Wealden Railway Group

NEW SARUM
The end of an American shortline somewhere in New England
Modeled in HO scale by John Bruce

New Sarum is a small town hidden away somewhere near the coast of New England in America, at least that’s what I’m claiming! Find it if you can.

The town is served by a ‘shortline’ called the Wiltshire County Railroad, which is an independent company operating a former part of the Boston & Maine system, and indeed is still linked to that companies lines. As the line passes through New Sarum there is a short branch serving a few industries on the edge of town, and that is the location the model represents as it might have appeared in the late 50’s or early 60’s.

The model shows the end of that branch and the industries there, New Sarum flour mill, fuel depot and a factory owned by a dubious Italian that produces who knows what! The owner of the auto salvage yard fell out with the railroad company years ago and sends no traffic out by rail at all!

The layout is actually my home layout and lives atop a bookcase and as such is instantly available for use to unwind at the end of the day, very therapeutic. You are seeing the layout as it appears at home apart from the addition of an extra part of the flourmill to better hide the fiddle yard. The layout was built to “try out” American modeling, and despite the apparently simple track plan you can become well tied up in knots switching the wagons around.

The baseboards are constructed from plywood, track is PECO code 75, and the points (sorry switches) are operated by Tortoise point motors. Buildings are mainly modified kits. The rolling stock is largely built from kits of varying degrees of complexity and detail; I plan to upgrade them all in due course. Various engines are to be seen belonging to the WCRR or B&M; these are made by Bachman, Athern, Life Like & so on. And all run superbly as American engines tend to do.

Overall space required for layout, operator & stock storage would be 8’ 6” x 5’. The layout is operated from the front and the right hand end. My ideal situation would be against a wall! The layout is self-supporting and requires access to one 13 Amp socket for power & lighting. It is transported in one vehicle and usually has two operators.