Merrivale
Road
'00' gauge - 1990's - BR
Donyatt MRC
Merrivale Road is a small 00-gauge layout in a purely fictitious location set in 1990, using Digital Command Control (DCC).
Merrivale Road is on an imaginary old GWR branch line in Devon and is situated mid-way along a truncated branch line off the mainline between Taunton and Plymouth. This branch line was closed in 1968 by Beeching as uneconomic, but for this layout the line up as far as Merrivale Road has been saved due to public demand for a rail connection to the mainline; this was helped by the MOD wanting to ship more items to and from its depot just outside the village by freight train due to the narrow roads in the area. Another help was the transportation on quarried stone for ballast from Beagle Green Quarry.
The old station sidings there is Corgi Wagon Repair Dept, so various wagons can be seen being trip worked to the works for service and repairs.
The branch also has a further connecting to a freight branch towards Beagle Green Ballast Quarry and the station is used as a run around.
To the left of the station you can see work being done to remove the soil from the filled in cutting, this was filled in up to the tunnel mouth after the line was closed. You can also see that a new level crossing has been put in place, with work being carried out to check its operating properly.
Locos consist of class 08's through to Class 47's (with anything bigger than a 47 being banned due to a weak bridge) with 1st and 2nd generation DMUs doing the main passenger workings.
Please ask questions and enjoy the layout.