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@MikuMatt81 Hi, You haven't lost the plot, and all is not lost. 🙂 You just need to think in terms of industrial turnouts, and get into Templot. Industrial turnouts are very often flat-bottom, but not always. You can find plenty of very short bullhead turnouts in old industrial sidings. The Peco Set-Track turnouts are very close to a 9ft-1:3.75 bullhead turnout, having a model radius of 18 inches in 00 gauge. Here I have overlaid one in Templot on the Peco plan which you posted: If you get into 3D printing that would be very easy to build. Templot can create all the files you need to create this on 3D printers, and the filing jigs needed to make the rail parts: See about Plug Track at: https://85a.uk/templot/club/ Martin. -
Post addition 23-11-2021 Deffors was a light railway themed layout with a station and goods yard but as of This summer (from page 12) it has been scrapped down to bare board and is being rebuilt as purely freight/ industrial. Most of the pages are baren now as well full of dead Flickr links which i may eventually get replaced ---------------------------original----------------------------------------------------------------- Hi, Deffors will be 60cm by 223cm O gauge layout, a 3 track sector table, 2 track goods yard, headshunt, station, for anyone not familiar with my "bodging" thread, i first posted Deffors on there and the stock that will run on Deffors has been on there http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/91456-sirdouglas-o-gauge-bodging/page-1 i have the templot plan printed out and rolled up, the four points built and put away
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Having now sent off the application form, I think this is a more appropriate place to discuss the planning process for Wheal Imogen, carrying on from my initial blog post here. Anyway I will launch this thread with an extract of the key details from the entry form. Layout Name: Wheal Imogen Location: Cornwall Period: 1987 Scale: 4mm / P4 OO Size: Approximately 4ft by 2ft scenic wedge, with Inspiration: The layout is inspired by the smaller china clay branches which survived in operation until the end of the 1980s. In particular the branch to Ponts Mill, with a flavouring of Carbis Wharf thrown in. Track: Will be fully hand built using a mixture of plastic and ply sleepers along with Exactoscale chairs. All track will be designed in Templot. Stock: Is a mixture of DCC fitted RTR locos (Bachmann Class 37s and Peaks, Hornby Class 08s and 50s) along with a mix of detailed RTR and kit built freight stock. All of which appropriate for the modelled year. There will be a capability to eventually expand the running stock to operate in 1984, 1987 and 1996 due to the relatively minor differences in the structures between these dates.) Details: The centre piece of the layout will be the clay driers, incorporating an automated top loader for loading hopper wagons and an area intended for loading bagged clay into vans. To maximise the operating capabilities a second structure containing a clay slurry loading pump will form an additional spur. Other ancillary buildings will complete the scene, along with a canal running along the front of the layout between the siding / through line and the yard. Presentation: While the final form of how best to present the layout is still rather up in the air (pending the final decision on the track plan and its associated impact on the shape of the boards). The intention is to use an integrated curved front fascia matching the curve of the canal / branch track. This in turn would also support the lighting rig. The back scene will feature a sweeping curve blending in the corners and the transition into the wedge shape. Rough Sketch of the track plan This is not to scale, and the alignment between the yard and the through line needs a lot of work. I think this is more of an ideal situation which will need to be adjusted due to the constraints of space. The site is intended to be located at the bottom of a valley (again following the prototype of Ponts Mill) thus explaining the compact nature of the works. On Monday I fly out to Sevilla for the week. I will be bringing the Templot laptop will be coming with me, with the intention of trying out a few options of different track plans in the evenings after work.
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Note for new readers: It's worth reading just the first post on this page to get the background, and then skipping to half way down page 7. That's because I moved house in 2018 and the layout had to be started again. If you're the kind of person that likes to read everything in a thread, then get a cuppa and crack on, for everyone else the development of the current layout starts on page 7. See you there! 'The Reality' Christleton would have been a relatively inconspicuous village south east of Chester, had it not been for an anti-railway landowner on the outskirts of Chester in the late 1840’s. Lord George Scott unintentionally created a future mecca for train spotters in the North West. Following the completion of the Crewe to Chester Railway and the onward link to Holyhead, the Birkenhead, Lancashire and Cheshire Railway sought to decrease the Manchester to Chester journey time and cut out the need to travel via Crewe. The original intention was to run directly from Warrington to Chester, and many current maps incorrectly reflect that route. Lord Scott’s refusal to sell land, and his influence with the city council, led the BL&CR to build the route and join the Crewe lines just south of Chester. Despite numerous proposals, the connection could not be made to get a direct lead into Chester station and so they settled for a Warrington to Crewe connection, leading to the creation of a station at Christleton with reversal platforms to allow trains to run from Manchester to Holyhead. Of course in the early days of railways, a loco change half way between Manchester and Holyhead was positively welcomed and only in later days did it become something of a nuisance. In the Heyday of steam it became a must visit spot for school boys keen to see black 5s, patriots and jubilees coming and going, particularly on the summer holiday trains from Yorkshire and the North East. The South to North connection had another advantage; the Christleton loop became a diversionary route for the West Coast mainline and was often used to relieve pressure on the main line. Cross country services from the South coast to Scotland became regular callers at Christleton to allow better connections from Holyhead to the North. In the late 60’s the loop was included in the West Coast electrification programme, although the mooted wiring onward to Holyhead never happened, so the terminal platforms and yard were never electrified. In the summer of 1986, Christleton was still a favourite with enthusiasts keen to see the last days of the Peaks reversing on the trans-pennine services, watching the electric to diesel loco changes on the Euston – Holyheads, the varied traction heading for the North Wales coast and the plethora of trains diverted off the West Coast. Reduced to being a sub-shed of Crewe at this stage, the stabling points for both diesel and electric were nevertheless still firm favourites for loco fans, being just off the platform ends. The real surprise is that it hasn’t been modelled before… The Model The layout has been a long time coming and is the result of several years of being a background rmweb reader. Having renovated a Victorian house over the last 10 years, planning permission was received last year for a railway in the cellar, which put an end to 20 plus years of model railway wilderness. They say plagiarism is the highest form of complement, so there should be a number of flattered authors on rmweb. Essentially I’ve stolen all the bits I like about other people’s railways and combined them into my own plan. I want to model the transitional years from blue and grey to sectorisation, running the diesels and electrics I remember from my youth. An 85 on intercity and a 45 on trans-pennine wasn’t an easy combination to mix, but eventually the idea for Christleton Junction formed into a sort of believable concept. With the cellar renovated and the sub-boards built, I decided it was finally time to open the rmweb closet door and step into the light. Before I move on to the next stage, which I think is to start cutting wood for baseboards, I thought it would be useful to gather some views from the rmweb community and gain from the benefit of the combined experience of others. I have drafted the first track plan using Anyrail based on Peco pointwork, although it is my intention to use Marcway or handbuilt track for the scenic areas. I’m currently thinking templot may be required. The backstory has been developed to allow me to have a continuous run and a terminus in one. The station is entirely fictional although I have tried to design it in keeping with LNWR practice as subsequently modified by BR for electrification. I originally started with Huddersfield in mind, and some parts may well end up along those lines, although I’m not sure Yorkshire stone is right for Cheshire. I’ve designed the layout against the following operating possibilities, with a specific period of September 1986: Euston – Holyhead intercity services. Aircon mk 2s in blue grey and intercity, with traction changing from electric (85, 86, 87) to diesel (47) and vice versa. Some services may change traction at Crewe to allow testing of locos from Crewe works. Anglo – Scottish interregional services, mixed mk 2 con blue grey rakes, with the odd intercity coach, hauled by 85s and 86s. Transpennine services, reversing in the terminal platforms, hauled by 45s and 47s. Mk 2 non-air con, with the first of the trans pennine livery coaches appearing, plus the other random liveries that Heaton used to put out. And a first real modelling challenge to create some sealed beam class 45s! Cardiff / Crewe – Bangor / Holyhead services, mk 1s, class 33 and 47 hauled. Did these occasionally get 25 or 31 hauled? Manchester – Holyhead loco hauled relief services, mk 1s, 47 hauled. Reversing in the terminal platforms. Stoke – Llandudno loco hauled, mk 1s, 47s and maybe D200! Crewe – Warrington EMU local service, a chance to build some 305 / 310 kits. Parcels trains have various options and can be 25, 31 or 47 hauled. I’m not sure if Newspaper trains would be an option in 86? A couple of DMUs should also be able to potter around. On the freight side there are a number of through freights, including MGR, steel, tanks and freightliner with haulage by 20, 25, 31, 45, 47 plus some electrics. I’m not sure 37s or 56s would be appropriate? The layout allows for some speedlink and permanent way train shunting, so 25, 31 and 47 again, with the bonus of an ex 40 in the shape of a 97. As well as an 08 or two, I think the Chester area was one of the last to have 03s – it is certainly going to be! My draft layout plan is below, together with a few iphone shots of the room. The sub-boards go most of the way around, no additional legs should be needed. On the future station site, the first rolling stock and some Marcway templates are laid out to give me an impression of how it will look. I welcome your thoughts before I make any regrettable mistakes! Andy General view of the station area. The station, with a class 40 in the bay and the 37 on the down main. The station area again. The BG sits in what will be platform 5, with some speedlink wagons in the yard. An overview of the fiddle yard area, where the Warrington and Holyhead lines come in. The other end of the fiddle yard. The area where the through lines will be. I may need a couple of baseboard legs here.
