'Wyke', is a totally fictitious village in Gloucestershire, which is served by a branch off
the L.M.S. (ex Midland Railway.) main line to Gloucester.
The branch line itself is approximately 9 miles long, being mostly single track with six intermediate stations,
nearly all of which have passing loops and small goods yards. Unfortunately
the station, built in a wooded vale, was built some distance from the village of Wyke itself, which ultimately led to the
decline and final closure of the branch by Dr. Beeching in the mid 1960’s.
Wyke boasts
all the usual facilities, General Merchandise, Coal, Cattle, Vegetables, Timber and Animal Feed which is handled in the small,
compact, goods yard. However rail traffic on market days, Tuesdays
and Saturdays, traffic is particularly heavy.
The layout depicts three specific periods: 1935 – 1945, 1945 – 1955 and 1955 – 1965. Thus it is possible to see a wide range of locos and rolling stock, in particular
early diesels from the ‘Green Livery with Whiskers’ period. The
final period operated shows the line in rapid decline before completely disappearing into oblivion. During two-day exhibitions it is possible to see a different period each day thus adding interest
to the operating sequence.
Much of the stock is either ready to run, repainted and renumbered with added detail, or constructed from a
wide variety of commercially available kits. There are also some scratch
built items in evidence, but worthy of note is the L.M.S. Sentinel Railmotor, which appears from time to time.
The track is Peco Streamline with ‘Electrofrog’ points operated by the highly reliable cycle spoke
beneath the baseboard method. Control is provided by an E.C.M. ‘Compspeed
Rambler’ with the electrics being kept fairly simple. Scenery is
also constructed using well-tried methods and buildings are a mixture of scratch built using card, balsawood and plasticard
or suitably adapted commercial kits. Operation is by a sequence timetable
with much emphasis on slow, realistic running speeds.
The operators are always happy to answer questions on the layout and its construction.
(Special Note for exhibition organisers.)
Although Wyke has been designed to operate as a ‘fiddle yard to fiddle yard layout, it can also be exhibited
as a fiddle yard to terminus layout. This effectively reduces the length
of the layout from 9 ft to 7ft 6 inches. If space is at a premium or you
are looking to fill an odd corner, then the smaller size layout may be of interest.
Forthcoming Exhibitions.
'WYKE' has been invited to attend
the following exhibitions:
Saturday - 12th March 2011
- Model
Railway Exhibition - Chesham M.R.S. - Elgiva Hall, Chesham, Bucks - (Full details not yet to hand.)
Saturday 21st May 2011 - Model Railway
Exhibition - Oxford M.R.S. Exhibition, Witney Methodist Church, High Street, Witney, Oxon.
Saturday - 25th June 2011 - Model Railway Exhibition - Enfield Town M.R.S. - Enfield,
Middlesex - (Full details not yet to hand.)
In the mean time if you would like to invite 'WYKE' to your next exhibition
then please contact me with the relevant details.