The Chapel Railway

Something a little different this time round. At the back end of July I attended the temporary "Alton Towers Exhibition":

"But Rob!" I can hear regular readers cry "You're in a chapel, in a ruined stately home, in the middle of what is now a theme park. This is too much! How is THIS model railway related?!"

As strange as it may seem, there is a connection.

All the way back in 1957, what was reportedly Britain's largest model railway opened in the old chapel. The layout was an eye watering 51ft (Yes! Fifty One!) by 16ft and contained five independent circuits, the highest two running continental stock whilst the baseboard level lines were home to the UK stock.

Interestingly, right up until the end of the layout at least one of the lower circuits was using the Hornby Dublo three rail system. Apparently it was the most liked by the staff as the extra rail meant there was less track cleaning involved compared to the two rail systems!

I'd known about this layout for years (But sadly was born too late to ever see it) one thing I didn't realise was that if you ever find yourself in the Towers chapel today look at the floor. The big concrete foundations the layout sat on are still visible! Take a moment to compare the above photo with the one of the layout. They're both taken looking in the same direction and the arches of the chapel entrance are just visible in the background. You'll also notice the layout was effectively built under a tent, tragically hiding the Pugin designed 'Gothic Revival' ceiling from visitors.

So what became of the model railway?

With all the thrill rides of the modern theme park springing up just outside the Towers building, it might surprise some to learn that the layout lasted all the way till the end of the 1992 season! To borrow a quote from Stephen, who currently provides the House & Garden Tours, "The story goes a little something like this...":

One evening the head groundskeeper was walking past the Towers ruins when a loud crash was heard. Having obtained the keys and a few willing hands an inspection was made revealing a large beam had fallen from inside the chapel roof and crashed to the floor. Further inspection showed the cause to be a leak after the original lead had been stripped from the building in 1951.

What isn't recorded is what, if any, damage there was to the model railway.

The result of this though was a much overdue restoration of the chapel ceiling. As the above advertisement shows, the model railway was sold at auction and packed away. Interesting to note that the layout was still operational for viewing on the date of the sale! One last chance to 'play trains'?

Despite this, if you know what you're looking at, one rather large relic from the model railway still remains...

The original ticket booth, no less!

Back when it was first opened the railway was an 'upcharge' attraction, hence the need for one. Paint it blood & custard livery and it wouldn't look out of place in any railway station. Look even closer, and you'l see another relic...

A somewhat battle scarred Lilliput sticker!

For anyone interested in further reading, the July 1957 Railway Modeller has a good (If brief) overview of the layout complete with track plan, and the old guide books and postcard sets come up online occasionally. One of the best views though I just stumbled upon whilst writing this post! Silent footage from a Midlands News report, probably used to report on the opening of the layout, it shows it under construction and eventually as a finished layout. Enjoy!

Tractor

I seem to be on a bit of a rolling stock spree at the moment...

Readers may remember that back in early June I stumbled upon a W&T models kit of a '1920s Style Tractor' in a rummage bin at Bakewell Model Railway Show. After replacing the missing steering wheel the kit went together quite nicely Trying and failing to find the exact prototype it was simply put into an all over grey livery, some will say this screams Ferguson but research showed many manufacturers sent their machines out in grey for the customer to choose the final colour.

And now it sits quite proudly on the Chris Ford style flatbed built all the way back in 2024. The wagon itself has no weight in it and very limited room to add any in the body so this was the perfect alternative. Nothing groundbreaking here: The chocks are matchsticks given a wash of black and earth brown paint whilst the ropes are cotton thread fixed to the underside and looped up and around the wheels.

The result is a fun alternative to the endless parade of open wagons!

Rusty

A silly project from my shutdown week back in May. Ever since I first saw the toy train prop of Rusty the steam engine for the 2024 revival of Starlight Express, very clearly based on a Jinty, I immediately made a note that it would be a fun, simple and quick project.

He's made from one of the older Farish N gauge 3F models (The one with the big metal body), stripped down to its component pieces, painted into as close as stage accurate colours as I could find, re-motored with a Tramfabriek kit, put back together again, lettered and finally varnished and weathered.

He looks (and is) simple but there were a few interesting challenges on the way. Firstly, I didn't have (And have apparently never had any need for!) yellow paint - Thank you Railmatch! Secondly, it seems I've run out of 'R's on my decal sheets. The above ones were created using the old school technique of butchering parts of letters - In this case it's a letter 'P' with and additional leg taken from a 'K'. The result looks better than I ever hoped for!

