This is a Club Layout built by a team of Club members
The club’s ‘Broadland’ layout is intended to give a flavour of the Norfolk region in which our club is situated, which is basically the area of river systems and lakes known as ‘The Norfolk Broads’, now known as ‘The Norfolk Broads National Park’.
With over 200 miles of navigable waterways and many more that are landlocked or too small/narrow for general navigation, and with many towns and villages situated in the area plus the significant City of Norwich, it would be impossible to include all the features of the area on one model railway layout. In view of this it was decided that we would create a mainly rural scene incorporating some of the ‘unique’ features to be found around us.
With size constraints of the space available in our clubroom to build the layout, and of the room that might be available to exhibit the layout in due course, it was decided that ‘00’ was the preferable gauge, built on a series of 48 inch by 30inch and 30inch by 30 inch boards laid out in a rectangular planform and operated by a DCC system.
Water is everywhere in the Norfolk Broads. Rivers, drainage dykes and the man-made lakes called ‘Broads’ which were the result of peat digging over very many years, plus a plethora of ponds, ditches and waterlogged marshes. So, naturally, we decided that we must incorporate a watercourse (river) running through the scene, connecting the other elements of the layout that will represent (but not necessarily copy) some of the railway features, rural industry and habitats both of the local people and wildlife. This will include moving boat traffic on the river, and we opted to achieve this feature by using an ‘N’ Gauge track system in the river area.
However well we manage to disguise the track in the river, it will still be visible and we decided that this would have to be accepted in the need for practicality. Doing it this way means that we can use a DCC operating system for the river traffic as well as for the railway system, meaning we can operate a number of boats on the same river tracks simultaneously.
With a number of railway lines crossing rivers in our part of Norfolk, bridges were a prime requirement. Some of the bridges, being on basically flat low-lying areas of the county, and with a requirement for tall masted sailing vessels plying the waterways that they crossed, the bridges had to be movable. We have therefore included a ‘swing’ bridge in our design, similar to a couple still in use on today’s railway. The bridge will operate automatically when approached by a Norfolk Wherry (a tall-masted sailing barge), with appropriate signalling and halting of railway traffic whilst the boat sails through the opened bridge. This will be achieved using a home-made system provided by our resident electronic genius.
Building of the baseboards commenced in early 2022, and more than half of the basic layout has been built as at March 2023. All the track that has been laid so far has been electrically ‘proven’ and we are beginning to add scenics to the boards now. The basics of the swing bridge system have been fitted and proven, with the bridge deck operating as intended. The bridge superstructure will be built shortly, and the landscaping of the approach areas is underway. Some of the layout buildings are also being built/remodelled ready for incorporation shortly. We hope to be able to exhibit much of the layout as a working ‘work in progress’ in the latter part of 2023.
Progress Report – April 2024
As we end another club year and move forward into another, I am pleased to be able to report considerable progress with Broadland – 00 Gauge layout.
The layout build has been ongoing for two years now and has been exhibited during 2023 as a layout in progress at Hoveton, Stalham and Bressingham. It has been received by the visiting public with a great deal of interest at each showing, even when the operating system (Gaugemaster DCC) failed completely during its first outing at Hoveton, when the only moving component that could be demonstrated was the swing bridge being activated by triggering the reed switches with a magnet on the end of a screwdriver, accompanied by a description of what should be happening related by Mick and Andy.
By the Stalham show in August the layout was operational, now controlled with the NCE DCC System, with a sailing wherry and pleasure cruisers operating on the ‘river system’, the swing bridge operating automatically when the wherry approached it, some trains were running and some basic scenics had been constructed.
At the Bressingham show in September the layout was in operation all day long with boats on the river system and trains running on the main tracks virtually non-stop, receiving a lot of interest and appreciation from the visiting public. This was a very tiring show for the operating Broadland team who had a long way to travel with early starts and long distances to travel, especially by John and Becky Larkins who had the longest distance to go.
Currently the layout is operational, all the signalling has been installed by Andy and is working. Andy is currently working on the level crossing gates which will be activated by approaching and departing trains. Most basic scenics are complete and the fiddleyards with cassettes are operational. The ‘drop-in’ board carrying track over the operator’s access area is just a functional board at the moment but will carry scenics in due course and provision will be made for the layout to be operated from the main viewing area as well as inside the layout.
Considering the size of the layout and that the construction team have mostly been able to work on it for only one day and one evening each week, I think that we have made very good progress so far.
You should also remember that during the last year the members of the Broadland team have also been those involved in the improved electrics in the club, provision by Andy of the new electrical certification certificate required by our landlord and the re-organisation of the clubhouse working areas amongst other things.
By this time next year, I expect the work on the layout scenic and the backboards to be substantially completed although, you know how it is, there will always be room for improvement and there may be changes to make along the way.
Club members have talked about ‘Running Nights’ and I think that Broadland would be the ideal layout for this in due course, involving a number of members actively involved.
July 2024
The layout is well advanced and fully operational, all electrics working. Work is continuing on the scenery and on the electrics for the level crossings.
October 2024
On 22nd September the Broadland team took the layout to Bressingham Steam Museum’s model railway show. It took 5 cars to carry the layout and equipment with five members of the team involved and the sixth member calling in to see us as he was on holiday locally. John and Becky Larkins joined us for the day of the show to give invaluable assistance and support throughout the day.
