Rochdale Model Railway Group (RMRG)

NEW HEY

A prototypical model in 4mm (EM) of New Hey station on the
Oldham – Rochdale line as it was in the mid 60s

Andy Cooper, RMRG

Contrary to the scribings of Iain Rice in his book on building small layouts, New Hey does exist - indeed I think the inhabitants of the small village at the foot of the Pennines may be a little dismayed to find that they have been erased from history!!

The railway through New Hey is what is now known as the "Oldham Loop", the line that runs from Manchester Victoria, up Werneth Bank to Oldham, then on to Rochdale and back to Victoria. The line through New Hey (from Shaw to Rochdale East junction) is now singled but some of the infrastructure still exists, notably the large cotton warehouse that is now part of the New Hey Carpets factory. The route is destined to become part of the Metrolink tram network.

The model is of New Hey as it was roughly in the period from 1960 - 1968, and it is always the last two weeks of June on the layout. Why then? Because that's when the local "Wakes" were. (The annual 2 week shutdown of the cotton mills in Oldham and Rochdale). As a result there were daily excursion trains, usually double headed if they were coming from the Oldham direction, and with coaches cobbled together from anything available. In addition there were regular freight and parcels workings. The station was serviced by a twice daily pick up goods train working (Target 36) from Moston to Royton Junction and back.

The layout is DC operated. DCC was tried but found unsatisfactory for the operation I wanted. Construction has taken approximately 6 years from start to completion (this does not include the research time!) and a variety of techniques have been employed in the building of it. Just ask if you wish to know anything about the layout.

Whilst the project ownership is basically mine I owe a lot of thanks for help and support from other club colleagues from both the Rochdale and Manchester Societies, and in particular Ian Worthington, Martin Edmondson and Phil Taylor. Any questions, please ask.