LAYOUT FEATURES
Explore the amazing model railways built by talented individuals and clubs which feature in the pages of Hornby Magazine. This section covers 'OO', 'EM', 'P4', 'N', and 'O' gauge model railways and more in all eras. Plus many now feature exclusive online video content which you can only find here on Key Model World.
HOLLY BANK GROVE MPD
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.
MAKING TRACKS for Chester Cathedral
Creating a brand-new model railway is one thing, building a giant 64ft long model of the West Coast Main Line for a three month long event in Chester Cathedral is quite another. PETE WATERMAN OBE relished the challenge and in our comprehensive guide to this fantastic ‘OO’ gauge layout he reveals the full story behind the project.
Pete Waterman OBE
Kirtley Bank
‘O’ gauge looks at best outdoors, and DON NEALE’S beautiful Settle and Carlisle inspired garden railway is still running almost 60 years after construction started. Photography, Trevor Jones.
Great Wakering Garden Railway: The first 40 years
It's more than 40 years since Hornby Magazine’s photographer Trevor Jones made the first steps towards construction of his inspirational ‘OO’ gauge garden railway. Trevor brings the story of this ever-developing scale 23/4mile long model railway up to date. Photography, Trevor Jones.
The Isle of Westland Railway
Andy Coward’s garden may not be the biggest in the world but it hasn’t stopped him building a stunning outdoor railway which enthrals both him and his railway modelling friends, as he explains in this feature from the Hornby Magazine Archive. Photography, Trevor Jones.
Steaming through the garden
Given enough space, many of us would love to build a long garden railway. Trevor Jones visits the Iden Railway which does just that and attracts visitors from all over the world. Photography, Trevor Jones.
BRAMBLETON MODEL RAILWAY CLUB
Beginning more than 60 years ago, this fascinating club has built a complex network of ‘O’ gauge and ‘SM32’ outdoor railways in woodland near the Midland Main Line, as JIM RAYNER reveals. Photography, Trevor Jones.
Tal-y-bont
North Wales narrow gauge railways and the Bachmann ready-to-run Baldwin 4-6-0T were all the inspiration STEVE JONES needed to build his first ‘OO9’ layout. Tal-y-bont is the result.
Little Burford
Inspired by the Severn Valley Railway’s picturesque country station, MIKE HICKLING commissioned DAN EVASON to build this slice of the 1930s rural Midlands in ‘O’ gauge, to tremendous effect, as Dan relates.
HURST GREEN
Originally built as a through station, COLIN CHISEM decided to give his ‘OO’ gauge home layout a new lease of life by converting it into a rural branch line terminus. Read the full feature here with extra images!
Dawes Road
A switch of scale from amongst the smallest to amongst the largest led RICHARD BOOTHBY to build this atmospheric depot and station scene in ‘O’, set in the grimy 1980s.
Horsley
Sometimes a new model can prompt a new wave of interest, and for COLIN CHISEM, Bachmann’s ‘N’ 2-6-0 saw him switch to the Southern Railway from his lifelong passion for all things Great Western. Look out for a full feature on his rebuild of Horsley (renamed Hurst Green) in the July 2021 issue of Hornby Magazine.
Westbury Cement
Faced with a third lockdown and desire to do something different, STEVE JONES built a box-file layout in ‘OO’ gauge with a distinctly industrial setting.
MAKING TRACKS
This summer, a threemonth exhibition will launch in Chester Cathedral and the centrepiece will be a mammoth 64ft long ‘OO’ gauge model of the West Coast Main Line built by Pete Waterman and his friends. MIKE WILD and RICHARD WATSON visited the build in its final phases of construction to find out more in words, pictures and video.
GIFFORD STREET
Gifford Street was once a regular fixture of the exhibition circuit and was a showcase for 7mm scale on a large scale. JOHN EMERSON bids farewell to Gifford Street to make way for his new ‘O’ gauge project. Photography, Mike Wild.
HALIFAX POWELL STREET
Competition between the pre-Grouping railways for access to Lancashire and Yorkshire’s towns and cities was fierce. PETER DURANT shows how he created this fictional station in Halifax which has a strong grounding in reality in ‘OO’ scale. Photography, Peter Durant.
MUCH WITHERING
The garden presented the perfect place for STEVE BOON to develop an ‘O’ gauge railway on which he could run his collection of Western Region hydraulics. Here he reveals the story behind the line and how it was built.
STANLEY JUNCTION
This famous Scottish location has been modelled before closures and rationalisation took place by the East Kilbride Model Railway Club. BILL CAMPBELL describes how this attractive ‘N’ gauge layout was built, and how it operates.
Newton Grove 19F
A visit to a friend’s ‘O’ gauge layout was all the inspiration JONATHAN NEWTON needed to switch scales and start a new collection. Newton Grove shed is the result – a compact portrayal of the final years of steam in the North West.
Roundtree Sidings
Summer 1985 is the setting for this super detailed ‘EM’ gauge exhibition layout built by the DEMU North East Area Group members. TREVOR SMITH reveals the detailed story behind this popular layout which features main line and Tyne and Wear Metro operations in 4mm scale.
Somerset & Dorset Celebration
The famous Somerset & Dorset Railway is a modeller’s dream with double-headed passenger workings, locomotives and rolling stock from across the regions and stunning scenery. MIKE WILD celebrates the S&D 55 years after its closure in March 1966 by recreating the journey from Bath to Bournemouth West in model form. Photography, Trevor Jones, Chris Nevard and Mike Wild.
Whiteacres
Originally developed as a transition era layout, Stafford Railway Circle recast this Midlands-set ‘OO’ gauge model railway to the early years of privatisation, as IAN RAE describes. Photography, Trevor Jones.