Last updated July 2014

Brighton Road has now been taken apart, after a final appearance at the Wakefield show. The layout was based somewhere in inner London, and was based on the LBSCR around the turn of the century.

The layout appeared in various shows over the years in a part-complete state, but was first exhibited at Scaleforum in 2010 as a complete and functional layout. It has since appeared at Brighton Modelworld in 2012 and Bluebell MRS in 2013, and Scalefour North in Wakefield, 2014. The layout was highly complex to operate, and much training of operators was required for it to reach its full potential.

The layout was on two levels, with fiddle yards at both ends. At the high level there was a viaduct, stretching the length of the layout. This was the main passenger line, with four running tracks, and a double junction centre stage, splitting the line onto two double track viaducts. Unusually, we chose not to model a complete station. Instead at the left hand side we had just the end of the station, so that trains coming off the fiddle yard appeared from the station itself.

At the low level, we had the goods lines arriving from stage right under the viaduct, a small LBSC goods yard, and a larger marshalling yard, enabling us to bring in foreign stock, to be remarshalled for onward transit. There was also a short length of passenger tram line to the left, in the town scene, and a brewery off-stage right.

The trackplan is shown in a separate window.

The track used plywood sleepers, and a mixture of rivets and functional chairs. All the turnouts were operated using ‘Tortoise’ motors. Rotating ground signals were fitted, all functional.  

The photo galleries show some recent pics taken at Scaleforum 2010, and at the Bluebell MRS.

There are also some photos on the Scalefour website, taken at Scaleforum in 2010, the layout’s last exhibition at Scalefour North 2014.