Bentley Brook

Getting started….. meet the team…..
The basic team was formed from existing members of the club from different layout groups who were keen to start a new layout, had enthusiasm for NG7 and an interest in sharing knowledge/skills; and of course, learning loads! We are keen for new members to join the team no matter what their experience, knowledge or skill. Please come along to a Thursday evening club night and meet the team, follow the progress and better still join and get involved! (group photo to follow in next Blog)

First things first…
Space! It was great to be able to have the opportunity with the upgraded club room providing more space. The NG7 layout received its allocated space, a modest size but wow it took several weeks to work out a suitable and agreed layout plan that would not only fit the space but would be a realistic build time as we plan to exhibit. As a group we wanted something different to a Welsh slate layout and so Bentley Brook was born, an idea taken from David Wright’s book, Modelling Branch lines - A guide for Railway modellers. His example was for a Terminus of an imaginary narrow-gauge railway serving an area of the Derbyshire Peak district. We developed this plan to include a quarry and a small section of standard gauge line to be able to transfer quarry stone from narrow gauge to standard gauge.

December 2025

The team of Bentley Brook have been busy with progressing the basic build ….. meet some of the team in the gallery below. We used Tim Horn base boards and profiles and then set about applying some protective varnish.

One of our members, Keith started to hand build a couple of the points using laser cut sleepers and 3D printed spikes. These were from Kosmik who developed this Templot he plug track specifically for our project. We ran some tests. Satisfied with its smooth working we have put in the remaining points and track order, delivery just received in time to get going after the Christmas break.