Titchfield Haven - Southern Terminus circa 1989

[FJ1701]

http://i67.tinypic.com/2i7n57p.png

After much deliberation, I have decided to start a new thread after my layout didn't suit the location of West Wittering. Here we are then with an extension off the Lee On The Solent branch with a terminus located at Hill Head. Set in the late 1980's, the layout with feature a mixture of BR Blue rolling stock along with hints of Network South East and occasionally Regional Railways. The branch from Fareham was never extended west to Hill Head and even though the original line to Lee on Solent closed in 1935, one can only wonder how busy it would have become at the end of the 20th century if it was extended. So that's what this layout will try to represent and below is the introduction to the fictional branch of Hill Head. The railway station will be named "Titchfield Haven", a nature reserve that is a prominent feature in the Fareham area.

 

 
The route follows the old Gosport branch from Fareham and then splits at Brockhurst Junction heading West towards Lee on the Solent. The station at Lee on the Solent provides run a round facilities as the branch is only single track to keep costs low for British Rail. The line continues west following the coastline due to the geography of the landscape to finally reach the terminus at Hill Head. Here, a medium sized station was built to accommodate large amounts of passenger traffic from the surrounding areas with refuelling facilities and a stabling point for locomotives and freight traffic. The large influx of commuters and holiday makers justified the expense of a third rail system to allow more efficient trains to run. The station however lost many of its features such as a run around loop and obsolete sidings in the late 70's following the streamlining of the railways giving way to a decrease in locomotive hauled trains.
 

 
As the line heads west towards the station, It follows the Salterns Road running parallel with the line until the railway crosses underneath two road bridges to the station located between the beaches of Hill Head and the small cliffs running beneath Hill Head Road that prevent the railway from heading inland. The station is also situated near the nature reserve giving it it's name.The station comprises of a brutalist booking hall with canopies extending half the length of the platforms with wonderful view out onto the Solent. 
 

To see the current track plan, please go to post 19!
 
- Not to scale and subject to change.
 
The layout will have three usable platforms, the top one being fenced off to serve as a kick back for the siding and will use third rail electrification consistent with the West Coastway Line. As the layout is based towards the end of the 80's rolling stock will vary from locomotive hauled to DMU and EMU units. As for locomotives, class 33's and 73's will perform the majority of passenger services whilst also performing some fright and parcel duties. Class 47's and 50's will appear for services to the west country and to Portsmouth and Brighton. However these services will only be formed of two coaches as the full train will be formed at Fareham Railway station. Services from Reading will use class 205 and 117 units and long distance services to Cardiff Central using new class 156 units.
 
Rory Edited November 20, 2018 by FJ1701

[FJ1701]

With the layout being 9ft long, this has allowed me to extend the once fiddle yard area and relocate in to the back off the layout giving me the full 9ft of scenic running space. The track is code 75 with the majority of the sleepers being re-spaced to achieve a prototypical look. 

 

 

The boards are made out of large softwood planks for the sides and ribbing with 9 mm ply for the top base layer and the backscenes being 5 mm ply. Six legs not currently installed provide a sturdy  structure to ensure the layout doesn't wobble when standing up.

 

 

A switch panel controls the six cobalt point motors however this is to be upgraded to a large switch board. The layout currently has 4 platforms, one however being disused as a kick back siding. The basic components of the layout such as wiring and the majority of track has been competed by a previous owner however more will be installed in due course.

[simon b]

80's southern region right up my street. Following this with intrest.

[Geep7]

Nice idea, I think this idea fits in better in this time period. Iirc, the Portsmouth to Southampton via Fareham line was electrified in the late 80's (1987 I think) so this line would most likely have been done around the same time.

Edited April 14, 2018 by Geep7

[fishytrains]

One for me to keep an eye on, sounds interesting.

 

Mike

[FJ1701]

With a trip down to the local model shop, the layout is progressing well however I will first show the construction of the layouts extension.

 

 

This set of points allows the trains from the down line to crossover and reach the platforms nearest the backscene. Not only does it create more operational interest, but it also allows any train to reach every part of the layout.

 

 

A backscene board has been installed behind the bridge to act as the cut of to the fiddle yard area. The curve into the fiddle yard is quite gentle until it bends round beyond the bridge, after that it tightens to ensure more space in the yard.

 

 

And here is the fiddle yard. As you can see, it has a number of tracks which can mostly hold two to three car DMU's however a four car unit can comfortably be hidden from the scenic section.

 

 

The metal prevents the boards from rubbing together and decreases the chance of damaging the tracks which are held on to the board with copper clad sleepers. This ensures a secure connection and so far I haven't had any issues.