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Reflection on Jigs, How to bend flat bottom rail. Next steps. Two of the jigs critical to scratch track building are the crossing vee and the switchblades. Whilst these are available for bullhead, none, as far as I am aware, are available for flat bottom rail. And if making them oneself, neither are there any jigs. Martin Wynne, of Templot fame, has developed and 3D printed such jigs, but I think once again, they are for bullhead rail. in any case I don't own a 3D printer...! The only solution viable solution to the crossing vee jig issue are those made by Fast Tracks although the switchblade part of the jig is obviously of no use for shallow depth switch rails. Moreover, they are single size per jig, unlike 4 sizes per jig like the current bullhead offerings, and quite expensive; both the items and shipping. With a need for 2 x 1:8, 5 x 1:10 and 5 x 1:12, and made up bullhead crossing vees costing £22 (the flat bottom would be similar) the cost is £264 plus shipping, say £12, so £276 total. The cost of 3 jigs and shipping from Canada is £176 including shipping. Add in 20% VAT and possible 10% customs and the cost rises to £229. So, have bitten the bullet and ordered. I did notice when browsing that the Fast Track Jigs come in various styles. I ordered one #12 Point Form Filing Jig and a #8 and #10 Crossing Point Form Filing Jig. The crossing point form filing jigs are the same as the point form filing jig but with an additional angle for making the sharper vees for double crossovers. It increased the overall bill by £3. So the 1:8 has an additional 1:4 crossing vee slot, whilst the 1:10 has an additional 1:5 crossing vee slot. Whilst these ratios do not match those required for a UK double crossing, they might be useful for other purposes. Somebody did suggest on an american forum just buying the 1:12 as then you can make any angle you want down to 1:4 simply by filling in with solder. See why their trains don't go very fast..!! The solution for the switchblades might be simpler, I think the bullhead switchblade jig can be used, at least for part of the process. One of the issues I had when bending flat bottom rail to make wing/check rails is that is distorts the rail so one leg of the wing/check rail is raised and may be twisted. This means the rail does not sit flat and the railhead is misaligned. The solution is to file a v slot into the foot of the rail just up to the web, maybe slightly less, on the side where the bend is to be made inwards. The rail can then be bent with minimal distortion. Image on the left with the 'nick' and on the right without. Notice the rail has lifted and twisted when the other half of the wing/check rail is held flat. Hopefully, I am not teaching people to suck eggs on bending rail..! Whilst I await the jigs from Canada I will make a common crossing assembly jig. I only have 3 sizes, so not complicated. Patrick
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I recently attended the Autumn weekend Track Building course at Missenden Abbey, the last one to be tutored by Norman Solomon before he departs for pastures new. I successfully built a B9 crossover in EM gauge and am now looking to build a similar crossover in flat bottom rail as my intended layout wil have FB with concrete sleepers for the main line and BH and wooden sleepers for the branch Iines. And this is where the problems began...! I have discovered that, and please forgive my ignorance: There are basic FB turnout templates in Templot but no chair information. No C&L templates for FB There are no concrete 'timbers' or 'sleepers' for FB rail. EMGS may possible have the equivalent of S1 chairs but they are out of stock (Baseplate Clip & Bolt for FB Rail - pack 250) There are no plastic turnout chairs for FB rail that I could find although I imagine the slide chairs might well be similar. I have purchased a copy of British Railway Track - Design Construction and Maintenance 5th edition, which is mainly concerned with FB, to supplement my 3rd edition, which is mainly concerned with BH. I am hoping I have just not found the entrance to Aladdin's Cave where I will find all the parts required but that is probably wishful thinking. Of course the next generation of track builders may not know what Bullhead is as they will probably be building layouts for the modern era. N gauge are well catered for in this by British Finescales excellent all rail kits for FB turnouts with concrete sleepers. I think this is going to be an interesting voyage of discovery. However, I can't be the first to want to go down this route so any and all vice most welcome. Patrick
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Time to break cover..... Charlton bridge is my forthcoming, biggest and most ambitious project to date. In the past, I have built various small branch line layouts but now I have the chance to build something really get to grips with. The concept is 1960s southern region mainline perhaps more to the west of the region than the East. So something loosely based on the lines to Salisbury, Weymouth or Exeter. All built to 00, but as finescale as I can get it. If anyone was sad enough to look at the various postings I’ve made on here and the Templot forum over the last few months, you will pretty much get an idea of what I have been up to. This thread is now an attempt to draw it altogether and to present a coherent story. But to start at the beginning. Having been a lifelong railway enthusiast, I have built different layouts in the past ranging from 009, 4mm to 7mm and most recently a 16 mm garden line with live steam. Virtually all of these layouts have been end to end types of various different sizes. I have a friend who has a large 00 layout in her loft representing ‘summer Saturdays in the West’ which is a large double track oval with various branch lines off. I actually have rather enjoyed just watching full length trains belt round the double track oval and decided that this was a sort of thing I was after. It has been gently simmering in my mind for several years waiting the opportunity and the enthusiasm to make a start. Back this time last year I built a small workshop and found I had space for yet another branch line terminus which I based on ‘Minories’. This was built with SMP track coupled to handbuilt soldered points. The track was designed using Templot and the whole thing was moderately successful inasmuch as everything ran okay and the track looked good but operationally I still hankered after the oval. Then of course came lockdown. Seeing that I would be stuck at home for several months it seemed like the ideal opportunity to move ahead. We have a large garden and there is no difficulty in accommodating a new railway shed. Accordingly I set out a track design that would suit me then worked out the size of shed required to accommodate it. 7.5m x 4.5m was the final size that seemed to be about right. Out came the spades, spirit levels, screwdrivers, hammers, and seemingly enormous piles of timber and over a couple of months a new super duper shed was put up. It was lucky that we also had someone else locked in with us as I couldn’t have done it all on my own, hefting around large sheets of 8 x 4 onto the roof is not the easiest thing! Here are some pictures showing the shed in progress. i'm really pleased with the outcome. Its now all completed, electrics, lighting, flooring, ceilings, decoration etc. For now, my wife is using the new shed as a table tennis room while i construct bits for the new layout. The plan is to move into the shed during september to start putting together the kit of layout parts i am assembling. I will add new entries over the next few days to catch up on progress. Ian
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I have always had a soft spot for the Lynton & Barnstable railway: a narrow gauge railway but with standard gauge style. Over the last couple of years we have holidayed a few times in N Devon, visited the area and, of course, the preserved railway itself. A grand little line, that is becoming a great success with outstandingly pretty countryside around it. Many of you will know that the line closed in the mid 1930s but had a significant investment by the Southern Railway in the ‘20s, before closure. There is a massive amount of information available on the line. Anyway, following this N Devon inspiration, I have acquired some 4mm scale L&B bits and pieces. I have started a diorama of Lynton, usually working in the camper van when we are away - and with a very slow rate of progress; at this stage it is just the engine shed area to see if I like it (the shed is on the left in this image). An Australian company, Outback Models, has made some very reasonable printed and laser cut card kits of the buildings at Lynton and that is the basis for this model. Printed paper kits can be significantly improved by extra embossing, as shown by the stonework and corrugated iron roof. There is a lot of weathering and detailing yet to be done. The engine shed track has been made to correct gauge, 8mm, with code 40 FB rail - OO9 looks rather crude when representing a 2’ line - and the area has been blocked in with grey paint. Keith Armes has produced a Templot plan of the track work. lynton_no_bkgrnd_track_v2.pdf lynton_no_bkgrnd_track_v2.pdf Quite a different style of modelling to CF, but it will be quite fun to start adding the details and learn some new scenic techniques for rocks and moorland. Quite a good distraction for the time being, from not being able to work on CF. Tim
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Yes. As others have said, the geometry is compromised WRT real track geometry but that’s not the point (no pun intended!) of your proposal. Templot is intended to draw models of real track, not toy train track (which is what Peco Setrack is, really) and would be overkill for your experiment. But later on…who knows where you’ll go? 😁 I did the same thing when I started in N gauge in the 1970s, using copper clad sleepers and secondhand Peco rail over a printed Peco setrack point template stuck to a block of wood. I used track pins with their heads cut off pushed into the wood to hold the rail ends over the template. (Copying what I’d seen Mike Cook do with SMP point kits on his South Devon layout.) They didn’t look “real” (but neither does Setrack) but they worked - running was a bit rough mind you until I realised I hadn’t filed the switch rail ends & stock rail joggles properly and the common crossings were always a bit of a bodge (I was using FB rail in my ignorance - it’ll be easier with BH) but it was fun and I was *so* chuffed - “look dad, I’ve made my own points!” *Then* I started learning about prototype track geometry… (but also about beer and girls, which slowed down the modelling a lot.) The Peco point templates (intended for track planning purposes) are downloadable from their website - find the point you need and the template should also be there. (We used to have to send off for printed ones by post enclosing two or three inlay strips from a length of Peco flex track!) As I said, good luck! Will be interested to see the results. RichardT -
Hi Richard, I would very much like to go ahead and try it out, there are two things i need to clarify in my head first. 1. I would obviously need a template to work from, could this be put together in something like Templot (which I obviously have no experience of yet) ? or perhaps I could simply base the build off a template of the Peco set track point? (im not sure if Peco might have one handy?). 2. I would need to know what parts to buy, perhaps there is a suitible kit I could butcher? regards, -
Now that the design work is finished, Its time to revise this first post to better set the scene of the layout. The plan: A 4mm scale (OO) layout based around South Brent station as it was in June 1947. The layout is to be constructed in an insulated single garage with a semi-permanent structure, only designed to be broken down and moved in the event of a house move. The Track: Track is a combination of Exactoscale Fastrack flex track, and homemade points on Exactoscale sleepers / chairs. Rail throughout is the C&L Finescale “HiNi”. All points will be controlled by Tortoise slow action motors, with traditional DC control. The layout its self is DCC, with control by a ZTC511 (which at some point through the construction process will be upgraded to the 611 spec.) The first step with the track plan was to edit a large scale map from the National Library of Scotland to remove the equivalent of circa 18 inches from the length. This was then imported into Templot, along with a large rectangle with the available space in the garage. The Templot drawing then traced the prototype outline, modifying where necessary to fit the available space. Final Track Plan The Buildings: Will include the station, bridges, goods shed, station masters house and water tower etc, all of which aim to be accurate models of the prototype. The intention is that all structures can be reused on my long term plan to rebuild the layout closer to scale once we finally manage to find some land and build something to our own design. (Although the planed timeframe for this is still 5 – 10 years in the future!) The Compromises The track plan did need to be compressed in the region of 18inches in order to provide room for the end curves. Likewise the approach pointwork has required realignment in order to maximise the area on the straight boards for modelling the station. At the Exeter end the layout includes a rough approximation of the branch track and pointwork between the Down Main and branch, but omits the Down Loop due to space restrictions. This section is planned in a semi scenic state to allow better photos taken through the bridge. At the Plymouth end the Up Loop (including the bridge over the Avon) have been compressed to fit around the curve to the fiddle-yard.) Coach lengths will also be reduced in order to look better within the available space. I am working on 7 for an express, 6 for less important workings and 3/4 for local services. The Fiddle-yard: Is a major compromise, the ideal situation would be to have at least 10 roads in each direction (I will have 5). This will mean that stock will have to be taken off and cycled in order to run a full service. The yard will hold 1 local, a local goods, 2 express and a long goods in each direction. Stock: Thanks to the internet I have found carriage working documents for 1946-June47, along with a 1952 document for local services (all on the BR Carriage yahoo group). I have also managed to find the working timetable for the same period (which helped fill in the freight workings). The long term aim is that I want enough stock to run every train which ran in 24 hours (all be it reusing coaches and locos on multiple services). Why June 1947: It was a tough call, but there were a few reasons why I decided on for 1947 (and June in particular). First of all the Hawksworth livery is by far my favourite to have graced the GWR. The choice of the late 40s means that you can run pretty much everything from a coaching stock perspective (particularly as the restaurant services were starting to reappear post war). The fact that it allows the use of Hornby Hawksworth stock on the Cornish Riviera Express makes this even more tempting. This date is also (just) before the knocked down the original truss bridge at the Exeter end (but is before they rebuilt the signal box in brick). The final benefit was finding the aforementioned documents for carriage workings and time tables allowing me to accurate detail the services which worked through Brent at that time. I now have an Excel file which details the time every working should pass through Brent, excluding of course anything which would only run as required.Now that the design work is finished, Its time to revise this first post to better set the scene of the layout. The plan: A 4mm scale (OO) layout based around South Brent station as it was in June 1947. The layout is to be constructed in an insulated single garage with a semi-permanent structure, only designed to be broken down and moved in the event of a house move. The Track: Track is a combination of Exactoscale Fastrack flex track, and homemade points on Exactoscale sleepers / chairs. Rail throughout is the C&L Finescale “HiNi”. All points will be controlled by Tortoise slow action motors, with traditional DC control. The layout its self is DCC, with control by a ZTC511 (which at some point through the construction process will be upgraded to the 611 spec.) The first step with the track plan was to edit a large scale map from the National Library of Scotland to remove the equivalent of circa 18 inches from the length. This was then imported into Templot, along with a large rectangle with the available space in the garage. The Templot drawing then traced the prototype outline, modifying where necessary to fit the available space. Final Track Plan The Buildings: Will include the station, bridges, goods shed, station masters house and water tower etc, all of which aim to be accurate models of the prototype. The intention is that all structures can be reused on my long term plan to rebuild the layout closer to scale once we finally manage to find some land and build something to our own design. (Although the planed timeframe for this is still 5 – 10 years in the future!) The Compromises The track plan did need to be compressed in the region of 18inches in order to provide room for the end curves. Likewise the approach pointwork has required realignment in order to maximise the area on the straight boards for modelling the station. At the Exeter end the layout includes a rough approximation of the branch track and pointwork between the Down Main and branch, but omits the Down Loop due to space restrictions. This section is planned in a semi scenic state to allow better photos taken through the bridge. At the Plymouth end the Up Loop (including the bridge over the Avon) have been compressed to fit around the curve to the fiddle-yard.) Coach lengths will also be reduced in order to look better within the available space. I am working on 7 for an express, 6 for less important workings and 3/4 for local services. The Fiddle-yard: Is a major compromise, the ideal situation would be to have at least 10 roads in each direction (I will have 5). This will mean that stock will have to be taken off and cycled in order to run a full service. The yard will hold 1 local, a local goods, 2 express and a long goods in each direction. Stock: Thanks to the internet I have found carriage