BASINGSTOKE

Basingstoke is a large N gauge layout that portrays 0.75 mile of track in reality and so shows only a small area around the station despite its apparent large size. It models the point where the four track main line LSWR line from London to the south coast and the south-west meets the ex-GWR line from Reading. This gives a reason (excuse?) for running a large variety of stock as the station was visited by the Pines Express as well as the Atlantic Coast Express and many boat trains for Southampton, Poole and Weymouth. We have attempted to capture the feel of a busy summer Saturday in the mid 1960s. The main lines from London to the south-west are about to be resignalled and electrified. You can see the half-built power box while the old pneumatic signal gantries are still in evidence. Meanwhile the line from Reading is still well used but the old GWR station building is showing the result of years of neglect.

We are proud to say that visitors to the Nottingham model railway exhibition on 21st and 22nd March 2009 voted Our club N gauge layout "Most Entertaining Layout", and we were therefore awarded the Bullwell MRS Shield. Our normal team of F&DMRC members was ably supported by several "guest operators", who definately gained brownie points by helping with the set up and strip down!

The winning team! Special mention must be made of our guests who made such a contribution. So ignoring the green shirt brigade (!) thanks to Les Richardson (l), Bob Harris (r), Richard Proudman (next to Bob) and John Malpus (not pictured).

A selection of images is attached, with grateful acknowledgement to the following magazines:
BRM = British Railway Modelling
RM = Railway Modeller
MR = Model Rail / Trevor Jones.

Hornby Magazine published an article on Basingstoke in their March 2009 issue, and we hope to have copies of the excellent photographs taken by Mike Wild in the near future. Watch this space, or find a back copy of the magazine.....

Figure 1 Aerial view of 2/3 of the layout (MR)

Figure 2 The station building was built from official drawings and site survey (MR)

Figure 3 & 4 Track plan of viewable area (RM)

Figure 5 - BRM "Classic Layouts" Spring 2001

Figure 6 The shed area. All buildings are scratch-built (MR)

Notes for exhibition managers

N gauge model
Prototype model of BR (S) station in 1960s
Scratch-built buildings and a mixture of scratch, kit-built and ready-to-run stock
Space needed: 30 feet by 15 feet preferred, 30 x 12 min. (includes space behind for stock tables etc)
Power needed: 2 sockets each drawing up to 4 amps (8 amp total - including lighting)
Operators: 8 minimum, preferably 10 (typically 2-3 local guest operators)
Transport: Luton style van (Budget £150 plus fuel for van + 2 cars)
Featured in: Railway Modeller - October and November 1998; Model Rail - October 2000; British Railway Modelling Classic Layouts Spring 2001; Hornby Magazine March 2009.

Note that because of the large size of the layout we do not normally attend one day shows.

More images of Basingstoke are available in the Gallery. This requires Flash software to be installed on your computer. We recommend access for broadband users only.

Future exhibition outings

Previous exhibition outings

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