Wendover is a small Buckinghamshire market town situated on the north western edge of the Chiltern hills. It is very picturesque with the main street little changed for 150 years. The Metropolitan Railway came to the Wendover in 1892 with the line between Aylesbury and London, Baker Street. At around the same time the Great Central Railway began the process of developing a London terminus and goods depot at Marylebone. It acquired running powers over the new Metropolitan Line having built an extension to its extensive northern network to link up with the Metropolitan at Quainton Road. Considerable development of the southern end of the line was needed and the first GCR passenger services finally arrived at Marylebone in March 1899. In 1906 a new agreement between the Metropolitan and the Great Central was concluded with the creation of the Metropolitan & Great Central Joint Committee. With this agreement, the Great Central assumed responsibility for the line north of Milepost 28½ which is just south of Great Missenden, the next station south of Wendover. As a result, although the architecture of Wendover station and its environs remained purely Metropolitan, by 1930 when the model is set, an over-arching Great Central influence can be seen.

Above: Metropolitan ‘F’ 0-6-2T 93 hauling a rake of ‘Dreadnoughts’ carriages draws to a halt with a Baker Street to Aylesbury local train. This image provides a good view of the unusual double footbridge - only the railway passengers were protected from the elements.

In 1917, the original siding closest to the main line at the northern end of the goods yard was extended to connect with a light railway owned by the Air Ministry to provide service to RAF Halton, the RAF's main training base. A wooden platform extension was also added to allow trains for Halton to be loaded and unloaded. This line starts at the crossing gate and officially company locomotives were not allowed beyond this point and Air Ministry locomotives were not allowed to enter the goods yard. It is unlikely that this restriction was ever observed, just as the restriction that no passengers should ever be allowed on the Halton goods only line was ignored. Also of note is the double footbridge at the station which was necessitated by the railway cutting a public right of way when it was built.

The traffic through Wendover was very varied. The most numerous trains were the commuter services into London operated by both the Metropolitan and the GCR, later the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). Both companies, although mainly the Metropolitan, also provided local goods services. LNER express services between London Marylebone and the northern cities such as Sheffield and Nottingham could be seen, as well as coal trains from the northern collieries to London and the high speed fish trains from the ports of Hull and Grimsby. The goods facilities and Halton branch together with the wide range of traffic on the line from two very different companies made this an interesting model to both operate and view for me.

Above: The ‘J11’ hauled pick-up goods waits patiently for despatch from Wendover goods yard once the ‘A5’ 4-6-2T has passed with its commuter train.

The baseboard construction is conventual softwood framing with a plywood top. As the layout is portable, every effort was made to keep the weight down as much as possible. 9mm plywood was used for the track base, goods yard and under the platforms but otherwise the boards are open topped. To minimise the risk of sagging, the longitudinal frames are either 4in x 2in with large lightening holes or 2in x 1in with another piece on the bottom at right angles.

The boards have integral legs, again two pieces of 2in x 1in at right angles, and all legs have adjustable feet. These consist of 8mm coach bolts with a locking nut screwed into a pronged T-nut mounted in a 9mm ply plate on the bottom of the leg - very effective and literally costing a few pence when bought in quantity. The centre board has four legs which slot into cavities when vertical, with the boards on either side hung from it and having two legs only. There is no cross bracing to get in the way when working under the boards.

Above: A southbound coal train hauled by Robinson ‘O4’ 2-8-0 3547 passes a late evening LNER local with two milk tank wagons attached, being returned up country ready for the mornings supply to the capital. This also provides the best view of the Shoulder of Mutton public house at the top of Pound Street. The main building is largely unchanged since 1900, although the stables and coach house facing the main building are long gone.

As this is a model of a prototype, the seven main boards differ in length considerably to keep points and buildings away from joints. The one exception to this is the Shoulder of Mutton public house which falls across a joint and is, of necessity, removable. To avoid an unsightly line under the building it is fixed to a larger baseplate which includes the outbuildings and divides at fence lines or surface changes. The standard baseboard depth is 2ft 6in. The centre four boards have a dropped front to allow the appropriate contour. This also gives a better view for the smaller (younger) members of the public. As can be imagined, considerable planning was necessary before any baseboard construction took place.

Above: Robinson ‘D11/1’ 4-4-0 809 Prince Albert hauls a Marylebone bound express as it approaches Wendover from the north, whilst horses and a De Havilland Puss Moth are despatched to RAF Halton via the Air Ministry's light railway.

The layout represents Wendover as it was in 1930. This date was chosen because it was before the Metropolitan became part of the London Passenger Transport Board, but late enough to allow newer LNER locomotives and stock to appear. It could not, however, be much later as I could not bring myself to implement the 1928 LNER decision to repaint the ex-GCR ‘Atlantics’ black!

