Some visitors to Scaleforum may remember Mere Mk1, a small station on the erstwhile Wincanton and Warminster branch of the Somerset and Dorset Railway. This showed what might have happened if Mere has become the terminus of a much truncated through route. New Mere shows restoration as a through route so we now have through trains running between Templecombe and Westbury plus a shuttle of Mere and Wincanton local services and the usual freight, milk and perishables workings.
The track layout is based around Dorstone on the Golden Valley railway. Mere however is signalled and operated as a block post. Nearly all the buildings have been recycled from the old layout with some new structures where required. Plain track is by Exactoscale with turnouts built using a combination of C&L and Trax templates. Many of the locomotives and rolling stock were in use on the previous layout with some new ones built.
An attempt has been made to create an operating sequence based on the Somerset and Dorset 1950 summer timetable, although this may change, depending on the whims of the operators. Thus there are two Templecombe – Westbury through trains each way daily, a Wincanton – Mere shuttle four to five times a day, and a Saturday only Warminster – Mere service operated by the Western Region. On the goods side there are various workings including a milk and perishables train which runs in the early afternoon.
Presented by Chris Longley
