Layouts already confirmed for Rail-Ex 2026:

Layout 1:

Whiteacres

OO Gauge 2000 - 2020

Whiteacres is Stafford Railway Circle’s 4mm fine scale exhibition layout set in the Staffordshire/Derbyshire area and representing a (fictitious) former LNWR route from Birmingham to Derby and Nottingham (on the assumption the Midland lines were never built). This line is on the high level and is linked to an ex-GCR line on the lower level. One throat of the station is modelled together with the station buildings and surrounding town scene. The River Acres valley is crossed by both lines on viaducts and girder bridges-on the high level is the junction of the lines to Derby and Nottingham while on the low level there is also a junction but the ‘main’ route as currently modelled is truncated. The visible track and point work is all hand-built using C&L and Exactoscale products, and for point operation uses Cobalt and Tortoise point motors. The signalling is all colour light with full route indications. All the bridges and buildings are either scratch built or modified kits. The stock is provided by SRC members and is appropriate to the chosen operating period. The wiring and control panels allow operation on DCC (using Lenz equipment). Behind the scenes there is an extensive fiddle yard which can store over 60 separate trains and allows for an intensive and varied operating sequence.

Layout 2:

Kreuzweg

HOm Swiss metre gauge

Serving the well-known mountain towns Davos, Klosters, and Saint Moritz the rails of the Rhatische Bahn (RhB) play host to two recognisable services – The Glacier Express, and the Bernina Express – both of which may be seen on the layout. The striking red of the well-maintained trains against brilliant white snow is an impactful image. The RhB has an enormous international following and is as much a tourist attraction in its own right as well as being a serious transport network. As such there’s a healthy appreciation of the railway’s heritage, and historic ‘specials’ run on the RhB throughout the year.

A key factor was that the layout had to be able to handle scale length trains. The result is Kreuzweg, a fictional location but based on several actual scenes on the line between Klosters and Davos. Kreuz (cross) weg (path) is the name of a ski piste that drops down into Klosters, passing underneath the line.

Layout 3:

Smalldale Quarry

N gauge 1970s-1980s BR(M)

Smalldale is a small village situated between Buxton and Chapel-en-le-Frith just east of Dove Holes. The quarry is now a popular rock climbing area, but it was once part of the ICI Buxton lime operations. The layout is a "what might have been": features of the layout are a three platform station, the quarry, a spring water bottling plant, riding stables, and a small maintenance and refuelling point. There are two continuous loops plus an extensive shunting area for the industries. The layout is DCC only with several sound fitted locos. Most of the rolling stock had been professionally weathered.

On the left of the layout is the loco maintenance depot. This consists of a re-fuelling point, oil tanks, office, and shed. To the right of the loco maintenance area is the old quarry pond.

Towards the middle of the layout is the quarry. The quarry building is complete with conveyors. On the right of the layout is the bottling plant and riding stables.

Layout 4:

Westcliff

EM Gauge - 1920s GWR in Dorset

Westcliff is a ‘might have been’ whose location is based on the Dorset seaside town of West Bay, Bridport’s harbour, as it might have evolved by the 1920s.

When the railway arrived at West Bay in 1848 there was the expectation that the town would grow into a seaside resort in the same way as Bournemouth or Weymouth had done. Land was bought in preparation for promenades, walks, gardens and hotels. Fortunes were to be made. In the event none of these things happened, the main result of the railway’s arrival was the decline of trade through the harbour.

However in our version of events not only did the town become a successful resort, but the harbour continued to flourish with the export of coal (from Somerset and South Wales), shingle (from nearby Chesil Beach), rope and netting (manufactured locally) and the importation of timber from Scandinavia. Some light shipbuilding was also carried out.

The existing station was moved to make way for developments in the town and a larger station built in a new location under the ‘west cliff’ to cater for a now intensive service of main line holiday expresses and local passenger trains. Goods trains bring supplies into the town and service the harbour via a short branch line.

Extensive carriage sidings and loco facilities are located off the main line to the east of the station, beyond the bridges carrying the footpath to the promenade.