Loudwater

[Chandler D]

Loudwater is the chosen prototype for myself and my dad's first attempt at building a layout of a prototype location. Work has been slowly on going for about the last year or so. It is no where near finished but i thought id put this up to see what people thought of it. All comments are welcome ( good or bad ! ) The pictures are a few months old and a bit more has been done since then but it will give you the general idea .

Just for a bit of background info, Loudwater was the first station outside High Wycombe on the original Wycombe Railway route from High Wycombe to Maidenhead. The section between Wycombe and Bourne End closed on 4th May 1970 and al track was lifted in that section.

The site of the station at Loudwater is now an industrial estate and no trace of the station can now be seen.

Any info on workings would be greatly apreciated as would any photos . The line was often used as a diversionary route so anything from 14xx's to Castles could of been seen .

Edited June 27, 2012 by Chandler D

[Andy Y]

What a super first post! Welcome aboard. I take it the station building and signal box are scratchbuilt?

[Chandler D]

What a super first post! Welcome aboard. I take it the station building and signal box are scratchbuilt?

 

Why thank you !

 

Yes , they are both scratch built. That is my dad's handywork . Both are made from Wills plastic sheets. The signal box still needs its chimney though !

[roundhouse]

Those buildings look superb.

 

Ian

[Chandler D]

Those buildings look superb.

 

Ian

Thank you,

I will pass on your comments to the old man ( he is computer illitarate im affraid ).

I'm rather impressed by your Banbury layout aswell btw !

[rob D2]

Spot on mate. I always fancied doing a local station ( from marlow) , didn't fancy trying to represent the Flint Walls though

 

How was it done ?

[ColinW]

I'm going to be another to say that you have made a great layout there. What is the size of the layout? and do you have a trackplan available to add on here?

 

Colin

[Chandler D]

Spot on mate. I always fancied doing a local station ( from marlow) , didn't fancy trying to represent the Flint Walls though

 

How was it done ?

 

Thanks,

The flint was done using Wills cobble sheets which were then sanded down with wet n dry paper then painting each flint seperately.

I'm in Wycombe so it wasn't too far to pop to Bourne End to photograph the buildings there. Bourne End was the original intention but getting the branch in from Marlow would of made it rather large !

[St. Simon]

Hi,

 

Yes, it's a nice layout, it's nice to see some models of the area!

 

I'm in Wycombe

 

Have you come across the High Wycombe & District Model Railway Society? We have some members who have extensive knowledge of the area and workings at the time you are modelling.

 

Simon

[Chandler D]

I'm going to be another to say that you have made a great layout there. What is the size of the layout? and do you have a trackplan available to add on here?

 

Colin

Thank you very much,

It's 28 feet long and 8 feet wide with the fiddle yard attatched. I do have a track plan but its on the ordance survey map that was from the local library. I tried attatching it but it failed. I'll add it on to the layout pics in a sec.

[roundhouse]

Thank you,

I will pass on your comments to the old man ( he is computer illitarate im affraid ).

I'm rather impressed by your Banbury layout aswell btw !

 

Thanks.

 

I hope you are planning on exhibiting the layout as I am sure there will be exhibition managers interested if you are.

 

Ian

[jonny777]

Yes that is an excellent representation of brick and flint buildings so widespread in the area.

 

A wonderful model. Well done to you and your Dad. Painting separate flints is a job that would drive me to drink.... oh wait a minute!

 

I remember the Hymek hauled track recovery trains at the High Wycombe end of the line in September 1971. The railway ran at the back of the house in which I had a bedsit, before crossing London Road on a small box girder bridge.

Edited June 27, 2012 by jonny777

[Chandler D]

Thanks.

 

I hope you are planning on exhibiting the layout as I am sure there will be exhibition managers interested if you are.

 

Ian

That is the intention, we did one last year at Beaconsfield but it was no where near finished. The aim now is to get it closer then hopefully get some more exhibitions.

If anyone is intrested in it the door is always open.

[Chandler D]

Yes that is an excellent representation of brick and flint buildings so widespread in the area.

