History

The original Forest Green layout

This layout was originally designed and built by Ray White about thirty years ago. He was a keen historical modeller and so the railway was set in the Edwardian era with a mixture of Midland and GWR stock. Malmcester was originally a terminus in the Cotswolds on a branch from a line linking the Bristol – Gloucester main line with the Great Western near Chippenham.

After Ray passed away his wife, Iris, kept the layout as a static exhibit until recently when she asked me to dismantle the layout and find a home for its many wonderful features. As the layout had never been viewed in public a group of us decided to take on the challenge of resurrecting it for exhibition (with a little encouragement from Dave Harding!)

The Cotswolds location and time has changed slightly as we now feature Forest Green, a through station, near the junction with the branch to Malmcester in about 1960. The line is mainly worked by Midland locos and stock, although WR power features on the branch. Traffic is mainly local with some though workings from Gloucester and the North to Chippenham, Westbury and the South Coast.

Ray’s buildings and scenery remain after some gentle renovation but much of the track has been replaced and rewired. As all exhibitors will know it takes hours to bring a layout up to an acceptable standard and I have to thank the dedication and hard work of the team, Terry Quarrie, Chris Sanders, Kevin Teague, Dick Owen and my wife Lynda.

Rob Whish June 2012