The design brief for this 'N' gauge model railway layout was that it should be on one baseboard that could fit in the back of a car and be interesting to run.

The prototype was the terminus station of Alston which is located at the end of the branch line from Haltwhistle in Cumbria. Although the branch was closed by BR in 1976 the station still exists today as part of the South Tynedale heritage railway.

An exact model of the station and sidings would need a bigger baseboard so the track plan was simplified and the position of the coal drops and goods shed was changed.

The former turntable was reinstated but the biggest change of all was to relocate Alston High Street to be next to the station rather than some distance away. Every building is scratch-built and is based on an actual Alston building with a view to creating a sense of place and atmosphere of the town, the highest market town in England.

The finescale track is all handmade with Code 40 rail but is 'N' gauge rather than 2mm scale.

The period modelled is the late BR steam era from 1956 until the last locomotives were stood down in the 1960s.

Alston featured Hornby Magazine in June 2024 and the station building model won the Chairman's Award in 2021 for the 2mm Society Online Modelling Competition.

Earlier this year this layout won the "EPARM Shield" as the best layout by fellow exhibitors at the Hull Model Railway Show.

Situated somewhere in the Forest of Dean, Bicsdale is a fictional place where one of the typical drift coal mines is operating in the Forest in the 1950's. Originally built to serve a somewhat remote nearby small township, the mine has a connection from the Ross and Monmouth railway and there is still plenty of passenger traffic with station facilities and a timber merchant also on hand.

The extension into the yard through the bridge to the side of the tunnel entrance was formed when Bicsdale number 1 drift (this now closed entrance can be seen close to the coal drops) was found to be capable of producing sufficient coal to export via the railway. Later on the mining operation was transferred to number 2 drift, and the tramway runs off-scene towards that entrance which is still in use. Regular services both passenger and freight run from both the Chepstow and Pontypool directions normally with ex-GWR locos and from north of Ross with ex-LMS stock, still maintaining the joint running of pre-nationalisation days.

Pointwork is all hand-built using C&L matched to their flexitrack. Operation is completely DCC, including point control, managed by JMRI, and normally controlled using tablets and smart-phones. All stock is fitted with Kadee couplings for ease of shunting.

Blackgang is a 1930's era Isle of Wight Southern Steam layout modelled in the (unusual for indoor) scale of Gauge 3 (13.5mm = 1 foot). The track gauge is 2½ inches.

The town of Blackgang, being famous for smuggling activities in years gone by, is located on the most southerly part of the Isle of Wight at St Catherine's Point. There were several proposed railway lines that never got off the ground including one line from Ventnor to Freshwater. It is on this basis that I have arrived at Blackgang. The location is now well known for the Blackgang Chine Theme Park on the cliff edge with pirates and dinosaurs as its main theme.

Blackgang is unusual within the model railway shows as having no electrical supply through the track. All the engines used are radio controlled with onboard power supplies from rechargeable batteries. The track layout is loosely based upon Bembridge and incorporates other Island characteristics. The majority of engines and stock used are authentic Isle of Wight examples, but there might be the occasional visitor from Gauge 3 members who may be helping operate the layout.

Dinas Mawddwy was the terminus of the Mawddwy Railway which ran from Cemmes Road on the Cambrian main line up to Dinas Mawddwy. The original operation commenced in 1867 and finally went bust in 1908 before reopening by the Cambrian Railway in 1911.

Under the Great Western Railway the passenger services were stopped in 1931 and the line was fully closed in 1951. This EM layout is modelled in EM gauge with kit or scratch-built stock and represents the line as it was in 1913 just prior to the Great War.

Felallyn is a fictitious North Wales narrow gauge railway modelled in 009 scale. This line was originally built between the villages of Felallyn & Taliniog to transport slate however the line never really took off. By building a line to the nearby Ffestiniog Railway the F&T could access the harbour in Porthmadog in exchange for the FR having running rights on their line.

This layout is set around the early 1900's featuring rolling stock from the Ffestiniog as well as the F&T local trains featuring both passenger and freight trains.

Fidlas Quay is a 'OO-9' gauge layout representing a remote narrow gauge branch line in the 1930s located on the Welsh side of the Severn Estuary.

