Radstock Foundry; a small layout in the former S&DJR

[dkmyarch]

A bit of who I am;

 

It is probably important to point out that I am a newcomer to 7mm and modelling railways generally. I have skirted around the hobby for most of my life though, so perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise that I have become, with a little encouragement from Oliver my son, fully immersed in this amazing hobby.

A long time ago my father bought me a second hand three rail OO set, when I was about 8, back in 1977 (and I still have it, though it hasn't been run for many years). Later I went to school in Wakefield, travelling from Huddersfield, passing through Healey Mills Depot twice a day I became a spotter and huge fan of Class 40s and diesels in general.

Later I bought in to OO two rail - leaving the hobby in about 1988.

 

About 2 years ago my son Oliver found all my modelling stuff tucked away in my parents attic. Amazingly, and unbeknown to me, it had survived several house moves; my father carefully ensuring it was retained incase I (or Oliver) ever became interested in it. He remembered how much I had enjoyed it as a child and couldn't bring himself to get rid of it - along with a lot of Scalextrics, Action Man and Tonka Toys - tales of which might appear in another hobby's forum pages.

 

Oliver's interest and the opportunity to have a shared hobby, to travel to exhibitions and preservation railways together as well as discovering that I never really lost my interest for the hobby has brought me to where I am now - 48 and building my first 'proper' layout.

 

Why Radstock Foundry?

 

Radstock in Somerset is not a region of the country I have ever been interested in until recently. I have never been there and in fact through a mixture of naivety and geographical ignorance I can't say I was aware of its existence until about 6 months ago.

 

Not a good start!

 

I read a lot of members reflections of how, as a child, they remember locomotives working close to their homes, or schools, or relatives house and that their layout is an attempt to capture a slice of that childhood memory. I would like to be able to say that that was why I have chosen Radstock, but it is a much less romantic reason. The reason is, that having grown up around Huddersfield, Bradford and Wakefield I have a preference for grimy, slightly down-at-heel industrial landscapes. When choosing to design a layout I did not look to the sunny, open fields seen along GWR branch lines, instead looking for something bit more overcast and grubby.

 

I started looking at photos of potential rolling-stock for an industrial layout and particularly 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 shunting engines. A chance Google search came up with an image of Sentinel Shunter 47190 sat at Bristol Barrow Road in 1958. Coincidentally I had seen a 7mm model of exactly the same locomotive for sale on an auction site - it was immaculate and was't getting too much attention and as a consequence I was able to acquire it for just under £100. So I had a 7mm locomotive and nothing else. 47190 and her sister 47191 are synonymous with Radstock. They were both used for shunting coal wagons on the colliery branchlines around the town. Even their shape is a direct result of the location in which they operated as they were built to a reduced loading gauge as they had to pass under the Tyning Arch which had only 10 feet 10 inches (3.30m) clearance. They hardly ever worked further afield and so any layout involving 47190 would need to be very Radstock bias.  

 

The town of Radstock had become an industrial centre following the establishment of a number of Collieries and a Gas Works on the outskirts. And the town boomed with the work and wealth that these industries brought, with the town peaking at the start of the twentieth century when there were 76 individual collieries in the area producing over 1 million tons of coal per year.

 

The GWR and Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR) both built stations and marshalling yards to service the industries and to move raw materials to Bath and Bristol.

There were a number of Colleries close to the town; to the west lay Middle Writhlington Colliery, and Clandown Colliery (with the gas works beyond); to the east were Ludlow Colliery and the wagon way to Tyning Colliery; further east towards Shoscombe was a junction giving access to Lower Writhlington Colliery, Braysdown Colliery and Writhlington Colliery

 

Radstock Foundry is a fictitious business established in 1869 to provide support to the local collieries, gas works and to the Wheeler and Gregory Wagon Works. It will allow me to run a mixture of BR steam and diesel locomotives as well as Privateer engines.

 

The layout is set around 1960in the dwindling days of steam, thirteen years before the last 2 mines closed and only one year before Sentinel Shunter 47190 was cut up for scrap.

Edited March 8, 2018 by dkmyarch

[Barnaby]

Welcome and I look forward to an interesting layout build.  You are treading a path many of us on here have trodden.

 

Best

[Tricky]

Welcome indeed! Look forward to seeing a track plan in due course....

[pwr]

I am liking this! I have a soft spot for the area as my mother used to live in Westbury and I can remember being taken to Writhlington colliery after it had closed but before the track was taken up. Alas I have no photos but the area is well covered by Ivo Peters

 

Paul R

[NHY 581]

This looks like fun, DK.

 

I would suggest you acquire these if you haven’t already got them.

 

Radstock Coal and Steam: Buildings, Locomotives and Workings v. 2: Somerset and Dorset at Radstock and Writhlington Hardcover – 1 May 1992

by Christopher Handley

 

Volume 1 deals with history etc.

 

Rob

Edited March 10, 2018 by NHY 581

[gismorail]

I like the sound of this .....always need to good story to give layout strong foundations    Will follow with interest 

[phil_sutters]

Just in case there is anything of interest, I have two albums of my Dad's photos of railways in Somerset here on RMweb. We used to live four miles from Radstock in the late 50s & early 60s.

The GWR album is here   http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/album/4053-gwr-lines-in-somerset-by-john-sutters/  and the SDJR Bath to Bournemouth is at    http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/album/4074-sdjr-bath-to-bournemouth/

 

I once made a Sentinel using a Ks tender drive, some ancient wagon springs and axle boxes and balsa and cardboard - this was in my teens in the early '60s. It was so primitive that it doesn't get public viewings, although I still have it.

Good luck with your foundry project.

 

Phil