The West Mersea Branch - 1946 Essex in ScaleSeven

 

by buckjumper

 

original page on Old RMweb

__________________________________________

 

??? posted on Mon Jul 30, 2007 3:30 pm

 

This thread began way back on RMWeb2 and was migrated to later incarnations. As the layout is still under construction I thought it worthwhile to dump it over here to the all-singing, all-dancing RMweb X.0.1.

 

Here's a pr?©cis of the story so far.

 

The project is the brainchild of Peter Hunt, proprietor of Perfect Miniatures, and the layout is built in 7mm to ScaleSeven standards. The layout is being built during regular meetings on the last Sunday of each month with couple of Wednesday meetings for good measure. Although working to S7, there have been a goodly number of 0F modellers turning up regularly to help out.

 

The project is ambitious. The first meeting was in Jan 05, and after a few brainstorming meetings, the first 12" of track went live in that September after 30' x 4' of boards had been constructed. These are entirely in MDF, and have been soaked (with no ill effects) on more than one occasion thanks to a dodgy roof.

 

The railway is set in June 1946 - which gives some interesting choices for locos in both pre-War and wartime liveries.

 

Trackwork is hand built using pine and lime sleepers/timbers, steel rail with C&L and Exactoscale plastic chairs. The steel rail is subject to entropy thanks to the potent combination of steel flux and the aforementioned sieve-like roof but running hasn't been marred by this, and is also unaffected by the wheel cleaning regimen which appears to be an anathema to Peter and therefore non-existent! Electrical feed is via one brass chair on each electrical section with a dropper wire soldered to the underside (no unsightly blobs of solder here!) which is wired to a bus running under the layout, each rail end is placed in a jig and two holes drilled through. Our own two-piece brass fishplate castings are then slotted through and soldered together. This gives the desired expansion gap, and the fishplate works the same as the prototype. Currently point tie bars are temporary PCB, but we're working on a system of cast cranked rods as per prototype which which will slot through holes drilled in the switch blades. Yes, there will be an electrically dead section on the bars.

 

Much of the trackwork has been laid by Colin Dowling, John Watson (of the Mid-Suffolk Light P4 layout 'Kenton' fame), David Whitaker and Peter, and everyone else has been employed on drilling fishplate holes, soldering droppers to brass chairs and threading plastic chairs onto rails, wiring etc.

 

I just turn up, drink coffee, eat cake and devour Peter's vast library of railway books - after all, I model all week long!

 

Control is by DCC and currently a Gaugemaster Prodigy is being used.

 

We're going through a track testing phase - checking gauge, check rail clearance, electrics etc, and I've been messing about with all manner of electrostatic grass fibres, fake fur, hanging basket liner, hair and wotnots to try and achieve a scythed grass bank which looks right - I'm desperate to get rid of the lurid grass mats Peter's put down pro tem just 'to give us an idea...' Scenic treatment begins next month!

 

So what's in the photo (taken yesterday)?

 

 

Well, apart from the typical detritus, the photo is taken from Mersea Avenue bridge - which leads to the next part of the project. The left hand track is the headshunt with the down and up running lines next on the right. The brass locos are sitting in the pilot loco siding (current incumbents are a Southern somethingorother [why?!?!], a C13 and a J17), then there's the carriage siding and cattle dock. The block of wood nearest the camera indicates the position of a bothy and between this and the mockup of the watertower will be an assortment of PW huts, mess rooms, and all manner of rat-infested huts, van bodies, ladidah. Between the water tower and signal box will be a large GE-style wooden coaling pier.

 

In the distance is the main platform with some coaches occupying the road, there's a bay to the right, and a parcels and end loading platforms beyond which both have stock in. The run round loop to the left of the main platform road has a milk dock next door, and there's also a builder's merchant's warehouse beyond that.

 

Peter has been to measure up Framlingham station buildings and West Mersea will be based on them but in an extended format. The water tower will probably be based on the Framlingham one too, and the signal box will be one of the later GE types, big enough to accommodate a 60-70 lever frame...there are plans to make the levers in the 'box move when points are thrown...

 

What you see is only half the intended width, and the left-hand points on the headshunt nearest the camera will lead eventually to another next set of boards which will incorporate a gas works, a maltings, a goods shed, timber sheds and coal sidings.

