About Us

Hi! My name is Joe, and together with my father and with some help from family and friends, we run Woodleigh Engineering. We hope to produce the highest possible quality kits, at a price that everyone can afford.

Together, we have a relentless focus on producing perfection. Some kits can take us upwards of 50 - 100 prototypes before we're happy it's good enough to ship!

Jack with his 3 ½” gauge self-built “Masie” in approx. 1975

The Beginning

Our story actually starts in 1920 - when my grandfather Jack was born. Jack had a passion for all things steam, and taught himself how to build live steam locomotives in the shed at the end of his garden.

He built a coal-fired LBSC designed Masie In 3 ½” gauge which went on display at the local library in the 1970s, and a 3 ½” gauge Adams Radial tank for which he drew up the plans himself.

My father John followed in Jack's footsteps with a keen interest in all things railways. I was always more interested in computers, eventually studying computer science and then working as a lead software engineer.

The Early Days

In early 2024, I asked my father if he had anything I could make on my 3D printer and he gave me a model of a 16mm W & L open wagon and said “make that!”.

I did and he was very impressed with the quality of the 3D printed model. I really enjoyed making if and realised that there might be others who would be interested in purchasing such a wagon in kit form

Fast-forward to the end of 2024. Our first kit, the W&L Open Wagon was launched and the popularity somewhat caught us off guard! The initial weeks were spent frantically packaging up orders and getting up early to work to meet the demand.

The Future

There are many more wagons we would like to produce - eventually the whole W&L line. We're also working on an engine kit - which we hope will be ready for Christmas 2025.

Thank you for your support - and please send us any pictures of our kits on your layouts - we love to see them!

Joe