Scale/Gauge: 7mm (Standard and Narrow Gauge)
Size: 3.5m by 0.6m
Theme: 1950s Isle of Purbeck
Show Location: School Hall

This 7mm scale layout is based on the ball clay industry on The Isle of Purbeck in the county of Dorset.

One of the many clay workings in the area was at Newton Heath, close to the shores of Poole harbour, although we have taken a few liberties with the history!

On our model, a narrow gauge line passes through the scene with trains of loaded wagons from the mines and pits to the weathering beds, returning empty. Loaded wagons of clay from the weathering beds are brought to the mill for processing and bagging, or are tipped into standard gauge wagons for dispatch some 5 miles along the clay company’s private railway to the connection with the Swanage branch.