L and Y lines are completely fictitious but what might have been if the line had been built. The layout uses PECO code 75 bull head track but everything else on the layout, buildings signals etc are scratch or kit built. Stock is a mix of RTR and kit-built items. All the buildings are based on real examples in the Rochdale area, or on buildings detailed in Gordon Edgars excellent Industrial Railways books. Control is analogue – I tried DCC and found it wasn’t for me!
SPT / Scotrail
Hallside is inspired by the suburban station of Newton situated some 10km south east of Glasgow Central on the West Coast Main Line. Newton no longer has platform faces on the main lines but remains a busy station for services via Hamilton and terminating services from Glasgow Central High Level via the Cathcart Circle. When Clyde MRC were looking for a possible location on which to base their new layout Newton was a strong candidate but it was felt that the compromises required precluded calling the layout Newton.
The main compromise is a fairly severe compression of the layout length but there is a less obvious reduction in width, particularly at the ends of the layout where non-prototypical curves lead to the fiddle yard at the rear. In reality the lines to Hamilton and Kirkhill diverge far more than we can show here.
For those without either a good memory or a knowledge of the area, the whole area on the south side of the station was the location of a steel works. This was called Hallside Works and gives us a name to identify the location of the model.
The station itself is a reasonably accurate representation of Newton and includes the main building and the shelter on the other platform, together with exits to a roadway below the station. The large former signal box that dominates the whole scene has had to be both shortened and narrowed to fit into our scheme. The new footbridge and lifts recently completed at Newton have not appeared at Hallside.
Our aim is to operate trains typical of the WCML and the west of Scotland. The layout is built largely on plywood baseboards, uses Peco Code 100 track and is controlled by the Lenz Digital system.
If you want it tightened further, modernised, or styled for a display board or exhibition guide, I can shape it to whatever tone you need.
Switzerland
Handegg is a small passing station on the meter gauge ‘Grimselbahn’ high up in the Swiss Alps near the top of the Grimsel Pass. The railway provides a direct link between the ZentralBahn (Zb), running over the Brunig pass serving Interlaken and Luzern, and the Matterhorm-Gottard-Bahn (MGB) line in the upper Rhone and Rhine valleys. The station sees local Meiringen to Oberalp services, interregional trains from Luzern to Brig & Interlaken to Chur, freight crossing the alps and the famous Alpine Express.
Scottish Borders
The premise for this layout is that the Beeching cuts were far-reaching, and although having the closure of the line set firmly within its sights, the act never actually claimed the ‘Waverley’ route. It was decided that the route was far too strategically important to lose and so, along with the vast local protests against its closure, in January 1969 its survival was secured.
In the following years, BR never spent a vast amount on re-signalling the route and so, as with other secured lines such as the Glasgow and South Western and the Settle and Carlisle railway, semaphores still abound today, with long cross-country sections in evidence.
In the centre of the scenic area is a ballast loading point where stone, quarried from the local Hazelbank Quarry immediately adjacent to the track, can be seen being loaded from a crusher plant and a loading platform into awaiting wagons, before being shunted for distribution to virtual quarries and numerous engineering sites throughout Scotland and the North West of England.
The passenger traffic on the line is a mixture of stopping DMUs on local Edinburgh to Carlisle services, loco-hauled express cross-country services and the occasional diverted WCML passenger working that is often class 47, Peak or even Deltic hauled.
The line also sees heavy usage by cross-border freight
traffic, with ‘mixed’ freight consists interspersed with coal trains emanating from the ‘Fife and Lothians’ coal fields, all of which have passed through, or been shunted at Miller
As time passes once common railway practices that are now no longer part of Britain’s railway scene seem even more archaic. Nowhere is this truer than with freight traffic. Sights that were commonplace even into the early 1980’s are now relegated to history.
Today’s railway is geared towards ‘block’ trains, lengthy loads of a single material or products coming from one customer and all going to one destination. ‘Hazlebury Yard’ is a reminder of those historic days, depicting the most charismatic of marshalling yards – the ‘hump’ yard. Marshalling yards acted as a concentration point. Wagons from outlying regions would arrive and would be sorted into trains for specific locations.
