Charlotte Road - Southern P4

Charlotte Road was originally built in the USA by Tony Sissons to 18:83 gauge specifications. In 2000 it was shipped to the UK and debuted at ExpoEM 2000. The layout is now jointly maintained by members of the Wirral Finescale Railway Modellers.

In its current format Charlotte Road depicts a double tracked BR Southern Region through station serving a medium sized agricultural market town in the middle of turning toward industrial business for wealth. The layout is not operated to a prototypical timetable but each train movement represents typical prototype operations during the transition period of BR.

The layout is DCC controlled using Digitrax. The track is a mixture of C&L flexitrack with turnouts by the P4 Track Company.  The yard turnouts are handbuilt using ply sleeper and rivet construction methods. Those who have seen Charlotte Road before in its 1959 and 1962 periods will immediately recognise not only a new track formation at the yard entry from the main line but a complete reconfiguration from its original 16 feet long terminus to fiddle yard track plan to an expanded double track mainline continuous running operation of 20 x 10 feet oval track plan.  The new end extension boards and the complete fiddle yard area is a combination of rectangular and trapezoidal modules supported on ‘H’ design legs. These are made from aluminium components and can all be re-used for another layout in the future, unlike the wooden baseboards and leg structures still used on the original portion of the layout.

In keeping with the fundamental concept of continuous change the layout evolves reflecting prototype practices as time passes. Charlotte Road has moved along in years and now represents BR Southern region operations as it was during the last days of steam in 1967.  Color light signals have replaced the old semaphore signals once used on the layout, some buildings have been removed such as the old signal box and replaced with a new box of more modern design and portions of track including buildings and associated scenery have been changed.  All this in accordance with the year the layout represents as it gradually moves along in time, which is carried out on a continuous basis.  What you will see at our next showing will sometimes be large changes and sometimes subtle changes, but the layout is never presented at any exhibition in the identical format as it was at its previous showing.

We hope Charlotte Road brings to our audience that time when some of us were experiencing a feeling of sadness of the passing of steam over to diesel. At the same time, it was an exciting time for those younger enthusiasts watching and listening to all the new types of diesel classes appearing at that time.

The stock has recently been supplemented by a class 33 which features an on board camera - this proved to be a huge success at the Hull 2005 show where younger members of the audience were invited to have a go at "driving" from the front.  Please come by and ask to have a go.  You will all be welcome to control a train virtually as in real life on Charlotte Road, the very first exhibition P4 layout to incorporate hidden miniature cameras inside some of their loco hauled trains.

 Enjoy

Last updated : 17/08/2007 12:22