In 1898, a new line of railway, constructed by the Great Western Railway, from Plymstock to Yealmpton, was opened. It was anticipated that the area would become a favourite tourist resort, and, therefore, the railway traffic would, in fact, need to increase.
Although history proved this wouldn't be the case, I have assumed that the line was eventually extended from Yealmpton through Aveton Gifford, Modbury, Bigbury, and eventually to Bigbury-on-Sea.
The popularity of visiting the seaside for an annual holiday was something new and not necessarily affordable to all, but in this case, the railway took a gamble and laid on extra trains on Saturdays, the traditional ‘change over’ day. Through trains to Plymouth and Cornwall were also split at Newton Abbot and coaches coupled to locomotives from Newton Abbot shed to run as a stopping service to Bigbury-on-Sea. This is how I came up with the idea of designing a layout with a holiday destination, some water, and the excuse to run an intensive service alongside the normal local traffic to Plymouth.
Why Bigbury-on-Sea? I had previously built a 7mm:1ft scale model of my imaginary extension to a station at Aveton Gifford, and this was further extended to a fiddle yard known as Bigbury-on-Sea. It seemed an obvious conclusion that this town should be my chosen destination for the new OO layout.
I had a list of requirements that I needed the new project to meet…
• To include a seaside setting • To include a level crossing (most of my layouts have featured either a canal or level crossing, sometimes both) • To have the layout signalled and mechanically interlocked using • To be able to exhibit the layout, perhaps with an extra baseboard to add a scenic section • To be able to fit the layout into a medium-sized car with a second vehicle taking the supporting legs/ trestles • To be able to operate the layout on my own but also with two or three operators to assist at shows
