by Tim Crockford
The Miners Arms depicts the far end of a colliery railway system. A place where a few wagons are shunted and engines run around their brake vans before departing again to collect their loaded train of coal. The layout has no particular location but can easily represent somewhere in South Wales or the Midlands. The era is again flexible and set by whatever rolling stock, locomotives and road vehicles appear on the layout, though usually it is mid 1960s to early 1970s.
The layout is built to 4mm scale and uses Peco Bullhead OO track. The points are operated by MP1 point motors.
The stock is mostly ready-to-run and has been fitted with Sprat and Winkle couplings to allow for hand free shunting. The couplings are operated by magnets beneath the track. The magnets can be raised and lowered using a servo to avoid unintentional activation of the couplers.
The locomotives are DCC controlled, a few have sound and most have been fitted with stay-alive units.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask!
Exhibition details:
Contact: Steve Douglas (SVMRC Club Secretary)
Layout size: 3.0m x 1.5m / 10ft x 5ft (includes space for own table and operators)
Power required: 1x 13Amp socket (load less than 500W)
Insurance value: £3,000
Other: The layout has its own lighting rig, is self-supporting and operates from the front
No of operators: 2
Transport: Layout fits in a car and comes from near Didcot
