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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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All stock is fitted with Greenwich couplings, with a loop at one end only.