Wickham Market Station (sign-boarded “Wickham Market for Campsea Ashe”) as dual track, with an up-line and a down-line – each with its own platform – a signal box and numerous sidings and goods facilities. Services for passengers included a ticket office, waiting room and bookstall, and the nearby Talbot Hotel (now “The Dog and Duck” village pub). There was especially ample provision for loading goods and livestock to and from the agricultural hinterland, and even ramps for military vehicles during the Second World War. Some vestiges of this infrastructure can be traced today.
The line itself, together with branch lines to Framlingham, Snape and Aldeburgh, was completed in 1859 and train services started on 1 June that year – towards the end of the period of ‘Railway Mania’ that swept Britain during the early part of the 19th Century. The section of line between Ipswich and Halesworth completed the East Suffolk link from the Liverpool Street to Cambridge line to the south west, and the Halesworth, Beccles & Haddiscoe lines further north, with its onward links to Norwich.
Our layout is built to the scale of 4mm to 1 foot and is 00 gauge. It is a through station with a branch line junction. We have modelled it in the British Railways Eastern Region period 1950-1960. The layout has, working signals, its own lighting & facia & information board displays. Stock is a mixture of RTR and kit built. Shunting stock is fitted with Sprat and Winkle automatic couplings.
Video filmed at Spalding MRC Exhibition 2/.3 November 2024 by SHGP Media