Several members have layouts that appear on behalf of the Club at exhibitions up and down the country. Brief details of these layouts are given below.

Kappa Board Layout
Treyarnon
Harris Yard
Picture This
Shark Fin Yard
Courthare Junction

Kappa Board Layout "00"

Owned by Keith Harcourt in 4mm Scale 16.5mm Gauge

Kappa Board Layout
You can’t build a layout out of that stuff, said a friend pointing at the off-cuts of Kappa Board, which has a foam core and card on both sides. That was 11 years ago! The whole layout, with lighting, only weighs in at 28lbs! The main board itself is under 10lbs and is stuck together with PVA glue and contact adhesive. The sky back cloth is a printed sky paper painted with matt white car primer then laminated professionally with matt plastic. The sky and the seemingly solid "picture frame" is all held in place with Velcro.

The layout is "00" finescale and uses three link couplings. Operation is from the front via a hand held unit. Articles on its construction appeared in 'Model Railways Illustrated' (June 96) and more recently in the January 2000 edition of 'Railway Modeller'.
Plan of the Layout
Plan of Layout - Kappa Board Layout

Treyarnon "EM"

Owned by John Pollington in 4mm Scale 18.2mm Gauge

Treyarnon
Treyarnon was originally built by Uckfield MRC but is now owned by John. It was the Club's first attempt at modelling in this gauge of 18.2mm, which is nearer to scale than the popular 16.5mm. (True scale gauge is 18.83mm, known as P4).

Treyarnon the model is pure fiction, being inspired by the typical ex-LSWR branch lines in Devon and Dorset, but moved a little farther eastwards to allow some 'Brighton' influence in stock patterns.

We have a habit in Uckfield M.R.C. of generating silly ideas and when a small harbour was proposed one member suggested real water and that the tide should go in and out. After many design changes the tidal harbour succeeded and it is often found that visitors at exhibitions spend more time watching the tide and fishing boat than looking at the trains. So much for railway modelling.!!

Constructionally, Treyarnon pioneered the Club's lightweight plywood baseboard design philosophy which continues in our latest layouts; Kennet, Leysdown and Buckham Hill. Trackwork is SMP for plain track with handbuilt turnouts using the ply & rivet "Brook-Smith" method. Most of the buildings are scratchbuilt from card and plastic, and the scenery materials from modelshop packs. The rotating storage sidings were again a pioneering attempt to save space and minimise 'crane-shunting' or manhandling of stock in the fiddleyard.

Locomotives and rolling stock are from the present owner and two other Club members, who also model in this scale. Treyarnon was featured in the September 1992 issue of 'Model Railways' magazine. It has been exhibited many times over the last 13 years, both as a Club layout and under its present ownership, with little modification until recently when the SR's third rail has finally ventured from sleepy suburbia to one of its smallest branch lines.
Plan of the Layout
Plan of Layout - Treyarnon

More Pictures

The station approach including the signal box

The harbour with boat

(Click here to download larger images of the pictures)

Harris Yard "H0"

Owned by Keith Harcourt in 3.5mm Scale 16.5mm Gauge

Harris Yard
A mysterious millionaire from Memphis, Tennessee, Charles T. Harris, who made his money in the steel business and later diversified into building computers, has reused his steel plant to indulge his passion for trains. He has collected boxcars, cabooses and locomotives that he likes the look of. He has them run for him to watch from his office building.

Other members of his entrepreneurial family have built plants for their companies in the yard so some of the boxcars actually deliver raw materials or take away finished goods.

This layout is a good example of the huge benefit of belonging to a model railway club. Many friends have contributed their time and talents to help construct the layout.
Plan of the Layout
Plan of Layout - Harris Yard

Picture This "0n16.5"

Owned by Brian Wilson in 7mm Scale 16.5mm Gauge

Picture This
As the name suggests, Brian has tried to create a picture of a small narrow gauge station and goods yard in Wales. As well as providing a passenger and goods service, logs also come in from time to time.

All the buildings are scratch built. Locomotives are various kits with the rolling stock from Peco kits. All the trackwork is also Peco, which is laid on the baseboard which has been constructed from foam board.

Plan of the Layout
Plan of Layout - Picture This

Shark Fin Yard "N"

Owned by Keith Harcourt in 1.9mm Scale 9mm Gauge

Shark Fin Yard
Stroud Chemicals uses the minerals of the Lower Colorado Valley to create paints, industrial chemicals and dyes. This layout represents the furthest outpost of the fictional firm, a remote yard where everything needed for operations in the desert is shipped.

A variety of locomotives, hired as required from the main railroad operators, haul all sorts of cars, of a range of ages, where they are spotted, unloaded and reclassified before leaving for a cooling trip home.

Shark Fin Yard is scenically based on locations in the Sonoran Desert, South West USA, where temperatures can exceed 48 degrees Celsius (120F) and surfaces can reach 82C (180F). People don’t stand out in the sun here and even the trains don’t hang around long. Some diesels can’t even stand still because of air conditioning problems and you may see them shuttling from one end of the yard to the other to keep cool. The buildings have bright aluminium roofs to reflect as much heat as possible.
Plan of the Layout
Plan of Layout - Shark Fin Yard

Courthare Junction "00"

Owned by Andrew Dancy in 4mm Scale 16.5mm Gauge

Courthare Junction
This 1ft x 4ft layout is the first that Andy has completed despite years of armchair modelling. Andy has managed to get the maximum number of train movements into a minimum of space

The area is a fictitious junction set on the borders of the Great Western Railway and Southern Railway areas. The GWR occupies the higher level, naturally so, as it is God’s Wonderful Railway!

Goods shunted on the Southern lower level are exchanged with the GWR via a wagon hoist. This wonderful machine, hidden in a brick building on the right of the layout raises and lowers loaded and unloaded wagons from one level to another as if by the hand of God.
Plan of the Layout
Plan of Layout - Courthare Junction

Last Updated 22nd March 2005