A ‘0’-16.5 narrow gauge layout of an East Anglian maltings set in the 1950’s era.
The station and yard serve the maltings village. The barges bring in coal and barley then take the malted barley to the city breweries. The narrow gauge railway servers other villages and brings in more barley. The more recent standard gauge line is handling some of the trade. Since the war the cost of coal for malting barley (a ton of barley needs a ton of coal to dry the malt) has inspired cheaper ways where malting can be done all year round. The barley will soon be malted in the brewery, in a slowly rotating drum so the vast maltings will be obsolete within a decade. It could become a cultural centre for performing arts with concert halls, cafes craft shops, a maltings museum and luxury apartments.
The 8ft * 2ft 6in layout is end to end, station to four road fiddle yard. With the use of Kaydee couplings and magnets in the track it will operate without the ‘hand of god’ to assist uncoupling. The signals are integrated with the motorised level crossing and the points have route setting. So the operator can focus on running trains and chatting to the visitors.
Grafton Maltings is available for display and operation at exhibitions. To express interest or make an enquiry please drop the IRMA team an email.
