Arrowmouth Introduction

Exhibition Manager Details 

Picture a warm summer's day on the beach. The sea is calm, the sun is shining, and the only sound is the gentle wash of the waves. Then, without warning, the peace is shattered as a former LMS Pacific storms past on a northbound express to Scotland. It is this evocative scene from the final years of steam that Arrowmouth seeks to recreate. Set on the north-west coast of England, Arrowmouth is a fictional seaside town inspired by the area around Hest Bank, between Lancaster and Carnforth, on the former London & North Western Railway main line. The layout depicts the West Coast Main Line during the closing years of the steam era, before overhead electrification advanced north towards Scotland. The period represented is approximately 1963 to 1968, when steam was enjoying its Indian Summer in this part of the country. Built to 4 mm scale using OO gauge track, the layout combines accurate railway operation with a convincing coastal setting. Every building has been scratch-built, using thick card for the basic structures before being finished with brick papers, plasticard, or textured sandpaper to represent brickwork, stone, and the rendered concrete surfaces so characteristic of many British seaside towns. Arrowmouth has been designed as a complete historical scene, where the trains are just as important as the landscape. Rather than relying on ready-to-run stock straight from the box, locomotives and rolling stock have been carefully detailed, modified, and marshalled into authentic formations that faithfully represent trains of the period. In recent years the layout has undergone an extensive refurbishment to bring it in line with the Club's latest exhibition standards. This has included a completely remodelled goods yard with a revised track plan, together with entirely new scenic treatment on both corners of the layout. The result is a layout that combines historical authenticity with high-quality modelling, capturing the atmosphere of Britain's premier main line during one of the most fascinating periods in railway history.

Exhibition Details

Exhibition Details Layout Owner : The Redditch Model Railway Club.

Number of operators required : Six 

Layout size : 22ft x 8ft – The layout is operated from the central well and has scenery on three of the four sides 

Expenses :  We would expect reimbursement for out of pocket expenses for members and or The Club following the exhibition of this layout. The transport for this layout would involve the hire of short wheel base Transit type van.

Magazine Features :  The layout was featured in the May 1995 edition of British Railway Modelling and the third Edition (August/September 2007) of Hornby Magazine.