Gauge: 'OO' | Period: 1960s | Region: Southern | Operating Team: Redditch Model Railway Club
It is the 1960s on British Railways Southern Region. Normal main line steam traction is about to end as the new diesel era and the continual spread of electric traction takes hold. Dagnell End was conceived as a fictitious station on the Hounslow loop in south-west London.
The line is on the former London and South Western Railway line out of their London Waterloo terminus and our station is located somewhere close to where the real station of Brentford is. The 'OO' gauge layout was planned as a challenge in building an urban landscape to make a change from building layouts with green fields. All buildings are scratch built with many based-on London prototypes, which have been photographed on several field visits by club members.
The basic structures of the buildings are made from thick card, which were covered with plasticard to replicate stone or brick finishes. The structures have then been painted and weathered to represent the prototypes from the area. To add interest to the layout though not strictly correct for the part of London modelled there is an underground tube line across the front of the layout.
The Underground trains are modified and motorised EFE models, which work on an automatic cycle. Main line trains represent the variety that could be seen on the south-west section of the Southern Region in the 1960s. Virtually all of the southern electric units have been scratch built. Control of the mainline trains uses the Z21 DCC system.
