Meryton and Donwell

Stephen Bowen recalls the inspiration behind his layout in a shed

I grew up in Wolverhampton, a great railway town blessed with services to Paddington from Low Level Station and to Euston from the adjacent High Level Station, plus sheds at Stafford Road, Oxley and Bushbury. So my layout and station, Meryton, very much reflects what I saw at Wolverhampton in the early 60s.

Most ex GWR classes from Kings to Pannier Tanks and most ex LMS classes from Duchesses to Jintys, mingled with standard classes from Brittanias to 9fs. It was also a time when I saw the newly introduced Class 40s, Westerns and 47s together with the striking blue Birmingham Pullman.

It was a very busy scene so my layout has too many locos, track and  points but its how I remember it and what I enjoy seeing!

You do see locos on my layout rarely seen at Wolverhampton. We moved a few miles south of Wolverhanpton and were only 10 miles from Bridgnorth  and 15 miles from the Licky incline. So I have a single line branch to a station called Donwell which climbs up above the main line.
There is one large steam shed with a turntable, a smaller diesel shed and a single road shed at the branch terminus.  

We often took holidays in Weymouth and in 1966 had a week long Southern railrover mostly spent behind Bullied pacifics so they make an appearance with green coaches.

The layout is DCC and a third of the sixty locos have sound. It is housed in a garden shed 15' by 13', is heated and fully insulated. The only downside is that in very hot weather the temperature rockets and the locos retreat to the house, with the operator!