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Peel Island

Under Constrution

The Peel Island layout was inspired by a weekend on the Isle of Man with a mad ex-biker friend who took me for a (very) high speed trip around the TT course in his BMW Z4.


The layout is 2.4 x 1.2 metres and so can only be a mere hint of the island’s railways but it is based on the island’s single track 3 feet gauge, originally island wide narrow gauge steam railway which was much reduced in the 1960s and a twin track electric mountain railway which winds its way to the top of the island’s 2,036 feet high Snaefell mountain.


Peel island is a 009 gauge/scale narrow gauge model railway in its very early stages and so far the work has concentrated on building a skeleton type table frame on which the 4 x 1.2 x 0.6 metre base boards rest rather than the more traditional method of attaching legs to the boards themselves or using trestles.


So far the boards have been built and covered loosely with cork sheets on which the track for the outer circular has been temporarily constructed. This will be marked out on the cork which will then be cut to form templates for later permanent fixing of the track. The plan is to raise this circuit on 25mm thick polystyrene so that the base boards themselves will represent “sea level”.


The inner circuit will be a twin track roundy-roundy circuit which will wind its way up and down the model’s 12.5 cm high “Fantasy Mountain”?? (approx.. 60ft in “N” scale and 30ft in 00 scale) using Woodland Scenic’s 4% polystyrene inclines.


Much research, thought and discussion has resulted in the choice of Peco electro-frog turnouts. Based on lessons learned from “Wilford’s” problems these will require modifying by cutting  the track within the point to isolate the frog electrically. It will be a delicate job which the club’s resident electrician (Pete) has agreed to do.


The layout is intended to provide plenty to do for the Peel Island team and to be interesting and entertaining for both more serious modellers and the more casual visitors to exhibitions so to this end there are plenty of features planned for the layout. Rather than the more routine approach of dedicating half of the base-board to a fiddle yard or equivalent behind a backscene, the whole will be available for landscaping based on a “mountainous” theme (hilly) with other added interest. Trains can be parked in a number of sidings and shunted in and out and other features added will only be limited by the team’s imagination and there are plenty of ideas so far. The reality may be a bit different. Watch this space.