working documents for 1946-June47, along with a 1952 document for local services (all on the BR Carriage yahoo group). I have also managed to find the working timetable for the same period (which helped fill in the freight workings). The long term aim is that I want enough stock to run every train which ran in 24 hours (all be it reusing coaches and locos on multiple services). Why June 1947: It was a tough call, but there were a few reasons why I decided on for 1947 (and June in particular). First of all the Hawksworth livery is by far my favourite to have graced the GWR. The choice of the late 40s means that you can run pretty much everything from a coaching stock perspective (particularly as the restaurant services were starting to reappear post war). The fact that it allows the use of Hornby Hawksworth stock on the Cornish Riviera Express makes this even more tempting. This date is also (just) before the knocked down the original truss bridge at the Exeter end (but is before they rebuilt the signal box in brick). The final benefit was finding the aforementioned documents for carriage workings and time tables allowing me to accurate detail the services which worked through Brent at that time. I now have an Excel file which details the time every working should pass through Brent, excluding of course anything which would only run as required. signal plan Contents: Page 1-2: The Design Phase Page 3: Baseboard Construction Page 2: Goods Shed Design Page 3: Start of Track Building Water tower Banking instructions
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Exchange Yard Sidings It’s strange sometimes how the acquisition of an odd loco or piece of rolling stock can start the development of a layout. Having obtained an NGS Hunslet industrial shunter my thoughts have naturally turned to what to do with it. I have long thought about making a small/micro layout to replace Odds End, (the test layout built around various bits and pieces I made when first starting in 2FS), that could be placed on my workbench. Something to do the odd bit of shunting on, test locos or stock when other layouts are not available and so on. And just have a bit of enjoyment making it. I then thought I would share details of it’s construction in case it encouraged others to consider trying their hand at making a small and simple, and not too expensive, 2FS layout. That the Hunslet body was blue started a line of thought about Blue Circle Cement locos and exchange sidings for cement works. I dug around for photos/info and read about the workings at the Blue Circle works at Claydon near Ipswich, the nearest location to me and one I had past many times during it’s working life. It was served by sidings off the main line north to Stowmarket and beyond, trip workings from Ipswich with coal for power and cement wagons and vans for the cement products produced. Needing to keep things small I decided that I could build an exchange sidings design based around the idea a resident Blue Circle shunter was used to transfer the wagons to the works, these being located a bit further away from the main line than was actually the case at Claydon. BR locos would of course bring and take them away, my thoughts revolving around the fact I had plenty of cement wagons, mineral wagons, and vans to use, along with a variety of green and blue era diesels. So the Hunslet has now been finished in erstwhile Blue Circle livery. I say this because details of their locos seem scarce, it seems they didn’t have many, and images are thus few in number. Of those found the liveries varied and so I finished it in a manner I thought it might have been had such a loco existed in the timescale covered, the ‘60’s to ‘80’s. When it came to having a name for the layout I decided that it had set that for itself. So it’s Exchange Sidings. As it had to sit on the portable workbench the overall length needed to reflect that. This had to include whatever fiddle arrangement was used. It couldn’t be very long so it balanced properly i.e. wouldn’t tip up when working the fiddle yard. Now I have long been an admirer of Ian Futers 3 point layouts and so wanted to try this with the concept of the fiddle yard sector plate acting as the ‘unseen’ half of the run around loop as is now quite common with small layouts. These ideas and requirements basically set the size of what the layout could be. To have a bogie diesel loco with around half a dozen wagons needs around 16-17”, so this set the sector plate length at 18” for a bit of wriggle room. I did consider using the diamond jubilee layout challenge size for the layout itself, roughly 9”x 24”, having played around designing the odd one or two in Templot, but it felt too short with perhaps more width than needed when it was just going to be a few lengths of roughly parallel track. So I set the desired width at 7” and the length at 30”. Apart from the width all these sizes altered during the construction of the baseboard and sector plate to make allowance for the actual design finally used. I’ll detail this next post. Bob
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Hayfields Springside Models rebuilds
hayfield replied to hayfield's topic in Kitbuilding & Scratchbuilding
The missing castings for both locos arrived a couple of weeks ago, the gears for the Manning Wardle arrived earlier this week. We have had family staying plus I have now been asked to do some track 3D printing and assist someone plan their layout in Templot, so my mind has been elsewhere First off the missing step has been built and fitted, after this photo I primed the area, so now I need to get the airbrush working Alsi I have replaced both the worm and gear wheel, since the motor mount was set up for the other gear set I now need to mesh these new gears
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It feels very self-indulgent to be writing about a project that hasn't yet made it off my laptop, but I've been told following a throwaway comment elsewhere on RMweb that musing and planning is also of interest, so here goes. The first couple of posts will be mainly back story explaining how I arrived at Trawsfynydd as a prototype, so bear with me while I get to the topic in the header! The story starts in the late 90s when a studious, bespectacled 10 year old spied an advert in the local paper for 20 years of Railway Modeller back-issues. Excited perusal under the covers when he was meant to be sleeping brought a huge variety of models into his consciousness, but one unassuming article really stood out. Plan of the month in January 1988 (by K. Jaggers) consisted of a single black-and-white photo of Bala Junction, with a track plan showing this station on one side of a room and Bala Town on the other. Our studious hero was struck by how interesting the plan was, so different to the usual double-track mainline with branch modelled so often in the other magazines. He even drew the plan out by hand to understand it better, thinking to himself that one day he would like a version of the same plan. Fast forward 20-years and our hero has finished school, sixth form and university, fulfilled a lifelong ambition by volunteering on a preserved railway, enjoyed a career, been made redundant from said career and ended up pulling levers on the big railway for a living. All throughout this there was model railway involvement, most significantly with the NW Surrey area group of the EMGS, where the benefits of finescale 4mm modelling in terms of appearance and running qualities overcame the need to just 'get something running'. Various layouts have been planned, started and discarded, always depicting compressed fictional locations that were never quite satisfactory. Bala and Bala Junction lurking in the background didn't help; very desirable but always far beyond the means available. A house move 18 months ago finally presented an opportunity; the previous owner of this forever home had converted a former garage into a sizeable office, complete with mod-cons like heating, electricity and access from the house though a very civilised internal door. This was it, the opportunity to scratch that 25-year Bala itch! Planning began before purchase was even completed, resulting in the plan below being drawn up in Templot: The plan was to be a two-tier affair, run to a timetable with a minimum curve radius of 3'. I (the hero, obviously...) even got so far as doing a full-size print off and play-testing to check that the timetabled moves would be doable in the space provided; they would, just about. It should be pointed out that the soon-to-be Mrs BenW and the family hound were both away for a week while I took over the lounge - I'm still studious and frankly a bit obsessive, but not a complete sociopath! There were a number of complications with this plan, most obviously how to gain access to the fiddle yards beneath the stations. Gradients? Train elevators? Cassettes? Sector plates? All very complicated but not completely insurmountable, especially given that this was the layout of a lifetime. Sure there were also the compromises to fit it all in the space, especially the curve that Bala Town had to be built on, but surely I could manage to see past these. What finally scuppered this plan was that most humble of railway activities, the shunting of the goods yard. To be continued...