 

According to Peter's timetable we'll be starting the next phase late 2008 - this some 18' of double track plus the headshunt in a cutting bounded by the Mersea Avenue and Firs Road bridges. This section will be exhibitable. Beyond that phase will eventually be the loco shed, a turntable, engineer's sidings, carriage sidings, and the junction to the East Mersea branch, and beyond that the junction to the Rowhedge branch.

 

The whole kiboodle is anticipated to exceed 120' in length in it's current format (however, as usual, Peter has more plans...)

 

I said it was ambitious!

 

I'll see if I can find some of the older photos of things in progress.

__________________________________________

Comment posted by Colin on Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:47 pm

 

Blimey, that's some layout on the way!

I'd always envisaged any potential line to West Mersea as a light railway in the style of the Kelvedon-Tiptree-Tollesbury line - J15s on 2-coach trains of ancient stock crossing a long timber trestle over the Strood, that sort of thing.

Was the line ever actually planned, or even started? The countryside south of Colchester rolls a fair bit, there could be some interesting scenic features!

__________________________________________

 

??? posted on Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:01 pm

 

I don't know of any serious plans for a line to Mersea - I'll have to check with Peter, but the East Mersea and Rowhedge branches certainly will be in best rickety GE style.

 

The background is that West Mersea had a bit of a late Victorian boom similar to other East Anglian seaside resorts after the line was opened in the mid- 1860s - hence the '1865' architecture of the station building, but with the later 1880/90s additions. The signalling will have been upgraded at this date, and that will also be reflected in the style of the box.

__________________________________________

Comment posted by nobby on Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:23 pm

 

My wife comes from and my mother-in-law still lives in West Mersea so i shall look forward to watching the progress of this with interest.

 

Am i correct in thinking that i have seen another layout elsewhere which was also an "imaginary" view of the line in OO gauge.

__________________________________________

 

??? posted on Mon Jul 30, 2007 8:45 pm

 

IIRC there was one called West Mersea at one time Nobby.

 

OK - so going back in time to September 05 - baseboards have been built, and the first sleepers in the bay and parcels road have been laid. Chairs have been threaded onto rails, power hooked up to the dropper from each brass chair in this length, Peter's attached one of his J69s which is under construction and she rolls forward first time to smiles all round.

 

 

 

Came the evening and a GE sandwagon was attached - our first little shunt.

 

__________________________________________

Comment posted by westrerner on Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:05 pm

 

It looks as though it will be a stonkingly good layout. Knowing the area reasonably well having sailed the R Blackwater and Mersea Quarters and the R Colne for many years, I will follow the layouts progress with interest.

__________________________________________

Comment posted by L49 on Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:00 pm

 

Bloody Hell...

 

That's about all I can say. It looks like it's going to be a superb layout. I agree with Colin, I always imagined that any line onto the island would be a bit lighter, bu this really looks like it will be good.

 

Are there any plans for an intermediate station on the way out of town? I suspect the formation woul;d have to curve away quite sharply from the St Botolphs branch, and pass under Magdalen Street, before heading off into barracks land. There is a gorgeous little building behind the bus garage which I have always wanted to model as a station, it has the perfect facade... That's another one of those 'future' jobs. Maybe a station at Monkwick or Middlewick, within the council estates established there from the 30's to the 50's, or is that a bit modern?

__________________________________________

 

??? posted on Tue Jul 31, 2007 2:41 pm

 

I'm not sure what plans Peter has as the line heads towards Colchester - in one sense we daren't ask..!

 

I do know he has written a full history of the line from conception to present day... plus all the technical bits of info. I ought to get him to publish it online in the style of a Peter Paye line history

 

Anyway, I thought this might be of use - we're working on everything below the red line atm. Everything above will be tackled in the future. I'll post the trackplan beyond A-A later - so you can see the exhibitable bit.

 

__________________________________________

Comment posted by Ralf on Tue Jul 31, 2007 2:57 pm

 

It's all stunningly impressive but wow, this bit in particular caught my eye!!!!

__________________________________________

Comment posted by Bar Side on Wed Aug 01, 2007 3:16 pm

 

Adrian

 

Do I recall you saying on the last thread that this is being built somewhere near Stowmarket?

