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Cheshire Railway Modellers - Virtual Model Railway Exhibition - Members' Layouts

Peter Marshall

Two Sisters' Farm

Two Sisters' Farm is a twenty four inch gauge agricultural railway built to 1:32 scale, this enables me to use the layout to display my collection of farm tractors as well as the trains. The small layout was built as part of the Cheshire Railway Modellers 100 Competition and is available for model exhibitions, both railway and agricultural.

(Click for larger image) The layout depicts a fictitious two foot narrow gauge light railway serving a large estate in the Lincolnshire fens in the late fifties and early sixties. It is very loosely based on a similar railway that actually existed from the 1920’s until the late 1960’s and was some 22 miles long in total. It was originally powered by horses but later steam, petrol and diesel locomotives were used. The light railway being used to bring the crops, mainly potatoes both early and maincrop but also wheat and sugar beet, from the fields to either a standard gauge railhead interchange or to be loaded onto lorries for transport to market.

The model features the small terminus at Two Sisters’ Farm, the largest of several farms that make up the estate. There is a small engine shed with minimal facilities for coaling watering and servicing the small but varied fleet of locomotives and rail trucks. There is also a small workshop where tractors and implements for the whole estate are serviced and repaired.

Wagons are pushed in to the small yard from the outlying fields and trains are then made up for sending to the standard gauge connection nearby. Rail trucks are used to take out fuel, seeds and fertiliser to the fields.

(Click for larger image) The main product of the estate is potatoes but the need for crop rotation and the varying soils mean that a variety of other crops are also grown. In addition to arable farming cattle, pigs and sheep are also reared to give diversity.

Colonel's Crossing and Benson

I model American practice in HO scale and I have a permanent layout in a spare bedroom at home. The model is a U shaped terminus to terminus switching layout measuring 8 x 8 x 10 feet set in south west Arkansas in the 1970’s. It features two fictitious shortline roads called the INTERSTATE & WESTERN and The TALBOT VALLEY RAILROAD, These connect with the SP and The ROCK ISLAND.

The Colonel’s Crossing Part of the layout was featured as a layout of the month way back in 1992 in Continental Modeller and was exhibited about 50 times over a period of five years then retired. I built the Benson part of the layout following a house move and operated this whilst CC was stored in the garage. Another move of house enabled me to combine the two layouts which gives the layout I have today.

I enjoy operating especially and am a member of the MNRA and would be pleased to help or advise any one thinking of venturing into the American shortline scene.

The layout is fixed and cannot be exhibited now. However, visitors are always welcome, Cheshire Railway Modellers members are invited to get in touch with me via the forum.

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