Layout Description

Flintfield is a layout built to P4 standards and portrays a fictitious North Suffolk terminus operated by the Great Eastern Railway (GER). The period is around 1910. The trackplan is based on that at the real station of Eye, the terminus of branch from Mellis Junction on the GER Norwich main line. The station building is based on the one at Eye with the larger of the maltings based on one at Hadleigh.

The 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 blue-greyish roller curtain, painted and sprayed.

Turnouts, signals and track sections are all actuated mechanically. The front and rear operator panels are also linked mechanically to help prevent mistakes. The modified less visible Alex Jackson couplings are uncoupled by magnets operated by push buttons on the hand held controllers.

A NCE Powercab Digital Command Control (DCC) system has been installed allowing remote operation of the locomotives, which are all fitted with YouChoos Zimo sound decoders, SugarCube speakers and Tantalum capacitors providing stay-alive functionality.

The majority of locomotives are built from Riceworks, Alan Gibson and D&S kits with a couple being scratchbuilt. The rolling stock, including carriages, vans and wagons, are predominantly from D&S kits, but with a few from Slaters.

Items to look out for are the slow bouncing signals, a waving signalman, a circling seagull, a swimming swan and a bag being hoisted from the malting.

Operation is a bit unusual in that the goods yard is operated from the rear of the layout with the operator standing on the layout’s transport crates of 4mm reinforced ply. Meanwhile the passenger loop is operated from the front by another operator who, when talking with the public, gets confused and messes it all up!

The layout and stock were originally the work of Vincent de Bode from the Netherlands, with construction starting back in the late 1980s and it making its debut in the UK at Scaleforum 1993. Articles on the layout have appeared in the October 2025 issue of Railway Modeller and the October 1994 edition of Model Railways Illustrated.