Locally produced iron goods await shipping on the next high tide while a couple of elderly railcars provide a basic public transport facility to the sparse local population.

This layout is a first attempt at creating a 7mm scale narrow gauge layout and whilst entirely fictitious the buildings have been based on prototypes, with the overall scheme being based loosely on the Cromford and High Peak Railway. The canal side warehouse and engine shed being adaptations of the originals, reduced in size to fit NG and the layout.

The originally route was intended to be served by a horse drawn tramway, however it soon became apparent that the gradients would not make such a venture practical, and limit the loads which could be moved. The short line would connect Cotton Mills and Engineering works to the Canal which itself would bring in Coal. The line gained an Act of Parliamentary madness in 1854, at a time when Canals were already losing out to the mainline railway routes. Doomed from the start ,a further grave mistake was the appointment of Mr H.Crun as the CE for the line. His appointment came about due to the broad accent of one of the Directors, who's enunciation of Mr H.Crown (respected surveyor and engineer) was received as Mr H.Crun (disgraced batman to Lord Raglan) by his slightly deaf secretary Mildred.

The English translation of 'Glanfa Newydd y Camlas' is New Canal Wharf. From here a small transfer Warehouse serves the Canal and Railway and giving access across some rugged terrain to Mills on the hills above. H.Crun made the decision to use a 2'4" gauge based on the request by the Directors to build both a Standard Gauge line and critically at half the cost. This was bizarrely translated to "Build half a Standard Gauge" by the same Director (an M.Bloodknock) and his secretary Mildred. By the time the Directors had realised the mistake H.Crun had already graded much of the line and ordered a number of locomotives. The NG decision did have one advantage in that a Standard Gauge line would have needed rope hauled inclines, which generated significant savings. Strangely, despite it's early miss-steps the line never made any money. A rarity at this time for such an area.

The Directors had failed to give the railway station a name, a bit of an oversight. One of the Welsh workers when asked referred to it as "glanfa newydd y camlas", H.Crun didn't understand but thought it sounded a grand name. Both H.Crun and M.Bloodknock made a hasty retreat, making their way to America via the south of England leaving a trail of havoc behind them.

Halden Lane is a 'OO' finescale end-to-end shunting layout set in a semi-rural industrial area, based on the Weald of Kent/East Sussex between Tonbridge and Chatham at the changeover from steam to diesel power.

It provides a variety of motive power and loads including passenger, goods and military traffic in addition to heritage services originating from the GWR. Motive power is primarily provided by Terriers, Railcars and WD locomotives.

However because Rule 1 applies on this layout occasionally Era 1 (pre-1875) locomotives may also appear!

Montarola is a 'HO' scale layout based on the Ligurian coast route that links Genoa to Rome along the Cinque Terra area of Liguria in Italy.

The coastal town of Montarola has a typical platform disappearing into a tunnel. The local ferry can be seen arriving in the harbour, it connects the coastal towns along the Ligurian coast. The villages of the region are connected by train and coastal ferry and is a very desirable area of Italy for international holidaymakers.

Modern electric traction haul short international passenger trains share the busy single track with long heavy freight trains linking the north to the south of the country.

Morton Road is an N Gauge layout which is very much a family and friends collaboration and is "just for fun". Follow our progress and layout updates on our Facebook page 'Basement Trains'.

The layout depicts a fictional motive power depot in South East Wales, supplying traction for the coal, steel and petroleum industries.

The layout was named in homage to the late Bernard Morton, a fellow modeller and a founding member of the Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway.

Peasevern Yard is inspired by the Midland Railway Avon Street yard in Bristol, nestled in the shadow of Bristol Temple Meads station. In the late 1970's the yard was used for the transport of Cement, Molasses and occasional Scrap trains with trains being handled by class 03's and later class 08's. The sidings were removed in the 1980's and little trace of the railway remains today.

The layout is a loose copy of a layout I had built previously in 4mm, Peafore Yard with the same trackplan and a number of the scenes and buildings replicated on this layout. The upper level of the layout incorporates a small part of Temple Meads station and the now demolished parcel conveyor.

