Bristol St Philips 
Thornbury & South Glos MRC OO gauge 4mm scale
In 1870, the Midland Railway opened a small single platform passenger terminus in a corner of its extensive St Philips goods yard, in order to relieve pressure on the facilities it shared with the GWR at Temple Meads. For the next 80 years, Bristol (St Philips) was used almost exclusively for local passenger services via Mangotsfield to Bath (Queens Square), or Green Park as it later became. Passenger traffic survived until 1953, the station becoming, like many others, increasingly dilapidated after bomb damage during the war, while the goods yard remained open until 1967 – featuring in the excellent 1957 British Transport Films production ‘Fully Fitted Freight’, which is viewable on YouTube.
The model is of the passenger station and the first few sidings of the goods yard. The scenic break is provided by Barrow Road bridge. long gone, which using modelers' license we have moved about half a mile closer to the station than it was in real life.
The model works on the premise that passenger traffic was sufficient to maintain services until the goods yard closed in the early sixties. As in reality, the local passenger service is in the hands of a variety of tank engines, ex-LMS or BR standards, while goods traffic utilizes a wide range of large and small locos based on the nature of the train, but all appropriate to the period and local shed allocations. Early diesels also make an appearance.
Control is entirely DCC. This includes not only the locos but also the points and the turntable. Our friendly operators will be delighted to explain (or complain about) the intricacies of DCC, but preferably not while they are trying to navigate the ‘macro’ which controls the double slip at the entrance to the station area!
