When you think of O scale or O gauge in rail transport modeling or model railroading, you inevitably associate this 1/45 scale with very large model railway layouts. But Mike Bisset and John Donaldson have built a detailed model train layout on an area of 18 x 3 feet (5.4 x 0.9 meter) only. They have dedicated their diorama of the British Railways to the days of the Sixties when many steam sheds become overrun by the influx of new diesel locomotives.

In the 1960's the British Railway administration soon discovered, that rundown dirty, smokey steam sheds were not the ideal environment for the new generation of motive power. So, before the construction of new purpose built diesel depots, many former steam sheds and workshops were hastily converted to provide basic servicing and fuelling facilities for the diesel locos. The model railway layout called “Ladeside Diesel Depot” is typical of such conversions. It is based on the former steam shed at Ardrossan, a town on the North Ayrshire coast in southwestern Scotland.

The model railroad layout is DCC wired. The locomotives that can be seen in Pilentum’s video, reflect the variety of classes which regularly used the Nith Valley railway line from Glasgow to Carlisle, through Kilmarnock. For added viewing and operational interest, the model train diorama also features a railway related engineering works with a warehouse and loading bay. At exhibitions “Ladeside Diesel Depot” has a fiddle yard at each end through which steam locomotives and diesel locomotives can enter and leave the miniature world.

Mike Bisset and John Donaldson
www.stmarnockengineshed.co.uk/

Pilentum Television
www.pilentum.org/