P4 gauge, by Chris Challis. At our 70th anniversary exhibition on 17 and 18 October.
17 and 18 OctoberCorfe Hills School, Broadstone
The Light Railways Act of 1896 let railways be built and run more cheaply. Their speed limit was 25mph, not much slower than an ordinary branch line.
This layout supposes the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway built such a line to Cheddar, to tap the trade in tourists visiting the cliffs and caves, market garden produce, especially strawberries, and of course Cheddar cheese. After it opened, the quarries persuaded the S&D to connect them through the station so they could send out more stone. The Cheddar Valley Oxide & Ochre Mill was built after the line opened.
The scene is the 1920s, with stone, coal, general goods and passengers coming and going.
It was built for the Scalefour Society's 18.83 Layout Challenge: a layout to P4 standards in just 18.83 square feet. It came runner-up, and won the Railway Modeller Cup in 2007. The track plan comes from Iain Rice's book Layouts for Small Spaces. The track is SMP phosphor bronze, the buildings use Ratio and Wills kits with Slater's Plastikard for the mill, and the grass and foliage are Woodland Scenics. Most of the locos, coaches and wagons are kit-built.
Cheddar was Railway Modeller's layout of the month in September 2007, and has featured in British Railway Modelling in January 2009 and Model Rail in August 2011.
No pictures of Cheddar yet. The best view is from the barrier at the show.