 

Ivan

__________________________________________

 

??? posted on Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:26 pm

 

Sudbury.

__________________________________________

Comment posted by Bar Side on Thu Aug 02, 2007 12:05 pm

 

Stunning looking already so I shall be watching updates with interest. This was one of the layouts from earlier RMWebs that had me thinking about what had happened to it.

B12s over the strood? Not sure that brave is the right word.... Would have made a fabulous sight though - not unlike the run from Manningtree in to Brantham. Plenty of mud & high tides. Got stuck on Mersea island on fathers day this year by the exceptional high tide. I hadn't checked the tide times before heading off.

 

Ivan

__________________________________________

 

??? posted on Thu Aug 02, 2007 10:26 pm

 

I shall try to remember to update the thread each month once I've run out of older photos. Getting stuck on Mersea island sounds like fun

 

In November a pile of rails had been cut to size, drilled for fishplate fixing bolts and labelled to match Peter's seemingly mad schematic. However, it did mean we could ID any bit of rail, know where it was going to go and what power was going to be needed. Sleepers and point timbers were laid in the platform areas and the rails roughly placed on top.

 

 

One of the great things about the project is that even though we're working to ScaleSeven standards there are many 0F modellers involved too - everyone's made very welcome and then given a job to do based on what they feel capable or comfortable doing. This attitude has firmly laid to rest the idea that those of us working in the true-to-scale gauges are inhabiting ivory towers or up our own backsides, and the proof in the pudding is that there are often more 0 gaugers present at a meeting than S7 bods.

 

One of our talented 0 gaugers, David Whitaker scratchbuilds most of his stock as he models c1890. Here a scratchbuilt GER Little Sharpie is buffered up to one of my GER Special Cattle Boxes.

 

 

By Christmas 2005 a number of tracks were laid at the country end of the station, and were invariably clogged up by visiting locos in the buff

 

 

Colin Dowling's brassy J68 shunts my ancient GER Special Cattle Box - I'd obviously done zero work on it in the intervening month whereas David's Little Sharpie was probably painted and in service...

 

__________________________________________

 

??? posted on Tue Aug 28, 2007 11:03 pm

 

Hooking out some more photos from the development we come to Feb 06. Colin painted and weathered his J68...

 

 

...and loads of half finished bits of stock began to populate every square inch of laid track...

 

 

...more stock. The finished van on the left is also by Colin whereas mine is incomplete and on the right. Pennine intercepted my van early in it's build and suggested the rainstrips on the Slater's model were perhaps somewhat less than accurate. He posted one or two suggestions and I plumped for the ones you see here. Mere minutes with a scalpel and replacement strip, and it's visually worth a million bucks (if you'll pardon the pun). Four photos of the completed van can be found here

 

 

Then there's a bit of a gap in my photographic record - though Peter's got loads of photos himself.

 

So come July 06 and quite a lot of work has been done. There's also a lot of visiting stock this month. Geoff Stenner brought his scratchbuilt SER O Class. This has the the smoothest, quietest loco mech I have ever seen. Entirely scratchbuilt with ballraces throughout and a Sid Stubbs motor/box, like all of Geoff's locos, even at a crawl the loco travels several times it's own length when the power is switched off.

 

 

Visiting B17 Somerleyton Hall with Peter's brassy J69 and Colin's J68 behind.

 

 

Colin built B12 8579 in 32mm gauge, so it won't be starring on West Mersea. However he has got about half a dozen to build for the line - all with his own design of crank axle for working inside motion.

 

 

The Thompson D328 is one I built for a customer and is out of period here. Any Thompson coaches on West Mersea will be finished in the ersatz teak livery. Eight photos of the completed coach can be found starting here

 

 

We worked through many types of grass mats, fur fabric, bleaches, dyes, and were unhappy with everything. we want grass to look like grass, not a teddy bear or underlay. Al the rejects seemed to get piled on the embankment and left there for months. We now know what we're going to use - but that's for another instalment. The chap on the right is the genius behind the whole crazy idea - Peter Hunt. Older members may remember one of his earlier business ventures - he was one half of Chuffs.

 

 

Patience is a virtue. These scratchbuilt SER coaches took Geoff 9 years to build...