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Kirkallanmuir is a fictional mining and market town situated to the south of Allanton on the eastern edge of the Lanarkshire coalfield. The scenario is that a line was built to it to take out the coal from Allanmuir pit, leaving the Glasgow - Edinburgh via Shotts line at Murdiston. Later the line was continued south to link up with the Climpy extension of the Wilsonton branch from the Edinburgh branch of the CR main line. I have since learned that such a line was once proposed! The layout was several years in the planning, the final form being somewhat different to what was originally envisaged. The photo below shows a model of the layout made during the planning stage. To the left are the colliery interchange sidings with the colliery branch disappearing behind them and behind that the main line running along the back of the layout, double track as far as Kirkallanmuir and single beyond. Behind these are a couple of sidings serving the local agricultural merchant and the livestock mart. In the foreground is Allanmuir Kirk and to the right of that the goods yard (on the site of the original terminus). The main line disappears off scene to the island platform station beyond the bridge. Construction was started in November 2009, this photo showing the baseboards with the Templot track plan glued down. The overall length is 3 metres on 3 1 metre boards. the slots are to accomodate the train cassettes. Plain track is all Easitrac , while turnouts are all modeled with interlaced sleepers (as the Caley used in the late 19th century), using pcb sleepers at the crossings and switches with Easitrac sleepers in between. A plain turnout under construction One of the four pairs of tandem turnouts, this one at the throat of the interchange sidings. An interesting turnout incorporating two single switch trap points, dividing the two up sidings. More to follow later. Jim
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The Goal I have two basic objectives for this layout - exploring new skills, and providing somewhere interesting to shuffle a few wagons around until I can build a larger/more permanent layout. In terms of track plan, the features I was looking for are: shunting uses on-scene paintwork if possible, and not a sector plate or traverser simple S&C, preferably including a diamond, to see how I get on building track plenty of car spots, to give purposeful activity realistic layout, plausible wagon variety Space is not particularly constrained - I want to keep this small, cheap, manageable, and moveable, because I'll be moving in 3 years, but the only definite limits are that it has to be less than 9' × 4'6" (including fiddle yard) and I certainly don't plan to fill that space. The Plan I was hunting around the old OS maps for inspiration and found the northwest side of Railway Dock, in Hull (for context, Trinity Dock Street Bridge is inspired by the northeast side). Viewed from the cemetery, there's convenient scenic breaks at both ends, and a run of buildings along the back. By squinting at Britain from Above's photographs (especially this and this) they appear to be wooden sheds, but I'm considering swapping one of them for one of the brick-built transhipment sheds between the railway and Humber Dock, because of the interesting weathering. The site also seems good because it has car spots at the transshipment shed, a crane on the curved loop, a weighbridge by the crane which would need to be unloaded before it can be locked to allow a locomotive over, and so on. As a first rough concept sketch, I put this together with setrack to get an idea of sizes (small loose-heel switches seem most plausible for the location and date it was laid out). The loop marked "6 wagons" is around scale length, but the segment marked '8 wagons" should be more like 14, so when I draw it in Templot I'll try to tweak the proportions. Having thought about it a bit more, it would probably be better to slant the tracks so that there is room at the left hand end for a barge or coaster, to make the view across the docks to the backscene more convincing and to break up the regimented alignment A peculiarity of that particular location is that it is accessed from a kick-back off a track alongside Prince's Dock (now under the Princes Quay carpark) with no way for a loco to run round, so it seems likely that trains would be propelled on- and off-scene. Questions Can anyone think of operational problems/frustrations with this design? I envision the sequence being a train arrives and is stashed in a loop, empty/reloaded wagons are collected from the crane and warehouse (leaving behind those which still need loading), and the incoming wagons are spotted at the right location for unloading, then the loaded wagons leave. Assuming someone doesn't know what was actually there, do you think I should attempt to make that diamond into a slip? It is marked as a diamond in the OS maps but in 1937 and 1952 photos there's some fuzzy curves that could possibly be slip roads on the inland (bottom) side. Do you see any benefit in terms of "play value" to stretching the right hand loop out to full scale? Uncompressed, the prototype scenic area is 586' long, which would be 2.34m so I could fit it but I don't think it adds anything. Do you know of any sources with photos of that side of the dock before it was redeveloped? There are loads of photos of the other side with its distinctive buildings, but the only photos of this side I've found so far are aerial photos in the Britain from Above collection, most of which are focused on somewhere else but have tantalising hints of interesting details, especially the earlier photos.
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This is an OPTION in Templot. You can set it to whatever you want: I get a bit irritated when folks say Templot does this, or Templot does that. Templot is a workshop TOOL -- it does whatever you set it to do. cheers, Martin.
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Hayfields 3D printed track workshop
hayfield replied to hayfield's topic in Handbuilt Track & Templot
Before I start I must emphasize that in its basic/normal form Both Templot and Templot 3D are very user friendly and easy to use However I have been asked to help someone with their new layout, this started out with assisting with a Templot plan with tidying it up in a 2D format One area I had not paid too much attention is restricting partial Templates plus sometimes pressing save too many times Anyway after mastering the easy part which was printing basic turnouts and plain track, which is very easy I have been learning how to print a layout with many templates, which involves separating the plan into printable sections, which in Templot are called bricks Here are the first three bricks plus a section which will be spliced in, as I made a couple of errors on 2 adjoining bricks. (Quicker and cheaper than printing 2 new bricks). Brick 4 is now printing, took no time in making the brick then creating the print file. It took longer for the print bed to warm up. Anyway I can get on with day to day chores in the knowledge that at mid afternoon another brick will be printed. Now to set up the resin printer, just need to recap on setting up the machine, then use the raft of chair file Martin kindly prepared for me (and anyone else) to use
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@Wayne Kinney Hi Philip, Just to clarify that there is no connection between Wayne Kinney and myself. We are not two of anything. Wayne is trading as the proprietor of BritishFinescale and supplier of the Finetrax kits. Templot software is my hobby project available for use by anyone free of charge. I am not trading commercially. Martin.
