The gritty North East is the setting for IAN FORSYTH’S ‘OO’ gauge depot scene which started out as an ‘L’ shape design, but has since been converted to a straight layout. Ian reveals the full story behind Holly Bank Grove MPD. Photography, Trevor Jones.
GAUGE ‘OO’, 16.5mm SCALE 4mm: 1ft SIZE 14ft x 2ft REGION NORTH EASTERN PERIOD 1960s CONTROL DC , ANALOGUE
Above: Raven ‘B16’ 4-6-0 61411 – one of Ian’s many kit built locomotives – departs Holly Bank Grove MPD for the main line.
Holly Bank Grove MPD started off as a right-angled depot and was made to fit into a medium sized bedroom by the late Bob Cutbush. It could be used as a right angled layout or as a straight layout by dropping out the middle corner board. Bob had very cleverly designed the layout that way so the trackwork aligned in either format.
I purchased the layout from Bob’s family several years ago now, but I had to modify the boards by dropping the corner board as I didn't really have the room to store the bigger version of the layout and the inner curves were too tight for many of my locomotives. A few issues were found with broken wires and I also wanted to make a few changes to the layout. The main construction of the boards is 6mm plywood on timber frames, ther…