 

A wonderful model. Well done to you and your Dad. Painting separate flints is a job that would drive me to drink.... oh wait a minute!

 

I remember the Hymek hauled track recovery trains at the High Wycombe end of the line in September 1971. The railway ran at the back of the house in which I had a bedsit, before crossing London Road on a girder bridge.

Thank you for your kind comments.

That must of been on Gordon road then ? My dad grew up in the shop at the end of the road backing on to the railway.

I agree with the flints, i had nothing to do with that exercise thank god !

[jonny777]

No, I was on London Road and the house was between the main road and the branch to Bourne End. On the other side of the railway was the G Plan furniture factory.

[Chandler D]

No, I was on London Road and the house was between the main road and the branch to Bourne End. On the other side of the railway was the G Plan furniture factory.

I see, a little further on from Gordon Road. The mounds where the abutments were for the bridge are still either side of London road.

[Karhedron]

Any info on workings would be greatly apreciated as would any photos . The line was often used as a diversionary route so anything from 14xx's to Castles could of been seen .

 

I grew up in Maidenhead and was always fascinated by the by the old line to High Wycombe, I even walked most of it (long after the track was lifted).

 

That layout looks superb, you have done a fantastic job of scratch-building the distinctive station building. You have really captured the look and feel, even to someone who only knows the site from photoghraphs.

 

In terms of operations, there are a couple of good references if you do not have them already. "The Marlow Branch" by Paul Karau and Chris Turner is a good start. Whilst it focuses on the Marlow branch, it does cover some workings on the "main" line too. There are plenty of shots of trains at Bourne End, many of which would have run either too or from Loudwater.

 

Issue 32 of the Great western railway Journal has a substantial article called "Taplow And The Loudwater Goods". This gives a good flavour of the regular pick-up goods workings.

Below are some of the workings I know of starting with the most common.

 

6100s. The large Prairies were mainstays of the suburban services in the area. Typically they ran with 3-5 coach trains of ex-GWR suburban stock although I have seen photos of up to 8. This stock is not available RTR but kits are available from Comet. I do not know if BR Mk1 suburbans ever worked the line. Some did work out of Paddington but I have not seen any photos of them on the branch. They also worked some mixed goods.

 

1400s. The classic GWR auto-train that usually ran through to Marlow. The service patterns for these varied considerably. Before the war, it was normally a shuttle between Bourne End and Marlow. In the 50s however there were several through services from Marlow to both Maidenhead and High Wycombe using these trains so in your period it would be quite feasible to see one at Loudwater. The loco would almost always be at the north (High Wycombe) end of the train.

 

Panniers. Worked a lot of mixed goods but could also sometimes be seen on passenger workings. At times they were used almost interchangably with the Prairies. Both 5700 and 9400 varieties were recorded on the line.

 

6664 This solitary example of its class was based at Slough shed in the 50s and sometimes used on the branch pickup goods.

 

Halls. Apart from Regatta specials, the only regular working on the line of a tender engine was the weekly or twice weekly (depending on the season) coal working from Oxford. This would work down the line dropping off domestic coal wagons at each station. There was a return working of the same engine heading back to collect empties. Due to the lack of turntable on the line, the loco would often run tender-first on the return journey to save a trip to use the turntable at Slough. I have a picture of a Hall on this service but I have heard of a Grange being used on occasion.

 

Regatta specials. Almost a law unto themselves. Locos known to have worked the line include Evening Star, Earl Baldwin, Trevose head as well as Black 5s and B1s. Diesel haulage could also be found on specials such as a class 40.

 

A few links that might be of interest to you.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/58228-the-stationmaster-looks-at-bourne-end-the-one-on-the-wycombe-branch/page__fromsearch__1

http://www.mdrs.org.uk/wycmaidmarlow.htm

[Graham_Muz]

Welcome aboard, the layout certainly looks the part its good to see it at last. I am assuing your dad is Graham?