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Hayfields 3D printed track workshop
hayfield replied to hayfield's topic in Handbuilt Track & Templot
The difficulties I have had with some of the Bricks** were totally down to human intervention and not Templot, having drawn up a crossover using Templot automated crossover facility, its only takes slightly more effort to make it 3D printable than producing a brick** for a single turnout . The main issue is that this project was started as Templot producing a 2D plan and had two people indpendantly working on it over several months plus changing the size of turnouts. Sorry if I seem to be making it look much harder than it should be ** Brick(s) is the terminology for each printable section Brick 5 under way
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@lezz01 I hope you won't think too badly of me, but it's RTP (ready to plonk) track - flat bottomed Code 75 from Peco. Bullhead would have been good for the goods yards at Pontrilas and Ledbury, unfortunately that boat sailed ages ago as I'd bought all my rail before the bullhead was announced. I've got about 150yds of track and 68 points to lay and whilst hand built pointwork would have been most excellent, I feel time isn't on my side and I would become quickly frustrated if I didn't construct the first point perfectly. I've been looking at the Templot programme together with the British Finetrax pointwork (from the two Wynnes), but I'd have to redo all my drawing for the pointwork and there'd be a learning curve for both. However, I have seen how to 'flex' Peco pointwork to achieve better flow through junctions AND I did see somewhere (perhaps on RMWeb - though I can't remember clearly) drawings showing proper sleeper spacing when doing 60 foot panels. I could be tempted by that to make the trackwork less 'samey'. A sharp craft knife and a simple jig would sort that out. No photo today, but I have been extremely occupied - I'll tell you all tomorrow ;))). Cheers, Philip
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Hayfields 3D printed track workshop
hayfield replied to hayfield's topic in Handbuilt Track & Templot
Two months have passed since my last update, the resin printer has not printed anything yet (waiting for James video to be released or revisiting his previous videos. But I have been enjoying a phase of building/finishing two Springside locos On the FDM printer I have been developing my skills. At one end of the spectrum making a template in Templot can be very easy, likewise FDM 3D printing is also very simple. On the other hand making a set of multiple templates into a layout plan can at times be challenging with some formations. Well I have been approached to assist someone with their layout plan they designed. Mostly due to my own understanding of how Templot 3D printing works it been a steep learning curve but also an enjoyable exercise Due to the size of the print bed the track plan has to be printed in sections, in Templot 3D these sections are called bricks. This photo is of the second brick and part of a crossover, the two right hand long timbers are each made from 2 partial templates. Unfortunately they are out of register, it is a test print and I stopped it early (error missed during a late night bit of work, plus a small laptop screen. Thee revised brick is now printing and as you can see the two long right hand timbers now match each other. As for templot 3D printed track minor updates have been released making the job of printing easier and the risk of poor prints less. Martin is a genius I have also expermited in increasing the scale to 7mm. The results are very promising Anyway I have hopefully overcome the obstacles that prevented me to print the more demanding bricks and once I have a few more bricks printed I will need some chairs
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Hi Rich, The switch size doesn't make any difference to the overall size of the slip which is governed only by the crossing angle and the track gauge. If you used the make slip function in Templot, a 1:7 slip will have B-type switches. It doesn't matter whether you start from an A-7 turnout or a B-7 turnout, the 1:7 slip will have B-type switches. I believe Wayne uses the same Templot designs for the Finetrax kits. The kits are supplied with suitable machined switch blades, so there is no actual need to be concerned with the size of the switch. The only way to create a 1:7 slip with A-type switches would be to create it yourself in Templot using multiple partial templates, instead of using the make slip function. It would still fit in the same overall size footprint as a 1:7 slip with B-type blades. cheers, Martin.
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Welcome to CASTLE ACHING January 2016 Summers seventeen, and winters too, had passed since the day I first realised that, as an adult, my boyhood enthusiasm for model railways had returned. That is a long time to spend in the Modeller's Armchair, and so, last Spring, I finally forced myself to make a start. Life had other plans for me, however, and it is only now that I can make a start in earnest. So, what is this layout? Well, it is really just an idea and a few model buildings at present, but the intention is to model a small independent line, set during the early Edwardian period and located in West Norfolk. The model, which will be to OO Gauge, is of the terminus of one of the branches of the West Norfolk Railway, so will take the familiar BLT to fiddle-yard format. It is unlikely to prove one of those cleverly compact layouts, whose ingenuity demonstrates a true grasp of the subtleties of the craft of railway modelling. Indeed, I seem likely to waste a good 50% of the layout's area setting the scene and trying to convince you that you really are in a Norfolk village at the dawn of the Twentieth Century. However, it's really all about the scene I see in my mind's eye and I have a particular picture that I want to create. There is no baseboard. There is a track plan in only the most general sense, in that it has not yet been committed to graph paper, or Templot or, even, the reverse of a convenient envelope. There is no track purchased as yet. No stock is ready. The ruling constraint at present is that everything - buildings, scenery, locomotives and rolling stock - must be produced from what I have available and can easily and inexpensively fabricate. Now, after 17 years of day dreaming about model railways, I have accumulated all sorts of bits and bobs, so this should not be as difficult as it may sound. Hopefully before too long there will be the budget for track and any other essential items. I expect the layout will be DC, and that my childhood Duette will come out of retirement to serve until something more state of the art can be justified. April 2022 This topic has taken quite a journey. We have seen baseboards and some (poorly) hand-built track laid. A few more buildings emerged and work has begun on locomotives and rolling stock. We are still very far from a working, let alone, complete, model railway, yet the journey has been a rich and rewarding one. The West Norfolk Railway, and the world in which it inhabits, is now fairly fully realised and understood, and we know what must be built. This entry marks a new start for RMWeb, which has successfully migrated to a new host after weeks and months of issues, and a new start for Castle Aching. Some of the lost pictures in the topic will need to be restored, and the layout itself is to have a new purpose-built home constructed over the next few weeks, after which work will resume in earnest. Lore It is May 1905 in West Norfolk, and ever will be, but the railway and the district it serves reflects their rich history prior to that date and, as many of the people and places featured in the Castle Aching world may be unfamiliar to the reader, there is much to record. A distillation of Castle Aching lore and background history was compiled as an Achipedia Entry . This material was in large part reproduced below in October 2020, and continues to be updated from time to time. Castle Aching Castle Aching is the name of a village in the west of the county of Norfolk in England's East Anglia region. It is also the name of a model railway layout that has been under construction since early 2016 to a scale of 1:76, or 4mm to 1 foot, and a track gauge of 16.5mm, or OO gauge. Castle Aching has developed most fully, however, as a topic on a popular railway modelling forum (RMWeb), where concepts and ideas are tested, advice given and received, and project progress (or lack of it) reported. The topic is characterised by its digressive nature and often arcane content. The layout, which is set in the year 1905, represents a portion of the large and ancient village of Castle Aching. The