An Overview by Mike Sarsfield, Photos by Richard Grigg.
After many years of modelling railways, I’ve notices that models of heritage railways are quite uncommon. I find this surprising, as there are plenty of resources out there with many kits and ready to run models available. It also keeps the odd rivet counter at bay if you are the type of person who likes to mix rolling stock from different time periods and regions.
With this in mind, I thought I would have a crack at modelling my own local heritage railway, The Gwili Railway, of which I am a member of and volunteer as the main roster clerk as well as helping out in other areas.
Scale?
Scale is always one of the first things to considering when planning a model railway. While I model in variety of scales from N to O, I’d recommend OO. It’s a simple and easy scale to model in and, thanks to its popularity, there is an abundance of ready to run models and kits available.
Locomotives and Rolling Stock
Talking of models, the rolling stock is one of the more interesting aspects of modelling a railway. Unfortunately, some of the stock seen at the Gwili currently is not available as ready to run models and some even as kits. With this I may need to resort to scratch building or maybe 3D printed models. I have included a list of stock below that has featured at the railway during preservation along with manufacturers who make these models.
[Link to list of rolling stock.]
Stations and Buildings
While many of the buildings at the Gwili do not have out of the box models or exact kits, making these buildings from scratch or via kit bashing shouldn’t prove too difficult. Many of the buildings and structures are of Western Region for which there are many kits available. Metcalfe’s GWR signal box is based on the one seen at Bronwydd Arms Station. Both the engine shed and workshop are very generic buildings and so would prove easy to build.
Miniature Railway at Llwyfan Cerrig
Llwyfan Cerrig station features a 10” gauge miniature railway. While it is probably too small to model at scale, it could easily be substituted by OO9 or OO6.5 gauge models. One idea I had was to use the Minitrains 009/HOe Old Western Set, which would look very fitting in a theme park. It may not be look exactly like the miniature found at Llwyfan Cerrig, but it would be an easy option.
Track
A track plan is featured in the Gwili’s ‘railway rule book’ but there are also references available online (ie Google Maps or OSMaps). There is always the possibility of site visits however due to current circumstances, this is not possible at the time of writing. It should also be noted that you should never go on or near the track without authorisation.
So will I make a model of the Gwili Railway?
I think at some point yes, I have already drawn up plans for Bronwydd Arms Station and it’s just a case of getting my other projects done before making a start on this. I’ve also toyed with the idea of making it in narrow gauge with OO9 which would make for an interesting model.