4mm OO gauge micro-layout. Small goods yard in rural Kent, set in the 1950s.
Full article in Hornby Magazine February 2024.
About Lockdown Sidings
It started with a spare 1100 x 600mm baseboard, two Peco points, a desire to see whether after a very long break and several false starts I could actually still build a model railway, and spare time during the first coronavirus lockdown.
All I really wanted to do was to learn lessons by practising simple wiring and other skills before moving on to a proper layout, but inevitably one thing led to another, and it took on a life of its own.
I decided to develop a concept and try some scenery. After a lot of trial and error and placing of old kits around the baseboard, I settled on a rural treatment, supposedly a corner of a former military depot now (1950s) in use for a small amount of general goods traffic. The location is a bit vague, but probably somewhere in east Kent.
Contours were built up with scenic shaper, and the concrete roadway is cork sheet covered with textured paint and heavily weathered. Greenery is mostly static grass. The buildings and other accessories come from a range of manufacturers – some in store for years and others purchased just for this project. I have tried to keep the picture simple and balanced, and not to overcrowd it.
The layout is set off by a lighting rig consisting of a fluorescent tube mounted on offcuts of timber. Operation is simple. A small engine brings a couple of wagons onto the scene, shuffles around a bit and takes a couple back. Locomotives and rolling stock are a mixture of kit-built and proprietary, all weathered and fitted with three-link couplings or Sprat and Winkles.