 

 

With a new topic being created, I thought an overview of the layout was justified. I have just purchased a metcalf platform kit so I will be working on that in the coming days along with various things arriving such has retaining walls and beach huts! I hope you have enjoyed, cheers.

 

Rory

[FJ1701]

With the wonderful weather, it's been very difficult to work on the layout however a few items have arrived that you may be interested in. As I talked about in the introduction, the railway is based in Hill Head, between the sea and small cliffs so the railway much lower than the town.

 

 

A series of retaining walls ensure the land above doesn't collapse but also acts as a road connection from the station up to Salterns Roads (located on the bridge). These Hornby Skaledale walls proved to be impressive with a high quality resin design and subtle weathering.

 

 

I have also Purchased this stone wall along with two beach huts and railway sleeper walls. The stone wall will act as a barrier between the sand and the railway sleepers will act as wooden barriers like you see at the beach to stop coastal erosion and keep the sand in one place. The beach huts are a nice addition but will really set the layout next to the seaside. The stone wall needs painting however so that will be completed in the coming days.

 

 

Here you can see the stone wall again which really follows the contours of the railway. As mentioned in the previous post, I have started on the Metcalf platform kit working on the brick sides. They look very effective but the joins are quite obvious, something that can be rectified later on. Cheers

 

Rory

Edited April 26, 2018 by FJ1701

[Geep7]

The beach huts and sea wall idea looks great. Just a subtle impression locates the layout on the seafront.

[FJ1701]

Evening all,

 

So in the past few days, I have got quite a bit done. 

 

 

Here the retaining wall has been glued into place on a light curve to give depth to the backvscene and provide more interest in terms of scenery. Unfortunately the siding in the foreground has been shortened to accommodate the wall however I think it looks very effective and definitely looks better than placing it straight up against the back scene. 

 

 

A few days ago, I received a large amount of these Hornby stone walls but they needed repainting. Now i'm a novice when it comes to spray painting however I picked it up quickly and the walls turned out very well. I used Humbrol Gun Metal Grey to achieve a grey stone wall appearance. 

 

 

Excuse the mess. The stone wall comes in small pieces that over lap each other when connected, the joins will be covered up later on. The brown wood that's spread along the front of the layout is supposed to represent sea defences. They need some more work but they have achieved the overall look I am after.

 

 

Another view showing the stone wall and wooden sea defence along with a very nice beach hut which subtlety places the layout next to the sea side.

 

 

Here is an overview of the stone wall. It all seems to be coming together very well and how the wall follows the curvature of the track looks quite good. Again I need to clean up!

 

Any feedback is much appreciated! Cheers

 

Rory

[fishytrains]

Looking good so far.

 

Mike

[Rivercider]

Very nice so far.

 

In post 7 I recognised the groynes straight away.

Old railway sleepers and rails are often used like that to build barriers to prevent coastal erosion,

 

cheers

[FJ1701]

Very nice so far.

 

In post 7 I recognised the groynes straight away.

Old railway sleepers and rails are often used like that to build barriers to prevent coastal erosion,

 

cheers

 

Well it's nice to see people are recognising what i'm trying to achieve. I think the railway sleepers create a good effect, not only representing the groynes, but also suggesting that parts of the track were ripped up by British Rail and streamlined which certainly occurred in the later decades of the 20th century. Cheers

 

Rory

[FJ1701]

Hi everyone

 

Over the past few days I've been looking at the layouts track configuration, more specifically the station throat and saying to my self that there's just too much track. It felt too congested and the changes have allowed the surrounding spaces to breathe making the layout feel much larger and more realistic for its era. Below are two images showing a before/after comparison.

 

Before:

 

This is quite an old image but shows the track layout in its original configuration.

 

 

After:

 

As you can see, I have removed two points simplifying the track layout but also reducing the tightness of the curves leading into the fiddle yard. Having a single track leading away from the station also supports the layouts story if you like of being a single track branch extension from Lee on Solent. The bridge being suitable for two tracks also suggests that there is room for future expansion but its not financially viable to double track the branch at the current time in the late 80's.

 

 

 

As featured in some previous posts, I have started on the platforms using the Metcalf platform kit. Its going reasonably well but there are some visible marks which will be touched up later with weathering.

 

 

And lastly, a new arrival for the layout. This Bachmann class 411 is a superb model and fits in nicely with the area and era of the layout. It seems somewhat oversized compared to my 450 for some reason but it's a lovely model. I'm currently playing around with the cv values to get its acceleration and deceleration right for the layout. It was an absolute bargain at only £120 with a chip already installed, unfortunately this didn't work so I swapped it out and annoying scratched the model in the process of removing the body. Luckily its just a minor scratch but it will be covered up with weathering in the future. Thanks

 

 

Rory

Edited May 3, 2018 by FJ1701

[FJ1701]

Changes afoot once again! 

