On the 1st and 2nd September, 2018, the South of England's biggest free Model Railway Exhibition is back; The Gaugemaster Model Railway Open Weekend.
In the run up to the Model Railway Open Weekend, on the 1st and 2nd of September, 2018, RIGHT LINES we will be looking at a few of the many superb model railway layouts being exhibited over the weekend. This issue, we are looking at Oak Road - a OO Scale British Modern Image layout built by Mike Buick.
Oak Road is a fictitious station in Somerset, on the now GWR London to Penzance main line and based very loosely on Castle Cary with prototypical Western Region trains running from 2014 to present day.
The layout, which is still a work in progress, measures 20' x 9' (with a 20' x 2' scenic section) and came around through the need to run my Hornby First Great Western High Speed Trains. The station has two through mainlines and a bay platform serving a branch line, and behind it there is a small stone terminal.
All of the trackwork is Peco Ready to Run Code 75 which has been modified to give a better appearance, including the pointwork, which has been reshaped to follow the sweeping curves – not a job for the faint hearted but definitely worth the effort. In fact, the main aim of the layout was to take as many RTR items as possible and turn them in to something completely different! However, some things couldn't be bought so the tunnel portal, an exact replica of Somerton East entrance, was completely scratch built, and footbridge started life two Hornby kits and a pile of Plastruct!
I'm no electrician so the electrics had to be simple, and for me, that meant a DCC route for the control system. The points on the front of the layout are operated by DCC Concepts Cobalt IP Digital motors, again for simplicity, and the fiddle yard utilises their AD1-HP accessory decoders to operate some old motors that I had laying around which made the whole set up very affordable.
The layout's main feature is the large expanse of 'greenery', and something very common to the real Castle Cary. A mixture of Woodland Scenics, Gaugemaster and other well known products combined together give a realistic looking backdrop for the trains as they speed through the station.
Train movements are fairly prototypical with regular stopping and through, London – Penzance – London HSTs, and Class 150 and 153 units, often replaced by top and tailed DRS 37s, providing the local services. The stone trains are managed by various Class 59 and 66 Sheds and you'll also spot various diverted Cross Country HST and Voyagers as they avoid engineering works. No mainline modern image layout would be complete without it's specials and Oak Road is no exception – keep an eye out for Clan Line as it thunders through with the Torbay Express and the Royal Sovereign Class 67 and the famous Pullman train.
Oak Road is being exhibited at the Gaugemaster Model Railway Open Weekend on the 1st and 2nd September 2018. It's one of nearly 20 layouts on show in many different scales, depicting railways from around the world. Entry is free; with free parking. Should you have missed this Open Day, but would like to know more about other Events, then please visit our EVENTS page.