Layout History

Kirkbythorpe started out as a challenge between me and my brother, to see who could build a "micro" layout before the other could. We had both acquired a reasonable amount of rolling stock over the years, but had both failed to make anything that we could call a working layout, other than a small 00 branch terminus, which I was never happy with, and seldom used. I choose to model in 009 as I had a small amount of stock (an Eggerbahn set I acquired sometime in the late 1980's), I had been a fan of narrow-gauge since childhood holidays in North Wales, and I reckoned I could fit more into a small space with 009. That was in about 2003. I finally got the layout to a presentable state in 2016. So much for a quick fix.....

After a quick start, progress rapidly tailed off. House moves, job moves, loss of interest/motivation, lack of a workspace, etc. - usual story. Occasionally I got the urge again, and maybe made a building or added a bit of scenery, and the project dragged on until it reached a state of what I thought was just about complete, although I never really tried running it, the initial enthusiasm had all but disappeared. After semi-retiring in 2014, and working part-time as a miniature railway driver in the summers, I got thinking about modelling again. I exhibited my hastily finished Canadian N Gauge layout in July 2015 (See Beaver Lake Pass ) Thoughts then turned to the 009 project. Visiting a small show at Borth-y-Gest near Porthmadog in the August, I got talking to the organiser, Paul Towers, and ended up committing to bring my 009 layout to the following years show - the project was back on!

In the following months I spent a lot of time adding to the stock, building kits that had been lying around for ages in a state of semi-completion or unopened. I added a few details to the layout but just assumed the layout would run okay. Wrong!!! When I came to test it a couple of weeks before it's planned showing it quickly became apparent that it would be a nightmare to operate in that format. The original plan was for a 3' x 1' board with a terminus station with a couple of stub extensions to feed trains to and from the layout, one representing the "main line", the other an off screen industrial area . This had evolved into having a continuous loop on a fold-under fiddle yard extension to allow pseudo continuous running through the industrial area. But this had not been planned or constructed well - badly laid track, very tight bends and even steep gradients. And my stock was not really smooth running enough to make terminus station operations a comfortable option. I really don't know what I was thinking! With two weeks to go before the show, Plan B was hatched. I abandoned the fiddle yard and incorporated the original 3' x 1' layout into a 4' x 2 frame, thus giving room for better curves, proper fiddle yard sidings, and making the terminus into a through station, allowing trains to just go round and round if required. It all came together with a day or two to spare! Since then the layout has been successfully exhibited several times, a previously hidden corner has been opened up and scenery and buildings added. and more stock acquired.

2022 Update - I have now retired Kirkbythorpe from exhibiting, although I may resurrect it one day after a bit of rebuilding..... unless anyone really wants to see it again......

Layout Description

Kirkbythorpe is found on the Wolderness Light Railway. Located in the East Riding of Yorkshire, the W.L.R. was promoted by local businesses and landowners and opened in 1905 to open up the previously unconnected uplands of the region to the markets of the local towns, and bring in fuel and manufactured goods more economically. The railway was built to the narrow gauge of 2’ 0” to allow it to be built at lower cost than standard gauge, and to be able traverse the uplands with fewer major engineering features. Locomotives and rolling stock were acquired on an ad-hoc basis, often second-hand from other railways and tramways. Traffic consisted of a basic passenger service, but freight traffic was the mainstay of the line – minerals, livestock, agricultural produce and general merchandise kept the line sufficiently busy. In 1941 the Ministry of Supply built a large warehouse complex, adjacent to an engineering factory and minerals processing yard at Kirkbythorpe, the principal intermediate station on the line, in order to store military supplies and munitions far from the potential wartime targets of major cities, airfields and army camps. The W.L.R. had never seen so much traffic!

It is now the late 1950’s. The railway has been in a gradual decline as road transport becomes more widespread and popular. Local passenger and freight traffic is reduced but hanging on, but the railway is now benefitting from increased tourism to the beautiful Yorkshire Wolds valleys and rolling hills. So, after a period of uncertainty, maybe the line will survive in the second half of the 20th Century with a new purpose.

That's the fictional history.

The actual layout consists of a basic oval, with a passing loop in the station, off which lead 1 siding to a warehouse siding and 1 track leading through the backscene to the imagine industrial area. Buildings are a mixture of scratchbuilt, downloaded printable kits from Scalescenes, and plastic kits. Locomotives are a mixture of Ready-to-Run, 3D-printed kits, whitemetal kits and etched-brass, steam & diesel. Rolling stock also consists of RTR and kitbuilt or kitbashed. There are a number of animals and scenarios listed for children of all ages to spot, and at exhibitions the layout can be configured so that visitors can use a handheld control to drive an engine from the industrial area to the warehouse siding and back, whilst the "main" line remains free for other trains. The layout is purposefully not raised too high off the ground to enable younger visitors to use this facility!

Layout Specification

Exhibition Details:-

Layout Size - 4' wide. 2' deep. Operating space approx 4' deep required behind layout.

Operated from rear, viewed from front

Scale 4mm/ft, 009 Scale

No. of Operators - 1

Layout has integral lighting structure

Programme Description - Kirkbythorpe represents a small station on the Wolderness Light Railway, a narrow gauge line located in East Yorkshire, set in the late 1950's. There are several items for children to spot and they can even drive a train themselves.

Exhibitions Attended:-

Borth y Gest - August 2016 & 2017

Rainhill NG - November 2016

Bala - May 2018

Welsh Highland Heritage Rly -June 2018

Llandudno - July 2018

Corris Railway, Machynlleth August 2019