In a ‘hump’ yard, wagons would be propelled up an incline – the hump – and once over the summit would be allowed to roll, under gravity, into specific sidings, cutting down on shunting time and movements.
Hazlebury Yard is loosely based on the ‘Hump Shunting’ yards in use on the railways in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. They went out of use when most wagons became air‑braked and ‘block’ trains became the usual freight movement.
Although the layout is now thirty years old it has been updated to modern DCC operation, although push button operation of the points has been retained. The real yards on which it is loosely based (e.g. Tyne Yard) had retarders and accelerators to control the speed of the wagons, we haven’t, so please forgive and ignore any over‑scale ‘hand from the sky’ that may appear.
NER branch in Co. Durham in summer of 1949
Hedleyhope is an area of County Durham just east and north of the town of Tow Law, in the upper reaches of the Deerness Valley. The village of East Hedleyhope grew from the accommodation provided for the workers at the East Hedleyhope Colliery. The colliery was initially connected to Tow Law by an incline, but this was superseded by the Deerness Valley Railway, or the Waterhouses Branch as it was sometimes known. The “what‑if” part of the tale is that the branch was supposedly extended a few hundred yards by the North Eastern Railway (NER), and a new terminus station called Hedleyhope was built in a field on the western edge of East Hedleyhope village. The station site is bounded by the River Deerness, pub and post office of the village and open fields.
The station consists of a single platform with run‑round loop, a covered goods shed and a fixed 5‑ton yard crane. There is an end‑loading facility and a siding. The end of this siding accommodates a Camping Coach during the summer season. The buffer stops are mostly typical NER. The lower quadrant semaphore signals and the rotating lamp ground signals represent NER practice with some later renewals.
Locomotive servicing facilities are provided for the overnight accommodation of the branch locomotive, consisting of a single‑road shed, pit, 52’‑0” turntable, water column and coaling stage.
The layout is nominally set in the BR North Eastern Region timetable for Summer 1949.
BR - Scottish Borders line
Hewisbridge is a small market town somewhere in the Scottish Borders. The line opened in 1864 and left the Waverley route at a junction south of Hawick, progressing cross‑country to join the East Coast Main Line north of Newcastle.
In 1888 a line was laid into Arnton Colliery from a junction just north of Hewisbridge station. For the next 25 years the line showed reasonable traffic receipts but never achieved the potential forecast by the line’s promoters.
During the depression of the 1920s, as an economy measure, the LNER took the decision to single the line and simplify the yard at Hewisbridge by building two exchange sidings on the site of the former ‘up’ platform. In 1948 the local community thought they had lost their train service for good due to the damage caused by the floods, but their fears were unfounded as BR repaired the damage, returning life back to normal in Hewisbridge.
The line struggled on longer than many others in the area, but when it was announced that the Waverley route was to close the residents knew that the game was up, and the last train left Hewisbridge on Sunday 5th January 1969, a day before the final closure of the Waverley route.
The layout is intended to represent the railways which were once commonplace in the Scottish Borders, and the station building and signal box are modelled on those at Shankend, with the viaduct having a passing resemblance to the former Hermitage Viaduct north of Newcastleton. The locomotives used on the layout are common to the area and typical of those used on the lines related to the Waverley route.
The layout was first exhibited here at the SEC in 1993 and has over the years undergone some changes, the most significant being its transformation into a through layout in 1998 when it appeared at the Warley exhibition. Hewisbridge has attended various shows around the UK over the years and has featured in BRM, Railway Modeller and Hornby Magazine.
Display of Hornby Acho range of 1966
With the collapse of Meccano Ltd. In 1964, Tri-ang took over the Hornby Dublo name, thus becoming known as Tri-ang Hornby. The takeover also included the Hornby factory located just outside Paris where the French Hornby Acho range was being produced. The Acho range found itself being supplemented by some of Tri-ang’s model railway range. On display are many items from the 1966/67 Hornby Acho (Tri-ang) catalogue.
Childrens Layout
Jim’s Pals is a fun layout, devised in an attempt to attract younger railway fans into the pastime, a pastime for far too long with a reputation for being dominated by more mature people. You’ve heard of Euro Disney and Alton Towers with their vast budgets; well, this is Cumbernauld’s low‑budget version with mechanical dinosaurs and any amount of other silliness to stimulate the younger generation’s imagination.
