Waverley Model Railway Club’s current main exhibition layouts are two British OO scale layouts, Chadderton and Genesis, two HO scale layouts, Australian prototype Victoria Bridge and US Whitefish, and N scale layout Mystic and Oblivion. We also have two smaller N scale layouts Brocklebank and Georgetown.
CHADDERTON
Chadderton depicts a rural junction station on the Great Western Railway (GWR) in a fictional location to the south-west of Birmingham, bordering the Cotswolds. The remains of a former connection to the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) are still to be seen. The layout is set in the 1940’s to 1950’s period, transitioning from GWR and LMS joint running powers to British Rail (BR) Western Region, following nationalisation of Britain’s ‘ Big Four’ railway companies on 1st January 1948.
Chadderton is named in memory of its designer, Peter Chadderton. Peter was a longstanding WMRC member and demonstrated a restrained passion for British model railways.
GENESIS
The birth of railways as we know them occurred with the industrial revolution in the 1800s and the availability of iron which finally led to the development of the steam locomotive and iron rails. The trains to be seen on this layout are a range of Great Western Railway trains travelling past early road and canal transport in scenes depicting an isolated rural English location that remained largely unchanged until the 1930s.
Genesis is Waverley Model Railway Club’s latest exhibition layout which was kindly donated to the club by its creator. Of recent times the club has refreshed the scenery, extended the fiddle yard and updated the electricals.
MYSTIC & OBLIVION
Mystic and Oblivion Is an N scale layout based on Midwestern USA. The setting for this layout is imaginary, but the place names are real. Somewhere in the south west corner of South Dakota in the USA, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy RR operated from the Deadwood mines and timber industries, to the main line between Omaha and Billings.
The line went through Mystic Tunnel and then by Lake Oblivion, the Niobrara River, Berne and Edgemont, to West Yard. The double track at the lower level is the Main Line. The branch interchange track climbs up to Berne and ends at Deadwood. This upper track can be operated as loop if required.
It was built over some four years by WMRC Members and was first exhibited in 2008. One of the design concepts of this relatively large layout was to demonstrate how N scale can be realistically set into a scenic ‘Big Picture’.
VICTORIA BRIDGE
Victoria Bridge is based on prototype practice. Operated now by DCC, there’s a double track mainline with associated marshalling yards and a branch line that connects various industries around the layout to the main lines at the station. The featured bridge on the layout in based loosely on the Taradale viaduct, on the Melbourne to Bendigo line.
All the structures are either highly modified kits or are scratch-built by the members. Locomotives and rolling stock on the layout are of Australian prototype, from the late steam period to modern diesel. In one corner of the layout there is a locomotive depot with a roundhouse and turntable, while adjacent to it is a large goods yard where goods trains can be made up and dispatched.
WHITEFISH
Whitefish is an HO scale layout modelled on an area around the town of Whitefish, Montana, U.S.A. This route was used by the Great Northern Railway, in particular the “Empire Builder” which ran between Chicago and Seattle. Early residents of the town worked for the railroad and nearby logging industries. It acquired the nickname “Stumptown.” from the large areas of thick timber around town which had been felled.
Whitefish is a walk-in modular doughnut of 11 separate modules measuring 5.4 metres long by 4.5 metres wide. It features two individual tracks on separate levels which are connected by inclined helix ramps. The top level track is a simple oval while the bottom track features a reversing loop at each end. Connecting tracks on a helix incline join each of the two reversing loops on the lower level to the upper oval track. There are no traditional remote switch control panels on the layout. All trains and turnouts are controlled by using the club standard “Digitrax” hand held throttles. The layout does feature an overhead double-sided panel depicting the track plan in schematic form with red and green LED’s indicating route and turnout switch directions.
BROCKLEBANK
Brocklebank Line is an N Scale British layout which depicts a corner of the fictitious town of Exehampton and the neighbouring village of Brocklebank in the south-west of England. You will see trains running on the layout as the scene may have looked in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The layout consists of an Up and Down mainline in a twisted figure of eight and a spur line to the village of Brocklebank.