 

 

By August there was some interesting progression. A visiting A4 goes head to head with the B12 and Colin's J68 has undergone a minor transformation. Another transformation is the grass bank. Over the top of one of the grass mats I used Heki fibres puffed from a Noch bottle. This gave the best result so far - certainly the colour is better(!), but still I wasn't happy.

 

 

Also visiting this month was this Princess.

 

 

A study of the mocked-up station buildings. Those along the platform are in the 1865 style when the branch was opened. The L shaped one at the end is a later addition to help cope with the booming resort traffic in the 1890s, and is based on Framlingham.

 

 

Colin's transformed J68. This was handed to me for some weathering and a round dozen photos of the model can be found here

 

 

Next: into the new year.

__________________________________________

 

??? posted on Wed Aug 29, 2007 11:22 pm

 

Jan 07: Came the New Year, came David Whitaker's GER 4-2-2 P43 Class Single to visit.

 

 

Scratchbuilt except for a handful of castings David said it had been on the backburner for a while. Ostensibly designed by James Holden, Fred Russell -Chief Draughtsman did most of the work, much as he did throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, ensuring a continuation of the in-house style over several Locomotive Superintendents.

 

 

However, I'm sure Holden did have much input as not only does it hark back to the style of SW Johnstone (in charge at Stratford before moving to Derby), and lends much to his Midland no 1 & no 2 classes, but there are shades of the Dean Singles in there too; Holden was Dean's Principal Assistant at Swindon before being lured to Stratford. The P43s were a small part of the Indian summer of the Singles at the turn of the century, but were replaced from the crack expresses within two years as the Claud Hamilton class were released to traffic, and only lasted 10 years.

 

 

By now the mocked-up warehouse and sidings opposite the station were in situ.

 

__________________________________________

 

??? posted on Thu Aug 30, 2007 8:00 pm

 

Another gap in my photographic record but by April some temporary wire-in-tube bits and bobs had begun to be fitted to the points. These are attached to temporary PCB stretcher bars until the cast ones based on the prototypes arrive. Once they're in place we'll begin to look at the proper mechanical bits and pieces which will drive both these and the signals. Part finished wagons continue to clog up the lines as do the Kirk Gresley's.

 

 

Peter has often dug up bits of trackwork between meetings, the plan evolving much like the real thing did over many years. In the top left the trackwork has been lifted and slewed to make for a smoother transition. A fearsomely complex bit of pointwork was going to be built off the layout and inserted off picture to the left, but the chap was unable to complete the task for a couple of (very good) reasons. This was no problem and instead it was built in situ. IIRC some changes to the crossing angles prompted the ripping up of rail and sleeper and relaying.

 

 

Happily I've managed to avoid all of the tracklaying malarky by drinking copious amounts of coffee and eating cake while discussing important things like the styles of buffer stops which would be extant, the types of wild flower in bloom in June (June 1946 remember!), styles of GE and LNER railway fencing, whether some 9' sleepers would still be in the sidings and other scenic curiosities.

 

The unfinished tank wagon in the distance ended up looking like this

 

__________________________________________

Comment posted by Dan Randall on Thu Aug 30, 2007 11:18 pm

 

Adrian

 

That's a pretty impressive train set and I look forward to future updates.

 

Regards

 

Dan

__________________________________________

Comment posted by onslaught832 on Thu Aug 30, 2007 11:28 pm

 

That's one hell of a project, thanks for posting it. Is the platform MDF too I will look forward to your updates, It has been a fascinating read so far

__________________________________________

 

??? posted on Fri Aug 31, 2007 5:10 pm

 

Yep - MDF it is.

 

A couple more instalments to come to bring it all up to date.

 

__________________________________________

Comment posted by Sarcodelic on Sun Sep 02, 2007 12:23 pm

 

That's very nice.

 

I never realised that J69s were legal tender in the U.S. before

__________________________________________

 

??? posted on Sun Sep 02, 2007 5:48 pm

 

Aha! The only legal tender bucks were J67s 68492 and 68511, both on the Lauder branch in Scotland

 

 

__________________________________________

Comment posted by Sarcodelic on Mon Sep 03, 2007 12:52 pm

 

 

Why didn't I see something like that coming? I'm outpunned!

__________________________________________