Bigbury-on-Sea, (an imaginary extension of the Plymouth to Yealmpton Branch).

I had previously built a 7mm model of my imaginary station at Aveton Gifford and this was further extended to a fiddle yard known as Bigbury-on-Sea. It seemed an obvious conclusion that this seaside town should be my chosen destination for the new 4mm layout.

Model Railway Solutions of Poole commercially built baseboards and have proved flat and reliable. The track is the code 75 bullhead track by PECO. I wanted to have a gentle curve throughout the station and found that the PECO points could be carefully curved to match the continuous curve. My layouts normally feature a level crossing or a canal, Bigbury has a working single-gated level crossing. For exhibitions, an extra scenic board is added to give a short run before entering a tunnel to the fiddle yard.

DCC controls the stock, but the signals and points are controlled through an interlocked lever frame. Attached to the frame and interlocked with the lever frame is a level crossing wheel, complete with rack and pinion drive, the connection to the gates being made electrically via a micro-switch activated by the rack.

The station has a main platform, a bay platform which has a carriage siding leading from it together with a loco shed. The auto train can be housed overnight to allow an early ‘up’ train for workers travelling to Plymouth. The yard, (based loosely on Minehead), has a goods shed, cattle dock and loading bank for general merchandise. Coal is stored in the staithes and the yard has stabling for two horses that were sometimes used to move wagons around when no shunting loco was available. Goods stock is fitted with Winterley Couplings allowing freedom to uncouple anywhere on the layout. Passenger stock has Kadee couplings fitted.