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4th November.

 

"Ditchling Green: The recovery and restoration of an historic 7mm scale layout" with Stephen Williams and Rex Davidson.

 

 

 

    This excellent 0 gauge layout was built in 1987 by Gordon Gravett and took four years to build. It first featured in an article in issue 50 of the Model Railway Journal. It also appeared in the Railway Modeller in 1992. It is small for a 7mm layout with so much going on; approximately 11 feet by under 2 feet. It depicts a small through station on a Southern Region single track branch line in deepest Sussex. This is clearly apparent from the style of buildings brilliantly conceived and modelled by Gordon. The buildings were built on a shell of 6mm plywood covered with DAS and scribed; a technique described in Gordon Gravett’s book 7mm Modelling Part 2. Gordon is an artist and the layout has a beautiful, understated colour palette. It included a narrow gauge line weaving through the town and crossing the standard gauge track. It had a turntable fiddle yard at one end and travelled in a box trailer to shows. It first appeared at the York Show in 1991 and was exhibited by Gordon and Maggie about 50 times ending at the Netherlands in 1998. Then it was sold and resold on Ebay in 2006 when it crossed the Channel to France before being brought back to UK when it was rescued by Stephen and Rex at auction.

 

    Both Stephen and Rex model for Pendon Museum. Stephen researched and built Faringdon in 4mm and wrote three books based on that research and modelling: Great Western Branch Line Modelling parts 1, 2 and 3. Ditchling Green was such an important layout and they decided its restoration was feasible. It had been built in a very lightweight fashion. It had bits missing and some superficial damage. It was also very dirty. The foliage and grass were faded, discoloured and needed replacing. It had been set in Autumn. The layout did not work and required rewiring.

 

    The restoration was based on respecting the original design as much as possible, keeping its character, while enhancing it where possible. The baseboards were re-engineered with increased depth. It had a new control panel and electrics. It is operated from behind with a ‘shunter’ working at the front of the layout. There are two controllers, one for the standard gauge line and one for the narrow gauge line. There is lots of wiring for a small layout! It is DC. The buildings were cleaned with a soft brush and vacuum cleaner held well away and using sliced white bread to wipe off the dust! A method used by Roye England at Pendon when he was restoring Madder Valley. The scenery was refurbished with Woodland Scenics materials and static grass. The season was changed to Spring! Signals were replaced with Dapol Southern Railway signals and scratchbuilt ground signals. Some vehicles were cleaned, some replaced and the figures were repainted.

There were no locos or rolling stock with the layout. New locos include a couple of Dapol LB&SCR ‘Terriers’ and a BR Standard 3 2-6-2 prairie tank from Lionheart. Rex has nearly finished a SECR H class 0-4-4 tank. There are a couple of etched brass coaches including a Push Pull driving car from Roxey.

 

    A second fiddle yard has been added at the other end which has simplified the operation and the narrow gauge line has been realigned. A photographic backscene has been added and there is a fascia and LED strip lighting, both cool and warm. One feature that caused much interest and admiration was the addition of ‘forced perspective’ at the top of the street. This small panel, only one inch deep, appears to show the road curving away behind the trees, lined with houses. Viewed from the right point, it looks amazing!

 

    Stephen said that he considers the layout a ‘Working Diorama’ and he likes to emphasise the ‘sense of theatre’ associated with it. Running it is a performance. Another article will appear in the March Railway Modeller next year. The layout has been exhibited and is booked to appear at the Abingdon show in March 2027 and Stafford, September 2027. After that, not sure. Definitely a layout to go out of your way to see. A Great Evening!

 

Nick Coppin.