Woodside

Enfield Town Model Railway Club

Members' layouts

WOODSIDE - by Roger Elkin

Woodside is an extensive 00 gauge layout in a loft which dates back over 35 years, although it has been altered and rebuilt several times in that period. A major refurbishment of the electrical systems was carried out a few years ago. The layout is set in the Chester/North Wales area, and the main terminus station (Woodside) is a scratch-built scaled down model of the Chester General station building, while the through station (Woodside Junction) is based on the architecture used by the LNWR at stations along the North Wales coast, such as Colwyn Bay and Llandudno Junction as they were in the 1960's, before the coming of the A55 dual carriageway road.

The photo above shows the main entrance of Woodside station with some Crosville buses outside waiting for passenger arrivals.

The period modelled is the late 1950s/early 1960s. The geographical area selected allows, in the steam era, for the use of both London Midland and Western Region locos and stock, together with Southern green coaches on through workings from Birkenhead to the south coast. Eastern Region trains appear on workings of the ex-LNER Cheshire Lines Committee services.

The photo above right shows a view of Woodside Junction, taken at a busy moment when connections are being made between different services. The train, second from left is the service to the Axtley branch.

The locos and stock are mainly detailed and weathered ready to run items from Hornby, Lima and Bachmann, together with some kit-built steam locos, to provide a representative selection of the trains that worked in the Chester/North Wales area in the 1960's or 1990's. The track is Peco and all the points are electrically operated with diode matrix route setting from two push-button panels.

The approach to Axtley station.

The wagon works and yard.

Scenic features on the layout include a quarry served by a narrow gauge (009) railway, a canal, pottery with traditional bottle kilns, a market, trams running along the street, a wagon repair works, and a farm, which generates traffic for the branch line. The photo above left shows the entrance to Axtley station and the photo above right the wagon repair works.