[David Bigcheeseplant]

Loudwater and the Wycombe to Maidenhead branch has always been an interest to be, The brickwork on the signal box should be all blue brick rather than red as were most of the GWR type 5 boxes

 

David

[Chandler D]

I grew up in Maidenhead and was always fascinated by the by the old line to High Wycombe, I even walked most of it (long after the track was lifted).

 

That layout looks superb, you have done a fantastic job of scratch-building the distinctive station building. You have really captured the look and feel, even to someone who only knows the site from photoghraphs.

 

In terms of operations, there are a couple of good references if you do not have them already. "The Marlow Branch" by Paul Karau and Chris Turner is a good start. Whilst it focuses on the Marlow branch, it does cover some workings on the "main" line too. There are plenty of shots of trains at Bourne End, many of which would have run either too or from Loudwater.

 

Issue 32 of the Great western railway Journal has a substantial article called "Taplow And The Loudwater Goods". This gives a good flavour of the regular pick-up goods workings.

Below are some of the workings I know of starting with the most common.

 

6100s. The large Prairies were mainstays of the suburban services in the area. Typically they ran with 3-5 coach trains of ex-GWR suburban stock although I have seen photos of up to 8. This stock is not available RTR but kits are available from Comet. I do not know if BR Mk1 suburbans ever worked the line. Some did work out of Paddington but I have not seen any photos of them on the branch. They also worked some mixed goods.

 

1400s. The classic GWR auto-train that usually ran through to Marlow. The service patterns for these varied considerably. Before the war, it was normally a shuttle between Bourne End and Marlow. In the 50s however there were several through services from Marlow to both Maidenhead and High Wycombe using these trains so in your period it would be quite feasible to see one at Loudwater. The loco would almost always be at the north (High Wycombe) end of the train.

 

Panniers. Worked a lot of mixed goods but could also sometimes be seen on passenger workings. At times they were used almost interchangably with the Prairies. Both 5700 and 9400 varieties were recorded on the line.

 

6664 This solitary example of its class was based at Slough shed in the 50s and sometimes used on the branch pickup goods.

 

Halls. Apart from Regatta specials, the only regular working on the line of a tender engine was the weekly or twice weekly (depending on the season) coal working from Oxford. This would work down the line dropping off domestic coal wagons at each station. There was a return working of the same engine heading back to collect empties. Due to the lack of turntable on the line, the loco would often run tender-first on the return journey to save a trip to use the turntable at Slough. I have a picture of a Hall on this service but I have heard of a Grange being used on occasion.

 

Regatta specials. Almost a law unto themselves. Locos known to have worked the line include Evening Star, Earl Baldwin, Trevose head as well as Black 5s and B1s. Diesel haulage could also be found on specials such as a class 40.

 

A few links that might be of interest to you.

 

http://www.rmweb.co....__fromsearch__1

http://www.mdrs.org....cmaidmarlow.htm

 

Thank you,

I only know it from photos aswell , it had gone long before i was born !

That is intresting about the halls and the 66xx at Slough. I never knew there was one shedded there. I have a copy of the Great Western Journal and there is some superb photos in it. We have used them alot for building this. There is another issue aswell ( i cant remeber which one though ) that has a lovely double page spread of a Dukedog going over the level crossing.

 

Thanks for the info and the links, they are gonna be a great help.

[Chandler D]

Welcome aboard, the layout certainly looks the part its good to see it at last. I am assuing your dad is Graham?

Thanks.

Yep thats him !

[Chandler D]

Loudwater and the Wycombe to Maidenhead branch has always been an interest to be, The brickwork on the signal box should be all blue brick rather than red as were most of the GWR type 5 boxes

 

David

I shall study some more photos i think, it looks red in the few colour ones ive seen but i guess it depends on how the light is hitting it.

[westerner]

My Brother lived at Bourne End (after the line to High Wycombe had gone). I'll be interested to see some more up to date photos. Looks like an excellent layout.

[Chandler D]

My Brother lived at Bourne End (after the line to High Wycombe had gone). I'll be interested to see some more up to date photos. Looks like an excellent layout.

No probs, when we have a chance to set it up again i'll post a few more.

[David Bigcheeseplant]

A rear shot of the station building

 

David