I contracted what turned out to be a very persistent chest infection a few weeks ago – now almost recovered. While feeling considerably below par, I filled some of my time by restoring many of the images that were lost from my blogs during the great extinction of May 2021. I don’t expect that many will notice, and there may still be a few ‘gaps’, but it gave me a feeling of ‘completeness’

 

While I was doing this restoration, I realised that the narrow-gauge part of my 'North Leigh' layout never received much attention, in terms of the number of posts in which it appears. So, I have decided to produce a ‘pictorial’ post, to make up for this deficiency. In fact, almost all my narrow-gauge rolling stock dates back to the time when my layout was first created, to entertain my then-young son – i.e. about 45 years ago!  Similarly, much of the ‘scenery’ also dates back to that time and my wife must take the credit for a very large part of the ‘artistic’ design.

 

Scenic Design

 

My model was intended to serve the Cotswold limestone quarries in the area around Stonesfield (famous for fossil discoveries) and North Leigh, as well as a sawmill associated with the surrounding woodland – in fact I have since found that there is a heritage mill at Combe , which is now a tourist attraction. A later addition to my layout is a lime kiln, which I modelled on a real example near the village of Fawler .

 

For most of my layout’s existence, I assumed that the idea of a narrow-gauge railway in Oxfordshire was entirely fanciful but then, in 2021, I found information about the railway that Robert Tertius Campbell built in 1859 on the estate that he acquired at Buscot Park.  He built a narrow-gauge railway (2’ 8” gauge), with over 6 miles of track, round the estate.  Three 0-4-0 tank engines were supplied by Appleby Brothers of Southwark, and named after Campbell's daughters, Edith, Emily and Alice. 

 

My model includes exchange sidings to an equally fictitious main line linking the OW&WR to Witney, planned in 1849 but never executed. The overall plan of my layout is shown below, with the area covered by the narrow-gauge section highlighted in yellow. For more information about the ‘back story’ connected with my railway, see the post ‘Read Me First’.

 

 

 

Scenes on the Narrow Gauge

 

On the left hand side of the plan there is a loop that circles around a farm and also serves the sawmill at the bottom-left corner. The loop has a connection to the Depot towards the top-right of the plan, which is raised above the standard-gauge sidings that branch off from the main line though North Leigh.

 

An aerial view of the loop line shows the farm and the main features in that area. A narrow lane bounded by dry stone walls passes by the farm buildings on its way to the sawmill. The mill is water powered by the stream running down the valley from the high ground to the right of the image.

 

 

Many of the buildings were made from Faller kits and date back to my wife’s childhood, although some have been ‘Anglicised’ by the addition of Cotswold ‘slate’ roofs and other local features. The thatched farmhouse is a much-modified Airfix kit, with a skim of modelling clay, textured to provide a Cotswold appearance. Some sheep are grazing the field on one side of the lane, while a couple of pigs are root-ling around in a small area close to the farm buildings. The building on the centre right is a workshop for maintaining the tools used in the stone quarries. The water-powered sawmill can just be seen at top-left of the above image.

 

Coming down nearer to ground level, a close-up view of the sawmill shows the main features of this rather complex Faller model. I have Anglicised it a little, including the addition of a new Cotswold ‘slate’ roof. The water wheel is motorised and there is a vibrating (very noisy) saw for the logs on the trolley under the canopy. The narrow-gauge train includes a pair of bolster trucks for carrying logs to the mill. The back-scene is a photographic image, printed on several sheets of paper in low contrast, so that it recedes into the background

 

 

The next view shows a panorama across the farmland to the line of hills behind, the face being extensively quarried for the prized Cotswold stone. One of the narrow-gauge engines can be seen on the line running behind the small barn by the farmhouse: On the right hand side, the line passes in front of the workshop, set into the quarry face, and then continues via a bridge over the main line to the Depot, with its engine shed and transfer facilities to the standard-gauge lines.

 

 

At the Depot, shown below, the timber yard can be seen on the left while, in the foreground are the facilities for transferring stone and other items by either a chute or a small crane to the main line. An old grounded coach body acts as the mess-room for the staff of the Depot.

 

 

In the following image, a load of stone, brought down from the quarry, is ready to be unloaded and transferred to the standard-gauge line below:

 

 

Beyond the engine-shed, another narrow-gauge line continues to a lime kiln set into the hillside beyond. Here, I have again used a photographic back-scene, printed in low contrast so that it recedes into the background.  It is based on photos that I took around the 'real' location at Fawler.

 

 

Returning from the kiln, the line passes behind the engine shed towards the small timber yard and then to the farms that can be seen in the distance, crossing a bridge over the main line on the way. A cattle truck can be seen on the left. The vegetation has become rather wild and unkempt in the area behind the engine shed:

 

 

After crossing the bridge over the main line, another narrow-gauge line diverges from the farm loop towards the quarries cut into the face of the line of hills behind North Leigh. The line first passes in front of the workshop, set into the quarried hillside, as shown below. The workshop is another Faller building, modified by adding a Cotswold stone roof. Part of the large barn and farmyard can be seen in front of the railway.

 

 

The branch line then continues towards the darker recesses of the quarry itself, cut deeply into the hillside in a damp fern-laden hollow:

 

 

 

At the entrance to the quarry tunnel, a wagon turntable allows the stone trucks to be turned and assembled into trains, ready for taking down to the transfer siding at the Depot.

 

In this area opposite the quarry entrance, just visible on the left of the photo below, there is another Faller building – this time an overshot water wheel, which originally could be operated with real water from a tank on trestles that can be seen in the background. This proved rather hazardous, in view of the potential damage to the surrounding scenery, so was soon discontinued!

 

 

The area by the rocky stream, below the water mill, provides a tranquil corner, where I first saw Amy Wilcote painting at her easel. I have previously shown examples of her paintings in an earlier post .

 

Miss Wilcote by the Water Mill

 

I hope that this collection of scenes has shown how much variety can be packed into a small space when using 009-scale narrow-gauge railway, with features that allow for plenty of operational activity.

 

Mike