Colehouses (OO)

A fictitious layout set somewhere in the west country on a line to the holiday resorts of Devon & Cornwall. It represents an interface between the national railway system and a heritage railway that is a "star" of the leisure industry. Both the modern line and the heritage railway run off in parallel to a resort down the line near the coast.

The layout is based on, but is not a direct replica of, Yeoford Junction on the line between Exeter and Okehampton. The station consists of four platform faces - the main station building itself with a through platform and bay platform, and an island platform with two faces. The main line is on a route to the holiday destinations with the bay platform being used for small trains to a minor resort on the coast.

Both faces of the island platform are used by the heritage railway, with the inner face being used in peak times by the main line - with the permission of the Directors of the heritage railway of course!

Main line services are handled by a variety of train operating companies (First Great Western, South West Trains, Virgin Cross Country) representing services from London and cross country routes from Scotland, the North East, North West and the Midlands. Heritage services consist of combinations of locomotives and rolling stock in both pre and post nationalisation liveries.

Colehouses does not have extensive locomotive servicing facilities but is the main location for stabling the rolling stock. Main locomotive servicing and stabling facilities are at the other end of the line. There are no facilities for servicing diesel multiple units at Colehouses.

There is a limited number of freight operations on the main line representing bulk freight and container traffic movements. There are limited freight facilities at Yeoford.

The core layout measures 24' x 2' and started as an end-to-end arrangement on six 4-foot long baseboards. A fiddle yard has been added to make up a continuous run.