Old Parrock
A couple of years ago I found photos of an old watermill in East Sussex, near Forest Row, close to where I grew up. The mill disappeared in the thirties; the photos show a run down but functioning building in 1903, with a sandstone base and clapboard upper frame set in a rural location - and I can't get it out of my mind - I really want to build it.
The idea is that the old mill is used only for cattle feed now (1930), and a new mill, jointly powered by water and steam, has been constructed offstage which is served by the private siding. A coal merchant has also set up business there. The siding is set between Forest Row and Hartfield on the old LBSCR East Grinstead - Tunbridge Wells West line.
All this fantasy is a combination of the actual mill, Tablehurst, combined with the concept of the two mills at Barcombe further south, both of which were served by private sidings, although one at least was worked by horses.
Watch a video of the layout in operation:
Old Parrock is a small halt and coal yard on a fictitious line at the northern edge of Ashdown Forest in East Sussex. The name is derived from a small settlement in the vicinity. It is assumed that the line was originally built as a light railway and traffic is sparse, requiring short passenger trains and minimal freight trains. The layout was built as an entrant in the MRJ Cameo competition and is designed to fit a shed space of 7’4”.
A particular interest was to build models of the watermill and mill cottage. The original buildings were at Tablehurst Farm in Forest Row (near East Grinstead). The mill was demolished in 1933 but the cottage still exists. The coal office is a typical LBSCR goods lock-up and the station building is a reduced version of those found on the Kent and East Sussex Railway. The railway runs in two periods; Southern Railway in the early 1930s and the pre-grouping era when trains from both the LBSCR and SECR may be seen.
This is a track plan of the layout:
Exhibition Fact Sheet
Scale: 4mm/00 Gauge
Setting: SR 1930s East Sussex/LBSCR 1900 -1910
Layout location: Eynsham, West Oxfordshire.