Barnhill Camp

Scale: 4mm:ft; Gauge: OO

In the dark days of the Second World War, the south coastal area of Great Britain was the location of the biggest build up of military power ever seen in preparation for the invasion of Europe. At this time, the railways were used to transport materials and equipment in vast quantities. Such was the strain on the railway system, already hampered by several years of war effort, that motive power was supplemented by use of American locomotives.

This period of time represented something of an opportunity for us to come up with something different and everything came together when one of our members happened to mention his collection of military vehicles. Let’s build a military layout! Barnhill Camp was the result, representing a rail-served army camp involved in the preparations for D-day.

We wanted to have a layout with plenty of movement to keep the viewer interested (hopefully) hence the main lines passing the camp. The operations in the camp itself allow those interested in shunting and marshalling trains to indulge themselves. The camp also allows us to display the military vehicles and we have created some cameo scenes here to interest the observer.

The rolling stock used is a mixture of ‘out-of-the box’, kit built and scratch-built models. Of particular note is the model of the S160 American locomotive (no kit I can assure you) and the GWR POLLEN E wagons adapted to carry naval gun barrels. We have also created a number of special trains conveying tanks and other military hardware.

The layout is built using PECO Code 100 track and utilises mainly scratch-built buildings – its amazing what you can use ‘Pringles’ containers for……..Nissan huts per chance? Woodland Scenics scatter materials are used along with Ten Commandments walling and as for the origins of the ‘red herring’, well who knows! Our layout lighting gantry is even painted with military paint and the lettering is stencilled in best military fashion. Now how can we get that Hurricane fighter to really fly……..

Details for Exhibition Managers:

Layout dimensions without barriers: 16’ x 10’
Layout dimensions with barriers: 18’ x 12’
Viewing: 1, 2 or 3 sides

We have put Barnhill Camp into storage for a well-earned rest after the Bonnybridge exhibition in October, 2008. Unless of course YOU really want to see it again!