Virney Junction - Scenery ongoing

[Ray H]

And it came to pass

My current Wynsloe Road layout has stalled because I have found using the traverser for virtually every train movement distracts from my main interest which centres around the operation of (varied formation) trains.

Chuck in an oft repeated suggestion by Management to re-carpet the adjacent bedroom that I have regarded as my office for the last thirty years (and has more recently incorporated my limited modelling workshop) and the recipe for chaos was rife. Consequently I started thinking about replacing and possibly re-locating the current layout.

Although entitled Wynsloe Road after an initial abortive attempt to do something very loosely representative of Winslow on the Bletchley - Oxford line, the current layout ended up with a track plan nothing like it due to space limitations. Instead the layout was more like a heavily compressed version of Broom Junction on the S&MJ.

After a couple of false starts involving re-sizing or relocation options I seem to have now firmly settled on moving all the model related railway activities downstairs and into the integral garage.

More to follow

Edited February 17, 2017 by Ray H

[Andrew P]

Evening Ray, and congratulations on the start if Virney Junction, The integral garage sounds a good move for more room and a fresh start.

 

One bit of advice if you can, providing the garage isn't going to be used by a Car is to do what I did at our previous abode, and that was to have a 2 inch layer of Polystyrene on the floor and then a layer of Chipboard to keep the old tooties warm and stop leg ach.

 

Failing that I have also purchased for my Potting Shed some nice rubber interlocking mats from Halfords for a Tenner a pack, that covers about 6ft x 4ft

 

 

 

Good luck with your new venture mate.

[Ray H]

Thanks.

 

I've got those mats under the chipboard panels at present and the two together seem to do the business.

 

I've written a few other posts to continue the thread. I'll post them over the next few days and by then I may at least have an outline track plan to add as well. It will be a while before I start on the baseboards as there are a few other jobs in front of them in the queue.

 

Hope you're feeling even better today.

[edcayton]

Evening Ray, and congratulations on the start if Virney Junction, The integral garage sounds a good move for more room and a fresh start.

 

One bit of advice if you can, providing the garage isn't going to be used by a Car is to do what I did at our previous abode, and that was to have a 2 inch layer of Polystyrene on the floor and then a layer of Chipboard to keep the old tooties warm and stop leg ach.

 

Failing that I have also purchased for my Potting Shed some nice rubber interlocking mats from Halfords for a Tenner a pack, that covers about 6ft x 4ft

 

HALFORDS Floor Mats 001.JPG

 

HALFORDS Floor Mats 002.JPG

 

Good luck with your new venture mate.

 

The problem with those is when you kneel on them. Ouch!

 

Ed

[Andrew P]

Thanks.

 

I've got those mats under the chipboard panels at present and the two together seem to do the business.

 

I've written a few other posts to continue the thread. I'll post them over the next few days and by then I may at least have an outline track plan to add as well. It will be a while before I start on the baseboards as there are a few other jobs in front of them in the queue.

 

Hope you're feeling even better today.

Ray, what size will you end up with, as most normal Garages will give you at least 16ft x 8ft or so?

[Andrew P]

The problem with those is when you kneel on them. Ouch!

 

Ed

Agreed Ed, I will be laying mine up side down, it will also make it easier to sweep and Hoover the Floor.  I hope.

[edcayton]

As you would say Andy-hahahha.

 

Ed

[Ray H]

The garage is 17ft long by 7ft 10ins at the narrowest.

 

The textual description of the layout in a few posts' time will outline the plan in a bit more detail.

 

I have had a tinker with the fiddle yard track layout based on your ideas for Bitton.

 

I think I can get two trains on at least one siding in each direction but I want to devise a way to move the rear one forward automatically when the front one departs so that there's space at the rear to accommodate the next arriving train. I don't fancy having to keep manually moving the trains forward in the fiddle yard when I should be concentrating on what's happening on the scenic section.

 

The station boards will probably remain at 2ft wide as they're over some cupboards of the same width. The width of the fiddle yard boards is currently undecided as I want to try to do a "Larry" and have a small station at the front.

[Andrew P]

The garage is 17ft long by 7ft 10ins at the narrowest.

 

The textual description of the layout in a few posts' time will outline the plan in a bit more detail.

 

I have had a tinker with the fiddle yard track layout based on your ideas for Bitton.

