Earlier this year we hosted two very special model layouts; Andrew Ullyott's 'Wheal Elizabeth' courtesy of Jeremy Good and Iain Rice's 'Trerice' alongside an exhibition on the evolution of china clay transport via rail, with the wider exhibition remaining on display. 

It was such a success that we decided to run another weekend event, this time hosting Andrew Ullyott's 'Wheal Elizabeth' courtesy of Jeremy Good and 'Newton Heath Works' by Mike Baker and Martin Finney on the weekend of 6th & 7th December. Incidentally, this will be the last weekend Pendon Museum will be open until February 2026 (apart from our special opening on 29th, 30th & 31st December to celebrate Christmas and the New Year).

There will be no additional cost for the exhibition and there is no need to book in advance.

Introduction: Newton Heath Works

This layout was inspired by the railways that once served the ball clay industry on the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset. In this model, a narrow-gauge line passes through with trains of loaded wagons from the mines and pits to the weathering beds, returning empty. Loaded narrow-gauge wagons of clay are brought to the mill for processing, or tripped 5-miles along the clay company's private tramway where the clay is tipped into standard-gauge wagons at the exchange sidings that connected to the Swanage branch.

Introduction: Wheal Elizabeth

Andrew Ullyott's 'Wheal Elizabeth' represents a China Clay dries and associated sidings set in Cornwall 1970s/80s. Inspired by the china clay dries at Wenfordbridge and Carbis Wharf (the last coal fired dry which closed in 1986) the layout includes various types of rolling stock typically seen on clay trains from the end of steam through to the mid-1980s.