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LAYOUTS

At the moment the CCMRS has five exhibition layouts, two are in N Gauge and two OO Gauge and a new O Gauge is close to completion having made its debut at our 2026 Exhibition. A OO Gauge Exhibition layout has been started, the baseboards are complete, and two thirds of the track laid. All being well it may have its first trial run at our 2007 Exhibition.

Several of our members also own exhibition layouts. Brief details are on this page but for more photographs and information click on the image to go to web page for the layout.

CCMRS LAYOUTS

DYDLEY JUNCTION is an N Gauge layout 4' X 2'6". It is an exercise in trying to get as much in a small space as possible, using proprietry kits and bits whilst achieving realism and operating interest. It is a junction Station and articles about the layout have been published in BRM and the Hornby Magazine .

BIGBURY is an OO Gauge layout and it depicts a fictional branch line terminus somewhere in NW Hampshire, the future of which was secured by the opening of an army maintenance depot for Armoured Fighting Vehicles. The period modelled is the mid 1950's.

NONINGTON QUAY is our new OO Gauge layout and was a project started for our newer and younger members or those with less experience so they can learn and develop their skills. It is a fictional dockside yard with a branch line terminus at a higher level. The layout represents no specific period or location so that our members can run almost anything they want. It was recently refurbished and pushed further back in time to allow for pre-grouping models.

HOLT STREET is our new N Gauge layout. It is a four track mainline set somewhere in England at some time between 1930 and 1970 so that as many of our N Gauge members as possible can run their stock in a realistic setting. Its a long way from finished but had its first outing to our Exhibition in 2018 to test its performance under exhibition conditions. This showed up short comings in the fiddle yard which is now being rebuilt having been redesigned.

FAIRFIELD PRIORY is the first 7mm scale layout built by the Society. It is at the end of a branch line built to light railway standards. It serves a rural community but we have tried not to not include anything that will suggest a particular period or a specific location. This will allow members to operate their own favourite era/region. Due to the size of the layout, the use of small tank engines is favoured but the appearance of tender locomotives is always possible. First exhibited at our 2026 exhibition it is still a work in progress.

MEMBERS LAYOUTS

MANSTON AIRPORT is Andy Hoppers "what might have been" had a rail link been put into Manston Airport in the steam era. It is 14' X 2' and has been seen extensively on the exhibition circuit and has appeared in various magazines including the Hornby magazine.

HAVERHILL SOUTH is Martin Allen's first attempt at 2mm Fine Scale modelling. The layout represents the terminus of the Colne Valley and Halstead Railway on the Essex/Suffolk borders.

DURSTON is a new layout by member Brian Woolrich. It is OO 4mm scale and incorporates the station platform ends, goods facilities and engine servicing area of a 1936 GWR station.

CHILLINGBOURNE is a typical small Southern Region branch line station in the late steam era. It belonged to Geoff White who has now sadly passed away. It is OO gauge, 4mm scale. The country station serves a village which is over a mile away as was fairly typical of a lot of such stations. This fictional station was featured in the film "Canterbury Tales" set in WWII in the local area.

ABBOTS BARTON is jointly owned by our late President Dennis Prior and his son Chris. It is a terminus station serving a small but rapidly developing commuter town somewhere South West of London. It is set in the 1950 to 1970 period and sees a number of EMU stock as well as diesel and some steam motive power.

LOCKDOWN SIDINGS is as the name suggest, a layout created by member Simon Marsh during the first Coronavirus lockdown. After much experimenting on the available baseboard a small rural yard, supposedly a corner of a former military depot in the 1950's evolved. Handling a small amount of general goods traffic the layout presents some very intricate shunting puzzles.

EXE HALT is based upon a real location near Exeter actually called Up Exe but greatly compressed. It is N Gauge, 1/148 scale and was built by member Steve Searson.

FOUR FEATHER FALLS is member Steve Searson's latest project and utilises the OOO Lone Star die cast models the older of us will remember buying from Woolworths in the 1960's. The early locomotives were un-powered but the makers developed a novel rubber band drive from an electric motor to produce working models and OOO became the fore runner of the modern N Gauge system.

LEMANIS LIGHT RAILWAY is member Andy Hoppers most recent layout. It is his first real foray into OO9 modelling. It is completely fictitious but brings together family interest and connections past and present.

It's back story is that the railway was built by Colonel Stephens in about 1920 to connect Lemanis to the main line. There is a brewery and other local industries but the opening of a zoo and wildlife park next to the station worked wonders for passenger traffic.

CONYER CREEK SIGNALS has been created by member Greg Coomber. It is a in O scale and is an imaginary terminus of a line from the London Chatham and Dover Railway at Tenyham to the Swale at Conyer. There are numerous brick works in the area producing thousands of yellow stock bricks, transported to London and the south east by rail and barge. A cement works nearby also creates traffic for this idyllic line set amongst the apple and cherry orchards of the Garden of England.

COALHOUSE is a small layout which represents part of a larger complex. It belongs to member Peter Chandler and can be operate for any period from about 1940 onwards with changes to stock, vehicles etc but it is really only suitable for short wheelbase wagons. Most of the locos will be industrials and most wagons will be minerals but one or two others may appear, this is sometimes for a bit of variety or perhaps because the owner has something new he wants to show off.

NARROWDEN is a layout by Simon Marsh who was trying to build something rural yet realistic on a 9” wide baseboard. The model depicts a small exchange yard on a light or perhaps a private railway. Trains up to a length of four wagons enter from the rest of the world, shunt as necessary, reverse, and leave on another line to an off off stage location which can be a small coal mine, quarry, rural industrial works, military depot, or indeed anything else.

DINSDALE 1830 is the latest layout by our prolific layout builder by Steve Searson, It was inspired by Hornbys introduction of a model of Locomotion No.1. He set about producing a layout that would show it in 1830, although there was a station at Dinsdale, the model is just a pastiche and not based upon any particular place. The Hornby Model required some backdating and the early Chaldron waggons, were produced in resin from a rubber mould made by Steve. A fitting way to celebrate Rail 200.