| Port
St. George - T Couling Port St. George is the seaward terminus of
the Clyre Valley Railway; a fictitious 2'3" gauge
railway set somewhere in the south west of England.
It is early summer,
somewhere in the late 1920's and traffic on the line is
brisk. Passenger traffic is frequent throughout the day,
principally in connection with coastal steamers and mail
boats. Equal emphasis is placed on freight traffic with
general merchandise, coal and livestock being handled in
the goods yard as well as fish at the covered loading
dock on the quayside.
The line's principal
freight traffics, however, are granite chipping's and
china clay. Worked in "block" trains these are
shunted to the quayside to the off-stage part of the quay
on a regular basis.
Shortly after leaving the
port, trains pass the locomtive depot and halt at Wootton
Major. Based very loosely on Towyn Pendre shed on the
Tallyllyn Railway, this small and cramped building serves
as the principal loco depot for the line. Most locos
return here for coal and water during the day, only the
harbour shunting engine remaining at Port St George
throughout.
The layout design is
freelance and designed to meet the expected traffic needs
of the railway. Scenery is built to the methods explained
in Barry Norman's "Landscape Railway
Modelling". Rolling stock is primarily kit built
with a few scratch built items thrown in for good
measure. At present the station, harbour area and
approaches of Port St George are portrayed, together with
the Locomotive shed at Wootton Major. Two off-stage
fiddle yards represent, at one end, the remaining
quayside area and town while at the other, the remainder
of the railway.
|