Binegar
This layout represents Binegar station between 1960 and closure of the line in 1966.
The station opened as part of the Northern Extension of the Somerset and Dorset Joint
Railway between Evercreech and Bath. The large stone goods shed was originally the
terminus of a 3 foot light railway that served the nearby Oakhill Brewery from 1904 to 1921;
it was converted to standard gauge when that line was closed. The goods yard also handled
stone, coal, agricultural equipment and livestock.
The Down line climbed at a gradient of 1 in 63 to the summit at Masbury, and locomotives
would pick up a banking key from Whittaker apparatus at the end of the Down platform;
this authorized the banker to return ‘wrong line’ to Binegar and then regain the Up line via
the crossover at the Evercreech end of the station.
Long-distance trains from Leeds and Bradford did not stop at Binegar; these included the
famous Pines Express that ran from Manchester to Bournemouth.
Binegar closed to goods on 10 June 1963 and to passengers on 7 March 1966.
The baseboards are constructed from 9mm birch plywood with 100mm deep sides, double-
thick for the individual board ends, and the top is 6mm thick. This was screwed and glued to
create a light but strong structure. 9mm thick cross-members were positioned to avoid
point motors; I achieved this using Anyrail software to produce a track plan for the
baseboards. The individual boards are joined together using pattern makers’ dowels and bolts.
The landscape relief is made from 6mm plywood offcuts then covered in wire mesh topped with plaster cloth. This was then painted with a mix of Polyfilla and poster paint. I finished the open ground with a mixture of Woodland Scenics static grass and scatter.
The trees are Woodland Scenics armatures painted to give a realistic finish. I applied clump foliage of various shades, which I sprayed with
adhesive and added a lighter-coloured scatter.
Track is Peco Code 55 in the scenic areas and Code 80 in the fiddleyard, track is laid on 1.5mm cork sheeting. Woodland Scenics fine ballast by hand and positioned it using a small paint brush, wetted with a fine spray of PVA and fixed it in place using ballast bond applied with a dropper.
The points are controlled by Hoffman motors operated from traditional control panels serving the station area and the fiddleyard which indicate point positions using LEDs. The layout is DCC-operated using a Digitrax Zephyr and UT6 throttles.
The buildings are scratchbuilt from plasticard, based on initial cardboard mock-ups. I based
these on photographs, but had to make assumptions where illustrations were not available. The buildings are finished in acrylic paint and weathering powder, again fixed with matt varnish.
The surface of the goods yard is made up of a mixture of painted Polyfilla, talcum powder
and scatter materials, finished with static grass and clump foliage.
Most of the locomotives on the layout are Graham Farish and Dapol. I also have a Union
Mills Midland 2P 4-4-0 which has been converted to DCC, plus a pair of GEM whitemetal Somerset and Dorset 7P 2-8-0s; Derek Mortimer of Shirehampton Model Railway Club built these for me. John Yorke (also of SMRC) wired one of them for DCC; the other is unpowered and runs behind the 2P.
Passenger and freight stock is all Graham Farish and Dapol ready-to-run; I try to run
prototypical formations.
I have taken five years to reach this stage; I hope it has all been worthwhile…