Uplyme

John O'Dell's Uplyme (Email: jp.odell@btinternet.com)

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Uplyme is a 3mm scale model railway layout based on the former Southern Railway seaside terminus at Lyme Regis, Dorset during the 1950’s and 1960’s, with a Summer Bank Holiday timetable being operated. The real Lyme Regis station was actually much closer to the village of Uplyme than the town it was named after and due to the tortuous curves along the branch line it was operated by a very limited range of locomotives. Uplyme suffers no such restrictions and features a wide selection of Southern Steam engines including its own named town. The second reason that very few types of locomotives ever worked the real Lyme Regis branch, the Adams Radial Tanks and Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2Ts being the only successful ones, both classes can be seen on the layout today. But by changing the name of the station examples of most of the different classes of engines to be found on a typical Southern branch line during the last days of steam can be seen on Uplyme today including a Rebuilt West Country, M7 tanks, BR Standards and Southern 2-6-0s.

The buildings are accurate models of those at Lyme Regis during LSWR days but the period is set well into the BR era during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Most of the locomotives and rolling stock in service are built from kits produced by the 3mm Society. If you would like to know more about the Lyme Regis Branch, the 3mm Society, modelling or collecting 3mm (TT) scale please do ask one of the operators. For more information about Uplyme please refer to the Railway Modeller for December 1989 and February 1996.

The owner of this layout is disabled and as a note to exhibition managers it would be appreciated if when designing your floor plan please could you allow some extra area around the layout to enable enough room for wheelchair access for the owner. Extra help may be needed to carry the layout into the hall and to set it up.

The layout is based in Hampshire and is 17' x 4'.