CLUB ROOM HO/OO SCALE
The Club started discussions and configuration of the club rooms in 2007 to allow building of HO/OO and N Scale permanent layouts. The individual spaces were allocated with the N Scale layout in the centre, surrounded on virtually 4 sides by the larger HO/OO scale layout. Aisles would be approximately 1m wide.
The Club’s HO/OO Scale layout runs along three walls with a peninsula extending alongside the N scale layout. It is mostly complete and is fully operational. Additional scenery and scenes are being added to enhance the ‘story’.
It is a two tiered layout connected via a helix.
To watch several trains run on the mainline while others shunting in different areas is always fascinating and definitely keeps many members busy during running sessions. The size and scope of running your train on this vast layout is most enjoyable.
The whole layout is DCC operated with the Digitrax system.
Running trains with cameras give hours of scenic footage. Taking photos of your train passing through the enormous array of country, industry, stations, sidings, over bridges and entering or exiting tunnels will fill several albums.
GEORGETOWN
Georgetown is a compact layout and was originally gifted to the Club by the family of the late George Woolfall. Consequently, this layout was named in his honour.
It is set ‘somewhere in Britain’.
There are three individual circuits allowing plenty of trains to run and entertain. It is a delight to watch and there is seldom an idle moment.
CLUBROOM N SCALE
The Club started discussions and configuration of the club rooms in 2007 to allow building of HO/OO and N Scale permanent layouts. The individual spaces were allocated with the N Scale layout in the centre, surrounded on virtually 4 sides by the larger HO/OO scale layout. Aisles would be approximately 1m wide.
The majority of Club members in N Scale at the time were modelling North American prototype, however there were several members modelling European and British prototypes, with a couple of members modelling Japanese and even VR era Australian. It was agreed that the basic scenery should be “green” in colour to suit all areas modeled with North American / European practice of right hand running. Signalling was not contemplated due to complexity and cost.
The N Scale layout was drawn by mid-2008 and was a U shape approximately 8.2m long by 3.6m wide, giving base boards around 1.2m wide (with central dividers) and larger balloon ends. Initially the layout was to be 3 levels and the initial benchwork was started in late 2008. All benchwork was completed in 2009 and track laying was commenced on level 1. Level 1 track work was basically completed by end 2010.
Each level has an East and West double track main line and a bi-directional branch line, with plenty of stations, sidings, yards, etc. There are East to West and West to East reversing loops on both levels.
Track for Level 1 is Atlas Code 80 with Peco Code 80 Electrofrog points, operated by Tortoise Motors, switched by conventional toggle and with LED indicators.
Layout control is by Digitrax DCC with a DCS-200 control unit and 2 off PM42 power management modules for the 8 Level 1 districts. There is a DC loop available for those members who have DC only rolling stock.
Scenery work is 90% completed for Level 1, with point control around 30% completed.
After experience with operation of Level 1 it became obvious that the aisle space allocated between the N and HO/OO layouts was tight and the building of the 3rd level would not be practical for operation on Club nights.
Level 2 layout was simplified with less sidings and pointwork to allow more space for scenery and reduce costs. The benchwork for Level 2 was raised 90mm and the benchwork for Level 3 became the lighting and sky board for Level 2. The helix between Level 1 and 2 was increase to 5 turns and made cylindrical for ease of construction.
Level 2 planning is complete and track laying has begun with the aim to complete all track laying by mid-2019.
As Level 2 is closer to eye level, track for Level 2 will be Peco Code 55, again with Peco Electrofrog points, operated by Club designed servo mechanisms, controlled by Arduino processors and touch toggle switches. There will be some stock Atlas Code 80 track used for sidings and yards. Total track length for Level 2 is around 195m with 51 points.
Once completed, if an operator starts a train from a yard on Level 1, traverses the bi-directional track, crosses to the East main line, then after a completed circuit takes the East to West reversing loop, completes a West complete look, heads up the hill to helex and Level 2 West bound, does a similar operation around all 3 Level 2 loops, returns to Level 1 and makes it back to the original yard, the total length of the run will be around 240 metres or around 38 scale kilometres. At a constant scale speed of 40km/h, this circuit will take around 55 minutes non stop.
