Open Weekend Model Railways

The model railway line-up for the Moseley Railway Trust’s September Open Weekend has been confirmed as listed below. The Open Weekend is on September 10 & 11th, at the Trust’s site at Apedale, Newcastle-Under-Lyme. The event is open from 1100 to 1700 both days.

#1: Royal Gunpowder Mills – Scale 6mm/ft – Tony Barratt

For 200 years the Royal Gunpowder Factory at Waltham Abbey, Essex, manufactured gunpowder and in later years cordite. An extensive canal system was used for transport within the factory and sailing barges took finished products to Woolwich Arsenal. The Royal Gunpowder Mills museum has been open to the public from 2001 – for more information visit: www.royalgunpowdermills.com

This layout features an 18 inch gauge railway system which was first installed in 1917 and then extended in the inter-war period, using diesel and battery powered locomotives. On the model a few of the hundreds of explosive production and storage buildings have been re-arranged to form a linear diorama. All buildings, trains and boats are scratch built from original drawings, direct measurements and photographs.

#2: New Haden Colliery – Scale 4mm “EM” Gauge – Stafford Railway Circle

New Haden Colliery is a long-term project to faithfully reproduce, in model form, a part of your rapidly disappearing industrial heritage. The prototype for this layout was situated one mile South West from the North Staffordshire town of Cheadle. The mine complex was served by a purpose built branchline, which left the North Staffordshire Railway’s Stoke to Derby line at Creswell.

The model is built to ‘fine-scale’ standards and all the buildings are scratchbuilt, from photographic evidence and field surveys of the remaining site. Watch out for the automatic loading of the coal wagons beneath the main screens buildings in the centre of the yard.

#3: Dwarven Mining Railway – 1/50^th (9mm track gauge) – Jonathan Tansley

The dwarfs, a proud race of miners, are no longer as powerful as they once were, but in this small mining community the dwarfs are at their full force. This gorge contains a vast array of underground tunnels. In its centre the forge constantly pumps out armour for the marauding dwarf army, while the brewery keeps the army “fuelled”. The miners mine endless amounts of coal, tin, copper and the most valuable of metals, mythril. That is, when they’re not protecting themselves from the hordes of goblins and ogres in the area who also want these supplies. All locos are freelance, based on early prototypes, built to a 1:50 scale (well, near enough!). Figures are from the “Warhammer” range, suitably modified. Buildings are scratch-built, using foambord as a base.

#4: Fallgate – 4mm Scale, 9mm track gauge (009) – Stephen Little

Fallgate is an 009 layout representing Fallgate station and yard on the 60cm gauge Ashover Light Railway near Chesterfield and Matlock, sometime in the late 1930’s. This layout was originally created by Brian Love in 1998 and it has been extensively exhibited throughout Southern and Eastern England. Since 2009 it has been based in Manchester and owned by Stephen Little and Matthew Barrett. They are now bringing Brian’s excellent achievement to new audiences.

#5: The Wetlands Light Railway – 7mm scale – 16.5mm track gauge (O16.5) – Tony Pritchard

The Wetlands Light Railway (WLR) is set in the border country between North Wales and Cheshire/Shropshire during the 1950/60s. In this era narrow gauge railways were in decline, derelict or being restored to what have now become known as Heritage Railways. The WLR is still struggling along taking goods for the companies who still haven’t changed to motor transport, along with the occasional passenger train, usually on market day – and sometimes combined with the cattle wagons.

#6: Birches Barn Extension Railway – Association of 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers

The Birches Barn Extension Railway is a small 16mm scale, 32mm gauge layout representing 2’ narrow gauge trains. The emphasis is on the operation of small live steam hauled trains. Several models of Staffordshire built locomotives will be featured and the layout is operated by members of the Association of 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers.