Dover Priory
9'x9'
Dover Priory station is situated in between two tunnels, and the scenic boundaries that these provide mean the station is well suited to the finite proportions of a model railway. The scenic section in the top right of the plan means that this layout is best placed in the corner of a larger room (such as a garage or loft), so that this section can be worked on from outside the board. Also on this side of the tracks are the goods yard and cattle pens, with various kits available from the likes of Wills and Ratio. The ordnance depot could be replicated using any available warehouse buildings, with a good quality yard crane essential for unloading those sensitive ammunition packages!
Perhaps the best era for a layout such as this is therefore the steam / electric transition period of the late 1950s to early 1960s, with a wide range of rolling stock being not only attractive to the operator but also reasonably prototypical. Steam-hauled trains will typically arrive from the fiddle yard in a southbound direction (clockwise) and terminate in Platform 1, with the loco running back around the train and into the depot. The station pilot can then rearrange the coaches into either Platform 2 or 3, in preparation for the northbound train to London or Ramsgate. One potential problem with a layout of this type is that steam locos will end up facing in an anticlockwise direction, unable to be turned without the ‘hand of God’ in the fiddle yard. However, Dover’s status as a through station means that this train, in the cycle of operation, can be treated as a northbound arrival from Folkestone or Ashford. In this scenario the train would arrive into Platform 2, with the loco running round to be turned again in preparation for a clockwise / southbound departure.
Perhaps the best era for a layout such as this is therefore the steam / electric transition period of the late 1950s to early 1960s, with a wide range of rolling stock being not only attractive to the operator but also reasonably prototypical. Steam-hauled trains will typically arrive from the fiddle yard in a southbound direction (clockwise) and terminate in Platform 1, with the loco running back around the train and into the depot. The station pilot can then rearrange the coaches into either Platform 2 or 3, in preparation for the northbound train to London or Ramsgate. One potential problem with a layout of this type is that steam locos will end up facing in an anticlockwise direction, unable to be turned without the ‘hand of God’ in the fiddle yard. However, Dover’s status as a through station means that this train, in the cycle of operation, can be treated as a northbound arrival from Folkestone or Ashford. In this scenario the train would arrive into Platform 2, with the loco running round to be turned again in preparation for a clockwise / southbound departure.