The rolling stock is varied: characters from Thomas the Tank Engine, Underground Ernie, even small saddle tanks and pannier tanks — anything goes. It’s a layout for forgetting your woes and simply playing trains.
The buildings and scenics are eclectic, from ready‑built, kits, modified kits to scratch‑built — again, anything goes. This layout is not for the rivet counters though.
The layout’s trackwork is deliberately kept simple and the track itself is a mixture of Peco and Hornby, with traditional analogue control. The original layout was kindly donated to Cumbernauld Model Railway Group by the family of our late member Jim Pye – and it evolved over time into the layout you see today, Jim’s Pals. We hope you enjoy it and that it raises a smile.
It is a fictional setting somewhere in Central Scotland although the station is modelled along the lines of Maryhill Central. It is a continuous‑running layout with a fiddle yard to the rear with four roads each way. It is set in the 1960s steam and diesel era with steam trains and first‑generation diesels. At some point during the show the timescale will be moved forward for a while with BR Blue diesels operating trains.
BR blue era
Knype Bridge parcel depot is situated alongside platform 4 of Knype Bridge station.
It’s basically 2 sidings either side of a platform for unloading parcel vans.
Although the traffic is predominantly parcel vans the sidings can play host to anything from a light engine awaiting its next duty to a lowly engineers wagon placed for collecting rubbish or in conjunction with weekend work in the area.
A DMU service uses platform 4 as well as the platform being used for parcel traffic.
There’s usually a shunter knocking around bringing in vans for loading/unloading.
The layout is set in the period of the late 1970s early 1980s.
In reality it’s just 4 sidings being fed from a 2 road sector plate into a station environment.
It wasn’t built with exhibitions in mind just something to shunt around at home as the layout lives in my modeling room and is set up all the time.
Most of the structures are scratchbuilt from plasticard with the track being Marcway flexi track.
Control is analogue and utilises Gaugemaster equipment.
Locos and DMUS are Heljan and Dapol.
Law Junction on WCML 2003 -2006
Law Junction models a real location on the West Coast Main Line between Carstairs and Motherwell, where freight for Mossend and local passenger services via Wishaw diverge from the main line. It includes the adjacent freight terminal and is set around 2003–2006. Most of the scene is built to scale, with only minor length compression at the junction.
The layout presents the railway in its landscape rather than in isolation.
Key features include fully scratchbuilt buildings based on site photographs, non‑functional overhead line equipment, and working colour light signals operated via Heathcote Electronics modules.
Somwhere in Scotland on the ECML
Leven Bank is the club’s largest N‑gauge layout, depicting a fictional quadruple‑track location on the ScotRail region of the East Coast Main Line. It is set in the post‑privatisation era from around 1995 to the present day. Measuring 24’ x 4’, it is built as a continuous‑run layout, with the two fast lines sandwiched between the two slower freight lines.
The platforms of Leven Bank station, with the station building located above them, form an island design extending out from the tunnel beneath the town. The station also includes two bay platforms for terminating local trains. Leaving the station and tunnel, trains pass the freight loops, the small diesel multiple‑unit depot and the container terminal.
At the far end of the layout, trains run past the rail‑served cement works, which generates significant cement, gravel and aggregates traffic. This area also features the original DMU depot site as it existed before the construction of the new road that led to its relocation.
A tramway also operates on Leven Bank, connecting the station with outlying areas and serving a residential district at the higher tram terminus. Two trams operate automatically, each running to one of the two termini via an electronic shuttle circuit.
WCML in current day
Making Tracks 3 is a model of modern‑day Milton Keynes Central station in OO, created by Pete Waterman and the Railnuts team.
The model measures 64ft x 14ft and features the station as its central focus, with custom‑made mirror‑finish buildings behind the seven‑platform station. The latter includes a full set of canopies, a footbridge, platform furniture and more. Full catenary runs throughout the layout, and there are also scale models of the north and south car parks and the ice rink, complete with over 250 hand‑painted 3D‑printed cars.
In 2024, the team achieved a World Record for the Largest Portable Model Railway, of which this Milton Keynes layout made up one third.
Look out for the automated points, bi‑directional running, signals and the destination boards – these will tell you where our model trains are going!
