Toton Sidings for Kids: Shunting in G Scale

A community project 2016 - 2018

supported by Heritage Lottery Fund

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including the David Farley Model Toton Locos Collection and the Pete Wearn Shunting Puzzle layout in G Scale

Toton Loco Models :David Farley Collection

David Farley's layout is here seen set up for a Sandiacre Library Open Day in 2018. This popular layout was designed to display his wonderful collection of model railway locos all used at one time at Toton Sidings	LMS 0-6-0 3F TANK was introduced by Henry Fowler after grouping in 1924. It was used for shunting and light freight duties. The number changed to 47341 after nationailisation in 1948.

44198 LMS FOWLER 0-6-0 4F CLASS Inrtoduced in 1924 just after grouping. Notice the rather basic cab. The locomotive had a tractive effort of 24,555 lb and 5ft 3in driving wheels	BEYER-GARRATT 2-6-0 + 0-6-2 Developed by the MR locomotive chief Henry Fowler and builders Beyer Peacock. These articulated locomotives handled long trains of loose coupled coal wagons netween Toton and Brent

42587 STANIER 3-CYLINDER 4-MT CLASS 2-6-4 T These engines were introduced on the LMS in March 1945. They had a coal capacity of 3tons 10cwt and were designed to handle suburban passenger work	8035 STANIER 8F CLASS 2-8-0 These powerful work horses were well respected by Toton enginemen putting in years of service hauling coal trains to London. They were introduced in 1935.

92192 BRITISH RAILWAYS RIDDLES STANDARD 9F FREIGHT LOCO These excellent locos were introduced in 1954. They featured a high running plate for wasy motion access, broad firebox and inclined cylinders	David Farley has also constructed an 00 layout with hump to demonstrate the principles of hump shunting. This layout has been used to accompany team presentations about the history of Toton to local enthusiasts clubs.
Garden Scale Shunting Puzzles: Pete Wearn Model Railway

Garage Workshop November 2016 Loco shed in progress. My first attempt at railway modelling, this has proved an attractive feature of our railway.	Garden in Sandiacre: April 2017 A sunny spring day prompted an airing for the growing range of rolling stock and track in the garden.

Erewash Museum July 2017 In the courtyard of the Erewash Museum, our early version of hump shunting was on display. It was the first time we worked with ex-Toton driver David Hickton. Sitting in the background is museum stalwart Brian. The occasion was the 2nd Open Day held during our Toton Sidings Exhibition at the museum.	Long Eaton Library October 2017 Back inside, we are at Long Eaton Library for an Open Day to accompany their hosting of our exhibition in Autumn 2017. By now the aim of the railway was to encourage young people to have a go at shunting our wagons over the hump.

Sandiacre Library March 2018 Sandiacre Library is such a friendly place and there is always lots going on. We were given a great welcome from Chief Librarian Helen and enjoyed our two Open Days there (again to accompany our exhibition) in spite of the severely restricted space. Note the addition here of the electromagnetic crane but also the Toton Signal.	Garage Workshop April 2018 My garage workshop is not large enough to accomodate the expanded layout we adopted from late 2017 (first on display at the ill-attended Petersham Hall Open Day). Here we see the customised wagons used to demonstrate gravity shunting over the hump.

Garage Workshop April 2018 Here you can clearly see the hump which remains an important part of this popular layout and the spring & block used to compare loco pulling powers	G Rail 2018 May 2018 Organiser Mike Smith found me a generous amount of space. It was quite exciting to be sharing with such a lot of experienced G Scale Modellers .. a first for me! The exhibition was housed in the Harvey Haddon Stadium, Nottingham.

Stapleford Library June 2018 We were delighted to discover that the Chief Librarian at the Stapleford Library was a railway enthusiast who remembered watching shunting over the hump on the upside at Toton when a girl.! Here David Hickton uses one of our coupling poles during a shunt operation.	Stapleford Library June 2018 During the day at the library the pre-school age group had the railway to themselves and proved very enthusiastic! This venue confirmed that we needed a good 5 metres and we dispensed with the home-made trestles used before for the sidings.

Howden Show July 2018 Howden Show is held in the East Yorshire village of the same name. I have done a couple of shows there as Cool Pete but in 2018 I tried takiing the railway. I put up two 3 by 3 gazebos for shelter staying overnight in the village so I could get an early start.	Howden Show July 2018 . The crane was very popular and with modifications has remained a vital part of the set-up. However the experience was not one I'm keen to repeat .. too much to do in one day especially with the travelling back added on!

Mansfield Library May 2019 Tim Warner invited me to exhibit at this venue for the Greater Notts History Fair. We had an enjoyable day with a good position. David Farley brought his Toton Layout as well. The library has a large area available upstairs for exhibitions with vehicle access from the rear at first floor level.	Mansfield Library May 2019 With the local history theme, we made sure some of our Toton Sidings Remembered panels were on display amd these together with David's layout & displays generated a lot of adult interest as well as the usual young volunteers train drivers!

G Rail 2019 May 2019 Our second and last visit to G Rail was again at the Harvey Haddon stadium. We were given a better position than in 2018 and it was reasonably busy for us though not enough apparently to justify organising any more such shows unfortunately	Statfold Barn Railway Family FunFest July 2019 We set up our layouts in the Roundhouse for the 2 -day weekend event. Note the excellent condition of the preserved industrial steam locos in the background. Access and space available were both very good here. The venue and the occasion proved just about perfect for us. More pictures here

Statfold Barn Railway family FunFest July 2019 We were busy on both days with many of the young enthusiasts already having an interest in railways. During the two days we catered for around 40 children each having around 10 minutes to achieve a couple of set shunting tasks. More pictures from this event here.	The Beach, Erewash Museum Railway Week August 2019 Another railway themed as part of the popular Beach Event. The layout was housed in the courtyard but had to be packed up in the latter part of the week because of adverse weather conditions. An enjoyable and busy 3 days.

Sherwood Community Centre October 2019 We shared a room with Mike Smith who brought his layout. He is a very active member of the East Midlands G Rail Society and was kind enough to secure us a pitch at this local event. Both layouts were geared towards youngsters so fitted together well.	Model Railway Weekend, Erewash Museum January 2020 The museum management took a gamble on hosting a model railway weekend but were very happy to get over 2000 visitors over the 3 days. We set up on a very uneven floor of The Stables fitting a modified layout into two stalls! This picture was taken on the Friday when adults were encouraged to 'have a go'!