The track plan follows the prototype with only two exceptions. The farthest siding in the yard is essentially parallel to the adjacent coal siding whereas it should diverge from it and also be rather longer. Regrettably, to have made it correct would have resulted in the baseboard being too deep. The other divergence is that the main line to the north of the station should continue straight. Unfortunately, whilst my railway room is quite large, it is not infinite and so the model curves round towards the storage yard at the rear. This required a change to the topography to provide the necessary separation between the main line and the Halton branch.

The storage yard has three roads in each direction plus a centre road which is multi-directional. Each road can hold two trains and is configured electrically to facilitate this. With a main line passenger train of ten coaches taking up one road in each direction, the remaining roads with two trains each has proved sufficient to allow a comprehensive sequence for exhibitions.

Above: Gresley ‘K3’ 2-6-0 2763 passes Wendover signalbox with a fast fish train from Grimsby heading for Billingsgate as a northbound stopping train departs the station. The local cricket team can just be seen enjoying their match in the foreground.

The track work is a mixture of SMP plain track, SMP plastic base point kits for the standard 3ft radius points and handbuilt points for the rest using copper-clad and C&L components. For reliability, at least one sleeper on every length of SMP track and point is replaced with a copper-clad sleeper to which the power supply is soldered. The track is laid on chamfered cork for the main line and flat cork for the yard and is glued with contact adhesive. At baseboard joints, each rail is soldered to a substantial panel pin to protect alignment. The track is ballasted using various manufacturers products, primarily Greenscenes, with the colour varying from light grey on the main line through to black by the coal staithes. The ballast is laid using traditional methods - dry laid, sprayed with water with washing up liquid added and glue dripped on whilst wet. I did, however, use World War Games adhesive rather than diluted PVA as it dries more quickly. I found it to be very effective, particularly when ballasting in winter or damp conditions.

Electrically, the main layout uses analogue control with three controllers, a twin controller for the main lines, and handheld for the goods yard and branch. The main lines are divided into three sections, each of which can be selected to either of the main controllers. The main line controller also provides power for the point motors and 12v DC for the signal servos and building interior lighting. The goods yard receiving line can be switched to any of the three controllers which allows any arriving or departing goods train to be driven by the appropriate main line controller before being passed to the yard operator for shunting.

The points are operated by H&M motors with separate microswitches for the frog polarity. The selection is by electric pencil on studs on the track plan. A small point is that each baseboard is fed directly from the control panel which I believe is more reliable than looping, minimising any voltage drop and, certainly, it makes tracing of faults much easier. An additional twin controller in the storage yard allows trains to be positioned for despatch onto the main layout. The operation of the layout was thoroughly checked before any scenic work was started - work which took another two years before the layout was to an exhibition standard.

Above: LNER Robinson ‘C13’ 4-4-2T 5193 approaches Wendover with a Marylebone-Aylesbury stopping train. Note the Hereford cows in the foreground to suit the period of the layout.

Clearly on a model of a prototype, creating accurate scenery and buildings is the most challenging aspect. I felt I had got it right when a fellow exhibitor who had lived there recognised it as Wendover before he had seen the layout nameboard. The double footbridge was probably the most difficult to build and as it got quite badly damaged in transit back from the first exhibition, I had to do it twice. Detailed plans of the buildings were developed from my own collection of photographs supplemented by those available in several books and also vintage Ordnance Survey maps of the area. The most valuable of these was, undoubtedly, a photographic record of the line published by the Great Central Society, one of the last copies of which I came across on the society stand at Alexandra Palace. When creating the plans for a building it is vital to have a reference dimension to establish actual size, such as a doorway height or brick courses. With your own photographs it is easiest to include your own reference, hence my wife appearing in many of my photographs.

The buildings are all constructed with plasticard facings on a balsa frame, based on plans developed from as many photographs of the prototype as possible. With regard to the construction, the balsa cores are constructed in several pieces with the grain running in different directions to prevent warping when the plasticard facing is applied. During construction I discovered UHU PoR, a plastic friendly contact adhesive that I found to be ideal for the purpose. The rendered surface on the Shoulder of Mutton is a thin layer of modelling clay which provides just the right amount of texture. All buildings have internal detailing and the station buildings, pub and cottage are illuminated. Another first for me on this layout was the use of static grass. Wendover is a country town, so the station is surrounded by open fields. The contours are created from foam covered with Modroc, with plywood formers at each baseboard joint. The Modroc was left white under static grass as this is chalk down land and any white which shows through is appropriate. I was surprised just how white exposed areas such as footpaths actually were. I was grateful to a local professional modeller, Ian Hopkins, for a tutorial and tips for applying static grass over large areas. It is important to only cover about a square foot at time and to use a good quality PVA adhesive. A light spray of water after applying a thorough covering of adhesive helps keep the adhesive from ‘skinning’ too quickly. I also found that rather than working on adjacent areas, visible joints were avoided by working on separated sections and then filling in the gaps when the first sections were fully dry and vacuumed. As Tarmac did not arrive in areas like Wendover until well after 1930s, the platforms were surfaced with granite chippings and the road surfaces finished with a variety of quite coarse local stone. This was laid in the same way as the track ballast.

