Forest Green 2

The original Forest Green was exhibited at Exeter Model Railway Exhibition in 2012. It began life as Ray White’s home based ‘OO’ layout and was adapted for the show. It ran well and generally received positive reviews. This led us to build a completely new version specifically with exhibitions in mind.

New baseboards were built and track was laid to a similar plan with some operational improvements. Subsequently the main effort has gone into the scenic effects and many new buildings which are either scratchbuilt or modified kits.

The setting is a former Midland route through South Gloucestershire in the early 60s so several diesels are now appearing and the boundary changes mean that both Midland and Western Region motive power are in evidence. (I think this is called variety or progress or sacrilege!!!)

Stock has been weathered and has some added details although further improvements, particularly to couplings, will take place in the future. The majority of the signals work and many buildings have lighting.

The Cotswolds location features Forest Green, a through station, near the junction with the branch to Kemble. Traffic is mainly local with some through workings from Gloucester and the North to Chippenham, Westbury and the South Coast.

We all wanted a Gloucester and Wilts cousin for the Somerset and Dorset.

The Evolution of Forest Green Mark 2

Work started on Forest Green Mk 2 in September 2012. The baseboards are conventional timber frames with plywood tops. The scenery has a polystyrene sub-frame with expanding foam sprayed on top. This has then been carved and textured to create the cuttings and tunnel mouths.

The buildings are a mixture of scratchbuilt and modified proprietary items.

Our lighting engineer, Chris Sanders, has been busy providing illumination in many buildings, including the pub! Once the main structures were in place we undertook test running to prove reliability before moving on to finish the final details.

The trackwork is code 100 from Peco which allows us to run a wide range of stock. When well ballasted we feel it gives a realistic appearance.