YATTON JUNCTION

OVERVIEW
Yatton is situated twelve miles south of Bristol on the West of England main line. The layout depicts the track plan prior to Dr Beeching’s cuts and therefore retains the branch lines to Clevedon and along the Cheddar Valley. The layout is a 23’6”X 9’6” continuous circuit and was constructed by the ‘Yatton Junction Group’ and exhibited first in 1969. It was Railway of the Month in the September 1973 issue of the Railway Modeller and featured again in the 2013 edition.

The Tring MRC had the layout before it was brought to Northern Ireland and it is now owned by a member of the North Down Model Railway Society. The layout has been refurbished by the members of the NDMRS and has attended shows in Northern and Southern Ireland and the NEC, Birmingham.

TRACK
Trackwork is hand built OO finescale. Point control is by H&M solenoid motors using stud and probe. The large fiddle yard has six lines each for both the up and down direction and can hold two consists on each line giving a variety of movements with further movements on the branch lines.

MOTIVE POWER
Locomotive power is provided by BR Western Region Kings, Castles, Halls, Manors and 9Fs and Collett goods and small tanks such as 14xx, 57xx, 56xx.

​OPERATION
Standing on the platform you will observe through express passenger services going to Weston-super-Mare and Penzance, and to London and Wolverhampton. Stopping services come from Bristol and Taunton. Freight ranges from coal and china clay to general goods. The branch lines are serviced by an auto train on the Clevedon line and on the Cheddar Valley line both passenger services and fruit vans carrying the strawberry harvest. There are four control points, two for the fiddle yard and two for the main and branch lines.