Any of the operators will be happy to answer questions about the layout – just ask.
Germany
Megsdorf was built and named for my late wife Meg who always enjoyed a visit to Model Rail Scotland. Meg loved snow scenes, hence the layouts winter setting.
The layout represents a small station and goods yard in southern Germany in HO scale (1/87) it’s a small layout measuring only 7ft x 2ft (2.1m x 0.4m). Space is saved by having one end of the run round loop on a moving sector track off scene. The layout is presented in two canopy style boards and the backscene is hand painted.
Locos are sound fitted and the stock is fitted with KD Couplers to give automatic operation.
Control is DCC with an ESU ECoS unit operated wirelessly through an EDIMAX router using a LODICON remote unit or i-phones and i-pads with Wi throttle or RAILRUNNER APS.
There is a working gate and also press the red button to see what happens!
We hope you enjoy our layout.
North Wales
It’s the mid‑1960s at Minffordd, where BR’s Cambrian Coast Line meets the narrow‑gauge Ffestiniog Railway, the older of the two lines. Minffordd, with its distinctive wooden building, is in its final days as a staffed station on the Cambrian Coast line to Pwllheli. The ex‑GWR and BR Standard steam classes are giving way to DMUs and Type 2 diesels (Class 24s) on both passenger services and the daily freight trains.
Crossing above on the substantial stone bridge, it is an exciting time on the 2ft‑gauge FR. Now a decade into its revival by preservationists, the railway’s surviving original England and Double Fairlie locomotives are being joined by new arrivals, including the Hunslet twins Linda and Blanche, and the former quarry locomotive Britomart.
Tourist traffic is booming, prompting the in‑house construction of new ‘Barn’ carriages finished in a distinctive varnished‑wood livery. Such is the popularity of the railway that the one‑hundred‑year‑old ‘Bug Box’ carriages are regularly used on relief services in a train affectionately dubbed The Flying Flea.
The exchange yard, where narrow and standard gauge lines meet in a jumble of tracks, is still used to deliver coal and ballast for the FR. The chutes pour the contents of standard‑gauge wagons into the tiny narrow‑gauge wagons waiting below in the sunken area. The yard also receives gunpowder for the slate quarries, as well as occasional wagon loads of finished slate from the local merchant.
It is also the base for the FR’s permanent way department, where supply trains are dispatched for the volunteers restoring the derelict line beyond Tan‑y‑Bwlch and working on the early stages of the great ‘Deviation’ project at Dduallt.
Both the OO and 009 trains are operated with DCC and sound.
West Highland line in current day
This diorama-style layout depicts a section of the West Highland line between Rannoch and Corrour. The mooris seen in its winter colours, “a study in sepia” asdescribed in an early account of the railway. Operation is based on the period from the 1980s to the present day, with Class 37s and 66s predominant along with the ubiquitous Class 156 Sprinters. A variety of railtours and the occasional steam special will also feature, and you may even see the Hogwarts Express as this section of the line was used in location filming for some of the Harry Potter movies.
Experience the sights and sounds of the West Highland line crossing the Moor of Rannoch.
UK Steam/ Diesel
This fictitious layout is set in remote countryside anywhere you imagine it to be in northern mainland Britain. The track plan is based on a real location in the North East of England, just south of the Scottish border. The scene depicts a trailing crossover and refuge loops where slow and low‑priority trains can be side‑tracked to allow express passenger or high‑priority freight trains to pass unhindered and maintain their scheduled timetable. A branch line has been added to serve a local freight yard.
The layout was created to showcase trains in a rural setting where the loops and signals are controlled by a signalman separate from the train operators. The operators obey the signals, which may not always allow a train into the following section.
Locomotives and rolling stock come from club members, so the period and region on display can vary from the pre‑nationalisation era to the modern day, though not all at once. Depending on availability, we may vary the region and period at exhibitions, displaying anything from pre‑nationalisation times to British Railways or the British Rail Blue/Grey era.
The layout is operated via DCC control using the Digitrax system. Track and points in the scenic area are Peco Code 100, operated via a control panel at the signal box. Points are driven by analogue Cobalt point motors and toggle switches, while the signals are operated via servos and toggle switches.
