PAGE 48a – APRIL 2006

The header refers to the age of the layout, not its builder! The Brickworks recently celebrated its 10th birthday, and it has often been exhibited and written up in the English model press. Yet Arthur Budd’s O-14 [On2] layout in 7mm scale, as seen at York, is still fresh and inspiring.Emrys Hopkins’s notes include the following information: “The track, most of the rolling stock and three of the locomotives are built from Roy C. Link kits. The other locos are from Wright Lines and Nonneminstre kits. The buildings are scratch-built from plasticard [styrene], Howard Scenics brick-card or balsa and ply, and everything is painted and weathered using the techniques described by Martyn Welch in his book ‘The Art Of Weathering’.

“All the turnouts are switched using Tortoise slow acting point motors. Operation consists of loaded skips arriving from the exchange sidings carrying materials for the works, fuel for the loco shed or coal for the boiler house, and departing to carry finished products back to the exchange sidings. Once all the skips have been unloaded, they are returned to the clay pit and the whole sequence can start again.”

Nowhere is a barrow more useful than in a garden, and this offbeat layout in 1/12 scale (1in = 1ft) actually has two garden railway models! Mr Cholmondley-Warner’s Garden Railway was constructed by the Raven Group (Norman Raven and his family). As their exhibition notes point out, “It represents (using N and Z scale stock) the garden railway at Mr Cholmondley-Warner’s house. Although the layout is built as a bit of fun we have adhered to the concept of a garden railway in scale with the overall 1/12 scale of the buildings, surroundings and people.“Mr Cholmondley-Warner has opened his garden and its railway to the public to support his village fair. There are two railway systems. The first is the ‘live steam’ 5 inch gauge which is represented by the N scale stock. The second is G scale represented by the Z scale stock. Taking the overall scale of the exhibit as 1/12, N gauge represents near enough 5 inch gauge while Z scale is just a little larger than the 1: 22.5 of G scale.

“While the trains are going round have a look at the house interior (including the hobby room) and the various working elements of the garden, such as the barbecue which is well alight!”Emrys Hopkins adds: “I’ve known Norman Raven (left in photo) since my days in Scotland. Before he and his family moved south of the border they were regulars on the Scottish exhibition circuit with small layouts that would delight you. Sorry for omitting photos of the house interior–the hobby room in the attic had a model doll’s house, which I thought was a nice touch.”