 

I think I can get two trains on at least one siding in each direction but I want to devise a way to move the rear one forward automatically when the front one departs so that there's space at the rear to accommodate the next arriving train. I don't fancy having to keep manually moving the trains forward in the fiddle yard when I should be concentrating on what's happening on the scenic section.

 

The station boards will probably remain at 2ft wide as they're over some cupboards of the same width. The width of the fiddle yard boards is currently undecided as I want to try to do a "Larry" and have a small station at the front.

That's a nice size Ray, I can get a 10ft train in my middle roads so that's nice too.  As for the old question of more storage, why not have the two outer tracks only about one foot long to go onto a cassette's, then they could be stored, and put back onto the other yard to return back the other way, whilst leaving the main Storage (as I prefer to call it) yard for long freight and Express Passenger / Parcels Stock.

[Ray H]

As you may discover in a while, and if I do get to have a station on the inner side of the fiddle yard, accessing the fiddle yard to swap cassettes may be a little difficult but I will keep it in mind especially as I'm hoping to be able to swap from steam to diesel and back again as well as mix the two together.

 

Any chance you could post a sketch of how you'd envisage the storage track layout to accommodate your cassette idea?

 

Another option that I have is to use the hidden part of the main line - see later posts - to queue trains or to even double up on the main line tracks on the hidden section to accommodate a few more trains. Apologies if that's a bit difficult to picture, I hope all will be revealed in a few posts' time.

 

I don't want to cram everything in one post because it gives people a chance to comment on each section in between without drifting too far off track (if you'll excuse the pun)

[Ray H]

The Garage (i)

 

The integral garage - we have a link detached property - is reasonably well insulated. It has just been blessed with the addition of a small radiator linked to the domestic central heating courtesy of a recent kitchen upgrade. The garage loft space is insulated and the concrete floor is generally covered by rubber matting topped by chipboard loft flooring panels.

 

The up & over door has removable (after a fashion) insulated panelling in front of it to keep the drafts and cold out and the rear door leads straight into the house. One wall abuts our house and the neighbour’s garage adjoins the opposite wall. The internal temperature doesn't normally drop below 11 degrees and I have a small oil filled radiator to top that up or can leave the garage door to the house open.

 

The downside at present is that it is currently home to a number of woodworking machines and associated wood stocks that I've had for several years and now seldom use. However, that brings the bonus that I’ve built several cupboards which can have their current content sold or otherwise disposed of to accommodate the numerous stock boxes currently dotted around the house.

 

All I need to do is to sell the woodworking kit to free up space (and eliminate the dust from their use and raise funds for the new layout. However, I want to do that in a planned way as some of kit will be useful in building the baseboards for the new layout.

 

I have made a start and the little used lathe is now on the market.

 

Edited to change the title when I decided to add a picture of the garage interior a little further down.

Edited December 14, 2014 by Ray H

[Andrew P]

Ray the above is reminiscent of my selling some stock to fund my Potting Shed, you know its the RIGHT THING TO DO, hahhaha

[Andrew P]

Ray this is what I have in mind for the fiddle yard

 

.

DOUBLE EDIT= I meat to say that by turning each cassette you can send a train back using the Blue crossovers for reversal of stock as well.

 

EDIT = Whoops sorry, my pic of the mats seems to be your heading pic now, you need to add a photo to post #1.

Edited December 13, 2014 by Andrew P

[Ray H]

Andy

 

Thanks for the sketch, that's what I thought you meant and that's what I started out with in the beginning when I first roughed out some sketches on a scrap of paper - I'm clean out of the back of fag packets!

 

It is amazing how unobservant I can be without really trying. I immediately thought that you plan would mean reducing the radius of the approach track curves to position the long(er) "through roads" in the centre of the baseboard and that would result in a lot of unused space in the four corners.

 

I was convinced that post 2180 in your Bitton thread had your sidings laid out very differently. However, I've just checked back and it is the same concept but the points orientated in such a way that they avoid compromising the radius of the approach track. What's more they look as though they may provide more space for the branch fiddle yard that I'm currently hoping to have.

 

I shall have to see how the access to pick up/put down cassettes pans out once I have the track plan more advanced.

 

My initial post still seems OK to me.

 

Thanks once again for opening my eyes.

[Ray H]

What am hoping to achieve?

