Wakefield Railway Modellers' Society

Long Preston is a small village some 4 miles south of Settle. It received its first railway service in 1846 as a small station on the Skipton to Lancaster line. By 1876, with the opening of the Settle and Carlisle line from Hellifield to Settle Junction which passed through Long Preston, the line became very busy.

In the 1920s a large reservoir was constructed at Stocks, some 8 miles west of Long Preston, by the Fylde Water Board. To take materials in, a 3' gauge line was built for part of the way with items brought by road from Long Preston to the railhead at Tosside.

The model represents Long Preston as it was in the early 1920s but modellers' licence means that the narrow gauge line actually connected with the standard gauge line. Exchange sidings have been built including mixed gauge trackwork and is an accurate model of Long Preston with the addition of the narrow gauge.

The standard gauge stock is mainly kit built based on Midland prototypes and the narrow gauge stock is mainly scratch built but it is accurately based on photographs of the Water Board equipment.

This layout is not completely finished and needs more detailing and this will be done late. It has been built over the last 5 years by a group of WRMS members namely Jamie Guest, Ray Clasper, John Patrick, Tony Bond, Paul Brearley, Ted Jones, Graham Ash, Ray Barker and others.