This project has a beginning that goes back many years - to my school days. I had been motivated by seeing layouts in print and at shows that looked more like a model of a real railway than a toy train set.
These early influences included W S Norris's Chilworth layout, Ken Northwood's yyyyyyyy, Borchester Town by Frank Dyer, Charmouth by xxxx and Low Dale by Malcolm Cross. I had been tempted with the GWR branch line, a south west branch of the Southern Railway and a Great Northern mainline but not very much by the local electric suburban services of the Great Eastern. Probably what finally sealed my fete was visiting locomotive depots in the last days of steam mainly in the Midlands, the LMS Society articles in the model press and then David Jenkinson's layouts Marthwaite and Dent.
My active efforts were directed into a collective effort in a local club layout that became known as "Eastwell", my personal ambitions were put to one side, though a small section of Midland Railway mainline was started and became the centre piece for my own model project that has been retained for use - this is the Dove Holes Tunnel scene.
This midland influence became evident in the development of Eastwell and my continuing separate, paper based schemes. "Eyam" was my version of Marthwaite that never materialised. Normal life took over for several decades and my model railway stayed on the back burner. However during the 1980's it became clear to me that existing trade sources were not going to satisfy my ambitions and so AMBIS Engineering started up to fill some of those gaps.
As is fairly normal, once retirement beckoned the idea of my own model resumed prominence. This was speeded up by a period of poor health when paper based ideas were sometimes turned into experiments and layout plans were honed into one satisfying scheme. This satisfaction was to incorporate all my ideas not necessarily to develop an exhibition layout as I have no intention of it being portable enough for public exhibitions, nor the physical health for that to be practical.
During this time a new generation of large scale models were gaining publicity, such as Retford by Roy Jackson and Leamington Spa by Pete Waterman, so I did not feel too alone with my plans, although these layouts were models of real railways - a railway model, they were not my model railway, a predominately fictional set of interconnected dioramas, although one that I wanted to run as close as a real railway that a model could.
There are features I wanted to incorporate:
A typical Midland Railway station
Some industrial sources of traffic exchange sidings
A goods yard marshalling facility
Some large scale warehouses
A suburban railway scene
Secondary level passenger and long mineral trains
Use small and older engines
A Peak District location
I am a bit of a squirrel, keeping things for as long as possible, so I wanted to re-use as much as I could from the Eastwell days but at the same time use a contemporary interest in the days of steam to diesel transition on British railways in which I had first hand experience. Eastwell was definitely set in the 1930's - in theory - but I decided that the Stanier influence on the LMS would be minimised so "Eyam" would be set in an earlier period. This conflicted with a passion for the ICI bogie hopper trains, dominated by the Stanier 8Fs for years and also the Brush type 2 diesels (Class 31's) and BR Britannia pacifics (the mainstay of the London - Norwich trains) common to East Anglia that I was accustomed to seeing. Two layouts were considered, briefly, but eventually I decided that the scenery would be a time "neutral" as possible and services would be run in different time periods. But what would be inadmissible would be for example a motorway in the background with a train of clerestory coaches being pulled by a small, clean red tender engine or any other unlikely combination.
My first plans involved a figure of eight layout with one station and visible storage loops incorporating Dove Holes Tunnel and a wish to represent the Cromford High Peak line. Gradually it expanded to incorporate return loops to simulate a return service for passenger trains. Then with no particular space limitation a second station was added and the visible storage loops were downgraded and replaced by "off scene" storage, for circulating trains and return loops for trains services. The Cromford & High Peak extract was replaced by a short goods branch where the warehouses could be located.
A late version of the "figure of eight" layout plan. The Cromford & High Peak branch is now a storage yard
Eventually it was decided that a building would have to be built for the railway as no suitable space appeared to be available.
The layout room soon after completion. A squarer space that allowed more of the wish list to be produced.
When the plan was reviewed to fit the available building space changes became possible and the long lead to one return loop could acquire a small quarry facility. This could use some of the "Eastwell" industrial stock, but also left a large "blank" area that might be able to disguise the storage loops. So a branch line city terminus was added with a hint of Farringdon Station, London (from before the Thameslink era, more the Smithfield meat Market era) and this also left another plain section of running line where I could add a Marple (Cheshire) like through station with exchange sidings for a coal hungry factory.
Eureka, I had a plan that would incorporate just about everything I had set out on my list, all I had to do was devise a working service to accommodate all the projected stock and then review the stock needs and make change to meet a working timetable.
It is overall, a very ambitious scheme that may never be properly "finished" and would need to be built in stages. This would necessitate testing as things developed, so would need some working rolling stock very early in the project. Quick conversions of ready to run stock would make easier progress. This quickest conversions was diesel stock. So a small range of engines to test the plan as it was built, was acquired. Some of this stock has proved to me why diesel based layouts are so popular - they are much easier to work with than engines with coupling rods large wheels and longer fixed wheelbases. Goods stock from a pervious era could easily be converted and ready to run coaches would also convert fairly quickly into trains, as long as there was enough for test operation.
Currently four coupled engines seem happier than six or eight coupled locomotives and two axle bogies perform better than three or four axle units. This is fine as the Midland Railway never proceeded further than the Compound 4-4-0 engines for passenger trains and 0-6-0 engines for goods traffic. However the larger engines from later years might produce their own issues, time and construction progress will create new issues to solve.
At this stage of development the emphasis is in the layout not the accuracy of all locomotives and rolling stock - they are really all just "test pieces" at this moment.
A current version - 7A of the layout plan. Not all detailed changes are shown on this plan.