Bishopmead
‘00’ - GUEST
Bishopsmead is a busy terminus located ‘somewhere’ on the Western/Central division of the LMS, set in the mid 1930s. The actual location presumes the area to be a popular leisure destination, which necessitates many passenger trains including the odd excursion from other companies. Although Bishopsmead is built as a terminus, it is not the end of the branch line from the junction with the LMS network (at Castlebury), the line progresses on to the terminus at Smallcombe. However, the connection to Smallcombe is via a trailing connection in the down direction only, located beyond the tunnel. This necessitates all Smallcombe trains reversing at Bishopsmead, which in addition to handling its own normal traffic, also handles the local, connecting and through traffic to and from Smallcombe.
The layout portrays the station of Bishopsmead and the line as far as the tunnel. A connection to the local industrial area at Bishopsmead is modelled (but not the area itself). The junction for Smallcombe and Castlebury are represented by the ‘Fiddle Yards’, as is Smallcombe itself. Although the locations are fictitious, an operating sequence has been developed and is run which is both plausible, intense and (we hope!) more or less correct.
The stock on the layout is a mixture of predominantly kit, modified kit or scratch built items together with the odd extensively modified proprietary items. Stock is generally is in both the early and later pre-war livery styles. The buildings are a mixture of kit/modified kit or scratch built, and the scenery is constructed using all the usual Woodland Scenics materials and the like.