 

I want to retain the junction aspect of Broom Junction but incorporate a double track running line on the new layout similar to that seen on the Bitton and Dent threads posted here on RMweb.

 

I seem to have centred on layouts based in the northern Home Counties because they open up the ability to mix stock from different regions. This is good because I have several locos that remind me of a youth spent in the west Essex/east London area so I can stretch things a bit and find a reason for their appearance on the layout.

 

I’d never been one for having a story behind a layout until I started reading various RMweb threads but I have to admit that having a story seems to bring the whole thing to life. I consider John Flann’s Hintock to be the leader in this area from all the thread’s that I’ve read. I need an area in which the model is set if I'm to have a story too.

 

I was still minded to do something based on the local (to me) Bletchley - Oxford line and took a fresh look at the track layout at Verney Junction in a couple of books.

Edited December 13, 2014 by Ray H

[Ray H]

Verney Junction

 

Metropolitan Railway passenger services over the line between Verney Junction and Aylesbury were withdrawn from 6th July 1936 as an economy measure. The line between Quainton Road and Verney Junction was singled in 1939 and freight services finally withdrawn over the same section from 8th September 1947, an alternative route via a new connection at Claydon Junction having been created some 7 years previous.

 

Verney Junction as it was latterly had some vague similarities to Broom Junction; a rural and thus lightly used through junction station, more so no doubt after the closure of the line to Aylesbury.

 

As someone who is scenically challenged I reckon I stand a better chance of incorporating vast areas of grass – specifically for Andy P’s benefit – rather than centre on excessive building development. Verney Junction’s rural scene facilitates that.

 

Both locations had very little provision for domestic freight traffic. This could be a slight disadvantage partly overcome by the need to shunt wagons to and from the branch trains.

 

The tracks appear to have been more curved around Broom whereas they’re fairly straight adjacent to Verney Junction. Alas, even with a 17ft long garage wall available I shall have to incorporate prototypically non-existent (or opposite hand) curves so that’s not top of my “To worry about list”.

 

Luckily this deviation from reality frees me from strict adherence to the original so I’ll toss in some seemingly inevitable compression while I’m at it.

[Ray H]

Virney Junction – the history

 

The closure of the line towards Aylesbury left two unused platform faces at Virney Junction, one of which was the other side of the island used by Down (LNWR) trains from Bletchley. There had been some resultant basic rationalisation of signals and trackwork.

 

Virney Junction had never seen much local traffic and the station buildings far exceeded the usage requirements especially after the Metropolitan services were withdrawn.

 

British Railways tried as hard as they could to keep the lines open even before the Good Doctor came on the scene and decided to reduce maintenance costs by demolishing and replacing the old station buildings with much simpler structures more in keeping with the traffic offering even after the traffic boost the line received following the replacement of numerous hauled services with diesel units.

 

The ornate footbridge had been removed early in the war and replaced by barrow crossing style arrangements similar to most other stations along the line.

 

The old sidings east of the station alongside the Metropolitan tracks were lifted with the cessation of freight traffic so that the Metropolitan signal box and associated signalling could be removed.

 

The disused Metropolitan Up platform track became an exchange/refuge siding whilst the old Down Metropolitan platform track was utilised for local freight traffic once most of the platform had been demolished - some of the platform remaining to form the base of a small but secure store for the limited freight and a fairly basic yard crane.

 

The Up siding adjacent to the branch track was also available for recessing trains after the similar siding at Winslow had to be taken out of service when the adjacent retaining wall became unsafe.

[Ray H]

The layout – Part 1; The main line

 

The intention is to at least try open topped baseboards on some of the scenic sections. Virney Junction station will be on the left when entering the rear of garage from the house. Unfortunately this is the garage side wall with the inevitable two protruding pillars but I view these as the lesser of two evils because the door into the garage is in the right hand corner and the access arrangements to the central operating well – e.g. a lifting flap – would need to accommodate at least three tracks if I turned the layout around.

 

I don’t want the minimum curve radius on the main line to fall below 36 inches. I’m hoping to build all the points using copper clad strip and the track on the scenic section will probably be SMP or similar.

 

The garage is a shade under eight feet wide so I think I can increase the curve radius on the scenic section at the house/Bletchley/Down Up end of the layout to something a little greater but anything too large could compromise other parts of the layout.

