The Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway is the setting for this fascinating ‘OO’ gauge layout which is now operated by the North Norfolk Model Railway Enthusiasts at Holt station on the North Norfolk Railway. PAUL GOLDSMITH takes us on a return journey to discover how this layout has been refurbished for a new lease of life.
GAUGE: ‘OO’, 16.5mm | SCALE: 4mm: 1ft | SIZE: 18ft x 16ft | REGION: Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway | PERIOD: 1950s-1960s | CONTROL: ANALOGUE
Above: Bulleid ‘West Country’ 34008 10 Padstow crests the gradient from the lower-level storage yard as it joins the upper main line circuit. PHOTOGRAPHY, MIKE WILD
BROAD SIDLINCH was built by Julian Birley, former North Norfolk Railway Company Chairman, and current M&GN Society President, in the 1990s to 4mm scale/‘OO’ gauge to represent part of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway (SDJR). Admittedly, the track layout is far more complex than anything on the old S&D, but it does make for interesting operation.
Broad Sidlinch is a fictional place and appears in The Grave by the Handpost by Thomas Hardy published at Christmas 1897. Sydling St Nicholas is a village in Dorset on which Broad Sidlinch was based. In the story Broad Sidlinch is about two-miles…
