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As a family not only do we get involved with miniature railways but we also get involved with model railways. To this end we as a family put together the Greater Marsden Model Railway Group which is named after the village of Greater Marsden where we live, now swallowed up along with other villages into the town of Nelson.
We have layouts from 3mm gauge (yes, gauge not scale) up to 7.25 inch gauge that we are more than happy to take to exhibitions under the usual circumstances, e.g. dinner, brews and fuel. This is purely private and has no connection with work other than an advertising space for the group.
A direct link to the website is here - http://marsden725.moonfruit.com
We have at the moment:-
Wonderworld - An HO themepark 20ft long by 6ft wide with working rides including a log flume and yes the water is real. With over 1000 hand painted figures.
Twin Falls - An 0n30 logging and mining line featuring two levels. We tend to run the bottom level with DCC sound and the top level with normal analog locos. This layout is boxed in meaning when we run and shunt a lot of people think it is computer controllers as we are sat behind with no way of seeing the layout. The layout is 6ft long and 8ft wide.
Boggarts Leap - A 009 layout depicting a small tourist line, measuring just 5ft by 19 inches it has a continuous run of over 20ft thanks to its use of hills and very sharp corners (down to 4 inch radius). It features lots of scenes including a well stocked garden centre, allotments, cafe and many more. Boggarts Leap is due for an underground extension offering the possibility of up to 7 more trains moving at any time and half of these won't be powered but will be moving.
Ride on 7.25" Gauge - We prefer to be in a warm building with this, none of that nasty outside rain business. We can offer runs anywhere from 50ft long to 500 ft long using our portable track and up to 6 locos using our 4 points. We have a choice of locos from two 4 wheel battery electrics and a six wheel battery electric (which can be double or triple headed), an oversized sit in Y6 tram (electric) or a 2,3 or 4 car DMU. The track would also be available to rent on its own for storage for any events delivery dependant of course.
We have on the way:-
N.B.I - (No bloody idea) a name I gave to one of the exhibition managers for a 7mm scale narrow gauge tram layout when he asked me what it was called. This layout is intended to be 10ft long and 3ft wide with trams and working signals being fully automatic. The layout is out and back with a few choices for the trams to make on where they go. This layout also features on its raised section that covers the fiddle yard a ground level 5" gauge society using T gauge track (T for three mm) along with a hand built deltic measuring 40mm long and a 4 car HST set.
Hazelwood Wharf - A minimalist layout using the proven method of picking some wagon names from a tin and arranging the wagons on the layout into that order. Coming in at 4ft long and 2ft wide in 4mm scale it is an example that not all practical layouts have to be big. Absolutely everything is built into the layout, fiddle yard, power supply, control box even the all important cup holder.
Austrian 009 - At the moment all we have for this is an 8ft x 8ft idea and a lot of swiss/austrian origin stock. But we are thinking of a working narrow gauge line that doubles up as a tourist line set up in the alps somewhere. So lots of snow and it will allow us to use a funicular railway and chairlifts
American 0N30 - measuring 18ft by 2ft with a 3 ft by 18 inch fiddle yard at one end forming an L shape. The boards have been more or less sorted its just deciding what to go for. We are thinking of a town at one end with a tram line running along the back of the board continuously climbing for carrying workers to the mine (this would be fully automatic) and a working line on the front bringing passengers and goods to the town along with taking ore away from the mine.
N Gauge Branch line - A 12ft by 2ft N gauge branchline featuring working lights and an automatic shuttling system for up to 5 DMU's. Along the front will be a a shunting line into a cement works and a couple of small business'. This project is supposed to be keeping away from flat. The only flat bits will be the tracks them selves, though not fully, and the bit between the uphill and the down hill. More of a scenic exercise than a jampacked trackfest.
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