Puddle BridgeScale: 0 Layout Size = 31ft 6ins x 3ft. Layout Plan |
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 0-4-0T at Puddlebridge with a short freight','600','500','ELMRC')) |
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Puddle Bridge is loosely based on
Ormiston Station on the former Macmerry branch in East Lothian, Scotland. The
branch survived the loss of its passenger traffic in the 1930's because
it served a number of collieries and its closure in the 1950's, before the
Beeching era, was due to the decline of the coal industry. For a number
of years a small colliery stood adjacent to the station and while in
reality this closed in about 1905 we have allowed it to survive to a
later date. Ordnance Survey maps show that there was a narrow gauge
tramway connecting an outlying pit and this is represented by a short
'09' line at the back of the layout. Most trains serve the coal traffic from
here and other collieries further down the line, loaded trains
being directed towards Edinburgh (the left-hand end of the layout). We
have overlooked the ending of the passenger service and some pickup
goods trains also call.
Puddle Bridge is the local name for the bridge
that crosses the end of the site of Ormiston Station.
The Station Building and Signal Box are based on the drawings in the Oakwood Press book on the Haddington, Gifford and Macmerry Branches. The station building is modelled on the building at Ormiston, but the signal box prototype is from the next station down the line, the 'Bog Siding'. Owing to a lack of information the colliery buildings are freelance, but based on photographs in the books 'Mining the Lothians' and 'Fife - The Mining Kingdom' published by Stenlake Publishing.
