Aller Junction, near Newton Abbot, was the inspiration for CHRIS MORRIS’ ‘N’ gauge layout, set firmly in the diesel-hydraulic era in the summer of 1963. Photography, Mike Wild.
Above: A Class 22 has just been given the road after a ‘Hymek’ has crossed the junction with a long rake of vans.
Size: 7ft x 3ft Scale: ‘N’ Period: Summer 1963 Control: Analogue
Sometimes things just come together and take you where you don’t expect them to. My main railway is a ‘G’ scale layout running around my garden but I found that it gets too cold to play outside in the winter - at my age I should have realised this - so I built a small ‘N’ gauge branch line layout to keep me occupied in the colder months. This is a nice compact layout which handles half a dozen short trains and provides lots of operational interest in a very small space. I was very happy, but then one day at an exhibition I saw the Osborn’s Models limited edition of the first ‘Western’ diesel-hydraulic D1000 Western Enterprise in its striking desert sand livery. The next thing I knew I had bought one even though it was totally unsuitable for my little branch line.
At around the same time, I was working on new club layout ideas with fellow members and as part of my planning I wor…
