Railways started in Britain early in the 19^th century and the concept was exported to the rest of world during that century. The early engineers, such as George Stephenson, decided on the track gauge on purely arbitrary grounds. Four foot eight and a half inches (1435mm) was promoted by most of the early railway companies, with the major exception of the London to Bristol Railway, which became the Great Western (GWR). This railway, under I.K. Brunel, opted for seven-foot (and a quarter inch) broad gauge, arguing that it would give a smoother ride at higher speeds. However, by the close of the century after Brunel’s death, even the GWR was forced to convert all its lines to standard gauge, which by then had been adopted by most main-line railways around the world.

Individual railway companies were formed to develop railways across Great Britain, each being privately owned and in competition with the others. A number of amalgamations and other collaborative arrangements occurred, but there were still dozens of separate companies by the start of the twentieth century. By that time, as part of the competition for customers, each railway had developed a distinctive livery for locomotives and coaching stock. The Government forced large scale amalgamations in 1922, with the creation of just four mainline companies on 1^st Jan 1923 – the Great Western (still the GWR), the London Midland and Scottish (LMS), the London and North Eastern (LNER) and the Southern Railway (SR). Each of these companies developed its own colour schemes. Government ownership of the railways did not happen until 1948, when British Railways was born. The colours of trains became very standardised by the 1970’s after the end of steam. However, the last decade has seen the break up of British Railways and the creation of private companies again. Railways, including freight services, are once again much more colourful.

Most of the early railways in Britain, except the GWR, choose a small loading gauge to go with the standard track gauge. This was not adopted by railways in other countries, which have much larger rolling stock. It is the small British loading gauge, which caused the compromise of scale and gauge, which still bedevils commercial model railways in Britain. In the 1920’s O-gauge (1:43) was considered the standard size for indoor model railways. However, HO (half O-gauge, 1:87), was being developed in Germany as a ‘table-top’ railway system. It was difficult to fit the clockwork or electric mechanisms of the time into models of British outline prototypes, because of their small size. Hence the compromise of using a scale of 1:76, but adopting the German track-work of 16.5mm gauge. This is the British ‘OO-scale’. All the major manufacturers in Britain have adopted this standard, although Lima and Lilliput have in the past attempted unsuccessfully to introduce British outline HO-scale models into the mass market. More recently, a similar compromise has crept into British N-scale, which is 1:148 using standard 9mm gauge track.

Various attempts have been made by specialist modellers in Britain to break the mould and produce models which are true to scale. Using a scale of 1:76, the track gauge should be 18.83 mm. An early attempt was made using track of eighteen-millimetre gauge, which is called EM-gauge. This still has many devotees and its own specialist club. However, within the last twenty years some modellers have striven for perfection, using the true track gauge of 18.83mm and fine wheel flanges. This is referred to as P4. ‘Ferring’ is an example of a layout built to these exacting standards. It also illustrates the interest in modelling the pre-1922 railway companies with their colourful liveries – in this case the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway set in the year 1911.

Ecclesford Junction and Grove Ferry are modelled in the more usual British OO-scale, which gives visitors the chance to observe the difference. Grove Ferry introduces the branch line atmosphere of the 1930s Southern Railway. In a similar vein, Brunswick is an example of 2mm fine scale modelling (1:152: using 9.5mm track), which can be compared to Priory Hill, which uses many commercial British N-gauge components (1:148 using standard 9mm track). Both these layouts are set in the steam era of British Railways. Ecclesford Junction is set in the modern era, with a variety of liveries on show and is a ‘tail-chaser’ main line layout. All items on this layout have been ‘scratch-built’.

Commercial ready to run O-gauge models made of tin-plate were widely available in the first half of the 1900’s. However, since then kits only have been available, manufactured by small to medium concerns for the O-gauge modeller. Bachman have now started to introduce some brass models, which require painting to finish. Tafsil is the example of a British O-gauge layout on show in Stuttgart, which includes a variety of kit-built and scratch-built rolling stock. Although set in the period about 1930, many of the locomotives represent types used by the pre-group companies from the South Wales valleys. "HW Yard" is a smaller O-gauge layout/diorama set in South London in the early 1960’s.

Various in between scales have been proposed over the years, with some commercial support in the early days. However, nowadays these are specialist scales, with some kits available, but no ready-to-run manufacturer. Two examples will be in Stuttgart. East Lynn is in S-Scale (1:64), which is halfway between O and OO. It is another historical model, this time depicting the pre-1922 Great Eastern Railway, which ran from London-Liverpool Street station to all parts of East Anglia. Uplyme represents TT-gauge (1:100 using continental 12mm gauge track – another British compromise!!). This is a typical branch line terminus on the South Coast of Britain running in the early days of British Rail – Southern Region.

Britain introduced railways to the world. It was also the first country to preserve some of its lines purely as tourist attractions. There is now a huge variety of preserved lines in all parts of the country, some even to main-line standards. All help to stimulate an interest in railway modelling (as does Thomas the Tank Engine – also a British export to the World!). One section of Ecclesford Junction is run as a modern day preserved line. However, the first preserved lines were two of the narrow gauge slate lines of North Wales – the Talyllyn and the Ffestiniog. These used a track gauge of around two-foot and have stimulated a wide variety of models in various scales. Ghylldale is an example of an OO9 (OOe) gauge layout, i.e 1:76 scale using 9mm track. However, it depicts an imaginary line and harbour set on the edge of the North York Moors on the other side of the island to North Wales. The Yorkshire contingent have pointed out that the first standard gauge line to be preserved in Britain is the Middleton Railway in Leeds.

It is to be hoped that this very brief explanation of railway history and model railway development in Britain will help our German colleagues appreciate the variety of the nine layouts on show in Stuttgart. There is a fuller description of each layout elsewhere. All the operators will be pleased to answer further questions about their layouts and models at the show.