Operationally the yard incorporates a private scrap siding while the rearmost siding is used as a holding siding for wagons going to the United Distillers and Blue Circle cement sidings (assumed to be off scene).

Pencader station was on the line between Carmarthen and Aberystwyth. The railway was originally built by the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway which got no closer to Cardigan than Newcastle Emlyn. The Manchester and Milford Railway (which got to neither place) was building its line from Aberystwyth which terminated at a junction with the C&CR about a mile north of Pencader. The main line then became the route to Aberystwyth with Newcastle Emlyn being a branch.

The model shows Pencader station and its environs as it was in the 1930s although we use modeller's licence and run trains from other eras. Some Newcastle Emlyn passenger services started from Pencader rather than Carmarthen. Some Newcastle Emlyn goods trains were combined with those for Aberaeron. These trains were double headed from Carmarthen to Pencader where they were split and went forward as separate trains.

The model is EM gauge and all the track on the scenic sections is hand built. Most of the stock is either kit or scratch built. Some of the locos have proprietary bodies on kit-built chassis. All the buildings are scratch built. The "grass" is teddy bear fur which has been shaved and painted. The control system is analogue with the signals being operated by servos.

This layout was designed to feature the representation of the Royal Albert Bridge that was part of the "A Tribute to Brunel" layout built by the Basingstoke Bodgers in the final of the inaugural Great Model Railway Challenge. Except for the plate girder bridge sides, the bridge is totally scratch built from Plasticard, Plastruct, Microstrip, water pipe, card, paper and a Pringles tube! The high-level main running line over the bridge is N-gauge and the lower lines to Okehampton are to 2mm Fine Scale standards.

The route setting of the points and the signals are controlled from a bespoke controller using MERG CBUS and components operating servo motors.

The layout is not intended to be an exact replica, just a representation of the area due to the constraints of the baseboard size supplied to us for the Challenge. The buildings are a mix of scratch built, ready to plant, some adapted from kits and others from previous club layouts. The layout is operated over the period from 1956-1973 with steam-hauled trains through to diesels in early BR liveries.

Set in the late 1980s, SPLOTT is a fictional representation of a small transfer yard (named after the local suburb of Cardiff), situated beside Cardiff Tidal Sidings and Tremorfa Steelworks. The model aims to display the range of freight stock and locomotives used in the South Wales area around that period.

The trackwork is built to an 18.83mm (P4) track gauge and uses DCC to operate the locomotives. The points are controlled by conventional switching. Most of the structures on the layout are handmade using plastic sheet, styrene profiled sections, or specially designed etched brass components. Detailing parts are sourced from various locations, including Europe and the USA. Locomotives are detailed with Extreme Etchings parts, and much of the rolling stock is either scratch-built or heavily modified. All stock on the layout has been weathered to varying degrees.

Templeford is an epic vintage O Gauge exhibition layout that was originally built in 1959 and exhibited in 1960 and 1962 by the late Laurie Tandy. The layout was renovated and exhibited for the first time in 53 years by his children in October 2015.

This almost unique Vintage O gauge layout is mainly Hornby with a strong Southern Railway bias, but all of the "Big Four" companies are represented. The layout consists of a four platform through station with avoiding loop, small goods yard, two further goods sidings, and motive power depot with turntable. Most points are power operated with one or two hand points which we get spectators to operate for us. There is also a two road fiddle yard to facilitate stock changes. Plans are in hand to increase the fiddle yard by adding an extra 5 roads to form a branch terminus which will double as a fiddle yard.

Up to 5 simultaneous train movements can be happening at any one time, and the layout is able to replicate all of the train movements that one might find on a large through station on the full-sized railway in the 1930s.

The Hogwash and Baloney Railroad is my first attempt at modelling in 0 gauge. It is the inland terminus of an imaginary short-line railroad from Baloney somewhere in the USA, set in the 1950s. Local folk seem to forget Baloney and always refer to the railroad as "The Hogwash". The line runs into Hogwash's small depot over a low trestle bridge through which the roaring Hogwash - the seasonal river that gave the town its name - runs. There is a rather busy freight yard serving local industries - particularly grain and chemicals.

