Mattley is a fictitious small country terminus, typical of many to be found in the West Country.

This layout had to meet certain criterea, namely to fit into a bedroom originally, be easily erected and taken down and be simple and straightforward to operate

It was constructed with a plywood base on a plywood frame with softwood legs. The whole being held together with bolts and wing nuts. There are two baseboards each 3' 6" long by 1' wide, with no cross bracing. This gives a convinent size for handling and for fitting into the back of car for transporting to echibitions. Moreover a 7ft by 1ft layout fits nicely into the bedroom without being too intrusive.

The track plan is simple and incorporates all the facilities one would expect to find at a small country station.

  The operating emphisis is on shunting the various wagons to their respective sidings for unloading and loading before being reformed into a train ready for departure.

Behind the scenes is a three way "fiddleyard" where new trains are formed by hand ready to depart to Mattley.

As can be seen a 7ft by 1ft layout in "N" gauge can be very interesting to operate and shows just what can be acheived in such a small area.

If would like this layout to attend your exhibition please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.