Hoath Hill is loosely based on a gypsum mine near Mountfield in East sussex with the name taken from that of a nearby road and was built to 3mm finescale standards by the late Peter Bossom and acquired by me as I regard it as one of the most inspirational layouts to have been built in any scale . Instead of the railway just being ‘there in front of you’ it is glimpsed through the trees that encourage the viewer to seek new angles to watch the trains.
The layout represents the railhead of the mine. Gypsum and associated products are the main source of traffic but, as all the processes are carried out under cover and most of the outbound products conveyed in vans or sheeted wagons, quite what they carry is open to conjecture! This allows both locomotives and stock to move around the scene with a sense of purpose. Despite the scenic section being only 1.8m long, there is a great deal of operating potential and yet the ‘ideal’ scale of 3mm still gives lots of scope for creative modelling without everything being just that bit too small.
Despite 3mm being very much a modellers scale, almost all of the locomotives and stock running on the layout have been built from kits produced either by the 3mm Society or by manufacturers such as Judith Edge; though there might be one or two scatch-built ‘visitors’. There may also be some examples of the rapidly expanding range of ‘nearly ready to run’ locos that members of the 3mm Society are now producing.
For previous incarnations of this layout by Peter Bossom see:
The Sub Wealden Gypsum Co., Hoath Hill by Peter Bossom
and: