Wealden Railway Group

West London Parcels
by
John Baggaley

Set in the 1970s in British Rail’s ‘Blue Period’ the layout represents a fictitious station and parcels depot located on a branch from the West London Extension Railway (the Willesden Jct/Olympia/Clapham Jct link). The depot is served by the London Midland, Western and Southern Regions (hence the third rail) and therefore sees locos and parcels stock typical of those Regions. In the flush of 1960s modernisation it received colour light signals in anticipation of its expected importance, a dream which has not been realised as can be seen by its current, rather run down, appearance.

That is a far as a real life justification goes, the impetus behind the design was the DEMU 2005 Layout Challenge. The basic rule for which was to build a layout of no more than 750 sq ins featuring electric traction. The actual baseboard size at 8ft x 7.75ins was just under that limit, although the supports do work out to be a bit wider to ensure stability. A 4ft extension was then added to include the parcels depot. A sector plate fiddle yard has now been constructed to allow an increased service. This makes the layout 16ft 2ins long overall.
 
Constructed on purpose built plywood baseboards with Peco trackwork, the scenics are inevitably a bit limited and utilise a variety of sources for the structures.

The operational side uses SR Motor Luggage Vans hauling a parcels van or two, WR parcels DMUs and Classes 24/25 (from the LMR) and 35 (from the WR) with short (very short) van trains. BR(S) 2BIL and 2EPB multiple unit stock also appears.