00 Gauge                     BR (1990)                      As featured in British Railway Modelling Dec 16

                                                                                        and Traction Modelling Mar/Apr 19

Dovington Camp was originally developed as a multi-purpose extension to Paul’s existing layout Whitchurch Canonicorum.

The Description

Dovington Camp was developed during WWII as an Army stores & training depot, with quite an extensive rail network.  This has been ‘rationalised’ over time but it still maintains a rail link for the movement of fuel, stores, munitions and, of course, a wide variety of military vehicles.  It retains an old MoD loco, or two, for shunting within the depot. 

It is seen in the busy period of Operation Desert Storm, with the local Guards brigade on parade.  They are done up in their No. 1’s for a flying visit from HM The Queen, for the presentation of new Regimental Colours. However, royal visit or not, the build-up continues and the depot remains very active with trains arriving and departing on a regular basis.

On the other side of the river, next to the remains of the old branch line now used for storage of unusual stock, an archaeological dig is ongoing, curtesy of the Channel 4 Time Team crew.  Parts of an old Roman villa have been discovered, including part of the bath house, water supply and a mosaic!

The Model

The main stores and office have been built with the interiors open to the public. With military buildings not altering externally a great deal over time, the use of different interiors in these buildings, together with a variety of railway stock/locomotives, military vehicles, signage etc., allow operations throughout the 1960’s – 1990’s and different geographical locations to be modelled.  Originally designed for the purpose of exhibiting different periods, operations are now focussed on Operation Desert Storm in 1990.

Boards are constructed of mainly 4mm plywood, with 9mm plywood ends.  This has created a lightweight frame and has enabled integral folding legs to be accommodated.  Peco code 75 track has been used and all point work uses Electrofrog turnouts and crossings.  As the M.O.D. is renown for tight radius curves within their depots, standard radius points have been used in many places.  This has enabled a complex trackwork to be established in an area of 6’ x 2’.  No form of underlay is used (to match other parts of the layout).  4mm cork tiles are being used to represent the ‘tarmac’ areas, into which several of the rails have been laid.  Check rails have been constructed using old N gauge rail.

Military vehicles are from a variety of sources but mainly the JB Models and BW Models ranges.

Operations

Dovington Camp has been modelled such that its location is deliberately vague. This allows us to vary the geographical location at exhibitions by running a range of stock and locomotives to suit a particular region. This is supported by changing the other industries located on the Dovington branch, mainy of which require trains to run round using the Dovington loop before heading off to the main line. Examples that have been seen in recent shows include a general midlands location, Scottish Region (Fife or Dumfries & Galloway) and Western Region (Somerset/Devon).

British Railway Modelling (BRM)

Whilst being shown at the 2016 RM Web Members' day in Taunton, Paul was approached to write an article for BRM and photos of the layout were taken during the show. It is anticipated that Dovington Camp will be the lead layout featured in the December 2016 edition. The layout was exhibited at The Festival of British Railway Modelling, Doncaster (February 2017), and will also be at The National Festival of Railway Modelling, Peterborough (October 2017)

The Dovington Camp Gallery shows the images taken by Andy York for the BRM article.