A minimum space O Gauge layout – An individual approach to building a model railway from concept toward completion and not always going forwards

I have a preference for small layouts. They are easier to move than large layouts and hopefully, easier to maintain and construct for reasons that will become clearer later. My railway room is quite small which means I can only work on two of my proposed three baseboards at any one time, although I do enjoy the comfort of being indoors and having instant access to my layout whenever Emmerdale or Coronation Street is aired.

My 7mm scale layout seen here is 93 inches (2362mm) long by 28 inches (711mm) wide. There is a third board 46 inches long with fiddle yard and industry which, although built, has yet to be graced with track and scenic elements.

The plans for this third board are to build a dairy. There was a dairy in Croydon used to receive milk traffic from the West Country, for distribution in the London area.

For my personal comfort, Stroudley Park is built so the top of the baseboard is 48 inches from ground level. The boards were designed fit the available space and rest on a sub frame. For exhibitions, legs will fit into slots in the baseboard frame.

One thing I admire is railway modellers who build superb track, make locomotives that run like watches and are superbly painted like their coaches. All this is something to which I aspire and having come up with what may be considered a suitable track plan, although I prefer to call it a concept drawing, a start was made. For me being a one time art student, railway modelling is all about the look of the railway and the overall picture, of which the track is one important element. Given the space limitations and my desire for a small layout built to the highest standards I could manage, I set about building my own track from C&L components.

I managed to build all the track required for my project, including a challenging tandem three way turnout which looked fine but I had my reservations about my construction reliability. There is nothing wrong with C&L kits but I had doubts about my ability to construct tie bars of suitable strength that captured the fine nature of the prototype and would work continuously under exhibition conditions. I then took the decision to sell my hand built track and replace it with PECO. This actually suited me better and the geometry also freed up some more opportunities and I knew PECO points were robust. The final concept drawing is shown and Rooter Road started its snail-like progress into reality.

I do subscribe to the teachings of layout design by the late Iain Rice and I knew I wanted an urban look with some industry and not too much decrepitude. The period I decided to model is Southern Railway 1930s-1945, which provides latitude for some variety.

Nothing happened for a long time as I was happy building locomotives and stock, then lockdown hit. Being stuck indoors meant I had an enforced opportunity to make progress. The way I made progress, I suspect is totally different to the traditional way of building a model railway.

I confess to never making a 7mm scale building but before the Covid lockdown, on a Tuesday evening at the usual informal West Norfolk O gauge friends meeting, John Minnis, an authority on all matters Brighton, asked me when I was going to finally build my laser-cut kit of an LBSC signal box I had stashed away.

Encouraged by John, I made a start and the signal box went together so well, it spurred me on and I started thinking about making other buildings. The reason for making buildings before track and wiring was I believed it would help me to visualise the look of the layout. For example, it was intended to locate the signal box in the traditional location at the exit of the layout near the fiddle yard. By having a three- dimensional model to move about, I could visualise how it would look and helped me to determine the best location. It now resides at the platform end at the rear of the layout a location also sometimes used by the LBSCR.

I knew, because of limited space, I could not have a station building on the platform. Many hours of pleasurable research brought up Streatham Hill station, a wooden building with access from the street with steps down to platform level: perfect. This created another hurdle, I had never scratch-built any O gauge building before, I was concerned about warping and gluing plastic card to plywood and the effects of using Bostik and maybe dissolving the plastic card. At the time of writing, my concerns were completely unfounded. Stroudley Park station building has remained as built. Previous research showed the LBSC station at Bansted carried the station name on the station roof. This was to aid pilots flying to nearby Croydon airport to establish their position. I wanted to incorporate this feature and that is why the name Stroudley Park Station appears on my station roof.

As the station was high level, it created a high-level scenic element behind the station platform. This also forms a visual view block before the backscene.

Visiting the Spalding Exhibition one year, I discovered Petite Properties, a company that produces very affordable laser-cut MDF building shells. It is up to the builder to decide if the building is constructed from brick or stone. I went for brick and used some old Howard Scenics embossed card brick secured to the building with PVA. All the buildings at the back of Stroudley Park are from Petite Properties and form Parkside Row, a footpath that allows access into the park that gives Stroudley Park its name.

Progress was not always in the forward direction as sometimes it was more than two steps back! I had decided from the outset that DCC with sound was the way forward. I already had a Lenz system from previous 4mm scale layouts and all my Terriers were sound equipped. I enjoyed this aspect very much although the sound was turned to low volume but just audible.

