Scratchbuilt Buildings
Examples of Darren's superb scratch-built buildings

Wildschönau is a HOe layout representing Austrian narrow gauge railways and is named after an area in Austria near the proposed railway.

The Austrian narrow gauge railway of the Pinzgauer Lokalbahn ends at Krimml, an extension was proposed but never built. This layout assumes that the railway was extended past Krimml 38 Km to join the Zillertalbahn at Zell Am Ziller. This extended railway provides a scenic route for tourists visiting the Hohe Tauern National Park and the Krimmler Falle waterfalls. With the closure or privatisation of many of Austria’s narrow gauge railways there are always visiting trains from other railways.

This layout was featured as “Railway of the Month” in Continental Modeller November 2006, and on the Railway ModellerContinental Modeller CD in January 2008.

St. Niklaus is an N gauge layout representing a fictitious German ski resort near the Austrian border. It is served by local trains from Oberstdorf and through trains going across the border and on to Vienna. Skiers alight here and take the local shuttle train to the station at Heidschott to get the ski lift to the top of the ski slopes.  

The layout was featured in Continental Modeller January 2008, and on the Railway ModellerContinental Modeller CD in January 2008.

Symonds Green is a fictitious brewery near Hull in North Yorkshire, Hull was the centre of a large brewery industry in the 19th and early 20th century.

Symonds Green Brewery has been established for over 200 years, this is represented by the old brewery building behind the administrative building. The main brewery complex dates from the mid Victorian era where breweries became ornate but functional buildings designed by top architects of their day.

The narrow gauge railway enables the transportation of materials around the site and between the nearby villages and farms. The canal provides transportation of various other materials and goods. Although the era represented today is 1950’s, we are hoping to be able to represent the 1930’s on this layout when horse power and canals were a more important part of the industrial scene.

Chelworth a terminus station at the end of a GWR branch line. It is based around 1930 to 1940. The layout has a two platform station, and a small goods / coal yard and loco shed. Trains enter the layout, from the fiddle yard, via one of two tunnels. 

The engine shed is two-road, capable of holding two tender locomotive or four tank engines depending on their size. The signal box can be seen in the foreground and the shed office and workshop on the right. A view from the opposite side includes the water tower.

The layout uses Peco flexi-track and turnouts with electro frogs. It is DC operated with switched sections, the turnouts are not motorised. It was never designed for exhibitions but purely home enjoyment so the setup requires more operational activities making it fun to operate.

The buildings are mostly Ratio and Wills plastic kits. The Shed office and workshop are scratch-built along with some of the line-side huts.