 

Well then, what have I done now? Well I kept looking at the curve running into the fiddle yard and just thought it wasn't really good enough and how the station would have operated. I then continued to the change the track plan and it's clear from the pictures how much the curve has 

 

 

Well here is the new change cementing the track plan as I no longer feel the need to change it. Before, the track configuration didn't really make sense with two tracks converging into one and due to the three-way point and double slip which allowed the top line to access any part of the station, the bottom line was left redundant. This gave way to implementing the bottom line into a catch point to act as an emergency run off before returning onto the mainline. I have then changed the siding in the forefront and connected it to the mainline to allow shuttle services out of platform one (at the front) without interfering with the bulk of the operations in the main station area.

 

 

 

To ensure consistency in the track spacing, I have re-spaced the ties on the new pieces of track. The spacing on the points however have been unaltered to ensure the fragile parts do not brake. The buffers is the middle not only act as an emergency catch point, but also provides an explanation to why the double slip point has been left in place instead of being removed, the simplest explanation is it's too expensive so BR just decided to leave it in place. 

 

 

What might be of interest to some is how the station operates and the different services that will pass through the station. The image below depicts the platforms from a birds eye view showing how certain services are allocated to certain platforms to ensure a regular timetable. Most services will be made up by either two or three car DMU's however there will be occasional appearances from four car EMU's for services running to Portsmouth as show is the diagram below. Some of the services running through Fareham in the late 80's were long distance loco hauled trains which would not have reached small destinations such as Hill Head, however connecting services in the form of a two car DMU from Hill Head to Fareham would have been prototypical.

 

 

As explained earlier, Platform 1 has two routes running into the platform ensuring it doesn't interfere with other mainline services for example which require moving around. The majority of these platforms have the capacity for four coaches but most can comfortably hold three. The layout is progressing slowly mostly because of the changes in the track configuration but I'm very pleased with the outcome. Any feedback of the station operations would be much appreciated, cheers.

 

Rory

[FJ1701]

This service will now terminate at Titchfield Haven, please change.

Yeah so I decided to change the name to something I felt represented the area better for where the layout is located which is still on the coast of hill head but adjacent to the Titchfield Haven nature reserve. I keep changing my mind but we all do I suppose, cheers.

Rory

Edited May 16, 2018 by FJ1701

[gc4946]

Nice idea, I think this idea fits in better in this time period. Iirc, the Portsmouth to Southampton via Fareham line was electrified in the late 80's (1987 I think) so this line would most likely have been done around the same time.

Electrification was completed on 9 May 1990 http://www.srpublicity.co.uk/nse/nse03.htm

[Geep7]

Electrification was completed on 9 May 1990 http://www.srpublicity.co.uk/nse/nse03.htm

Ah, yes. I was 3 years too early. I should really have remembered this, as i'm pretty sure I did a club quiz with this as a question, lol.

[FJ1701]

Ah, yes. I was 3 years too early. I should really have remembered this, as i'm pretty sure I did a club quiz with this as a question, lol.

A pub quiz on railway trivia, sounds enticing lol. Anyway you might of been able to tell that I’ve been looking through your West Sands thread again, once again taking inspiration to change the name of the layout.

 

As for the electrification, there are images of the third rail already in situe at Fareham in 1989 probably when they were still building it however I’m not too bothered as the era of the layout ranges from 1988 to around 1990. One of the reasons why I changed its name. Cheers

Edited May 17, 2018 by FJ1701

[FJ1701]

Well it's been a few months since I last posted and for good reason, This hot weather is just wonderful!

 

How do I start, well since I last updated you all, I though I had found the perfect track configuration blah blah blah... Two months have past and the layout has since changed, progress has been made even if I have taken a few steps back. The track plan has been reverted to its original form which was perfect and I'm not particularly sure why I changed it however this has allowed me to focus on other areas of the layout such as completing the dropper wires and the switch board. The little time I've had off work has given me time to reconsider what I want the layout to represent and how I want it to operate. Since I have discarded the L-shaped design to allow for a longer staging yard, the current fiddle yard can only hold a maximum of three carriages so two and three car DMU/EMU's were ideal for my situation along with the rare locomotive hauled train which wouldn't look very realistic with only two carriages but hey ho, it's my layout. The new fiddle yard follows the original design where one third of the whole board is fiddle yard and the other two are scenic sections giving me enough space to have operational interest whilst still being able to run three car dmu's. The layout will still be set in the late 80's as described in the introduction and will feature appropriate rolling stock for that era. Below are a series of images showing my progress over the course of the past few days:

 

 

So here is the layout in its revised form. I have simply switched the back boards around, reverted the track back to its original design and given the whole thing a lick of paint. Unfortunately I

didn't have any matte black paint available for the fascia however grey seems to work fine and still draws your attention to the layout. The change in orientation has actually improved the layouts perception of size and has freed up space towards the front of the boards for more scenery.

