Modelling
All about how the layout was built. (A page for modelling geeks.)
Boards
Landscaping
Electrics
Track
Each board was made from 6 mm ply. The back and sides extend below the base to protect the point motors, and upwards to produce a backscene. More 6 mm ply was used as braces beneath the base, with large holes cut to reduce weight. 15 x 15 mm aluminium L-angle braces the open face along the front top edge to form a rigid box.
Elevated land was created using 5 mm foamboard on foamboard bracing, over which brown acrylic frame sealant was smeared to give a base for foliage and buildings.
The hard corners between the side and backscenes were softened using decorators caulk.. The whole backscene was then painted in sky-coloured emulsions, over which details were added in acrylics.
The layout is wired for DCC. An NCE Powercab is used as the primary controller, with a power supply upgraded to 18V 2A with a DCC Concepts power supply. This is supplemented by a Wifitrax Wifi interface which allows the use of several Android handsets when more than one operator is present at exhibitions.
The layout is illuminated from the front with a strip of COB LED lights hidden inside the aluminium angle along the front edge, in two colours to allow a tunable colour temperature and dimming. This runs on 24V DC.
A third circuit supplies 12V DC for the building illumination.
Track is Peco code 80, flexi-track with electrofrog points. Points are operated by Cobalt iP Digital point motors. Magnets (Neodymium 5 mm diameter x 1.5 mm thick, 0.46 kg pull) are buried between the sleepers at suitable points to uncouple the Greenwich couplings.
Buildings
Railway-owned buildings were assembled from kits, mostly laser-cut. Buildings in the village were made using kits from Petite Properties, clad in DAS clay or Plasticard; or scratch-built with Plasticard over a foamboard base. DAS clay was also used to make the pub's thatched roof; I experimented with the Pendon method using plumber's hemp, but quickly realised it would be quicker to thatch a real roof!
Roof slates/tiles, lintels, quoins and most of the windows and doors were supplied by York Modelmaking. Curtains are made from coloured paper snipped from magazines, fited inside the window reveals. Some roofs can be removed to show the furnishings inside.
Scenic details
My previous layouts have been in N gauge, so I took advantage of working in 009 to add features which weren't possible in the smaller scale. A feature of old railway photographs is the many telegraph wires beside every line, so the telegraph poles are connected with stretchable EZ Line. I also fitted (non-working) point rodding and signal cables beside the tracks.
The LSWR leased and operated the mainline from the PD&SWJR until the Grouping, so LSWR railway clutter has been used where possible: mainline and drop-flap ground signals (MSE from Wizard Models), benches, trolleys etc.
Rolling Stock
With one exception, locos are RTR tank engines, mostly Bachmann (Mainline Hunslet, Baldwin, Double Fairlie) plus a Fourdees 2-6-4 Manning Wardle and an Eggerbahn/Jouef 0-4-0 diesel (with a Tramfabriek motor upgrade). The Bachmanns are sound-fitted.
The exception is a whitemetal Centre Models kit of a Leek & Manifold Kitson 2-6-4 on an Ibertren chassis which I modified slightly to resemble Malta Railway No.6 (a Manning Wardle) and fitted YouChoos sound and firebox glow to.
Wagons and coaches are a mix of RTR and kit-built. All have been liveried with "TF" marking for the Tamerton Foliot Light Railway. A good proportion of the wagons are ex-RNAD; an RNAD depot at Ernesettle on the south side of Tamerton Creek supplied the RN Dockyard at Devonport, so I like to imagine some surplus wagons found a new home in Tamerton after WW1.
All stock is fitted with Greenwich couplings, with a loop at one end only.