Welcome to the Middle Earth Model Railway, a layout designed within the geography of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle Earth, the imaginary world of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. The railway has evolved over nearly fifty years and now includes twelve stations.
The gauge is 'OO' ("Double-O") and is to a scale of 4mm to 1 foot (1:76.2), the most popular British modelling scale. A few locomotives are the slightly smaller HO gauge.
The railway has always been a layout requiring a set of operating principles, rather than something that goes round and round. It is not possible to set a train running continuously.
The first engines and rolling stock were Triang and Hornby-Triang pieces which are now over forty years old. These have been joined by newer items from other manufacturers, including Hornby, Lima, Bachmann, Wrenn, Airfix, Dapol, Mainline, Jouef, Piko and Gutzold. There are currently 103 locomotives operating on the layout, but they can't all fit on it at the same time!