Stand An Fair TMiddLin A 4mm scale '00' gauge layout set in an industrial area of the North of England during the 1950's/6o's. A fictional based diorama set around the town of Eckerslike and also the underground coal mine of Appen Colliery. Eckerslike and Appen Colliery are two separate modules which can be ex-hibited together or on their own. Eckerslike is a town dominated by a viaduct and substantial industrial red brick buildings constructed in the Victorian era. The railway station was originally an intermediate station on the Fair to Middlin line. The railway Line was, however, truncated at Eckerslike following closure of the mine at Mid-dlin during the 1930's. The railway nowadays is a branch tine from Fair providing a regular passenger service between the two towns. There is also a busy goods shed serving local people and industry and a private siding to the large engineering works adjacent to the station with an active coal yard. BR steam tank locos usually provide the motive power. Appen Colliery lies between Fair and Eckerslike. It is a deep underground mine now controlled by the National Coal Board (NCB) following nationalization of the coal in-dustry in 1947. There are two headstocks providing ventilation and access to the coal face as well as screens to sort the coal before it is loaded into railway mineral wagons. The wagons are then shunted by the NCB's own locomotives to the exchange sidings before collection by BR steam tender locos and taken to the marshalling yard at Fair for distribution throughout the UK or to a nearby port for the coal to be exported by sea. The extension of Fair TMiddlin to include Appen Colliery has a new fiddle yard which has a traverser and can rotate 360 degrees. It also has eight tracks which can accommodate eight trains including passenger trains with three coaches and a tender locomotive.
