British Model Railway Flintfield: The Great Eastern Railway by Vincent De Bode (On traXS 2024)

Published on October 13, 2024

The model railway layout called “Flintfield” depicts a fictitious North Suffolk terminus operated by the Great Eastern Railway around 1910. The model train layout including the rolling stock are the work of Vincent de Bode from the Netherlands. He started building this British miniature world back in the late 1980s. Completion of “Flintfield” and first presentation was at the Scalefour Society in 1993.

The model rail layout was built to P4 standards, also called “Protofour” or “P4”. This is a set of standards for railway modelling of the British prototype. For historical reasons almost all manufacturers of British prototype models use 00 gauge. There are several finescale standards which have been developed to enable more accurate models than 00, and P4 is the most accurate in common use.

The P4 standards specify a scale model track gauge of 18.83 mm for standard gauge railways. P4 also specifies the wheel profile and track parameters to use, which are largely a scaled-down version of real-life standards with some allowances for practical manufacturing tolerances.

However, the model railroad layout is made in jigsaw fashion in order to prevent the noticing of any joints in the scenery. Also the backscene is without breaks, being made from one piece of roller curtain, which was painted and sprayed. Items to look out for are a waving signalman, a circling seagull, a swimming swan and steam locos, steam tram locomotives and steam trains of the Great Eastern Railway.

The majority of locomotives are built from kits with a couple being scratchbuilt. The rolling stock, including carriages, vans and wagons, are predoninantly from kits made by D&S Models. The track plan is based on that at the real station of Eye, the terminus of branch from Mellis Junction on the Norwich main line. The station building is also based on the one at Eye.

Turnouts, signals and track sections are all actuated mechanically. The model railway layout is built on two sub frames each 200 x 50 cm. Scenic boards are added to these to make a overall scenic area of 375 x 100 cm. A small fiddleyard and display board is added to the left, which takes the overall size to 465 x 100 cm.

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLyHjfRCEPw

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