N Gauge modelling demonstration and show publicity stand
BR Midland /Western Regions near Birmingham
Rubery is situated in the West Midlands, near Birmingham and just south of Halesowen. Originally, several railway companies operated in this area, including the Great Western, Midland, and London & North Western Railways. The Midland and Great Western Railways agreed to build a joint line linking Longbridge to Halesowen (which previously had no railway), with a station at Rubery. Other stations on the line included Longbridge, Hunnington, Halesowen, Coombs Holloway Halt and Old Hill.
Although no short branch line was ever built, our “what if” scenario imagines one running from the site of the original Rubery station — renamed Rubery Junction — to just beyond Rubery itself, serving the local brickworks. This would again be a joint MR/GWR line. It would also provide a link to the Longbridge car factories, carrying workers to their shifts, and offer two routes into Birmingham: either to New Street (Midland) or Snow Hill (Great Western). To stretch imagination a little further, we assume this line remained fully operational under British Railways into the 1960s.
If you have any questions about the layout, please feel free to speak to one of the operators.
UK Steam/ Diesel
Smallburn is a small fictional village station set in the rolling countryside of Ayrshire, although it could easily be found in any rural corner of Scotland. The station takes its name from the gentle burn that runs nearby, a feature that adds to the charm and character of the location.
The station is primarily served by locomotives from the depots at Ayr and Hurlford, providing a regular mix of steam and early diesel traction. These engines handle both passenger and light freight duties, reflecting a transitional era in British railway history. Recently, the first of the diesel multiple units have begun to appear, marking a shift in local services. Also making regular appearances are the Park Royal and AC Cars railbuses, affectionately known by locals as “Doodle Bugs” due to their unique look and sound.
The layout is built in OO gauge and operates on DCC with full sound. Control is provided via the Digitrax system, allowing for realistic and immersive operation. Every detail of Smallburn has been carefully crafted to capture the feel of a quiet rural Scottish station during a time of change in the railway landscape.
UK Contemporary
Stanton Road is a small independent loco fuelling and servicing depot. Owing to its independence, it welcomes locomotives from different train companies, so there is a variety of engine classes and liveries across the sidings.
The layout was recently modified to allow operators to run a greater number of locos at once. The fiddle yard has been upgraded from one siding to three, giving the operator much more flexibility. Most of the locos are sound‑equipped and DCC‑fitted.
Oxfordshire in 1920's
The layout is a 4 mm (P4) model of the Wantage Tramway as it appeared in the early 1920s, when a regular passenger tram service operated between Wantage town and Wantage Road GWR station. During this period, the Tramway also held a freight contract with the GWR to collect and deliver goods throughout the town and surrounding district, resulting in at least three return goods trains running each day. On market days additional trams were put on, including a cattle train, and it is one of these busier days that I have chosen to depict for added interest.
Childrens Layout
This small layout “happened” because of a discussion with Simon Kohler of Hornby. The conversation centred on getting young people interested and involved in model railways and, on realising that we had young members at the time, he generously donated one of their track‑plan mats along with the track required for the plan.
Having received this, we decided to set it up as a “Thomas” layout due to the popularity of the brand and to make it something children could operate if they wished. We adapted the fictitious plan slightly by adding an extra loop that runs through a tunnel — always a favourite with kids! The buildings are mainly card kits, as we had been donated a large number of them and this was a perfect way to put them to good use.
Since constructing the layout, we’ve taken it to the children’s Christmas party at the local Social Club in Bishopton. It’s set up in the hall and, once Santa has finished his visit, the layout is made available for any children who want to run “Thomas and Friends” for a while.
This layout also demonstrates that a workable OO‑gauge layout can be achieved on a relatively small board.
The island of Sodor
Fans of Thomas the Tank Engine will know he is based on the Island of Sodor, located off the northwest coast of England. The railway running from Tidmouth to Barrow is part of the North Western Railway, set in the 1950s, with operations overseen by the Fat Controller.
Thomas the Tank Engine and Percy the Small Engine are joined by James the Red Engine, Emily the Stirling Engine, Toby the Tram and Donald the Diesel. If we’re lucky, the circus may be in town and the Circus Train might make an appearance.
