Unnycoombe

Dapol autocoach enters Unnycoombe propelled by a Farish 57xx. The cattle dock is scratch-built from plastic from plans in the Stephen Wiliams GWR Branch Lines book. The water crane is Ratio and the grounded van body is a scratch-built Iron Mink.

Unnycoombe was an N gauge micro layout built in conjunction with Nigel Hill as an experiment. He was quite taken with the new generation of N Gauge rolling stock from Dapol and Bachmann/Farish and wondered if a convincing layout could be built around them.

Unnycoombe went through a long process of design before being built almost exactly as the first simple idea, almost as an experiment. There are no fancy or unusual construction techniques: the boards are from 6mm MDF sheet,  45” x12” for the scenic section and 24” x 8” for the storage yard. Track is standard Peco code 80 N with points operated by wire-in-tube. The track plan is a simple four-point arrangement inspired by a 1970s layout called Glen Doran. It features a loop and a bay platform road along with a small siding serving a cattle dock.

Scenery is papier-mâché over card formers covered with mainly Woodlands Scenics and tea leaves. Buildings are a mix of Ratio and Kestrel kits and scratch-built items.

Stock is from the updated Farrish/Bachmann and Dapol ranges augmented by a few kits. All are quite heavily weathered to reflect the ‘end of steam’ period.

Unnycoombe featured in the April 2011 issue of Railway Modeller.
The layout was sold on in 2013 after attending a number of exhibitions and now resides in Hampshire.

Unnycoombe in its entirety.

Dapol 45xx shunts at Unnycoombe.

45xx is given the right-away with empty merchandise wagons. The signal is built from Ratio parts, the wagons from Parkwood kits on Peco chassis.

 

The 6am milk train enters Unnycoombe.