Whartson Hall is intended to offer a medium sized model for the exhibition circuit which can be operated by only 1, 2 or 3 members.
It will represent a busy through station in the midlands with freight and many passenger services, both local and express.
Other services which may be seen will be considerable infrastructure traffic and the occasional steam or early diesel special for enthusiasts.
The fiddle-yard is merely “in and out” .
It is based on the layout model of Water Orton in the West Midlands.












General info - The model is three circles of track.
The inner track runs left to right, or Birmingham to Derby.
The outer track runs right to left, or Nuneaton to Birmingham
The centre track is bi-directional.
The model has an “imagined” junction either end to give the intensity, diversity and traffic movements we would require for exhibition operation. It retains the same track format because of operational considerations, something running all the time. 

Transportation - The club needed a model which could be carried about the countryside in a medium sized family car. this meant that boards, legs, stock, control board, power, tools for repairs or breakages and folding high stools, needed to be moved.
Boards were to be small to allow packing into smaller spaces. 
The layout has a limited number of structures, much greenery, a large hill and simple construction.











Criteria - The reason for building a model of this section of the railway (the amount and variety of its traffic on any track) has been lost. Freight trains are long and impressive, but each will require a complete fiddle-yard section therefore they will be compromised in number and variety. Multiple unit services will need to be seen on all tracks, which will require a unit for each part of the yard both Voyager, super Voyager, Class 170 and HST125 (a 125 alone will consume a whole fiddleyard section). The object is to show a present-day major West-North express railway which absorbs passengers and freight from all corners of the country and has major numbers of infrastructure trains from one of the larger maintenance depots.

Water Orton track is the way it is because it heads west through a range of low hills and over a river. So we retain the track plan as it is of a convenient format to allow the most entertaining display of modern traction. 

Construction - The concept behind the original model was that it had to be built from items which were already held or could be recycled. 
However fresh wood and ply were purchased and new baseboards constructed to allow smaller sections to be transported.
The fiddleyard was shrunk to nine lines and a gap in the middle of the layout was created to allow for operators. The base boards are of “standard” construction and presented few problems structurally. Track was laid in the fiddle yard using the turnouts that were available in our stores cupboard to complete the job. Great fun is possible trying get an assortment of long, short, straight, curved, left and right and “Y” points to make cohesive and usable fiddle-yard! The “boxes” at either end of the model provide scenic breaks at the station road bridge and a hole in the western end scenery (which will be hidden by the embankment and trees) to create the separations required. 

Track Plan -