Lydford Road
- PS Private Sidings
- S Station Buildings
- SB Signal Box
- SM Station Master's House
- W T Water Tower
- Y Yard
- A Allotment
- C Coal Staithes
- CD Cattle Dock
- GS Goods Shed
- 0 Overbridge
- M Mill
Lydford Road is an RSME club layout and is based on a country line "somewhere" in the South West of England. The frequent service of trains both freight and passenger is operated reflecting the interests of members, mainly SR/WR with a hint of Somerset and Dorset. Apart from the use of kits for locomotives, carriages and wagons everything else you can see has been built from scratch. The layout is still incomplete and help from new members is always welcomed.
The station is, of course, imaginary and no station of that name ever existed. Lydford does exist and at one time boasted two railways running parallel to each other on a roughly north south axis and two stations almost adjacent to each other. A GWR line ran from Plymouth to Launceston and the LSWR mainline running from Plymouth via Okehampton to Exeter. Just north of the village these two lines diverged. The GWR line turned westward towards Launceston and the LSWR headed north east to skirt the northern edge of Dartmoor to reach Okehampton, forming a "Y" shape on the map.
If we imagine that the GWR and LSWR, for once, managed to put aside their bitter rivalry, then we could envisage the construction of a line to close this "Y" and form a triangle. With running powers over the GWR, this would allow LSWR trains to reach Launceston before regaining LSWR metals to head further west to Wadebridge and Padstow. In return, GWR trains would also be allowed running powers over "the Withered Arm" to Padstow.
Well that's the fiction. In fact both of these lines have been consigned to history and this layout is our humble attempt to try recapture in miniature something of the atmosphere of the railways in this area.
You may see a GWR 0-4-2T and auto coach forming a local service from Plymouth to Launceston, a BR Class 5 on a semi-fast from Exeter to Padstow, a time worn "Black Motor" on the pick up goods, or a West Country pacific on the Padstow portion of the "Ace" . Then again, if we allow our imaginations free reign, parts of these lines could have been saved for preservation, allowing us to run almost anything!