Blackmore Vale was originally the personal layout of one of our members. Unfortunately, it could no longer be kept as an ongoing private project, so it was taken on by the Club and became an official club layout.

When it arrived, it would be fair to say that Blackmore Vale was not exactly in showroom condition. After many years in storage, the layout was in a rather sorry state and, just to add to the excitement, one of the end boards was completely missing. This presented the team with what could politely be described as “an opportunity”. The team have since worked their magic, carefully reconstructing the missing board while trying to keep as close as possible to the original track plan. This was made slightly more challenging by the complete lack of photographs showing how it used to look. Naturally, this gave the team full modeller’s licence — a dangerous but occasionally necessary thing. Some changes were unavoidable, mostly because guessing the exact original arrangement from thin air is not yet a recognised modelling skill. However, with patience, practical thinking and the usual supply of tea, the layout has been brought back to life.

Blackmore Vale is now fully functioning, which is a considerable improvement on “partly missing”, and appeared at our exhibition in August 2024.

You too could become involved in projects like this by joining the Club. Please visit our Contact Us page to arrange a visit — previous experience is useful, but the ability to find missing baseboards would be especially welcome.