The layout was very well received by the viewing public, many of whom had seen the part completed layout at the same show in 2023. Viewers were very complementary, with those that had seen the layout before often commenting on how much it had come together in the ensuing 12 months.
There were many younger visitors, both boys and girls, who enjoyed watching the action with through trains running around the layout in both directions, and with the occasional ‘local’ crossing the swing bridge to the ‘halt’ by the warehouse. They were often fascinated watching the wherry and the cruiser ‘sailing’ on the river, with the bridge opening at the approach of the wherry and closing again after it had passed. Many of the fathers, and mothers too, were interested in how the bridge opening and closing was achieved without any manual action by the operators. The only downside here was that it takes the wherry a long time to complete a circuit before operating the bridge whilst travelling at the scale speed representing 4 mph, which is the ubiquitous Broads speed limit. The answer to this problem will be the second wherry that Chas is making now, so that we will only have to wait half as long before a wherry approaches and negotiates the bridge.
The area allocated to us at Bressingham was in a fairly dark part of the museum, but this was an advantage as it enabled us to show off the lighting effects in the houses, shops, stations, commercial building and the streets of the urban area. It was very impressive. Visitors were pleased to find that they could walk all around the layout to view it from different sides and angles. There’s a lot to be said for a ‘roundy, roundy’ layout.
Work continues on the layout. One of the drawbacks of having to keep dismantling and rebuilding the layout before, during and after exhibitions, is that something always gets damaged, no matter how careful we try to be. There are always chimney pots knocked off buildings (stop waving your arms about Mick), trees being uprooted, a wire being pulled out here and there, etc. but the most annoying thing is that track ends on individual boards get damaged where they get caught as boards are parted or joined, etc. We have tried to avoid this as far as possible by ensuring that the tracks are fixed to hard edges at the ends of each board, but there were still a few track ends on the layout that were ‘fixed’, I use that term loosely, onto polystyrene foam and again damage resulted. To make sure that such damage is kept to a manageable minimum Mick has now routed out the foam on those board ends and glued wooden battens in place giving us the opportunity to make solid repairs which will, hopefully, remain sound from now on.
Andy and Paul have done a great job with the layout electrics and are now coming to grips with the most difficult feature, the level crossings, which will cross two mainline tracks and a track leaving the layout into the fiddle yard. As we want the crossing gates to open and close automatically when trains approach them, and after they’ve passed, this has given our experts some headaches, but I am assured that all is under control and construction of the crossings has begun. I must add that David Thompson has been helpful with this part of the enterprise.
Whilst Andy and Paul have been engaged in ‘engineering’ details, Mick B had been busy in construction improvements. That is basic board improvements and building the ‘lift out’ bridge section where operators can access the operating area without having to crawl under the boards (very undignified). He has also made a number of houses and shops, etc. that have now been added to the layout. David, Mick S and me have been engaged in the delicate art of ‘scenics’. We have built fences, walls and buildings, we have planted a small forest and the riverside bungalow gardens, and we have now started on the substantial job of cladding the river banks with flora and fauna. Soon I will start to map out and illustrate the layout back boards. We are pleased with what we have achieved so far and look forward to continuing to ‘grow’ the layout in the coming months so that we have something substantially better to show come May 2025 at Hoveton.
January 2025
Electrically operated level crossing gates (4 off) giving access from the ring road to the village areas and one of the two fiddle yards have been assembled and installed. After much deliberation, and trial and error, the operating system is being assembled and installed. The gates will be triggered automatically by rail traffic, and we expect them to be fully operational by the Hoveton show.
Improvements to layout wiring have been carried out to tidy up the underboard areas and longitudinal strengtheners have been added as the MDF board tops had started to sag in places. In future we recommend that 9 or 10mm plywood is used for board tops to prevent this sagging, especially where two feet six-inch-wide boards are being constructed.
We now have two operational ‘wherries’ and both will be tested fully in the next few weeks. With two wherries running at the same time it means that with careful attention to running speeds the viewers will have to wait only half as long before the swing bridge is triggered to open and close. We should also have two broad’s cruisers operational with the wherries which will mean the operator will have to pay close attention to prevent a ‘log jam’ occurring.
Most of the scenic areas have been largely completed although some work here is still going on. The ‘OO’ gauge population of ‘Broadland’ is being prepared (painted) and a number of figures have already been installed on the station and village areas. The backboards around the inside of the layout are being painted with simple scenery and half of them have now been completed.
We expect the layout to be completed and fully ready for exhibition at Hoveton in May this year.
The total area of the layout is 111.25 sq. feet and up to 31.12.2024 we have spent £1672.34 on it. The cost per square foot so far is £15.03p. It might be an interesting exercise to do this calculation for other layouts.
I would like to say that it has been a great pleasure to work on the Broadland layout and I couldn’t have worked with a better team, it has been, and still is, a lot of fun. Thanks guys.
exhibition requirements
| Layout Size | 17′ x 9′ |
| Operating space | 23′ x 15′ |
| Number of operators | One to four |
| Number of cars to transport | Four |
| Maximum distance for travel | No overnight stays |
| Tables & chairs required | 1 table and two chairs |