Whoever said there's no need for these older techniques in the modern day hobby?

D3

This project actually reached completion in late May, sometimes there's just too many topics to cover with the fortnightly posting!

Introducing 'D3', simply numbered because it's the third diesel locomotive completed for the 009 fleet. It's a Narrow Planet kit comprising a 3D printed body with etched detailing parts, running on a Bachmann Plymouth N gauge chassis. 

I've also finally decided on a livery for the diesel stock that I really like (What will become D1 & D2 will no doubt get a repaint to match at some point in the future) It's simple, but it works really nicely, especially when weathered. I'm thinking of doing a similar livery for the steam stock, but with green replacing the grey.

I just need to find the right shade of green...

Railex Buxton 2026

It's amazing the difference two weeks can make. Last time I was walking through the pouring rain to the Bakewell show, this time I was applying a liberal amount of sun cream and making sure I had a water bottle topped up for Railex at Buxton. Now in to its fifth year, this show is hopefully sticking around for a good few years yet, even more so now they've rolled the date back a bit to avoid it clashing with the Buxton Wakes week celebrations. It certainly makes parking easier!

The show could also boast that it was roughly 50% bigger, and gone was the section on the stage of the Octagon that caused access issues for some.

As always, what follows is a small selection of highlights. I made a point of taking more photos than I did at the Bakewell show!

Minories (OO) The Model Railway Club - Late 60s/early 70s BR, based on the classic small terminus plan by C.J.Freezer.

There was a slight twist though, the main bays had been extended to give a 'run through' station. 

Farringdon Street (7mm Broad Gauge) Peter Boyce - I'd enjoyed seeing Peter's 'Edgeware Road' at Railex last year so it was nice to see a return of the theme even in this under construction point. An interesting place to ave a baseboard edge with the turntable pit!

Evercreech Junction (N Gauge) Shepton & District MRS - Just a small portion of this layout. I was quite impressed with how the plain sky blue backscene blends nicely with the model work.

Kaninchenbau (HOe) Ian Morrison - One of those layouts I've seen and read about several times in the 009 News and Railway Modeller, but this is my first time seeing it in person. Even as someone who is very much a DC modeller, the amount of computer control here is impressive.

Eastville Flats (O gauge) Dave Madden - I always like seeing a proper 'train set' style setup, and this was a fun example of a three rail system. The Duchess did look a little out of place amongst the American stock though!

Sakura Cherry Blossom (N Gauge) Tony Barratt - A nice example of Japanese N gauge (I'm noticing this is becoming more and more popular in the UK thanks to the likes of Kato) Watching it though, I couldn't help thinking that the new TT:120 stuff really isn't all that far off size wise. Not a complaint, just an observation.

Karoline Falls (On30) David Bailey - Seen this one a few times now on the circuit, but watching the real water never gets old.

Hidden just round the side of the layout is this little On18 scene. This would make a fun little micro layout on its own.

Emwell (S Scale) Brendan Walsh - Very much in Great Eastern Railway territory here. Lovely use of muted colours here.

Middleton Top (4mm finescale) Jay Dean - Having had relatives who worked on the Cromford & High Peak during its final few years I'm always amazed at just how accurate the details can get on layouts of the line. Thank goodness for all those well patronised railtours during the final years! You may have noticed the large white sign on the layout...

I hope it didn't cause too much disruption, but I will admit the sign itself did give me a good chuckle!

And finally:

Fort Whiting (009) Charles Insley - I spent a lot of time watching Charles operating this layout, probably too much time on reflection, but we did have a very good chat on approaches to the hobby and how it differs from modeller to modeller. I'm still telling myself that under no circumstances do I have room for a Garratt no matter how tempting Charles's example running on a pair of Life-Like chassis is!

Most importantly though, Fort Whiting has inadvertently solved a lot of problems that had caused my own 009 layout 'Church Lane' to stall. I'd got the point where I was convinced a cased layout was the only way to go and that of course brings all the setbacks of trying to work out hands free control in a small space. This was proof that I didn't need to go down that route, and as Charles quite rightly pointed out this sort of setup is FAR easier for a one man operation.

Plans were put in motion the moment I got back from the show! More on them another time.