 

I don’t envisage running excessive length passenger trains and I generally want to avoid platforms on curves. I think the Down Up end curve approaching the station will need to be slightly more than 90º to bring the platforms away from the wall. The platforms tracks may need to be on a shallow reverse curve to leave room for the sidings behind them.

 

I’m hopeful that the branch junction can start no more than nine feet from the house end wall of the garage. The branch will of necessity and not prototypically, have to run parallel to the main line and the garage wall before passing under the ubiquitous bridge but in a different arch to the main line.

 

The main line will then disappear from view (behind a low backscene after the bridge). It will hug the outer edges of the baseboard (behind the backscene) until it returns to the fiddle yard along the right hand side garage wall.

 

An impression of separation between branch and main lines after the junction might be achieved if the main line tracks ascend slightly between the junction and the bridge and the branch drops slightly which is prototypical (although the prototype dropped more severely at 1 in 346!). The main line could then revert to the previous level before the fiddle yard.

 

Alternately the main lines could stay at the higher level through the fiddle yard and then drop down again at the start of the scenic section at the house end of the garage although it is debatable whether these minimal gradients would be enough to be noticed in isolation. The required incline on a curve after the access flap may just be a luxury too far no matter how shallow.

Edited December 15, 2014 by Ray H

[Ray H]

The garage (ii)

 

 

The task at hand!

 

A picture just taken from the entry door into the garage from the house. The fiddle yard will be on the right in the space out of view and currently occupied by the woodturning lathe and abutted at each end with copious amounts of wood of numerous descriptions.

 

The insulated panelling across the up and over door is visible at the far end as is the chipboard floor panelling. The cupboards that will be above and below the scenic section/station area are on the left. The branch junction will be somewhere in the region of the bench drill with the bridge that will mark the disappearing point of the main line just before the end of the floor mounted cupboards. The lifting flap (or other means of providing access to the central operating well) will be immediately in front of where I was standing to take the picture.

 

The stack of wood partly visible bottom left are the components for some baseboards that I appear to have volunteered to make for a colleague. That's the first job that I have to address but that can't be rushed because he is not in a position to accept the finished boards for a couple of weeks!

 

Most if not all of the machinery and other equipment associated therewith will go. The bench drill may possibly be replaced by something smaller or maybe just a stand to which I can fit a large battery (or mains) drill. The bandsaw is another item that I'm undecided about. The existing one will definitely go but I may replace it with something smaller that can be tucked under the baseboards as I find this a very handy piece of kit.

 

Hopefully this along with a track plan that I'll try and post later will help the understanding of what I'm thinking.

[Andrew P]

Morning Ray, I like all so far apart from one thing, and that is the gradient on the main line, its fine on a branch but on a main where you may want to run a long freight with say a 3F / 4F / 2P etc that has minimal haulage capacity may cause some issues, as well as those on the curve and lifting flap.

 

Good luck with sorting that Garage mate, Glad I live 100 miles away, hahhaha.

 

All the best.

[Ray H]

The layout – Part 2; The branch

 

The branch track will leave the junction possibly descending slightly for the short distance to the overbridge and meander leisurely around the road end of the garage near the inside edge of the baseboard to return along the right hand side of the garage in front of and slightly below the main fiddle yard. The aforementioned height difference being used to help disguise the said fiddle yard behind a backscene that will be low enough to reach over should the need arise to attend to any problems within the fiddle yard but high enough to disguise the fiddle yard’s presence from a seated position in the central operating well.

 

Virney Junction’s Up siding would have to remain level to stop stock rolling along it when left there.

 

I am hopeful that I can model a narrow branch line station with a couple of sidings to simulate Buckingham in front of the main fiddle yard and have the (small) branch fiddle yard beyond this station to represent the line onward to Banbury or at least the prototypically and somewhat larger and dedicated Goods Yard at Buckingham.

 

Padbury was the only station on the single line between Verney Junction and Buckingham. It had a short platform and a single siding. It would be nice to be able to incorporate that across the far end of the garage as it and the other branch freight facilities seem to have the potential for some interesting shunting movements. They may assist in stopping me from operating a “Jazz” style service on the main line when flying solo as I try to rattle through the timetable as if there was no tomorrow. A bit of leisurely shunting here and there with the odd interruption to run a train elsewhere could be quite therapeutic.

