Exeter Central in 3 mm

Introduction

Exeter Central is a model railway layout built in TT gauge (3 mm to 1 ft scale) commenced in 1969. It was built by Ralph Murfitt of Bramhall and based on Cyril Freezers plan of the month in the August 1962 Railway Modeller magazine. This site records its resurrection from 2018 on wards.

After a 20 year gap I decided to return to 3mm modelling as I was facing a reduction in space and income which precluded my continuing in 7 mm scale. In 2017 I rejoined the 3 mm Society, started dreaming about what type of layout I wanted and commissioned a shed to house it in. The shed was duly erected, insulated, wired and boarded to give me a workable area of 5.3 m (17'5”) x 2.26 m (7'5”). Over the last 45 years I have modelled in a variety of scales to reflect my interest in LMS and LNER prototypes. Prior to the sheds completion, I started sketching ideas based around an LNER/LMS layout based on Bradford.

About this time I inquired about joining the North West area group of the 3 mm Society and after attending some meetings I became aware of the disjointed remains of a dismantled layout and several large boxes standing in the corner of the meeting room. The North West group had entertained many ideas of what to do with this layout, none of which suited everyone. As a consequence the layout stayed put, taking up space and gathering dust.

Acquisition and 'kicking the tyres'

It transpired that the layout was an impressive 4 track mainline station with 56 turnouts based on Cyril Freezers Railway Modeller plan from August 1962 of Exeter Central. It was commenced in 1969 by Ralph Murfitt of Bramhall and had been built up through the seventies. Following Ralph's death the layout was occasionally operated and maintained until the early 80's by the local area group before being moved to Nottinghamshire and then the North East by a family member. When it came to disposing of the layout, the thought of such an impressive model with nearly 50 years of history ending in a skip, was too hard to take. The layout was taken into the Society's second hand sales stock with the hope more than the expectation, that it could be saved......

Plan courtesy of RAILWAY MODELLER magazine