Recreating a famous layout by Peter Denny in ’OO’ gauge looked like an easy project for DAN EVASON. However, fitting it into a garage presented some intriguing challenges, as Dan explains.
Above: GWR ’14XX’ 0-6-2T 4819 passes beneath the road bridge at Orleton Road on its journey along the branch line. PHOTOGRAPHY, RICHARD WATSON
GAUGE: ‘OO’, 16.5mm SCALE: 4mm:1ft SIZE: 10ft x 2ft REGION: WESTERN PERIOD: 1940s CONTROL: DIGITRAX
ORLETON ROAD was inspired by Peter Denny’s Leighton Buzzard layout. It was something my client John Phillips always wanted to create, and after seeing it in operation many years ago at an exhibition, it was a layout that always stuck with him.
John approached me last November with the idea of commissioning me to recreate Leighton Buzzard in ’OO’ gauge. With this commission, as John wanted a straightforward copy of Leighton Buzzard (with some adaptations), it appeared fairly easy to plan as there were plenty of reference photographs on the internet to work from. I thought it would be fairly easy to build. I was wrong.
As with any of my builds, I love to get stuck in and just go for it. This layout took about five months to build as I had a bit of down time over the Christmas period. Sourcing parts also po…
