Model Railway Forum

This was my opening post on the previous MRF forum back in 2013.

Hi
Having retired in 2009, and with the promise of the small bedroom in which to build a layout, Wykeham had been taking shape in my mind for a number of years, and is a purely fictitious town somewhere in the Hampshire/Dorset area, and named after the road I live in. Having commuted into Waterloo for forty five years, and worked a few minutes’ walk from what was originally Bassett Lowke in High Holborn, which then became Beatties, and finally ModelZone, I had a reasonable collection of mainly Southern Region locomotives and coaching stock. On retirement my son came back home for a few weeks, but stayed for five years, so the railway room was put on hold until mid 2013.

I had studied many books containing layouts, and one layout that had everything I wanted, was Cyril Freezers “Portable U” – although mine would not be portable. The room is 10ftx7ft with the door in the corner. The layout has a twin main line terminus leading to a fiddle yard, and a branch line that runs the full length of the “U”. It has a turntable in the shed area, and one at the end of the fiddle yard. As the room is slightly bigger than the layout size shown in the book, the layout has been “stretched” very slightly in length.

IMG_0351 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

In 2013 I purchased all the boards and legs required from Model Railway Solutions in Poole – they come in kit form but are very easily assembled. This included a three-foot lifting section that goes across the door – three feet is a very useable space when modelling in 00 gauge – the door has now been re-hung to open outwards onto the landing. The boards are marine quality birch ply and are two feet wide around the three sides of the room, with 9mm tops, effectively giving me a twenty-seven-foot run. I have a board which is slightly lower than the running boards, which sits across the “U” and this is my operating/control desk. All the track is Peco Code 75, all points are medium radius electrofrog, and operated by Cobalt Digital iP motors in the scenic section, and Peco solenoid in the six-track fiddle yard (these were replaced by Cobalt motors in 2024). Operation is through a Hornby Elite that I bought years ago, and has had all the upgrades so far produced (now v1.45) – I know many consider it a “toy” but it works for me. Points can be operated through the Elite, but are also wired for toggle switch operation, which is obviously quicker. I have a small mimic board on the control desk which contains all of the switches for point, turntable and lighting operation. The two turntables are Peco, and are powered by Locomotech direct drive motors, they hang (?) on the table shaft, and turn at 2rpm and are very quiet – they are powered via an H&M Clipper, with a switch directing power to whichever table is in use.

As I will be the sole operator, I have decided that eventually the layout will feature a timetabled operation – mainline trains leave the terminus and end up in the fiddle yard, where the loco uncouples, is turned on the turntable, runs down a line always kept free of stock, and can be coupled back onto the stock it brought in for later use.

I will try and add a couple of photographs showing progress over the last few years.
Barry (aka.Bulleidboy/BB)
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Here are some earlier pictures of the layout during construction.[/b] (Please disregard the 2004/2014 dates on some of the pictures - I did not reset the camera).
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100_0376 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

100_0379 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

100_0380 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

100_0383 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

100_0396 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

100_0397 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

100_0401 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

100_0392 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

100_0385 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

100_0378 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

100_0372 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

Things have moved on since 2013.

My control panel
IMG_0761 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr




IMG_0116 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr
M7 and Q1 - courtesy of the WTD sale!

IMG_0318 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr
A general view

IMG_0322 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr
The engine shed and turntable

IMG_0326 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr
One of my greatest achievements - the operating Ratio Platform Lamps


The exit from the fiddle yard

IMG_0526 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

Well done BB a nice intro, now get those pictures in order.

Wykeham is back and all is well with the world.
Although I did think for a second that the door had been rehung in its original position -

Nice to see it where it belongs BB.

Thanks guys - hopefully work will commence again very soon. As we had a good summer, a lot of time spent outside, and the decorators have just finished, so there has been furniture dotted around all out of place, access to the "railway room" was like an act from the "Great Escape". Now back to normal.

First thing that caught my eye was the curvature of the lead tracks. This will create a very dramatic swoop effect of inbound and outbound trains. And this is all point-to-point? I cannot recall having seen such a major undertaking in the version of point-to point. Point to points are a rarity in the US.

Steve M wrote: ↑Sun Oct 07, 2018 8:13 pm Wykeham is back and all is well with the world.
Although I did think for a second that the door had been rehung in its original position -

Proof that the door has been re-hung.

IMG_0753 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

Chops wrote: ↑Mon Oct 08, 2018 4:49 am First thing that caught my eye was the curvature of the lead tracks. This will create a very dramatic swoop effect of inbound and outbound trains. And this is all point-to-point? I cannot recall having seen such a major undertaking in the version of point-to point. Point to points are a rarity in the US.

Hi Chops

End-to-end layouts are very common in the UK. One of the problems with a relatively small space (in my case 10ftx7ft), is that the layout can look more like a train set than a model railway - with trains just running round and round in small circles. I can run a three coach + tender loco without it looking like a tail-chaser - the whole train fits into the station, just about gets lost in the tunnel and will fit in the fiddle yard. The intention, eventually, will be to run a time-tabled service. BB

Looking very good BB.

Both my lay outs are end to end, I could have had a round and round lay out but preferred the idea of having two

I love the way you have done this lay out also the weathering on your rolling stock is fab.

Pannier Tank wrote: ↑Mon Oct 08, 2018 6:21 pm
I ove the way you have done this lay out also the weathering on your rolling stock is fab.

No weathering by me PT - the M7 and Q1 I bought from WTD, and they are "factory" weathered. The N Class heading out of the fiddle yard is a Bachmann loco - factory weathered. I'm not sure I would risk an expensive loco to my weathering skills - may be in time?