This video will make the hearts of all British model railway enthusiasts beat faster! This model train layout is truly unique, as it is probably the only model railroad of the famous Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway RH&DR. The RH&DR is a 15 inch gauge light railway in Kent, England, operating steam and internal combustion locomotives. The approximately 14-mile-long line runs from the Cinque Port of Hythe via Dymchurch, St. Mary’s Bay, New Romney and Romney Sands to Dungeness. Eleven steam locomotives and more than 50 passenger carriages are used for public transport. The trains run strictly according to a timetable. The RH&DR is also known as “Kent’s Mainline in Miniature”.

German model railroader Jonas Sommer, who designed the model railway layout, worked for RH&DR in 2013/2014 and completed his training as a train dispatcher. All his experiences, memories and enthusiasm for this extraordinary railway, led him to build eight RH&DR locomotives, over 50 rail cars and this out-standing model rail layout in four years of construction. His model train layout depicts an original section of the double-tracked line between the level crossing “Boltolph’s Bridge Crossing” and the bridge named “New Cut Sewer” crossing the drainage canal.

The model railway layout is 4.0 m long and 0.45 m wide. Behind the rear wall, there is a marshalling yard so that several model trains can run alternately through the miniature world. While N-gauge tracks have been laid in the marshalling yard, Jonas Sommer built the tracks in the visible area of the model railroad layout himself. He used the “Code 83” track profile from the manufacturer Tillig and also made the sleepers from 5 x 4 mm wooden battens. In total, more than 570 wooden sleepers have been laid on the model train layout.

Jonas Sommer went to an incredible amount of effort to build the locomotives and railway carriages: While the chassis are used from locomotives in N scale, he designed the superstructures himself using a CAD program. These CAD drawings were later turned into small, true-to-scale models using a professional 3D printer. Finally, the rolling stock was painted in the original color and provided with the correct lettering.

Jonas Sommer
modellbau-sommer.de/

RH&DR
www.rhdr.org.uk/

Pilentum Television
www.pilentum.org/