Overall design
The TR (train room – therapy room) is approximately 5 metres by 5 metres. The shape of the layout in plan view is a capital E turned through 90 degrees, with the addition of a branchline. Each of the ‘legs’ (including the back) contains a station, its yards and associated industries. The layout fills the room and the scale is 00 - 1:76. There is an extensive fiddle yard in the workshop, reached by a spur track through the wall. For timetabling purposes, the fiddle yard is designated as a station - Wolverton.

The points on the system are live frog. The track is Peco 100. Each station has control of its block and sidings and is operated by one operator who is both signalman and driver. Routes are set by the “stud & wand” method and all blocks are switch controlled for
maximum safety to rolling stock.

Prototype
The prototype for my railway is British, London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMSR) between 1923 and the creation of the LMS and about 1950 - just after the nationalisation of the British railway system.

Geography
The railway is based on London, the midlands of England and as far north as Manchester for the main line and the Churnet Valley for the branch line. The stations are:

1. London Euston (London) Plan Controller Photo
2. Corby and Weldon (Northamptonshire) Plan Controller Photo
3. Trent (Derbyshire) Plan Controller
4. Stoke-on-Trent (Staffordshire) Plan Controller Photo
5. Manchester London Road (South Lancashire) Plan Controller Photo
6. Oakamoor (Staffordshire)Plan Controller Photo
7. Wolverton (Buckinghamshire)

Stations and Industries
Two of the stations are termini: London Euston and Manchester London Road. (In effect so is Oakamoor the branch line station.) The other three stations are through stations. Each of the 6 stations has associated with it sidings and industries. Some of the sidings are specific, for example for oil trains or coal. Some are just multiple use general sidings. The industries for each geographical location provide the rationale for the goods trains to be run. For example, coal from the mine at Stoke to the Steel mill at Corby; explosives from the London docks to the coal mine etc. Each of the stations takes passenger trains, both express and local. There is
also a push/pull between Stoke and Oakamoor.

1. London Euston Plan Controller Photo
London is the main southern terminus of the LMSR. It has platforms for passenger trains, parcels, mail etc. It also has goods sidings. Its main industry is the London Docks. This station takes all goods and mineral trains from all the other stations and industries for general consumption and export and distributes all imported and manufactured goods (except mineral traffic) to all the other stations. This station has 11 roads consisting of 6 sidings for general goods and a carriage siding. The 3 platforms are for passenger trains and 1 for parcels traffic. The station is served by Camden loco shed where locos are held, serviced and turned on its turntable.

2. Corby & Weldon Plan Controller Photo
Corby is the site of Stewarts & Lloyds steel mill and an oil refinery (fictitious). This station is a through station and has 2 platforms for passenger traffic and two through roads between them. In the industrial complex at the south end of the station there are 7 sidings and at the north end 1. Of those at the south end, one is an oil siding and one is for gas. Three are for the steel mill and 2 are for general goods. The north end siding is for the station pilot or it may be used as a general siding or a head shunt.

3. Trent Plan Controller
Trent is a small through station with a single platform. This station services the marshalling yards at Toton. The industry at this station is the brewery, which has its own private siding. Additional sidings are for cattle and a general goods siding. There are 5 roads through this station (including the platform road). The main function of this station is for short (2 carriage) stopping trains, deliveries to the brewery of industrial materials; molasses, oil, ethyl etc. and beer out and empty barrels back in. Its other function is as a marshalling yard where trains of empty mixed private owner wagons/oil tankers are shunted by owner for return to the mine, refinery etc.

4. Stoke-on-Trent Plan Controller Photo
Stoke is a major industrial centre. It has an ICI salt depot, a coalmine, a coking plant and an oil depot. It also has 3 general goods sidings and a carriage shed. All goods come into and out of this industrial complex. The station has a bay for the Oakamoor push/pull and 3 through platforms for both long and short passenger trains.

5. Manchester London Road Plan Controller Photo
This station serves a major industrial area. It has a cattle siding as well as 5 general goods sidings (2 to the goods shed). The station is a terminus and has 3 platforms for long express passenger trains as well as short inter-city stopping trains. All goods and mineral trains service this station and all mixed goods (not including mineral trains) are exported from here to the other stations. Locos are serviced and held at Longsight shed at the end of the station complex and turned on its turntable.

6. Oakamoor Plan Controller Photo
The branch line up the Churnet Valley to Oakamoor is reached from Stoke. It consists of a small rural single platform station. Beside the station is a siding for the cattle dock, a general goods siding and a siding for the quarry. At the other end is a long holding siding that runs parallel with the main line that may also serve as a head shunt. The industry at this station is the quarry and there is also a copper works at the end of the long siding that takes all industrial products (oil, coal, coke etc.) as well as general freight. From this works go copper products in the form of ingots and electrical cable.

Industries/factories
Docks; copper works; pottery works; steel mill; oil refinery; quarry; coalmine; coking plant; salt
depot; brewery.

Goods transported (loads)
Ballast; beer; benzine; boilers; bricks; cattle;coal;coke; containers; copper ingots & cable;
ethyl; fish; gas; gunpowder; limestone; mail; molasses; oil; parcels; passengers; perishables;
petrol; pigs; salt (bulk open wagons & vans) ; sand; sleepers; steel; timber; transformers;
engineers train.