[Ray H]

Outline Track Plan

 

 

 

This is very much a hastily drawn up rough track plan using AnyRail (until I reached the 50 track piece limit of the trial version) to give readers a pictorial idea of what I've been trying to describe above.

 

It is already beginning to look like it could be a shoe horn job if I want to keep the platform off the curve (at Virney Junction) and I may just be a trying to squeeze too much in even if there isn't a vast amount of track.

 

I've used Peco 36" radius turnouts for this draft although the plan is to build my own.

 

I've used points to show where I plan to put trap points in some places as the points show up better.

 

I've had to reduce the platform length to 42 inches - enough for three coaches and a tender loco. I was hoping to get 48/49 inches for a fourth coach train although if I limit myself to using (models of) 57' long coaches I could reclaim a couple of inches.

 

The curves adjacent to the fiddle yard (and not shown) are currently set to 36"/38" radius although they will be hidden and could possibly be slightly tighter. The maximum radius that I think that I can achieve for the (outer rail) curve leading to the platform is 41" (with 39" on the inner track) and that leaves precious little space between the outside siding track and the top (left hand) garage wall although in that area the garage is a couple of inches wider which may be a blessing.

 

I think that I maybe able to ease things a little by curving the main line towards the top (left hand) garage wall immediately after the station and (just) possibly putting a slight but generous curve on that end of the platform. I could possibly experiment with something similar at the other end of the station by reducing most of the curve approaching the platform down to 36"/38" and opening it out to something a lot bigger towards the end and then starting the platform shortly after (to give the vehicle overhang a chance to flatten out).

 

I have had to reduce the branch track radius to 33" although that maybe because I've used the curved Peco point for the siding access at Padbry 9 currently intentional misspelling). I may reduce the curve's radius a little more so that I can ease it through the platform to minimise the gap between track and platform edge.

 

I will have to move Buckinhum station - intentional but possibly not permanent misspelling - further away from the bottom (or right hand) garage wall but there does seem to be enough space for a small dedicated branch fiddle yard beyond. Here I may relent and use a sector plate or cassettes as most of the traffic beyond the station is liable to be a multiple unit so I shouldn't need to keep fiddling with whatever method I choose which is one of the reasons for starting afresh as readers of my Wynsloe Road thread will know.

 

Comments and suggestions (polite and otherwise) would be appreciated.

[Andrew P]

Outline Track Plan

 

 

 

Virney Mk 1.jpg

This is very much a hastily drawn up rough track plan using AnyRail (until I reached the 50 track piece limit of the trial version) to give readers a pictorial idea of what I've been trying to describe above.

 

It is already beginning to look like it could be a shoe horn job if I want to keep the platform off the curve (at Virney Junction) and I may just be a trying to squeeze too much in even if there isn't a vast amount of track.

 

I've used Peco 36" radius turnouts for this draft although the plan is to build my own.

 

I've used points to show where I plan to put trap points in some places as the points show up better.

 

I've had to reduce the platform length to 42 inches - enough for three coaches and a tender loco. I was hoping to get 48/49 inches for a fourth coach train although if I limit myself to using (models of) 57' long coaches I could reclaim a couple of inches.

 

The curves adjacent to the fiddle yard (and not shown) are currently set to 36"/38" radius although they will be hidden and could possibly be slightly tighter. The maximum radius that I think that I can achieve for the (outer rail) curve leading to the platform is 41" (with 39" on the inner track) and that leaves precious little space between the outside siding track and the top (left hand) garage wall although in that area the garage is a couple of inches wider which may be a blessing.

 

I think that I maybe able to ease things a little by curving the main line towards the top (left hand) garage wall immediately after the station and (just) possibly putting a slight but generous curve on that end of the platform. I could possibly experiment with something similar at the other end of the station by reducing most of the curve approaching the platform down to 36"/38" and opening it out to something a lot bigger towards the end and then starting the platform shortly after (to give the vehicle overhang a chance to flatten out).

 

I have had to reduce the branch track radius to 33" although that maybe because I've used the curved Peco point for the siding access at Padbry 9 currently intentional misspelling). I may reduce the curve's radius a little more so that I can ease it through the platform to minimise the gap between track and platform edge.

