Preston &
District Model Railway Society
ARDSON LAYOUT
OO Gauge
The
origins of this layout can be traced back to the mid ‘80s when the
Exhibition Manager dropped in on a conversation between two club
members. The gist of this was that simple layouts - which could be built
at home by Dad and his Lad (or Daughter) using readily available “off
the shelf” items of track, buildings and ready to run items, were never
featured at model railway exhibitions. Never one to miss an opportunity
the Exhibition Manager pointed out that there were a few months before
the next exhibition and that if these members could build such a layout
which he considered worthy, it would be included in the exhibition
The resulting
layout approx 6’-00” x 3’-6”and entitled “Challenge” proved a great
success. It was popular with the children at exhibitions as it gave them
the opportunity both to ‘drive’ and meet all their friendly locos and
stock. Eventually this layout was outgrown by the amount of stock that
was accumulating and superseded by “Son of Challenge”. This was larger
in plan and with far better operating potential but again eventually
became too small. Also the end to end track plan involved a lot of
handling of locomotives which soon began to show wear and tear.
The third iteration, named “Ardson”
(from Dave LeonARD and John WilSON - the builders)
is now nearing completion. The overall size is 10’-00” x 9’-00”, with a
continuous run (including a traverser fiddle yard), engine shed, goods
yard and branch line. As with the previous layouts everything has been
built from readily available items and kits - but disguised and
weathered accordingly and set in a series of dioramas to add interest.
This layout can of course use most ready to run stock, however, for the
P&D MRS exhibitions we always use items taken from the Thomas series.
Many of these are off the shelf but the majority have been scratch built
or modified well before Hornby increased their range. We claim that,
with the exception of narrow gauge items, if you have seen it in books
or on video you can see it on Ardson. More recently Hornby’s Hogwarts
Express has put in an appearance.
We take
great pride in the layout and the stock that runs on it and never cease
to be amazed, whenever the layout is in displayed, by the knowledge that
the children (and Mums) show. It is always the childrens’ favourite at
our exhibitions. We believe it is an inspiration to develop the ‘train
set’ and well demonstrates the potential of the hobby.
Please visit the
Preston & District Model Railway Society website for more layouts
and information. [more]
Many
thanks to Neville Davies for providing the pictures and text.
You can see all the layouts featured at
SimplyTrains on the layouts page. [more]
If you would like your pictures to appear
here then please email us or check for more details.[more]
Email us.
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