This layout shows what can be achieved in a garden by adding plenty of fun and interest. We can only display a small selection of what’s possible, even though our members’ gardens range from 24 feet to 80 feet in length.
The layout is controlled by DCC using iPads or smartphones with the Roco Z21 system, and all locomotives are sound‑fitted. The track gauge is 45mm.
Details of the group are available at the layout stand, and you can contact the secretary at gscale.scotland@icloud.com.
A factory complex somewhere in Fife in 1950's
Model of Uppingham station in Rutland
Uppingham is a small market town in Rutland and was once served by a 3.5 mile single line spur from Seaton
Junction. The station was originally opened by the LNWR in 1894, closed to passenger traffic in 1960 and closed
completely in 1964. Today the area is a small industrial estate and only the weighbridge, stable block and one
wall of the cattle dock remain. However the fine seven arch viaduct still stands one mile away to the east.
The layout is built to a scale of 3mm to 1ft with a track gauge of 12mm. The trackwork is a mixture of 3mm
Society sleeper base with Peco HOm points. All buildings are scratch built in card with embossed styrene
coverings. Point control is by vintage H & M solenoid point motors and operation is entirely DC with Gaugemaster
analogue controllers. Stock is a mixture of scratch built items, kits and original Triang TT.
Some operating licence can be seen at times, where a DMU unit is used. These were used during the latter days
from Seaton to Stamford but we like to think if Uppingham had been given a few more years, a similar service
would have operated there. The majority of traffic at Uppingham was simply a single coach push-pull unit with
occasional two coach trains used as school specials at the beginning and end of term. A typical day consisted of
just five return trains a day! Don’t worry, our layout is much busier than that!
Please do not confuse this layout scale with that of TT120 which is 2.5mm to 1ft – an entirely different scale. Ask
us to demonstrate the difference when you visit the layout and to see how 3mm scale compares to the other
popular scales.
Doxford shipyard complex in Sunderland
Walker Marine was originally constructed by members of the Hull Miniature Railway Society, including Neil Ripley, Colin Stark and Mally Baker, in the 1990s. Set in North‑East England, it represents a section of the former Doxford Shipyard complex in Sunderland, with exchange sidings to the NE Region of British Railways. Featured in the model press at the time, it was exhibited widely across the UK and Europe — including a previous visit to Glasgow for MRS 1997. It was retired from the exhibition circuit in the mid‑2000s and passed into the hands of West Scotland member John Bardwell, then living in California, for a more sedate life as a home layout.
In 2020 the layout crossed the Atlantic for a second time and resided in Kilmarnock for a few years before being passed on to fellow West Scotland Group members Ian and Ollie Pepper, who have brought it back up to modern exhibition standards. Work has included a new supporting structure, a lighting rig built to current standards, and a full scenic and electrical refresh.
At MRS 2026 we will be running a mixture of industrial steam and diesel in the low‑level shipyard sidings — including some of the original stock — alongside more mainstream BR North Eastern Region services on the high‑level through lines.
We are delighted to bring this well‑travelled layout back to Glasgow for MRS 2026.
BR blue era
Just for a change, Weslo Steels is not situated on the British Rail Western Region in WESt LOndon (hence the name) in 1975.
Thanks to a suggestion from my good friend Dave Furmage, Weslo Steels has 'relocated' further north to somewhere in the Linlithgow area to become WEStLOthian Steels for this weekend.
The time period has move on 13 years to 1988 as well. This plonks it well into the 'Speedlink' period which means the freight stock is virtually all air-braked fitted, as opposed to the ragbag variety of non-fitted, vacuum-braked and air braked stock from 1975.
Having said that, like the 1975 version Weslo Steels is still a steel terminal at the end of a short branch line, this time being served from Millerhill Yard...
(The more observant amongst you may remember Weslo Steels from a previous ModelRail Glasgow; all this nonsense above is to justify a return visit, hopefully in a slightly improved state with different rolling stock!)
Westbourne is set in the Great Western region and features a busy mainline and small servicing depot which forms a link between the railway and the town. The layout is designed to operate both classic BR Traction from the late 1980’s through to the current day scene with heavyweight Class 66’s on modern freight workings and express HST’s.
This TT120 layout features the latest Hornby releases in the scale, with the scenery utilising both kit and scratch build structures.