scene is dominated by the ruined donjon or keep of its Norman castle, built on a motte, or mound. The village streets and a railway have colonised the former castle bailey at the foot of the motte. The layout takes a conventional terminus to fiddleyard format; fiddleyard is a railway modelling term of art for the off-stage portion of a layout and represents the rest of the railway network. There is, however, scope for expansion to include much of the central section of the West Norfolk Railway. The Village The village of Castle Aching takes its name from the castle established there by the Normans, though it was the site of a modest settlement before it became a Norman stronghold and developed into a planned town of considerable local importance. A wealthy, if bucolic, parish for much of its subsequent history, a further period of growth and prosperity was engendered by the agrarian revolution and the subsequent advent of the railway in the mid-1850s, improving access to market for local farmers and manufacturers. The population in 1901 was recorded as 1,931. Above, Castle Aching cottages Above left, the old gate at the junction of Bailey Street and High Street and, right, the Lodge, residence of Wm. Danvers Everington, Esq, situated opposite the gate. In administrative terms, the Achings form the western part of Achingham Rural District Council (RDC), while the village is a civil parish with its own Parish Council. Both RDCs and Parish Councils were established by the Local Government Act of 1894. The ecclesiastical parish (of St Tabitha's) is run by the vestry, and forms part of the Archdeaconry of Lynn (also established in 1894) in the Diocese of Norwich. The Castle The castle was of a conventional motte and bailey design, its foundation and development are summarised in the Victoria County History, A History of the County of Norfolk: Volume II, ed. William Page (London, 1906) (abridged): Originally a wooden keep atop the motte, construction soon after the Norman Conquest, the castle was substantially rebuilt in stone in the 1130s-1140s. The Anglo-Norman family of Fitz Aching held the fief. Fitz Aching is patronymic, as the prefix 'Fitz' derives from the Latin filius, meaning "son of". It is believed that 'Aching' is a corruption of Acaris, who was the son of Bardolf, a son of Odo, Count of Penthièvre. The castle is now ruinous and uninhabited, and the later history of the Fitz Achings is obscure. In modern times, the local landowning family has been the Erstwhiles of Aching Hall. The stone donjon or keep is ruinous but largely intact. The most significant loss being the fore-building, which would originally have house the guard room commanding the covered entrance to the main keep on the first floor. Today only the steps and base of the fore-building remain. Slightly below the keep, the remains of the stone curtain wall or enciente remain. Above, Castle Aching's Norman Keep All three of the gates to the bailey survive to some extent. At the east and west the gates still mark either end of Bailey Street, which curves around the base of the motte, the houses backing onto the castle ditch, now filled in in places. The gate marking the southern end of the bailey survived as a single tower, but is now unrecognisable after it was re-faced and incorporated into the Drill Hall of 1865. The Hall A pleasing Eighteenth Century house, built by the Rokewood family, incorporating much of the fabric of the original Sixteenth Century Hall behind a Palladian façade, described by Pevsner as ‘dignified and elegant’. The Church The parish church of St Tabitha lies to the south of the castle, some distance from the village; a common arrangement in Norfolk. The first church here was established in the late Saxon period. When the first Norman lord of Castle Aching, Acaris de Boer, founded Aching Priory sometime before 1090. he granted it the income from 'the church at Aching', so we know there was already an existing church. The orientation of the church is typical of Norfolk, with the east end facing down hill. The reason for this local practice is not known. Above, St Tabitha's from the north Most of the extremely large present building is a product of the 14th and 15th centuries, when a stream of pilgrims travelling to the Shrine of Our Lady of Wolfringham brought prosperity to the village. Aside from pilgrims, the village stood near the ancient Pedlar's Way footpath and catered to travellers along the old Roman road by providing inns and hostels. The church is exceptionally endowed with items of architectural interest. The main body of the fabric is 14th century. A low clerestory and tall aisles accentuate the width of the place. The magnificent 15th century Perpendicular tower, however, is wholly rational, leaving the mysteries of the middle ages behind. The Revd. Aldwyn Rokewood DD, the Rector of St Tabitha's and author of a celebrated monograph on Norfolk Perpendicular, is ever ready to share his incomparable knowledge of his church's abundant architectural riches with visitors to the parish The church also benefits from some fine stained glass, both Nineteenth Century and some original Mediaeval work, which, like the extant Fifteenth Century Rood Screen, was preserved illicitly during the iconoclasm of the Civil War period. The east window, in particular, is famed for exhibiting all the exuberance of Chaucer with none of the concomitant crudity. Among the 15th century treasures are the hexagonal font, wine-glass pulpit, and chantry, which displays the crocketted and finialled ogee that marks it as very early Perpendicular. The bosses to the pendant are typical. The Almshouses The Hospital of the Sisters of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Norwich was originally founded in 1349 by Bishop Bateman to shelter women widowed during the Black Death, who had no available means of support, little prospect of remarriage due to the depleted population, and who might, therefore "turnne unto sinne". Following its dissolution as a chantry during the Henrician Reformation, it was revived during the reign of Queen Elizabeth as St Tabitha's Hospital and placed under the care of the Rector of St Tabitha's, who generally appointed a Deputy Warden to oversee the running of the institution. The present buildings date from the revival and were constructed in the first years of the Seventeenth Century around a courtyard facing Bailey Street, with the Hospital's chapel extending eastwards at the rear of the courtyard. St Tabitha's remains home to twelve of the Distressed Womenfolk of the parish, whose distinctive red capes and tall black hats make them a cheerful sight to villagers and visitors alike. Above, the Almshouses Public Elementary School Established in 1856, and located on Station Road, Castle Aching, the school caters for children from the parishes of Castle, West and Little Aching. Above, Castle Aching village school Public Houses Castle Aching boasts several public houses. The largest and most notable is The Dodo, a courtyard coaching inn dating from the Fourteenth Century. The original name of the inn is not recorded, though there are 15th Century references to Ye Pilgrimmes Reste Inne on what became known as the High Street. The name Dodo is later and relates to the crest of the Rokewood family, the Lords Erstwhile, of Aching Hall, who became established at Castle Aching during the Seventeenth Century. Above left, the Dodo Above centre, the Castle Inn Above right, the Post Office Other notable hostelries include the Castle Inn on Bailey Street, and the Rokewood Arms, located on the green by the village pond. Shops, Trades & Businesses An account of these is provided by Kelly's Directory of Norfolk, 1904: Professional Practices: Physician & Surgeon Services: Post Office; Reading Room Shops & Trades: Baker; Butcher; Grocer; Gentlemen & Ladies Outfitters, proprietor W Awdry & Son; Beer Retailer; Corn Dealer; Dispensing Chemist & Photographic Studio, proprietor J H Ahern; Chimney Sweeper; Builder; Bricklayer; Plumber & Painter; Cycle shop, hire and repair; Blacksmith & Wheelwright; Saddler; Carpenter & Undertaker; Coal, Lime & Seed Merchant; Boot & Shoe maker; Dressmaker; Horse-breaker; Watch-maker. Industries: Brewer; Iron Founders & Agricultural Engineers Above, the Brewery, Castle Aching Local Personalities These include, at Castle Aching: Lord and Lady Erstwhile, the Hall; Sir Grenville Buttoch, composer, the Grange; Rev. Aldwyn Rokewood DD, the Rectory; Wm. Danvers Everington, Esq, the Lodge; Mrs Howard, the Grove; Mr Cuthbert Harding, Warden, St Tabitha's Hospital; Mrs Elizabeth Prior, Post Mistress; Miss Hermione Bloom, music teacher, Wisteria House; Miss Annabelle Finch, Reading Rooms & Lending Library; W. Awdry, draper and outfitter, the High Street; JH Ahern, photographer and dispensing chemist, Bailey