Spring Exhibition Layouts 2025
Nonsuch Tudor Railway (O:16-5)
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Brent Eleigh (009) - Peter Rednall
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Brent Eleigh is a small village lying between Sudbury and Bildeston in West Suffolk. Following the 1896 Light Railway Act, a line was surveyed by Colonel Stephens to link Hadleigh with Long Melford with the intention of developing the agricultural economy of the local area. The railway was never built, but this layout represents a narrow gauge version of what might have been. With a little tweaking of the route, a junction has been modelled at Brent Eleigh to allow trains to diverge to nearby Lavenham.
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On leaving the station the ‘main line’ loops and crosses over itself in Himalaya Darjeeling style to gain the necessary height to carry it out of the valley and onto higher land for the journey to Long Melford. Most of the buildings adjacent to the station are modelled on those in the village, though a great deal of licence has been taken in relocating them.
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The model is set in springtime in the early 1950s, by which time the company has acquired a variety of both steam and diesel motive power, together with rolling stock from other lines which have closed. Road competition has yet to make serious inroads though cost cutting measures are being enforced.
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Dingle Town (OO) - Peter Worton
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Dingle Town shows a typical place on the outskirts of Liverpool which is still served by trams and a few motor buses. The trams seen running are ones that were still in operation between 1950 and 1956, although not all off the different types actually ran to Dingle. If you look carefully you will see the famous Green Goddess, Baby Grands and a few others that are not so famous. The tram depot has a number of trams which are under repair or waiting their next call for duty
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Market Barton (OO) - Michael Gurton
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Small branch line terminus set in rural Suffolk, serving a fictitious market town. The branch connects to the Bury to Ipswich line at Thursford Junction. It is autumn, so principal goods are sugar beet bound for Bury sugar beet factory and barley / malt to and from the maltings.
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Nonsuch Tudor Railway (O:16.5) - Derek Reeve
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What if the Tudors had developed the railways instead of the Victorians? This is my idea of how it may have been. Everything is scratch-built including the locos, rolling stock, animations, mice and buildings. Most of the locos run on a Hornby ‘Smokey Joe’ chassis.
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Nonsuch is a real place in Surrey, although many of the buildings are models of actual buildings in the Suffolk / Essex area, including the Guildhalls at Lavenham and Thaxted. The layout took nearly two years of intensive modelling to build; literally thousands of hours. Most of the buildings have taken in excess of 60 to 100 hours each to make.
Why the mice you ask? My previous layout ‘Wendsleydale’ was a cheese mine that had 125 mice. I was debating whether to make mice or traditional figures for Nonsuch, but on visiting a local model railway show, I was recognised as ‘the Mouse Man’, so it was mice again...!
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St Tugdual (NM) - Rodger Main
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St Tugdual is based on the Côtes du Nord metre gauge railway system which stretched across the north Brittany coast of France up until 1956. The track layout with the 3-way point at the toe of the station is common practice on the system. The station building, engine shed and water tower are scale models.
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The layout is designed for end to end working, starting from the hidden turntable to a return loop at the other end. For exhibition running, there is an auto shuttle to allow out and back from the station to the fiddle yard with alternating double ended railcars. The rolling stock is predominantly scratch-built on Marklin chassis supplemented by some 3D printed bodies.
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Stanhem Quay (OO) - Sudbury Model Railway Club
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Stanhem Quay is named after a past member of our club, Stan Hemmings, who sadly died during the making of this layout. Stanhem was originally to be a typical East Anglian seaside town with a small quay supporting local industry and the brewing trade. It was later decided to make its location less specific to allow a larger variety of stock to be run. As a result Stanhem Quay could be anywhere in the country.
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