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Modbury - 2mm Layout Planning (and making a start)

Ian Smith

Entry posted by Ian Smith

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Having finally completed the insulation and fitting out of my new shed, I now have a hobby room with internal dimension of some 10' x 5'8". Not huge, but large enough to house a reasonable 2mm scale model railway, a table/bench, etc.

 

Because this new space will also be my modelling room, what I intend to do is to construct a layout along the back wall of the shed which will allow the modelling table / workbench to go under the window for natural light to be used when using my lathe, etc.

 

Some time ago I decided to locate my model in the South Hams of Devon, and be a fictional station in that area as the only real railway in the area was the Kingsbridge Branch from the GWR's main line at Brent. The assumption I have made is that the South Devon Railway Company built their line from Exeter to Plymouth as they initially intended by constructing their line from Newton Abbot down to Churston, crossing the River Dart a little to the South West of that station before continuing along the coast to Salcombe, Kingsbridge, and across the South Hams to Modbury, Yealmpton and thence to Plymouth. The line would have been built to Brunel's Broad Gauge. In my little world, the existing real main line from Exeter to Plymouth was also subsequently built along the south of Dartmoor rendering my "old" line little more than an elongated single track branch.

 

The whole of the South Devon Railway was absorbed into the GWR in 1876, and was subsequently converted to "narrow" or standard gauge in May 1892 along with the rest of the GWR's Broad Gauge network.

 

My model will be based c.1906, and will still retain Brunel's Baulk Road track work. The model will comprise a 20" diameter traverser fiddle yard at each end, and a 6'0" long scenic section which will allow me to model a through station with 2 platform roads which will allow trains to pass each other. The buildings will be based on those on the Moretonhampstead and Ashburton branches (both originally Broad Gauge lines in South Devon).

 

blogentry-12089-0-83413500-1385586565_thumb.jpg

 

At the left hand end, the platform tracks will disappear under a road bridge, the turnout joining them will be off-scene (and will be replicated by the traverser), this will allow a short section of countryside at the right hand end but will not impact on the operational aspect. The diamond crossing in the plan above will actually be a single slip (I just haven't worked out how to draw them in Templot yet :no: ).

 

Over the last couple of days I have made a start on building the baseboards, so will post again when a bit more progress has been made.

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  • RMweb Gold
wenlock
  • RMweb Gold

I'm really looking forward to seeing this develop Ian! A classic GWR through station track plan, Edwardian time period and baulk road. I reckon its going to be fab!

 

Best wishes

 

Dave

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  • RMweb Gold
queensquare
  • RMweb Gold

Great stuff Ian, everyman needs a Shed!! The plan, setting, period and backstory all point toward this being a little gem. Looking forward to progress.

 

Jerry

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IanLister

Good luck with this Ian; very impressed with the choices you've made. I envy you having a shed; perhaps I'll get one and put wheels and a towing hitch on it.....

Ian

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Miss Prism

Looking forward to this, but I'm wondering whether by 1906 the single slip crossover might have been upgraded to a more modern transverse timbering?

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Ian Smith

Thank you all for the encouragement!!

 

 

Looking forward to this, but I'm wondering whether by 1906 the single slip crossover might have been upgraded to a more modern transverse timbering?

I'm not too sure - I'll have to have a look through some photo's to see whether slips were relatively common on baulk road track work.  If not then I think that the plan would still work quite well with a diamond in that location.  Hopefully someone may be able to answer that poser before I spend too much time trawling my library :-)

 

Anyway, I'm off to my man-shed to see if I can complete the first traverser base board - got to cut the traverser and it's surround from some 12mm ply.

 

Ian

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richbrummitt

Sorry my library is packed up in boxes for the forseeable...   ...since it's fictional we can be sure they existed ;-)  I don't think such complexity is necessary though because the yard can already be accessed from both ends - something to think about?

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  • RMweb Gold
Mikkel
  • RMweb Gold

Hi Ian, great to see you posting again and a whole little world appearing before us!

 

I really look forward to seeing your goods stock on here.

 

We ought to draw up a combined map of the pregrouping GWR stations on RMweb....

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Miss Prism

The plan would certainly still work with a plain diamond. I suppose my previous message, had I expressed it better, was that cutting and shutting a broad gauge slip to standard gauge would have amounted to a complete rebuild anyway, and if the broad gauge layout had originally been a plain diamond, converting it into a slip would probably have meant a more modern construction.

 

On the DN&S, plain diamonds were the norm until WWI-ish. Slips were put in only on the busier stations where the traffic density demanded it.

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Donw
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One to watch for me. I used to drive along that way when living down there.

 

Don

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