Modrail 2005 saw the layouts first appearance at an exhibition with completed scenery. The layout is named in honour of the late John Wood MBE, a stalwart member of Swindon Model Railway Club for many years.

The layout was embarked upon by a small group of O gauge modellers within the club.

To this end a minimum space layout of 9 feet by 2 feet was decided upon comprising two baseboards which taper to a width of 18 inches at the middle joint. There is a 2 feet long information board attached to one end that hides the fiddle yard sector plate. The layout has just 4 points and these basically determined the track plan. The points are operated manually via 4 slider switches. Although this is a freelance design, the layout's location is based loosely on the industrial area of Old Town in Swindon. This area used to have rail access until the early seventies. At exhibitions a wide variety of club members stock can be seen from LMS to GWR and of both steam & diesel outline.