Bob Alderman’s creation, St Martin’s Wharf, is a light railway inspired by the Colonel Stephen’s railway empire. The line is somewhere in East Anglia, the terminus is beside a once-navigable river, and it takes its name from the ruined abbey behind the station. The period is c1930.

Sheila Alderman has very kindly donated this rather special layout to the Yeovil Model Railway Group.  If you would like to book St Martin’s Wharf for an exhibition, details can be found here, and details of upcoming exhibitions can be found here.

The rolling stock follows Colonel Stephens’ principles; there is nothing new, all second or third hand. The age of the stock is reflected in the finish of the vehicles. Many are typical of the Colonel’s stock. Other models of the Colonel’s railways can be found at: http://colonelstephenssociety.co.uk/models of the colonels railways/index.html

The baseboards are plywood topped with Styrofoam. All the trackwork has been made from C&L individual components laid on 5mm closed cell foam. The sleepers have been cut from 1.5 mm thick ABS sheet. The points are operated by Tortoise motors laid on their sides. Control is conventional DC. DCC may be fitted if a recording of a Ford Model T for the railmotor can be found.

All the structures have been scratchbuilt in plasticard. The mill was inspired by a tide mill on Southampton Water. The small shop is a replica of Bob’s grandfather’s cycle repair shop c1920 after finding in 2013 a small faded photograph of him outside the shop. The ruin was just an idea!

Trees are made on multi-stranded wire armatures. These, and much of the other greenery, are finished from Woodland Scenics products. Static grass fibres are from the FMR range. Water is an American epoxy resin product called Easywater, finished with gloss acrylic medium to get the ripples.