Chelwarton
In use from September 1996 - February 2024
![LMS “Flatiron” waits to leave the station](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/63afad92f897bae633ce4b42/63f0a5aab50e55efc8e4b1b7_chelwarton1.jpeg)
Chelwarton is built in OO gauge to a scale of 4mm to 1 foot. It is the successor to the club’s highly successful Ashdean layout and is built mostly on the same baseboards.
The opportunity has been taken to enlarge the whole operation and incorporate bigger and more flexible storage sidings (called the fiddle yard) on the back sections of the layout.
![An overall view of the layout - Chelwarton](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/63afad92f897bae633ce4b42/63f0a5a90314aae1991b6e89_chelwarton2.jpeg)
The design of Chelwarton is our version of a section of the former Great Central Railway London extension featuring the station at Charwelton, which was situated in a rural area south of Rugby on the border between Warwickshire and Northamptonshire.
We have changed the name of our version of the station as it is really only based on the original and not an exact copy.
The small town of Charwelton was a centre for iron ore mining and the Charwelton Ironstone Company operated a private siding from the station. Otherwise the town was typically rural with livestock farming in the surrounding countryside.
![An overall view of the layout - Chelwarton](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/63afad92f897bae633ce4b42/63f0a5a904f1d737891eef0b_chelwarton6.jpeg)
The tunnel was constructed instead of a cutting purely at the wishes of the occupants of Catesby House (descendants of the notorious Robert Catesby who was executed along with Guy Fawkes for his part in the Gunpowder Plot) who did not want to see the railway from their home.
A representation of Catesby House appears amongst the scenic effects on the tunnel end of the layout.
![A close up of the station area - Chelwarton](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/63afad92f897bae633ce4b42/63f0a5a9fb9f06019a8db563_chelwarton3.jpeg)
![Chelwarton - A view of the station area looking South](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/63afad92f897bae633ce4b42/63f0a5aa3697770ebefd697b_chelwarton4.jpeg)
![Chelwarton - Rebuilt SR Battle of Britain with an express meets an SR Q hauled goods train](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/63afad92f897bae633ce4b42/63f0a5a9848cba7ef00b0aeb_chelwarton5.jpeg)
![Chelwarton - A close up of the station area](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/63afad92f897bae633ce4b42/63f0a5ab69cfc033212f318c_chelwarton7.jpeg)
![Chelwarton - The WD passes on a coal train](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/63afad92f897bae633ce4b42/63f0a5ab69cfc083762f318d_chelwarton8.jpeg)
![Chelwarton - A close up of a 110 DMU at the station](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/63afad92f897bae633ce4b42/63f0a5ab0314aaea841b6e8c_chelwarton9.jpeg)
![Chelwarton - A close up of a GNER train and a jubilee](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/63afad92f897bae633ce4b42/63f0a5ab393797bbd07ebf3f_chelwarton10.jpeg)
![Chelwarton - An ex LMS jubilee](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/63afad92f897bae633ce4b42/63f0a5ab73106648afc1ed8b_chelwarton11.jpeg)
![Chelwarton - A BR 9F passes](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/63afad92f897bae633ce4b42/63f0a5acdb4306fe9a94e247_chelwarton12.jpeg)