Edward Millward was a foresighted farmer and businessman, who saw a gap in the local market for horse-drawn farm wagons. In the 1830’s he extended his farm smithy and converted a barn, originally producing complete wagons, but later making chassis for the new hansom cab.

With the coming of the Crimean War, his son, James Millward diversified into gun carriages, having struck a deal with a local foundry to deliver the castings by canal. James built a small narrow gauge railway to complete the journey from the end of the canal to the farm. Later, he built a factory alongside the canal, to build furniture, especially for use by the military. An overhead crane was installed, to hoist goods from the barges either straight inside, or onto the narrow gauge trucks.

James’ son Charles saw a great benefit with the growth of the railways, and arranged for a short branch to link his factory and farm to the rest of the local main line. He then changed from horse-drawn vehicles to making and repairing railway wagons, and installed a wagon turntable to allow access to the repair shed. He and his son, William, also built a siding directly into the factory; due to the ground levels this was via an overhead bridge and entered the factory on the first floor.

In the late 1920s’ a local quarry asked William if access could be given to the canal, via their branch, so an extra short siding was built on a cast iron framed gantry over the narrow gauge line. The stone was then dropped from the bottom of the railway wagon, down a chute to reach the canal barges.

It’s now October, 1951. Nationalisation has seen all the wagons amalgamated into British Railways, and the ubiquitous 16t metal mineral wagon is taking over from the wooden built variety. There are still a few wooden wagons in use, keeping the repair shop in business. The narrow gauge still runs between the canal and farm, carrying odd crates of paint and castings from the foundry in the valley. Occasional hopper wagons use the gantry and chute to load stones, and the factory is still making furniture.

The layout is built on a fixed length board of 4'6" x 1'6". The legs are an ironing board, which allows for different heights to be used, depending upon the requirements (I can sit & play at home!). Control is via two Gaugemaster handheld controllers, the points are controlled both by wire in tube and Peco motors, the control 'panel' being no more than a set of 5 pairs of push-to-make switches in a small box, connected to the layout by a computer multi-plug and a wander lead.

As the layout is still under construction, not all of the scenery is in place. The overhead crane at the factory still has teething problems, plus the lack of sufficient 009 locomotives & rolling stock is a slight hinderance.