Kelly's Workbench & Ramblings Blog

There are the RAF depots at Chilmark, Dinton and Dean Hill where BR (ie mainline railway company) delivered appropriate goods in standard gauge wagons to the exchange sidings from where the RAF loco collected then and took them onto site and the transhipment shed where the loads would be transferred into a narrow guage railway and then taken off into the location of the storage bunkers-often on the site of an old quarry. I assume Hilsea was worked on similar lines.

 

The nature of such locations means that details of the internal railway systems were blanked out on contemporary OS maps but the details can be found if you keep your eyes open and know where to look. The TeleRail DVDs on Chilmark and Longriggs Military Railways are useful for mid 1990s.

There are the RAF depots at Chilmark, Dinton and Dean Hill where BR (ie mainline railway company) delivered appropriate goods in standard gauge wagons to the exchange sidings from where the RAF loco collected then and took them onto site and the transhipment shed where the loads would be transferred into a narrow guage railway and then taken off into the location of the storage bunkers-often on the site of an old quarry. I assume Hilsea was worked on similar lines.

 

The nature of such locations means that details of the internal railway systems were blanked out on contemporary OS maps but the details can be found if you keep your eyes open and know where to look. The TeleRail DVD on Chilmark and Longriggs Military Railways are useful for mid 1990s.

 

It depends if they took them anywhere near the runways/dispersal areas (where the Lightnings or Vulcans would of been stood ready), or if they were off site and brought onsite by truck?

 

None of the books I've looked through (aviaiton) have given any hint of this and the photos therein don't show any hint of trains/railway near the runway/dispersal area/hangers.

 

Kelly

That's because they were armament depots rather than airfields.

If you're ever in deepest darkest Wiltshire, you can get in to one of the Chilmark sites (now an industrial estate) and close enough on the road to view two of the other sites.

 

I didn't realise there was a DVD about Chilmark - I'll have to try and obtain a copy of that.

 

Dean Hill was RN, BTW.

Re Portsmouth suggestion, the Navy was more active there rather than the RAF.

 

There's a huge advantage in modelling 1968/69, even though steam had finished, there was still a lot of steam age infrastructure, you had older liveries and "modern" corporate blue/grey livery and ex-SR EMUs were still running as well as BR designs, including new 4VEPs in all over rail blue (like Hornby's planned model) and 4CIGs in green. If you moved on a year later to 1970, you could then have 4CIGs running in sparkling new blue/grey.

The local buses, Portsmouth Corporation and Southdown still wore their traditional liveries, too.

Re Portsmouth suggestion, the Navy was more active there rather than the RAF.

 

There's a huge advantage in modelling 1968/69, even though steam had finished, there was still a lot of steam age infrastructure, you had older liveries and "modern" corporate blue/grey livery and ex-SR EMUs were still running as well as BR designs, including new 4VEPs in all over rail blue (like Hornby's planned model) and 4CIGs in green. If you moved on a year later to 1970, you could then have 4CIGs running in sparkling new blue/grey.

The local buses, Portsmouth Corporation and Southdown still wore their traditional liveries, too.

 

Yes as it was a port area, its reasonable it would of been more RN than RAF, though I believe there were a couple of RAF bases near to it.

 

As for the period, yes theres a lot to model in that timeframe, although I think a bit earlier would be a bit more interesting for me, but the idea is to try to make it possible somehow to 'float' the period of the layout so it can go from 40s/50s to 60s/70s perhaps.

 

Either way, plenty of choice of stock at least.

 

kelly

I'm kinda thinking of a smallish layout about 3' max (cos of lack of space) that could either be a diorama or something else. Not sure I can work an airbase dispersal pan and a railway into the same thing (unless I used a NG railway too).

I'm glad Tanis caught your eye - I built it for an A3 competition and it was really interesting to see what you can get into the space (and time - 3 weeks to build it!) I sound like Dr. Who now. The minimum gauge gives you a lot more room to maneuver in a large scale than you would get with standard or even some narrow gauges in a smaller scale - worth bearing in mind.

 

One of the ideas on my back burner list (from whence Tanis came) was to do something in 1:35 with a Cold War theme - some section of a Soviet ICBM silo with a bulky-looking tramway for moving missile components and technicians around. I doubt it'd be very prototypical, but I think it could be made to feel "right" and I suspect that an airfield tramway could work in a similar way - I hope you manage to build one because I'd love to see it

Kelly,

 

I think your inclusion of a aircraft theme within a rail layout is interesting. I have decided to include an aircraft museum in my layout of Conwy, Penmaenmawr and Bangor. The museum will be of course fictional and located just outside Penmaenmawr in a vacant area. It will include WW1 and II  fighters and bombers which I akready have in model form.  I have drafted a plan using any rail, If interested it is on RM Web at: 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/71151-north-welsh-coast-railway-welsh-dragon-rail/page-1

 

I have found any rail an invaluable asset in drawing my complex layout. It is N gauge and is 36 feet by 16 feet. Will continue to follow your blog. Lots of luck and I hope you continue your modelling.

 

Regards,

 

Anthony Ashley

Welsh Dragon Rail