After building the two Sunderland layouts I wanted a change from end-to-end running. This meant it had to be a circular track with trams running in both directions at the same time, but not on continuous double track!
The inspiration was the track layout at Beamish in County Durham, which is single track with four passing loops. This allows four trams to run with two running clockwise, and two running anticlockwise with two trams passing at each of the four loops.
This is possible in 00 if live overhead is used but using two of my standard sized baseboards; there was not enough room for four passing loops. The track plan was modified to include a long town section with one stop in each direction and a short passing loop with one stop each way, which still allows four trams to run.
Foxwood Park is a fictitious privately owned estate in the North East of England. In the 1980’s, after the death of his father, Sir George Foxwood-Smythe needed to raise a large amount of money for death duties; being a 60’s man, he decided to develop it as a 1960’s tourist attraction.
As he had been involved in tram preservation for a number of years, Sir George’s father eventually acquired, restored and then stored a small number of local trams in their original liveries. The tramway carries visitors around the Park with stops serving the town and the Hall and tram depot. Minimal development of the village has been allowed and it remains largely as it was in the 1960’s.
Foxwood Motor Museum was a working garage until falling petrol sales in the late 1970’s forced its closure. It was reopened as a museum in the mid 1990’s and contains some 1960’s cars, petrol pumps and all manner of motor accessories collected from local car boot and antique fairs.
The Tram Depot was rescued locally and rebuilt on the estate when, after many years as a bus garage, the site was to be cleared for a supermarket. It is open for visitors to walk around and inspect the trams and any work in progress.
There is a passenger carrying narrow gauge railway that runs around the park, with a stop outside the depot where passengers can change between tram and train. The track was recovered from the quarry on the estate where the stone for Foxwood Hall was extracted. The locomotives and coaches were purchased second hand and restored for passenger duties in house.
The Locomotive and Carriage Sheds were purpose built on site and were based on the design of railway buildings around the area.