SALISBURY STATION
With dual stations for through Southern and terminating Great Western services, a junction, two locomotive sheds (one of significant proportion) and numerous goods sidings; Salisbury is a substantial undertaking in model form. Another classic end-of-southernsteam location, it’s the sort of design that immediately draws you into thinking in terms of ‘N’ gauge in order to do the subject justice. For me, the most important thing is to get one’s head around how the prototype track plan works. It’s complex in detail, but simple in operation. Apart from it’s own services, the Southern needed access to and from the Western, and vice-versa. Platform and goods ‘roads’ need easy access to and from incoming and outgoing tracks. Likewise, getting locomotives on and off shed needs to be as simple a process as possible. If you can add all this effectively into the mix, then you’ll get successful results. It makes logical design sense to start with various groups of double-slips and the space between each set. These are at the centre of accessibility, providing fluid movement across the layout in any direction. Of course, from a modelling point of view it’s going to be a costly process though worth it for the benefits mentioned. Once you’ve sorted this key feature the rest is just a series of through-tracks, loops and sidings radiating from the ‘core’ of the layout. You can see from the accompanying plan how I’ve managed to include all of the salient features of the prototype, with only modest manipulation, along with correct track orientation, albeit on a tighter curve, particularly at both ends. There’s sufficient space to continue scenic modelling a little further here (though it’s not shown) before reaching a full-length fiddleyard on the opposite side (also not shown).