00 Gauge Layouts

There are 2 '00' gauge projects in the main Club room

Beaconsbury.

Beaconsbury started life as a GWR branch-line layout and was seen on the exhibition circuit for quite a few years.

It has now become a layout which is in the Clubroom for anyone to practice developing techniques before using them on any of the Club layouts. The latest technique to be tested was the use of various plasters and paints to decide the 'best' method of making scenery.

Empire Road.

This is the new club exhibition layout. With main lines served by a large fiddle yard, independent underground system and working yard, it is intended to provide a busy spectacle of main-line, suburban trains and freight in a city environment.

Empire Road is a fictitious location somewhere in the centre of London. Imagine the recent'cross-rail' proposals if they had been carried out in the early years of the 20th century, fused with the widened lines stations such as Farringdon and you will be clear to our vision

An underground railway runs parallel to the main tracks at a higher level: some services into London terminate here. Behind the tracks a street is lined with commercial,residential and retail buildings forming the typical inner London backscene.

The time period is either in the late 1930s or a decade or so after the war (Don't ask which). (Which which, which period or which war?)

Empire Road Station has a goods yard serving a goods warehouse and the Bombay Brewery, whose product leaves in van trains. Main-line services to and from destinations in the east and west pass through; suburban trains stop. At rush hour it is a very busy station, a train-spotters' paradise. Stand a little and watch the trains go by. Harass the yard controller by asking him anything about the layout, or the club!

The visible trackwork and points on the main lines is 16.5mm code 75 (00 fine
scale) by Peco.