Model a goods yard
George Dent describes everything you’ll need to create the perfect wayside goods yard.
George creates a diorama of a typical pre-1980s wayside goods yard.
Britain’s railways were invariably built with an eye on freight traffic. Moreover, in many areas, freight remained the most important cargo and the reason for many a line’s continued existence, during and after the mass closures of the 1950s and 1960s. Accordingly, even the most out-of-the-way places would boast freight facilities equal to or greater than those provided for passenger traffic. Prior to the post-war urban sprawl, agriculture was an important part of the nation’s industry, leading to the need to move animals, feedstuff, fertilisers and machinery to rural areas, while produce moved in the opposite direction to urban markets. The reliance on coal as a domestic and industrial fuel also demanded handling facilities at most stations, along with deliveries or despatch of all manner of other goods, especially in the days before road transport became more viable. Including some form of freight handling facility to our layouts is, therefore, a vital element. Offering an interesting modelling challenge, as well as increased operational interest, it’s possible to create a believable scene in minimal space. While this diorama features a typical array of facilities to be found in a wayside goods yard, it’s worth noting that such a scene isn’t suitable only for steam- era layouts. Indeed, many outlying station yards retained much of their infrastructure into the 1980s, albeit in a moribund condition. Up until the demise of Speedlink, just prior to privatisation, wagonload workings of all manner of commodities continued to small yards and depots at various points around the network.