There are hundreds of short line railroads in the USA - often quite long (up to hundreds of miles) and some very short (less than a mile). They usually have a motley collection of second-hand or rented motive power. The Hogwash boasts two steamers - a 2-8-0, an 0-8-0, a GP9 diesel, and the pride of the operating department - a gas-electric "doodlebug" railcar. Many of these short lines would just have a mixed train on a daily basis. The Hogwash is one of the busy ones. Watch out for the morning Mail, several freights, the doodlebug local, and (of course) at least one mixed train!

The low-relief background buildings of grain silos, oil/chemical works and factories are still a work in progress but with trains shuffling in and out I hope this little railroad will transport you to another era and a different world.

Tony was the owner of this forest in the 1890s and he built a narrow gauge railway to bring timber down to his own saw mill. This was extended during the Great War when there was an increasing need for timber. However it fell out of use afterwards. It saw a new lease of life during World War 2 when parts of it were used to get more timber and quarry stone. This section portrays the line coming up the hillside to a passing loop with the old line forward now disused and overgrown. The line reverses and continues up the hillside while a newer branch leads to a quarry which now supplies Shropshire County Council with road stone. The area is still known as Tony's Forest but the railway remains known only to a few enthusiasts and the local population.

There are some rare locomotives still in use and unknown to many enthusiasts. However, this is the late 1950's and modernization is on the way. Who knows how long this little backwater will survive before being noticed by someone in the Council? The future is very uncertain.

Emphasis has been placed on scratch-built scenery and structures whilst most of the rolling stock is built from kits. Track is hand-built using PECO nickel silver rail on copper clad sleeper strip (from the 7mm NGA). Buildings use wood, embossed card or plastic sheet and Grandt Line windows (again from the 7mm NGA). Locomotives and rolling stock are mainly kit built. Locomotive chassis are fitted with high ratio gearboxes and flywheels where possible to give slow running speeds. Passenger coaches are converted Bachmann On30 Trolley bodies mounted on bogies from the 7mm NGA while the quarryman's open coaches are from S&D Models. Wagons are mainly from KB Scale. Greenwich couplings are used which are activated remotely by permanent magnets set into the track bed. The operators will be only too happy to answer any questions on the layout, rolling stock or buildings.

A Z gauge layout depicting a compressed view area of the Walnut Tree Viaduct including Castell Coch and part of the Cardiff railway.

The real railway opened in 1911, closed to passengers in 1931 and the track was lifted in 1953.

Modellers licence shows how the railway might have looked today had the A470 not been built.

The layout is still being constructed to the photos below as of real lie photos of the area, photos of layout will be uploaded once available.

2mm Scale Association - Modelling at the scales around 2mm:1ft. This encompasses 2mmFS (2mm/ft, 1:152), finer scale UK N-gauge models (1:148) and finer scale US/European models (1:160). The scale has a long history as the smallest practical finescale standard

Cardiff Trolleybus Group - an local group, based in the South Wales, which was set up to recondition old trolly buses.

Derek Mundy - Demonstrating O gauge buildings, wagons etc

EM Gauge Society emgs.org

Fred Lewis - Demonstrating High End Loco Construction - www.welshwizardlocoworks.co.uk

Great Western Study Group - Promoting and encouraging interest, research and modelling of the Great Western Railway. www.gwsg.org.uk

Model Electronic Railway Group - an international group, based in the UK, which was set up to promote interest in the use of electronics and computers to all aspects of railway modelling. www.merg.org.uk

PPM Models - Demonstrating 3D printing www.ppm-zgauge.co.uk

RailFuture Wales - Railfuture is an independent, voluntary group representing rail users in Britain with 20,000 affiliated and individual members. It is not funded by train companies, political parties or trade unions, and all members have an equal say. - www.railfuturewales.org.uk

RCTS (Railway Correspondence and Travel Society) rcts.org.uk

The South Wales Modellers club started 40 years ago as the South Wales Branch of the Miniature Armoured Fighting Vehicle Association (MAFVA). Recently the modelling interests of members widened to include subjects other than armoured fighting and related vehicles. Accordingly, in February 2025 we changed the name of our club to South Wales Modellers, to have a wider appeal to modellers in this region. www.southwalesmodellers.co.uk

The Welsh Railways Research Circle www.wrrc.org.uk