Grosvenor Square is the biggest of the Hornby Magazine layout fleet measuring 29ft x 10ft. In 2018 it made its debut at the full length at the Great Electric Train Show. MIKE WILD explains how it all happened.
BUILDING A model railway against the clock is always a major challenge and at times you have to move the goalposts to make a project achievable. Grosvenor Square fell into that category during its initial build for HM Yearbook No. 9. We had originally planned that the initial phase would consist of a 16ft x 3ft scenic section, to be followed by a storage yard for its debut at the Warley National Model Railway Exhibition in November 2016, but ultimately time got the better of us and rather than create a layout which wasn’t complete we reduced its scenic length to 12ft.
As you might expect, this reduction had an effect on its operational potential and meant we had to be clever in the storage yard design to allow it to function as well as practical while it was missing a board. That fourth board would have included a full set of inbound junctions allowing the station throat to be operated with two incoming and two outgoing tracks.
Above: ‘Western’ D1012 Western Firebrand rumbles into Grosvenor Square as a GWR ‘King’ 4-…
