A rabbit warren layout is a

model railway layout In model railroading, a ''layout'' is a diorama containing scale track for operating trains. The size of a layout varies, from small shelf-top designs to ones that fill entire rooms, basements, or whole buildings. Attention to modeling details s ...

. A group of designs, more than a single constructed layout, rabbit warrens provide a humorous display of continuously moving trains that appear to pop in and out of tunnels, seemingly randomly. The

rabbit warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Anglo- ...

design has a number of key, defining features: * Continuous running in a loop * Tight radius horseshoe curves * Much of the track is hidden by tunnels, with many openings. * Climbing to more than one level, often by

spiral In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving farther away as it revolves around the point. Helices Two major definitions of "spiral" in the American Heritage Dictionary are:reverse curve In civil engineering, a reverse curve (or "S" curve) is a section of the horizontal alignment of a highway or railroad route in which a curve to the left or right is followed immediately by a curve in the opposite direction. On highways in the ...

s, with unpredictable re-appearances from the tunnel mouths. Points are few, a single decorative siding, or a passing loop to allow two trains to be run in turn. Some layouts in the 1970s used the early

transistor upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink). A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch e ...

ised control circuits then becoming available to run automatically, switching between trains as each entered the loop.

Origins

The rabbit warren was invented, or at least given its first UK prominence, by C. J. Freezer, long-term editor of ''

Railway Modeller ''Railway Modeller'' is a monthly British magazine about model railways now published by Peco Publications in Beer, Devon. It has been in publication since 1949 with Vol. 1 No. 1 published as The Railway Modeller, being an Ian Allan Production ...

'' magazine. Rabbit warrens began their popularity in the mid-1960s, with the new

H0e gauge HOn30 (also called HOn2½, HO9 and H0e) Track gauge, gauge is the modelling of narrow-gauge railways in HO scale, HO on N scale, N () gauge track in 1:87 scale ratio. Definitions The term HOn30 (and sometimes HOn2½) is generally used when modell ...

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

models from

Egger-bahn Egger-Bahn was a German model railway manufacturer. The company produced the first H0e ( HO (1:87) scale narrow gauge rolling stock using N gauge track) models, and established HOe as a viable model railway standard. The firm was founded in 1963 ...

and later

Jouef Jouef is a French brand and former manufacturing company specialized in scale model railroads. The brand name is currently owned by Hornby. Apart from model railroads, the company also produced model cars and slot cars. History Manufacturer Ge ...

/ Playcraft. These modelled the style of 600 mm Decauville or

feldbahn A , or , is the German term for a narrow-gauge field railway, usually not open to the public, which in its simplest form provides for the transportation of agricultural, forestry () and industrial raw materials such as wood, peat, stone, earth an ...

types, although their scale gauge was closer to 750 mm gauge. Owing to the limitations of the model bodies and the mechanisms available, some oversizing of the frame spacing and gauge was needed. As these British layouts assumed the larger 00 scale of 4 mm to the foot (1:76.2), rather than H0's 1:87, the oversized locomotive bodies were now closer to scale size for the gauge. The coaching stock though had a '

miniature railway A ridable miniature railway (US: riding railroad or grand scale railroad) is a large scale, usually ground-level railway that hauls passengers using locomotives that are often models of full-sized railway locomotives (powered by diesel or petrol ...

', rather than narrow-gauge, look to them, accentuated by the toast-rack designs of some open stock. Rabbit warrens were almost entirely H0e or

00-9 OO9, often also denoted as 009 or 00-9 is a model railway scale and gauge combination of 4 mm scale and gauge tracks, which models a prototype track gauge of . It is a common choice in the United Kingdom for the modelling of narrow-gauge ...

. Their small dimensions and tight curves required a narrow gauge. Narrow gauge models with short wheelbases were needed to negotiate them. Larger motors than standard gauge models were needed to climb the spirals. Installing Decauville System-02

Decauville railways were already noted for their tight radius curves and the 'train set' nature of their installation as

panel Panel may refer to: Arts and media Visual arts * Panel (comics), a single image in a comic book, comic strip or cartoon; also, a comic strip containing one such image *Panel painting, in art, either one element of a multi-element piece of art ...

s. The models exploited this with the sharpest radii of curves. Egger-bahn offered a minimum radius, in contrast to the usual for the later

and

N gauge N scale is a popular model railway scale. Depending upon the manufacturer (or country), the scale ranges from 1:148 to 1:160. In all cases, the ''gauge'' (the distance between the rails) is . The term N ''gauge'' refers to the track dimensions, ...

