Ivanhoe Model Railway Society

Birchwood is a small market town in the south west midlands, it is mentioned in the doomsday book as a settlement consisting of a hostelry and some cottages all of which have been demolished and replaced over the years some several times, a survivor is the 15th century church which can be seen behind the railway, this has always been kept in good order for the townsfolk.

In early Victorian times a railway was opened from Birmingham to Bristol passing twelve miles away from Birchwood, the good people of Birchwood were keen to link up with this line and proposed to build one themselves, this was thwarted by two factors, the local lord of the manor who refused to allow the line to cross his land and lack of finance, the scheme was shelved and birchwood became a bit of a backwater.

The line passed to the London Midland and Scottish railway at the 1923 grouping and British railways in 1948, it is shown here in our chosen period of late 1950s early 1960s when much of traffic was still intact and the line busy.

Watch for the parcels stock still using the bay and the trains of goods vans which are taken up to the biscuit factory on its own siding under the bridge.

We hope you enjoy the model the whole history of which is complete fiction but we bet you were wondering why you had never heard of birchwood biscuits.

The layout is operated by members of Ilkeston (woodside) model railway club who will only be to pleased to try and help with any questions you may have.

The Doe Lea branch is a mothballed railway in Derbyshire, connecting Bolsover and Chesterfield to Mansfield in Nottinghamshire.the layout represents rather than copying Doe Lea station and shows how a simple and effective layout can be created in a small space - the scenic area measures 3 feet in length with a storage yard only one foot long. The layout is digitally controlled with uncoupling by magnets and point controlled manually from behind.

North Road, no relation to Darlington. A twin track DCC layout incorporating a repair & fuel depot, carriage and wagon repair facilities. Totally fictitious, can be located anywhere you choose. All tracks are code 55 finescale Peco nickel silver streamline with unifrog points. Set in a busy market town in a low-level position providing all manner of running and shunting possibilities. 55+ Metcalfe kits, some detailed with guttering and down pipes, low relief and full size to create the town effect on the upper level where Faller 'N' gauge vehicles can be seen running. Railway buildings are a mixture of Peco Manyways kits, Graham Farish and Hornby Lyddle End. The bridge is scratch built using various Peco girder bridge sides and trestle kits. Modern street and yard lighting, including strip led's, the pedestrian crossings and operating traffic lights and colour light signals / modules are all supplied by Layouts4U, CR Signals and ModelEx.