 

 

Here you can get a better view of the station throat and how the tracks disappear into the fiddle yard.

 

 

I may put a road in the foreground instead of buildings to ensure I don't obstruct the view of the railway. The bottom left is a branch which spurs off the station and will eventually disappear into the back scene.

 

 

The fiddle yard has the capacity for three carriages on each track so the layout will primarily be operated with two and three car multiple units. I still need to add the track for one of the mainlines and the branch line. I used this weather resistant grey matte paint to seal the wood and it gives it a nice uniform look, It's certainly an improvement over plain ply wood and seems to make a large difference.

 

 

Just to give you an idea of where the signal box will be situated. Thankyou and I hope you have all enjoyed this long awaited update, I will try and do them more frequently in the future, many thanks.

 

Rory

[Chris64B]

Hi Rory,

 

Looks like a nice layout, and my sort of time period! I'm looking forward to seeing how it progresses.

 

One suggestion about your sea wall - I wonder if the walls you have still look too much like dry stone walls, rather than something sturdy enough to act as a sea defence? I was thinking that as they are there to protect the railway they would have probably been pretty serious concrete strucutres, strong and high enough to protect the railway during storms. If you made them higher and wider in that way, you could probably squeeze in a footpath/prom on top, with suitable railings and steps down to the beach - might add some extra interest?

 

Cheers, Chris

[FJ1701]

Hi Rory,

 

Looks like a nice layout, and my sort of time period! I'm looking forward to seeing how it progresses.

 

One suggestion about your sea wall - I wonder if the walls you have still look too much like dry stone walls, rather than something sturdy enough to act as a sea defence? I was thinking that as they are there to protect the railway they would have probably been pretty serious concrete strucutres, strong and high enough to protect the railway during storms. If you made them higher and wider in that way, you could probably squeeze in a footpath/prom on top, with suitable railings and steps down to the beach - might add some extra interest?

 

Cheers, Chris

Hi Chris, thanks for the comment. As I’ve change the orientation of the back scenes, the stone walls no longer serve a clear purpose as the beach is out of view. Because of this, I’ve decided to instead build a simple embankment across the back of the railway where the stone wall is currently situated to soften the area and put the beach idea on the back burner for now. As you said, the stone wall wouldn’t be very prototypical for protecting a railway such as this and proper sea defences would be needed. I may come back to this idea In the future but for now, I’m focusing on the track and station area to get that finished. Cheers

 

Rory

[FJ1701]

Well it's been a good week. The layout has progressed well with some semi scratch building on the station canopy, it's coming along well with some experimentation and persistence, I have achieved a good result. Pictures below show my progress:

 

 

So after rummaging around on that well known auction site, I came across this selection of Hornby canopies which have been glued together and detailed in a way which gives them a steel girder structure under the canopy for realistic effect. It needed some work so a small project began to upgrade and transform the canopy into something more suitable for the layouts era and setting.

 

 

I thought I would take advantage of the wonderful weather by using this time to let the paint dry on my improved platform canopies. Here you can see the new configuration for the plastic canopies, they have been glued using simple PVA and painted with white enamel spray paint from my local hardware store. Before I glued both components together, I popped the plastic skylights or windows back into place, something I forgot to do earlier on so I had to re glue the whole thing.

 

 

The girder structure is more visible in this picture however what you might not be able to tell is the vertical supports have actually been constructed from the metal Hornby platform canopy supports which have a good amount of detail. They're quite cheap on ebay so I would recommend picking some up.

 

 

And here is the finished product, a fully painted platform canopy complete with a realistic steel support structure. Although it's quite short, it will form part of the stations covered area for pedestrians and customers waiting to board trains. It needs some small refinements such as paint to give the station a southern region identity and feel but apart from that, I'm quite pleased with the result.

 

 

Finally, I will finish with a new addition to the layout, a Bachmann class 108 DMU seen in Network South East livery has joined the fleet. Although these units never worked in the Fareham and Portmsouth area to my knowledge, I couldn't resist it when I saw it was being sold for only £40! This model is in near new condition, I'm not keen on having to use two decoders to get it running but it works a treat. Cheers

 

Rory

Edited August 7, 2018 by FJ1701