Our current project is to create a model acknowledging our South London roots, and challenge us to develop new skills. Our model is fictional, but closely inspired by the depot complex near Metropolitan Junction in Southwark. There were two depots here, one for goods and one for locos. The loco facility was known as Ewer Street Depot, and the goods yard seems to go by various names, including: Southwark International Depot, Grand Vitesse Goods Depot or Southwark Depot. Our model, ‘Bankside-Austerity in 1951’ will aim to capture the atmosphere of this area of London in the post-war period of austerity.
This will be an urban contrast to the country setting for St Merryn, our previous project.
We have the boards constructed, the track laid, and a control system in place. The layout is therefore operational, and our current focus is to develop stock and scenic items.
We’ve displayed the layout as a work in progress a few times, most recently at Scaleforum 2022. Bankside appears at 1min 34sec in Part 2 of the video retrospective.
Posts about Bankside
- A Home for BanksideWe’ve added a specific page to act as a hub for all things ‘Bankside‘.
- New Stock for BanksideAt a recent Monday meeting, we had the chance to look at some of the stock taking shape for Bankside (See if you can spot the work remaining!). Relatedly, we have been recently researching Ferry Vans. Bankside is inspired by the depot in Southwark that was known as the ‘Southwark Continental Depot‘. What we are … Continue reading “New Stock for Bankside”
- Bankside lives!After a lot of effort designing, building and installing the electrics for our new Group layout ‘Bankside’ we connected to the power supply for the first time last night. It all went well and therefore the first locomotive has run on ‘Bankside’. Check out the videos of this grand event – IMG_0125 IMG_0124 IMG_0123