The problems came when I tried fitting decoders, stay alive capacitors and speakers into the kit-built locos. Some of my locos had very little space inside for all these electric gizmos. Some locos had such large bogie and pony wheels, I felt they would cause a short and indeed, on one occasion did just that, resulting in a sharp crack and a puff of blue smoke from the decoder. It was then I made the decision to revert to DC control and sell all my Lenz equipment along with frog juicers and surge protector.

Wiring to DCC and DC are completely different, so I had to start again. I am able to clamp my boards in a vertical position to the supporting sub-frame to make the wiring installation easier. It made such a difference being able to work on vertical boards that I actually enjoyed completing the wiring, which incorporates full cab control and signal wiring.

Stroudley Park has both semaphore signals and ground signals, all of which work. I built the ground signals from kits but the semaphore signals were built for me by a good friend, Tony Sparks. Tony is a very talented and knowledgeable modeller, who constructed my signals from a mix of scratch building and commercial components. Working signals make a huge presence on the layout and I take great delight in seeing them controlling train movements.

Scenery was a whole new ball game for me. I had worked in 4mm scale in the past but I was daunted by the size of 7mm scale scenery and trees. I needn’t have worried because I discovered the pleasure of working in a larger scale far outweighed my concerns. Trying static grass for the first time was another milestone moment. The creation of unkempt grassy banks and hedges brought everything to life. All my scenery is removable and the ability to work on scenery on my workbench rather than on the layout had made life much easier.

With the wiring finished in late 2022, I set about completing some projects that I had been thinking about for some time:
An LBSCR Goods Lock-up is very characteristic of smaller Brighton stations. They tended to follow a similar design although I think they varied slightly depending on which local contractor was commissioned for the construction. These were used where goods traffic did not justify a substantial brick or timber building. Plans were obtained from the Brighton Circle, of which, I am a member and construction started using plastic card.

The other outstanding project was to create a fictitious A1X Terrier inspired by the LBSCR liveried Improved Engine Green locomotive named Brighton Works.

Another Dapol Terrier was purchased second hand and work started with considerable trepidation working around the intricate Brighton livery. When painting a flat surface, I find a much better finished is obtained using a flat brush. A round brush leaves subtle ridges unless painting is carried out diligently before the wet paint stats to ‘pull’ and two small flat expensive brushes were purchased for this project.

From the outset, I had no intention of redoing the original Dapol lining so I just repainted the the same source. There is considerable controversy about the correct shade of improved engine green but the Phoenix paint seems very close to the HMRS sample in the LBSCR Southern Style livery register book. This locomotive was numbered in the next LBSC number in the number sequence. For the first time, I used oil paints for weathering, trying to achieve a used but wiped over with an oily rag look. I still need to fit crew, fire irons and coal but that is a job for another day.

My final winter mini project was to scratch- build a brake van. For a long time, I have wanted to build an LBSCR 20-ton Panter six-wheel road van. These vans are not available as a kit, so the only option was to build my own. Again, plastic card was chosen for the construction along with some ABS fitting I had in stock for this project for the underframe. Drawings from a 1953 Model Railway News were provided by Dave Bowden who is a very able Gauge 1 modeller.

Evergreen styrene was used for the outside framing and construction started. The chassis is fully compensated, with one fixed axle and two rocking axles to achieve smooth running. A feature of this brake van is outside framing and plenty of rivets which is rare for a Brighton van. I used resin printed waterslide transfers for the rivets, obtained from the 7mm Narrow Gauge Association, much easier than drilling and fitting rivets individually. Sometimes it is easier to scratch-build than to build a kit and this project was exactly that.

The next big project is to paint and weather the track and complete the ballasting. This will be carried out in the summer as I spray paint and airbrush outside when the weather is warm.

I hope my caricature of a small Southern urban terminus is of interest and illustrates that building a layout in a small space is possible and very satisfying. As this article is presented as a layout under construction, maybe when the ballasting is complete the editor will permit publishing pictures of further progress. If someone is encouraged to make a start after reading this, then I shall be pleased.

Finally, the value of belonging to a group is often recommended and in my case Stroudley Park would not have reached its current status if it wasn’t for my Tuesday evening West Norfolk railway modelling friends, who collectively have offered an immense amount of practical help and support.

Also, my wife Roz who has tolerated my mess and all that building a model railway indoors encompasses: thank you one and all.