Growing up with trains

Thanks to my dad’s interests, I was raised on a healthy diet of trains, canals and anything powered by steam. It was therefore inevitable - after receiving a Hornby GWR Mixed Traffic train set for Christmas - that I would develop an interest in modelling for many years after.

My first layout was an extension of my first train set, with various different pieces added over time. It was safe to say it kept me busy until my teenage years, when I craved something more. At this stage, I was given access to the extensive loft where – with Dad’s help – I created a two-track loop with some sidings which allowed me to run longer trains. The loft was an ideal space for a model railway and would have been the envy of many modellers! Sadly, no photos seem to exist of that layout, no doubt a result of being a teenager at the time; you don't tend to be too concerned about the future! It was also the case that my attention was taken by all manner of other things and the loft layout ever seemed an endless task. It was never completed and I moved out of the house in my early twenties, taking much with me but leaving the skeleton of my former creation behind.

Moving on

A year or so into having my own home the modelling itch started again. I dabbled with creating a garden railway in 00 but it never really came together and I didn’t have the experience to make it operational. I soon decided that size was the issue and went for something smaller and more manageable. Layout 3 was a single loop of track with an emphasis on developing interesting scenics. This was where I learned many new techniques, made a few mistakes and had a great deal of fun in the process. One huge mistake was in the materials used to create the baseboard. I ended up using the chunkiest and heaviest wood around and now the whole thing weighs a ton!

A new adventure

After a few years layout 3 (I’d never really named any of my projects!) reached a stage where it wasn’t fulfilling my operational needs. It was just a loop of track after all. So I started a new project. Layout 4 would also be small but with an emphasis on operational interest this time round. I settled on a baseboard of 5ft by 16 inches, which would fit nicely in my shed and also be reasonably easy to relocate if required.

I played with some track and agonised over the design for some time, eager to get it right. I was interested in the idea of shunting puzzles so I settled on a series of sidings with a main through line above them. The through line would have hidden areas at either end, so trains could realistically enter or exit from the “rest of the world.” However, during the track laying stage, it became apparent that to hide even a modest length of train in these off-scene sections, I would waste a lot of the board. The track was modified and the layout became a branch terminus.

At this point track was laid and weathered, point motors installed and all electrics wired to a crude control panel. I looked to developing the surrounding scenics.

Discovering the Hawkhurst Branch

Originally I was going to use a Peco plastic kit for the station building but soon decided to build my own. I had had some success with scratch building structures and really enjoyed it. I am only a novice, so you can judge my efforts for yourself below. This is a half-relief scale model of the house in which I grew up – complete with pets! - made for my parents’ birthday.

I started to research station buildings on Kent lines. The only real brief for this (as yet unnamed) layout was that it would be Southern region. Being born in the late eighties I never had any experience with mainline steam and had no connection to any particular railway company. However, having lived in Kent all my life, being only a short drive from Ashford and volunteering on the Kent and East Sussex Railway, I figured Southern was the way to go. If I were to build my own station building, I would require a prototype first.

I started looking at Colonel Stephens’ light railways (the K&ESR being one) and soon discovered the Hawkhurst Branch. Although I had heard about this line, I had never put any energy into finding out more, despite having visited the now abandoned Badgers Oak Tunnel on a Geocaching hunt with my fiancee one day! I located some books on a well-known online auction site and started reading. I was fascinated by the history, particularly by the way that so little of the line remains today. I visited a few of the remaining locations; much of this line is very close to home.

Addleford Green is born!

I went straight back to layout 4 and began to plan around the idea of it being part of the Hawkhurst branch. It was a terminus so the most likely station was Hawkhurst itself but I had no interest in directly modelling a real location. I ultimately decided that layout 4 would represent an alternative history, where the Hawkhurst line was extended beyond Hawkhurst (as was the original plan on the real line) to a fictional station further into Kent. In reality they would have aimed for Ashford or Tenterden; in my world they never reached the main towns, instead falling short somewhere in between.

I struggled to fit what I wanted into the existing design and after many weeks of agonising, decided I had to start again. I scrapped pretty much the whole layout so far and came back with a not-too-dissimilar-but-better version that would allow me to do everything I wanted. It had to include the following:

• A station that could accommodate a loco and two carriages
• Engine shed
• Goods shed
• At least two sidings
• Enough scenic space for a hop form

But I still didn’t have a name for my new layout. I spoke to my long-suffering-but-very-patient-about-trains fiancee. Could she think of a name that sounded like a village in Kent? After a few suggestions she came upon Appleford Green – a portmanteau of two Kent locations. I didn't like the Apple prefix, feeling it felt a little too twee, so I softened the name to Addleford and the rest is history. A very long history, which I'm sorry you had to read!

All for now,

Jonathan

Next blog: A tour of the track and wiring...