Layout features

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Welcome to our collection of model railway layout features. Here you will find beautifully detailed model railways in 'OO' gauge, 'N' gauge, 'O' gauge, 'OO9' narrow gauge and more offering a huge variety of build designs and inspirational techniques. Plus our growing collection covers a broad spectrum of different periods in railway history as well as all four corners of the British railway network while many feature exclusive KeyModelWorld only video tours. Indulge and enjoy!

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.

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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.

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MAKING TRACKS

Discover Pete Waterman's 'OO' gauge layout based on the West Coast Main Line with help from his friends. See more images and details here.

Farnby 'O' gauge layout Feature Premium

Farnby

Cleveland Model Railway Club looked back to the 1930s on the LNER for its ‘O’ gauge branch line scene. MARTIN SMITH tells the story of this attractive group project. Photography, Mike Bisset.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Oake

DARREN BERRY explains how this ‘OO’ gauge Western Region layout set in Somerset not only developed from an initial two-person team, but helped to encourage new modellers too. Photography, Trevor Jones.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Wendover

The Great Central Main Line in its LNER heyday is the subject of DAVID DANN-GIBBONS’ marvellous ‘OO’ layout, as he explains. Photography, Trevor Jones.

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Hatch End

The West Coast Main Line has always been a source of interest for ANDY STEPHNEY. Hatch End is the result and it models a fascinating six-track section where London Underground units ran side by side with overhead electrics. Photography, Trevor Jones.

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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.

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Mansion House

The hustle and bustle of South London’s railways in the 1950s is recalled by STEPHEN GRANT in this superb home-based ‘OO’ layout set in the era of Bulleid ‘Pacifics’ and third-rail electric units. Photography, Trevor Jones.