Uppingham 3mm FS
Uppingham is a small market town in Rutland and was once served by a 3.5-mile single line spur from Seaton Junction. The station was originally opened by the LNWR in 1894, closed to passenger traffic in 1960 and closed completely in 1964. Today the area is a small industrial estate and only the weighbridge, stable block and one wall of the cattle dock remain. However, the fine seven arch viaduct still stands one mile away to the east.
The layout is built to a scale of 3mm to 1ft with a track gauge of 12mm. The trackwork is a mixture of 3mm Society sleeper base with Peco HOm points. All buildings are scratch built in card with embossed styrene coverings. Point control is by vintage H & M solenoid point motors and operation is entirely DC. Stock is a mixture of scratch-built items, kits and original Triang TT. The back scene is by ‘ID Backscenes’ and the scenics are a mixture of ‘Woodland Scenics’ and static grass.
The area from the plate layers hut to the left of the viaduct right up to the buffer stop at the end of the platform is true to prototype scale, however a little licence has been used to the right of the hut as it was virtually three quarters of a mile from there to the viaduct and another mile between the viaduct and over bridge.
Some operating licence can be seen at times, where a diesel multiple unit is used. These were used during the latter days on the Seaton to Stamford route, but we like to think if Uppingham had been given a few more years, a similar service would have operated there! The majority of traffic at Uppingham was just a single coach push- pull unit running just five services a day with occasional two coach trains used as school specials at the beginning and end of term. Locomotives used were Tilbury ‘Atlantic’ Tanks, BR Standard Class 3 & 4’s, C12’s, Ivatt Tanks and Webb Coal Tanks in the early years.
Please do not confuse this layout scale with that of TT120 which is 2.5mm to 1ft – an entirely different scale. Ask us to demonstrate the difference when you visit the layout and to see how 3mm scale compares to the other popular scales.