 

I will have to move Buckinhum station - intentional but possibly not permanent misspelling - further away from the bottom (or right hand) garage wall but there does seem to be enough space for a small dedicated branch fiddle yard beyond. Here I may relent and use a sector plate or cassettes as most of the traffic beyond the station is liable to be a multiple unit so I shouldn't need to keep fiddling with whatever method I choose which is one of the reasons for starting afresh as readers of my Wynsloe Road thread will know.

 

Comments and suggestions (polite and otherwise) would be appreciated.

 

Evening Ray, I feel I'm to tired to make any real judgment, but a quick look and it all looks possible to me,

 

I would suggest that omitting the Padbury Station to have a longer looking main line run, even if it is alongside the Branch may be better.

 

Padbury will have the same problem as Wynslow Rd had with the 153 hanging over the Platform and looking awkward.

 

 

Also if Padbury was removed, Virney Junction Station could be moved 6 to 8 inches to the right, giving a longer straighter platform for the Station and that would look better as well.

 

Just my thoughts mate,

Hope you don't mind.

 

Nice project though.

[Ray H]

Thanks for the comments Andy.

 

It is amazing what you can discover simply taking a fresh look at pictures that you've glanced at several times before when either reading the books they're in initially or when you wanted a quick general check.

 

A closer look at both pictures and (signalling outline) plans of Verney Junction station show that there was only ever one Metropolitan platform, the adjacent track which I'd (incorrectly) assumed was a second was in fact just a (run round/through) loop.

 

I've also come to realise that what I thought was a (road) level crossing at the down end of the station serves little more than a track so I've lost the excuse for having a level crossing. Furthermore the ground around the station seems to be relatively flat so even the open top baseboard idea could go out of the window.

 

The LNWR signalling diagram in Bill Simpson's book indicates that the trailing crossover at the down end of the platforms was unsignalled. There's also no down end starting signal off the up platform so passenger train reversal there at least wasn't routine. Consequently, I could twist the truth and move the crossover to the down (Oxford) side of the junction. This would move the junction about 18 inches closer to the station or the platforms could be lengthened or a bit of both.

 

All noted on Padbury. I'll think a little more about that but the idea of the intermediate siding is attractive from an operating point of view. Perhaps my Class 153 - I just think its London Midland livery is so attractive - is destined never to run on the layout unless restricted to the main line. It is of course way outside my intended operational time frame anyway.

 

What I would be interesting in knowing is whether anyone makes a 4mm kit of the Derby Lightweight (single) railcar - either M79900 or M779901. I have the Bachmann two car but must pictures that I've seen only show the railcars on the branch or a two coach push-pull.

[Ray H]

Operation – Buckingham/Banbury Branch Passenger Trains

 

I’m developing my operational thoughts based on the few generally passenger timetable extracts that have been published in the four books that I so far have for the Oxford/Bletchley and Verney Junction/Banbury lines.

 

There were four Up and three Down weekday passenger services on the Banbury branch in the 1951, the last Up being branded as a Mail train. Even these could not be worked by a single train set as services in each directions were moving simultaneously at times. One train set appears to have been stabled at Banbury overnight.

 

British Railways tried to reduce costs at the end of the 50s with the introduction of railcars to replace what appears to have mainly been a two coach push pull service from the pictures that I’ve seen so far.

 

All of a sudden Banbury sported seven trains each way with a late night eighth on Saturdays in the last timetable before closure of the line beyond Buckingham. However, through journeys via four of the services in each direction involved a change of trains at Buckingham. The railcar worked to & from Banbury and the steam hauled service never went beyond Buckingham.

 

Fortunately both diesel and steam services were at Buckingham together so with a little application of modeller’s licence I can (and plan to) work on the basis that all trains were through trains, crossing at Buckingham when appropriate.

 

The branch service increased to nine journeys each way once the line closed beyond Buckingham and all but one journey could have been worked by a single unit. I thus have this as a fall back if I find that I don’t have the space for a fiddle yard beyond Buckingham station.

 

All trains appear to have been based at Bletchley latterly.

 

By using DMUs I can compress the platform length at Buckingham. Equally and with more compression that will test the skill of the driver, I could limit the length of Padbury platform (if I decide to keep the station) to be long enough (at about 14 inches) to just accommodate all the doors used by passengers, leaving front and rear driving cabs hanging over the ends

 

My main fiddle yard siding accommodation calculations therefore start with providing room for two branch DMUs (although, if pushed, I could make that one and berth the second train (in the fiddle yard) at Banbury overnight).