A Layout in Peril - David Clarke’s Model Railway

Hello, viewers!

Of late my film making has been nonexistent save for shorts on the club’s OO layout.
Well I’ve got a little treat in store for you today because recently I and a couple of friends from the SVR went to visit a railway in miniature which until recently I’d never heard of. All the more reason to visit it now because it’s threatened with closure.

David Clarke was a signalman for the big railway back in the day and wanted to replicate his real world in miniature, creating not so much a model railway but a world in which a railway exists. It’s the second iteration of which, the first being in a building at Mountsorrel.
Construction began in 1977, the layout was moved in 1990 and trains began to run again in 2000. Sadly David passed away in 2002 and he left behind an intricately signalled and detailed 1930s period Great Western layout. As a side note David Clarke was a key figure in forming the double track arrangement you see today at the Great Central Railway and why Swithland signal box has a Westinghouse lever frame.

23 years after David’s passing the trustees of the foundation have decided they want rid of the layout and to replace it was an extension of their charity shop enterprise. This means we are at risk of loosing a valuable piece of our railway history - a layout that came before DCC and a tangible legacy.
The proposed date of closure is the 19th of December so do please go and visit if you get the chance. I believe the layout has a fighting chance but nothing is certain. Below I have put some links to useful material for you if you’re interested in helping this layout survive.

During the editing of this film I decided to remove the heads of people and focus on the layout so some of the shots are zoomed in. I also decided not to have music in the background because although there are people chatting away they are discussing the layout and it is that which matters at the moment. Yes, this layout has been moved and rebuilt once but the standard to which it has been rebuilt to would be impossible to replicate. Once it’s gone, that’s it.
So please do like, comment and share as widely as you can.

As an aside you will notice that although this layout hosts one of the most intricate signalling systems in the country the trains are running red signals. That is because on the day of my visit the layout was being run by just two people so the authenticity of the signalling just wasn’t possible at that time. Nevertheless trains were running. I’ve also attempted to capture some of the little details like the piggery or the oil lorry or the sheep scampering through the gate on the hill or the washing hung out on the clothesline. It is those tiny attentions to detail that make this layout unique.
It’s not been built for the benefit of people who like trains necessarily but so people can see what life was like back in the day, a life that just so happened to contain steam trains.

As I say, please do like and share this video as although this layout is very much a thing of the modelling community’s past it can and must be part of the future.
Hope you enjoy and thanks very much for watching.

Stay Safe & Stay Tuned - Alex


Useful links:

A look at the layout: Source: YouTube https://share.google/DnkORq0obOOVwPfmu

Foundation website: https://www.shuttlewood-clarke.org/ul...

Survival petition: https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-clo...