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Tony's Forest

Description based on material supplied by the layout owner

Tony's Forest  
Robin Edwards O9 gauge 7mm scale

Tony was the owner of this forest in the 1890's and he built a narrow gauge railway to bring timber down to his own saw mill. The line was extended during the Great War when there was an increasing need for all raw materials, however it fell out of use afterwards.

It saw a new lease of life during World War 2 when parts of it were used to ship more timber and quarry stone.

My model railway portrays the line coming up the hillside to a passing loop with the old tracks forward now disused and overgrown. The line reverses and continues up the hillside while a newer branch leads to a quarry which now supplies Shropshire County Council with road stone. The area is still known as Tony's Forest but the railway remains known only to a few enthusiasts and the local population. There are some rare locomotives still in use and unknown to many enthusiasts. However, this is the late 1950's and modernization is on the way. Who knows how long this little backwater will survive before being noticed by someone in the Council? The future is very uncertain.

Emphasis has been placed on scratch-built scenery and structures whilst most of the rolling stock is built from kits.

Track is hand-built using Peco nickel silver rail on copper clad sleeper strip obtained from the 7mrn Narrow Gauge Association (NGA). Buildings use wood, embossed card or plastic sheet and Grandt Line windows again from the 7mm NGA. Locomotives and rolling stock are mainly kit built. Locomotive chassis are fitted with high ratio gearboxes and flywheels where possible. Passenger coaches are converted Bachmann On30 Trolley bodies mounted on bogies from the 7mrn NGA while the quarryman's open coaches are from S&D Models. Wagons are from KB Scale and Wrightlines.

Greenwhich couplings are used which are activated remotely by permanent magnets set into the track bed.

 








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