I am on my umpteenth re-start of a layout in my spare room - so far I have been planning it for 4 years and life keeps getting in the way.

I am looking at a railway based in the fens - which means I need to find as many interesting features as possible as the scenery consists of flat fields all the way to the horizon!

Anyway, I am looking to have a long straight stretch, with a reasonable version of a fenland station.  I have copies of some articles from 1979 edition of Model Railways, which has a track plan for Peakirk station from the 50's.   It shows a wagon turntable that leads to a 300ft long stretch of rail. 

Does anyone know when this was last likely to be used as I am looking to base my layout in the mid to late 60's and although this line was closed I will use a bit of poetic license.

If it was still in use in '64 when the station was closed - would they have moved the wagons by hand?  if so ideas on how this could be modelled would be appreciated.  (at the moment I am thinking magnets under the track..)

Section of article in Tiscali:

The early railways often took a single siding into a goods yard, where a turntable then fed a series of sidings radiating out from it. In the mid 1830's the Liverpool and Manchester railway had over sixty such wagon turn-tables at it's Manchester goods depot, which by this time extended over more than four acres. Goods yards were generally re-laid with points from the later 19th century, but this required more space and occasional surviving turntables were seen in goods yards into the 1960s. One notable example being the station at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwrndrobwllantsiliogogogoh on Anglesey, opened in 1848 and known locally as Llanfair P G, where a cramped site meant the single wagon turntable feeding several sidings in the goods yard remained in use up to the end of goods traffic in the 1960s.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/gansg/2-track/02track2.htm

Pictures of:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=railway+wagon+turntables&rlz=2T4GGHP_enGB0537GB0537&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=2gjuUuK2ConY7Abth4CABA&ved=0CDgQsAQ&biw=1440&bih=726

HTH

thanks for that Oldun,

Both the links where great - now I am thinking that there may be some hope for a capstan and chain system..  not sure what was there orignally, but may be a fun project.   Already thinking of a servo, modified to allow constant rotation to act as a winch....

Thanks again