The South Devon Model Railway Society was formed in 1968 meeting in a local model shop. Having outgrown the shop and a couple of other subsequent club rooms, the society moved into our current club room in Church House, Abbotskerswell in 1984, and have remained at this location ever since. The Society has been meeting for over 55 years, during which time we have built several layouts in both N and OO Gauge.

From small beginnings - A brief history

We are a small group of railway modellers who meet every Thursday between 2.30pm and 10.30pm at our clubroom in Abbotskerswell near Newton Abbot. We model mainly OO Gauge with two new layouts in progress, one O Gauge the other a OO Gauge. We welcome new members or visitors to our clubroom so if you would like to come along and have a look around please get in touch.

Welcome to the South Devon Model Railway Society

Since coming to Abbotskerswell the society has been able to hold an annual open day for the public to come in and see the clubs layouts and any visiting layouts in the room below. All the proceeds from these Open Days have gone to the Church House Trustees who look after the building. We have been holding open days for nearly 25 years.

Open Days

Early N Gauge Layout

Kingdoms Crossing

Our largest layout to date is our OO Gauge called Salterton measuring 20 feet x 14 feet which is now almost complete. We are able to run both Analogue and DCC Locos. The middle section of the layout is removable and can be used as an Exhibition layout.

Location The layout is completely fictitious and is based somewhere near Salisbury on the London & South Western Railway (LSWR) main line with links to the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR) from a junction near Templecombe and the Great Western Railway from Westbury. This allows us to run an interesting mix of trains, mostly Southern Region with some Western and some cross country services from the S&D line.

Rolling stock Any member's stock is allowed to run on the layout at club meetings but at open days the stock is restricted to 1950s and 1960s BR steam and Diesels. The majority of members have stock that fits this period, with Southern, Western, Midland and Eastern regions being modelled.

Salterton - OO Gauge

Layout The layout has two main circuits which are on the level, with two relief lines dropping down underneath to the 12 road fiddle yard. The Engine shed is at a lower level at the front of the layout with an underpass to the up main line so that engines can be crossed over without having to stop the whole layout.

Up Main Passing Coal Stage

Bradley Farm

Station Cottages

Our new O Gauge layout is in the very early stages of construction with the trackwork completed and work is now ongoing on the buildings and scenery. Members are able to run stock on running evenings.

Bovey - O Gauge

The layout is a simple end to end based on Bovey Station with it’s goods shed and an engine shed borrowed form Mortonhampstead and fiddle yards at both ends. It has been designed to run on both DC and DCC. Although the layout is based on the 1950s members have stock from different eras and regions.

Laying Track

Steam and Diesel Freight Trains (testing the track)

Engine Shed and GWR Pannier Tank Engine

Work started in 2022 on a new OO Gauge layout for the Society to enjoy full DDC capability and to operate trains using iPhones and Tablets. Design work of the layout was undertaken using AnyRail software and a suitable layout was agreed by club members. The aim of this layout is to ultimately link up with the existing Salterton layout creating interesting Terminus to Terminus operation.

Terminus

Work has progressed through the complicated baseboard construction (O and OO baseboards). Track and installing point motors, wiring of bus wires and droppers continue. As of August 2024, we are finalising track laying in the fiddle yard and soon to complete the wiring.

New OO Gauge DCC Layout

View through the station arch

Testing the point motors

Spacing the track

Work continues on the new platform

The layout is completely fictitious and is based somewhere along the North Devon or Cornwall coast. The low level is operated by the Southern Railway and the high level is operated by the Great Western Railway. The period modelled is 1944 in the lead up to the D-Day landings. The layout has many features such as bomb damage, blanked out station names and anti-aircraft positions. There is a dog fight depicted on the backscenes between RAF Spitfires and German fighter planes.

Kingdoms Crossing - OO Gauge

Rolling stock Several items of rolling stock have been specially built for the layout in order to enhance the scene, such as trains of Spitfires, torpedoes and bombs. These are made from Ratio bolster wagon kits or plain 5 plank opens and the bombs and planes added

Passenger train waiting in the station

Southern pulling wagons of mines

Transport of Spitfires