Scale / Gauge	2mm Finescale, 9.42mm Gauge
Location/Era	Woodhead Depot / Late 1950’s
Owner	Alan Whitehouse

When the Manchester, Sheffield and Wath electrification scheme was being planned it was obvious that the locomotive exchanges at each end of the overhead line would be from steam to electric or vice versa – this was before the age of Modernisation Plan diesels.

So at several locations new turntables were installed along with water columns and pits to allow steam locomotives to be serviced and turned before returning home. One of these was right next door to the new electric running shed at Wath.

Exchange Sidings is a fictional set of steam/electric loco exchange sidings with a couple of stabling lines and a servicing road. Steam locomotives arrive, go onto the pit and turntable and then either lay over or return to the main line.

The stabling lines are wired to allow the EM1 locomotives, unique to the Woodhead system, to be stabled between turns too. It is not often that steam and electric locomotives rubbed shoulders in this way.

The model was built using a laser cut plywood baseboard kit. Trackwork is 2mm Scale Association Easitrac with Finetrax point kits. The steam loco stock is a lifetime collection of hand built or models modified to 2mm Finescale standards, all representing locomotives based at either Barnsley or Mexborough sheds in the 1950s.

The EM1 electrics are a mix of cast resin and 3D printed bodies running on heavily modified Brawa chassis. The unique EB1 is another handbuilt example.

If you have any questions – please ask!