model railways. Although 'serious' representational 00-9 modelling had been in the UK since the 1940s with P.D. Hancock's Craig & Mertonford Railway, these were the first commercial ready-to-run narrow gauge models available. Unlike the few scratch-built models with their generous hand-made wheelbase, the tiny, short 0-4-0 chassis from Egger-bahn could run reasonably well on the steep tight curves of the rabbit. Other makers, such as Minitrains also offered

HOn30 HOn30 (also called HOn2½, HO9 and H0e) gauge is the modelling of narrow-gauge railways in HO on N () gauge track in 1:87 scale ratio. Definitions The term HOn30 (and sometimes HOn2½) is generally used when modelling American prototypes while ...

models in US appearance, particularly a Baldwin

0-4-0ST Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents one of the simplest possible types, that with two axles and four coupled wheels, all of which are driven. The wheels on the earliest four-coupled locomotives were c ...

. Being equally short, these too became popular for rabbits. A number of rabbit warrens continued through the 1970s. The ''Far Tottering and Oysterperch'', modelled on

Rowland Emett Frederick Rowland Emett OBE (22 October 190613 November 1990), known as Rowland Emett (with the forename sometimes spelled "Roland" s his middle name appears on his birth certificateand the surname frequently misspelled "Emmett"), was an Engl ...

's Far Tottering and Oyster Creek Railway featured in ''Railway Modeller'', as did a number of Santa-themed Christmas layouts. By the 1980s rabbit warrens had lost their popularity. 00-9 had developed as a serious modelling scale and the diminutive models of the first generation were dismissed as toys; encouraged by their small H0 scale, and quality problems under their later manufacturers. When a rabbit warren, or its flatland cousin the pizza layout, is made today, it is in a knowing context as a deliberately retro- and ironic effort.

Prototypical rabbit warrens

Rabbit warrens had no original prototype but their closest approaches were the Welsh slate quarry railways. The

quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environ ...

were vast, with terraces carrying level grade, but poorly-laid and uneven track of 2' gauge, worked by the ubiquitous

Hunslet Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the Leeds city centre, city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside (ward), Hunslet and Riverside ward of Lee ...

saddle tanks. Unlike the rabbit warren, these levels were linked by rope-worked inclines, rather than loco-hauled spirals. Crossing and tunnels were commonplace though, often through embankments built of piled slate waste. Such quarries were first modelled in the 1970s with Dave Rowe's ''Under Milk Wood'' diorama boxes. In 1995 Railway Modeller returned to its rabbits with ''Chwarel'', a realistic, but warrened, Welsh slate quarry plan. In deference to better running, this used three flat ', linked by inclines and a water balance lift. The scale now was O16.5 ( 7 mm scale on 16.5 mm track) on an baseboard.

References

{{Reflist, colwidth=35em, refs= {{Cite news , title=Cyril Freezer , newspaper=

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

, date=12 June 2009 , url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/technology-obituaries/5517020/Cyril-Freezer.html {{Cite web , title=C J Freezer , author=Carl Arendt , url=http://www.carendt.com/small-layout-scrapbook/page-85b-may-2009/ {{Cite web , title=History , website=Egger-bahn , url=http://www.egger-bahn.de/english/ {{Cite book , title=60 Plans for Small Railways , author=C. J. Freezer , author-link=C. J. Freezer , origyear=1958 , edition=3rd , year=1971 , publisher= PECO Publications , page=21 {{Cite magazine , date=May 1966 , title=009 - 4 plans: Two standard gauge interchanges, one oval, one looped-eight. , at=Plan of the month , author=C. J. Freezer , authorlink=C. J. Freezer , magazine=

{{Cite magazine , date=November 1968 , title=The rabbit layout , at=Plan of the month , author=C. J. Freezer , authorlink=C. J. Freezer , magazine=

{{Cite magazine , date=January 1995 , at=Plan of the month , title=Chwarel , author=Roy C. Link , magazine=

{{Cite journal , title=Under Milk Wood – Volumes I, II & III , date=April 1977 , journal=

Model Railway Constructor ''Model Railway Constructor'' was a monthly British magazine about model railways. The magazine was first published on 15 March 1934. The founder was Ernest F Carter. It came into the Ian Allan Publishing fold with the take-over of Railway World ...

, author=Dave Rowe , author2=Brian Monaghan , pages=134–140 {{cite book , title=Slate Quarry Album , edition=Second , author=Gordon Hatherill , author2=Ann Hatherill , name-list-style=amp , publisher=RCL Publications , isbn=978-0-9538763-8-9 , chapter=6: Horses & Locomotives , year=2009 , pages=46–59 , ref={{harvid, Hatherill, Slate Quarry Album Model railroads Narrow gauge railway modelling