Layout Name: Deadmans Lane
Scale/Gauge: 4mm OO Gauge
Size: 28feet x 10 feet
Exhibition layout, or stay-at-home? Exhibition
Type: roundy-roundy with shunting
Era/region/location: Current day minus a few years in the East Midlands
Whether you would like to be included in the layout register: Yes
Exhibition program writeup:
Take a stroll down Deadmans Lane in Derby and you will encounter a sign for the East Midlands Trains Etches Park depot. Should you be lucky enough to be admitted, you will see the multiple colours of white, orange, red and blue of EMT. However, if you turn your attention to the left, gazing across the Derby to Long Eaton main line, the dominant colour is the yellow of Network Rail’s test fleet based at the former British Rail Research and Technical Centre site, now mostly occupied by Loram, who maintain the test vehicles.
The layout is a depiction of the Derby site, although very much compressed to fit the available space, portraying the workings of a busy depot and the adjacent main line with the passing trains over the past 3-4 years.
It gives me a broad excuse to pretty much run what I want – when I want – within reason. There may even be guest appearances by former residents of the RTC site!
Most of the yellow stock is converted from ready-to-run items to represent test coaches such as the Electrification Measurement Vehicle and Structure Gauging Train. Most people build a layout to fit the available rolling stock, however, in the case of Deadmans Lane it was very much the opposite process as the yellow collection has grown over the years beyond just the odd test train.
The layout is DCC controlled via a Lenz system, with the vast majority of the powered vehicles being sound fitted, usually with ESU Loksound decoders.
Layout point control in the scenic section is an independent DCC system using DCCconcepts Alpha Switch and encoders, whilst a Megapoints servo controller and route setting card looks after the storage yard.
Please feel free to ask questions about the layout and stock and we’ll do our best to answer.
Deadmans Lane appeared in the June 2019 edition of BRM.