When populating the layout, I went to the trouble of establishing appropriate animals. In 1930 the black and white Frisian and Holstein cows common today had not arrived in the UK, so the majority were Herefords and Jerseys, brown/brown and white. The sheep were Suffolks (black faces) and Southdowns, all white.

The final challenge was the backscene. This was my first attempt at painted backscene but as this is a prototype I really had no choice. Again, I was grateful for Ian's advice and also that of a Bexhill club member, Alan Hayden-Guest who is a professional artist. I used a combination of photographs and the vintage maps to place buildings and features appropriately. Where a textured surface such as a road enters the backscene I continued the texture onto the backscene which helps disguise the join, As this was my first serious attempt at such a task, I was particularly pleased with how it turned out. As I now live in Sussex at the foot of the South Downs, I was fortunate to have a reference for colours and textures on my doorstep which was virtually identical to that of the Chilterns.

Above: A general view of the station with the goods yard beyond as a ‘K3’ hauled fast fish train from Grimsby passes through Wendover with its load of fresh fish destined for Billingsgate market.

Having built the layout, the next thing was the rolling stock. I was reasonably well placed with appropriate locomotives and rolling stock. But apart from a recently scratchbuilt ‘E’ 0-4-4T I had no Metropolitan Railway stock. I built a rake of Ashbury coaches using parts from the Ratio Midland suburban kits as a basis: the removed sections of the coach sides were then utilised to construct a rake of Metropolitan ‘Dreadnoughts’. I have now added an ‘F’ 0-6-2T and an additional ‘E’ from white metal kits and a scratchbuilt ‘H’ 4-4-4T is on the stocks. With the addition of a ‘K’ white metal kit, this provides a starting point for ‘Met’ motive power. The GCR/LNER motive power is provided by two ‘D11/1’ 4-4-0s, ‘B3’ and ‘B5’ 4-6-0s, several ‘O4’ 2-8-0s, ‘J11’ 0-6-0s, ‘C13’ 4-4-2Ts, ‘F1’ 2-4-2Ts, ‘A5’ 4-6-2s, ‘C4’ 4-4-2s, ‘A1’ 4-6-2s and ‘K3’ 2-6-0s. The Halton branch is operated by two indeterminate 0-6-0STs: originally 0-4-0Ts were used but these could not cope with the gradients on the line.

Above: 'Jersey Lily', Robinson ‘C4’ 4-4-2 heads a Nottingham bound stopping train and passes an ‘A5’ 4-6-2T with a Marylebone commuter train as they go under the occupation bridge north of Wendover. This bridge provides farm access to land south of the main line.

Whilst the layout has reached an acceptable standard for exhibition, there is always more to be done. The signals were all in place for the layout’s initial outing, but non-operational. The servo mechanisms are now 50% complete. Adding point rodding and ground signals is the next priority when the signalling is complete.

The main task in the short term is to build more stock, particularly a station pilot because, although in reality, the shunting was done by horse or man power in 1930, I have not yet figured out how I might replicate this, so an appropriate locomotive will have to do. I also need at least one more Metropolitan locomotive and the Pullman coaches that it used as First Class on the commuter trains. I also want to expand the GCR coaching stock and add a ‘Sir Sam Fay’ 4-6-0 (‘B2’) and ‘Glenalmond’ 4-6-0 (‘B8’).

To date the layout has only been exhibited once and it is hoped to be able to show it more widely, particularly in the Chiltern area. Due to the size and complexity of the layout this will require the support of several fellow members of the Bexhill Model Railway Club. Ideally, five operators are needed at any one time, two for the fiddle yard, one for each main line and one for the yard and branch. However, a reasonable sequence can be presented by just two operators if necessary.

Above: Metropolitan 'E' 0-4-4T 81 heads a rake of ‘Ashbury’ coaching stock as it arrives in Wendover with a local train to Baker Street.

Above: Wendover trackplan, not to scale.

Above: Robinson ‘B2’ 4-6-0 427 Sir Sam Fay races through Wendover with a northbound express. A Halton freight is being loaded in the bay by the wooden platform extension built specifically for that purpose.

This article was originally published in The Hornby magazine,