Onwards and upwards – well I guess it depends on the direction of travel. The Branch Terminus and the Branch Junction described in my last posts are actually the highest parts of the layout being 158 mm higher than the original Main Terminus. Continuing our journey from the Branch Junction the title of this Post should probably read ‘Downhill all the way’ – I think not!

The Main Junction –wide angle

The Main Junction –panoramic

There are two single track lines from the Branch Junction, one supposedly being of GWR origin and the other having LNWR roots. The later circles round and down in true train set style to emerge at a lower level station immediately beneath the Branch Junction. I refer to this lower level station as the Main Junction. The track layout for the Main Junction is shown below diagrammatically. The station and the adjoining curves occupy a length of some 12 feet.

The Main Junction – not to scale

The majority of my stations tend to be an amalgamation of ideas gleaned from CJ Freezer and the Railway Modeller. In the case of the Main Junction the basic form of the station was taken from the high level through station in the track plan shown below out of the Railway Modeller dated October 1961. I like the idea of a station with three running lines where the centre track can be used for both running in two directions and for terminating trains. I also like the visual feature where engines or coaches can be stored in a spur between the two other running lines.

Track plan courtesy of CJ Freezer October 1961

To turn the Station into a junction I have added an additional platform face dedicated to branch traffic, with a crossover on the main line at the ‘southern’ end of the station.

The crossover at the ‘south’ end of the Station with a Bachmann Jubilee

The layout is designed to accommodate as many trains as possible. Where there is a single track it is important to provide passing places. As well as enabling trains to pass each other these loops can be used to provide temporary storage for whole trains. The Main Junction is no exception. Trains coming off the single track from the Branch Junction are filtered onto the mainline at the ‘north’ end of the station thus enabling a train coming off the single track to pass a train traveling in the opposite direction waiting in the dedicated branch platform.

Coming off the single track at the ’north’ end of the Station

Bachmann Crab coming off the single tack, Bachmann Jubilee waiting to depart form the dedicated branch platform

When I was sketching out the plans for the layout it became obvious that there was space for carriage sidings alongside the dedicated branch platform. In fact there was also space for yet another platform. This would be a ‘relief’ platform of the type constructed in the 1950s to accommodate football or holiday specials.

The Relief Platform with a Bachmann Class 108

To differentiate the Relief Platform from the rest of the station I scribed the paved surface in large bays to represent a newer concrete surfacing rather than the smaller rectangles I used for old flag stones.

The ‘north’ end looking across to the branch platform

I will take a break here and come back next time with some more details of other parts of the Main Junction Station.