Expo—Thirsk

Updated 17/07/11

At the time of the update the following layouts are booked to appear.

Proposed Layouts

1 South Bank Port Authority           Rich Christon             HO gauge

Set on the north eastern seaboard of the United States is the fictional port of South Bank. The port is served by a short line from the CSX mainline. The line serves a number of industries around the town of South Bank the biggest being the ADM grain elevator. While the model doesn't feature the port itself it is based on an unusual T shaped Model Railroader Plan which requires a certain amount of skill to operate due to the need to push many of the cars into the industries.

We sometimes run the layout using the Ship-It software to generate the movements for the operators to undertake. This adds very much to the operation by ensuring the that we are not just moving the ‘cars’ to the easiest location.

Generally if we are not too busy we do allow ’guest’ engineers to drive the odd locomotive if you or one of your children would like a go please ask.

 

 

2 Iota                                               Roger Nichols             HO gauge

An exercise in small layout design Iota represents the end of a long branch of the Santa Fe Railroad in the 1960’s. Buildings are mostly scratch built from Wills products, stock is Atlas, Bachmann, Proto 2000 and Athern rolling stock. Uncoupling is by magnets beneath the track. Track and points are Peco code 100, scenic items are from Woodland Scenic and Greenscene. Any questions please ask.

 

3 LookoutLake                                Peter Jarvis               N gauge

LookoutLake is a fictitious small tourist area on the British Columbia/Alberta border, the railway is seen from the town side, it has a small request stop Halt for Viarail and some tourist excursions in the summer months, the freight side is handled by mainly Canadian Pacific with some Canadian National consists, motive power can also be seen with run through turns by Ontario Northland and Montana Railink.  

Track is by Peco, motive power is by Kato/Atlas/Intermountain, rolling stock is Kato/Concor / microtrains and Intermountain.

 

4 Magdalene Road                            Dave Thirwell             OO gauge

Magdalene Lane is a goods station set in the period between 1923 and 1939 and captures the flavour of LNER stock and operations.

 

The layout is based on Gilesgate Station, constructed by the Newcastle & Durham Junction Railway.  Passenger services were withdrawn in 1857, and it became Durham Goods Station, remaining in use until 7th. November 1966. Later it was converted to a DIY store used by J & G Archibalds, and is now a hotel and restaurant.

 

The train shed and house are still largely intact as they are listed buildings, but some buildings were demolished to make way for the A690 to A1M link road.

 

Most of the stock on the layout is kit built, either 51L, David Geen or Parkside Dundas.

 

5 Black Rock, Buffalo                       Steve & Jean Grantham   HO/3.5mm

 

Amongst the plethora of railroad lines in an area of Buffalo called Black Rock, is a New York Central branch that runs to a Railway Express Agency depot. Here, parcels and LCL (less-than-carload) traffic are exchanged from dedicated freight cars and railcars. In addition to the depot is a two siding team track, where local customers can unload their deliveries from the visiting freight cars. This is also an area where neighbouring railroads can interchange cars. It's the early 1960s and although diesels now rule the roost, the occasional steamer puts in an appearance, much to the delight of the local enthusiasts.

 

All the plain track is Micro Engineering Code 70 and switches (points) are from Pilz. The structures are a mix of Heljan, Rix and scratchbuilt. The locos and stock are from Atlas, Proto 1 & 2K, Athearn, IHC, Walthers and the usual US manufacturers. Control is good old DC, using Gaugemaster controllers.

 

We're happy to answer any questions about the layout or modelling methods if you have them.

 

6 Sabden Glen                                 Dave Burrows             OO Gauge

The layout is loosely based on a Scottish village with humorous differences. These are a treacle mine, a haggis farm and a black pudding tree. There is a narrow gauge line tacking visitors to the treacle mine. I run mostly ex LMS and LNER stock with some BR.