Some months ago I acquired the layout of the late Jeremy Dickson who was a member of the SW group of the 3mm Society. This is a model of Eggesford station on the North Devon Railway from Exeter to Barnstaple. It was built in the early 90s and was exhibited locally in the West Country. It featured in the Railway Modeller in 1993.
The buildings are very well constructed and the scenery is a good solid base though not up to today’s standard. It is laid with 12mm gauge track and the standard of the electrics, the point control and the general baseboards is excellent. The size is 10′ x 8′ and I intend to have it as a permanent layout so I can watch the trains go around as well as being able to shunt in the yard.
The only part of the original layout which never really worked well was the storage yard. I intend to re-plan that part of the layout but I have not yet decided how to do it.
My plan now is to lift all the track and re-lay with 14.2mm fine scale track and to rework the scenery to modern standards. As a start I traced the existing track and imported this into Templot to draw out the new templates. Because I want to retain the existing point control I have had to juggle the templates to get the point tiebars into the same position as they are now.
I have now taken the plunge and lifted most of the existing pointwork at the station and am in the process of constructing the new track and points including a single slip.
More to follow………
Nicks workshop mutterings 