Street; Frederick Pitcher, The Dodo; Israel Turner, coal merchant; Jabez Whiskeard, estate gamekeeper. The Aching Euterpeans, amateur operatic society. Above, musical life in the Achings. Left, the amateur Euterpeans performing Gilbert & Sullivan at the Drill Hall. Centre, Sir Grenville Buttoch of the Grange (right) At Smoxborough, Sir Henry Acton-Tichingfeld, of the Hall. At Mildew Lodge, Little Aching, we find Colonel and Mrs Trench, and their daughter, Miss Mariana. West Norfolk Castle Aching lies at the heart of the Achings, a cluster of parishes found in West Norfolk. Overview "West Norfolk" is a term that encompasses both the more familiar geography of the western parts of the county and places perhaps less familiar to the general reader. Once described as "lost in the folds of the map", a series of towns and villages mark a corridor of land running broadly south from the north Norfolk coast at a point midway between Hunstanton and Wells. Towards the coast are the cluster of communities known as the Birchoverhams. On the coast is the minor haven of Birchoverham Staithe, to the west of which lies the fashionable resort town of Birchoverham next the Sea. Inland we find Birchoverham Town, which, despite its name, is a small village. The hub of the area is Birchoverham Market, an important centre for the agriculture of the district. A shallower crease in the map takes us east, between Wells and Walsingham, then up again to the coast, where we find another village harbour at Fakeney. Travelling south along the fold from the Birchoverhams, we encounter the villages of Flocking, Hillingham and Massingham Magna before arriving in the district known as the Achings, where settlements lie around the shallow valley of the River Ache. The chief settlement here is Castle Aching, but here there is also Aching Constable, West Aching, South Aching, Little Aching and Smoxborough. Shallow folds run both east and west from here. To the west creases seem to radiate out from the Achings, as if, when the map was badly folded, the Achings marked the beginnings of the mischief. Here lies the orchard country between Aching Constable and the busy inland port of Bishop's Lynn, and we can follow another distortion in the map as it skirts the southern edge of the Sandringham Estate to reach the west coast at Wolfringham and Shepherd's Port. To the east we follow a fold to Doughton Abbey and the very considerable town of Achingham, with its own branchline, corn exchange, gasworks, maltings, egg dépôt, newspaper (The Achingham Argus), law courts, and Yeomanry and Territorial drill halls. The Achings The Achings form a series of parishes spreading out from the shallow valley of the River Ache. The river itself runs to the north, then north-west, before turning to the east where it flows towards the river Great Ouse at Bishop's Lynn. A tributary, the Lesser Ache, flows west from Achingham, meeting the bend of the Ache in the parish of Aching Constable. From thence, to its outflow on the Ouse, the combined river is known locally as the Great Ache. Castle Aching claimed precedence as a Norman stronghold and the site of a wealthy priory, and because it straddled the old Roman Road to the north-west, which later became a pilgrim route. Thus, Castle Aching became and remained the major settlement in the district. A primarily agricultural district, what little industry there is in the Achings - founding and agricultural engineering and brewing - tends to concentrate here. The famous biscuit factory lies on the Smoxborough Road, some way from the village. The principal residence at Castle Aching is Aching Hall. Home of the Rokewood family, the Lords Erstwhile, Aching Hall is a pleasant stone house built in the Palladian manner and situated within Aching Park, which abuts the south eastern edge of the village, limiting its expansion beyond the green. Smoxborough is the traditional seat of the Acton-Tichingfelds, a prominent recusant family, though the villagers remained staunchly, at times violently, protestant. Smoxborough Hall is a moated house of considerable antiquity. The area has long been associated with lavender cultivation. Aching Constable was long a modest village of no moment, but its position favoured it as the site of the West Norfolk Railway's locomotive, carriage and wagon works, an extensive site developed from around 1880. Neat modern terraced housing for the workforce has been provided by the company, lying between the railway works and the old village. The size of the village has doubled in consequence. The railway company is known as a benign and enlightened employer, and has provided an Institute in the village for the improvement and recreation of its workforce. There remain the three small villages of West, South and Little Aching, whose inhabitants are devoted entirely to the pursuit of agriculture and the consumption of beer. The West Norfolk Railway provides a horse-omnibus service linking the villages, Goods and limited numbers of passengers are taken by the two local carriers. Smoxborough, West Norfolk Smoxborough is a small village in the district known as the Achings in West Norfolk. It is known chiefly as the centre of lavender cultivation in the district and for the manor, Smoxborough Hall, the ancestral home of the Acton-Tichingfelds. The moated Hall dates from the Fifteenth Century, construction commencing in the 1480s, after Sir Edward Tichingfeld was granted a crenellation licence in 1482. Above, an Edwardian view of Smoxborough Hall The Acton-Tichingfelds were an old recusant family. According to Thornton's Ecclesiastical History, during the Eighteenth century the family was obliged to build a high wall around their estate to discourage the by then frequent attacks by their Protestant villagers. Later historians consider that the villagers' motivation was, at least in part, economic, as the Acton-Tichingfelds had taken advantage of the Enclosure Acts to gain a monopoly over lavender cultivation in the district, by which means they were able generate considerable wealth through their sales of mixed dried, naturally fragrant, plant material to provide the interiors of the day with a pleasant aroma. They cite as evidence for this theory the battle cry of the local Church & King mobs; "No Potpourri!" The parish church is dedicated to St John the Evangelist and is largely in the Perpendicular style. It is noted for the fine Fifteenth Century Tichingfeld family chapel. The benefice is in the gift of the Rokewood family of Aching Hall. The Tichingfeld Arms provides comfortable, if bürgerlich, accommodation for the genteel traveller, and has the great advantage of stocking Aching Ales. The novelist Anthony Trollope visited the Achings briefly in 1874 while researching his work Is he Popenjoy?, a tale that drew upon a well-known impersonation scandal that affected close cousins of the Acton-Tichingfelds. Trollope stayed at the Tichingfeld Arms, where it is believed he worked upon the draft of his novel, until he was asked to leave. A local carrier will convey goods and advance luggage to and from Castle Aching station as part of the weekly round. The West Norfolk Railway provides a horse 'bus service around the Achings. Travellers may enquire of the Stationmaster, Castle Aching, or the Landlord of the Tichingfeld Arms for further details. Royal Sandringham Lavender Biscuits During the 1850s a manufactory was established on the Castle Aching Road outside the the village boundary devoted to the production of Dr Gulliver's Lavender Health Biscuits. The factory has expanded considerably since the purchase of the business by Huntley & Palmer of Reading in 1895. The sale was the culmination of a 10-year campaign by George Palmer of that firm to obtain the secret recipe after tasting one of the lavender biscuits at the Grand Hotel, Birchoverham next the Sea in 1885. Eventually he was successful, but only after he agreed to purchase the business and on condition that the manufacture continued at the Smoxborough works. This undoubtedly helped Huntley and Palmer to gain a Royal warrant from the Prince of Wales, also very partial to a nibble it would seem, and these fine comestibles are now sold throughout the world under the name of Royal Sandringham Lavender Biscuits. Above, an Edwardian pencil sketch of the Huntley & Palmer Smoxborough Works The West Norfolk Railway Castle Aching, and the region of West Norfolk generally, is served by, and has largely prospered as a result of, the West Norfolk Railway Company (or WNR for short), which has improved communication both within the county of Norfolk and with the wider world beyond. One of a number of small, independent lines, in the County, it has retained its independence largely because it would be intolerable to either of its neighbours were it to be absorbed by the other. One neighbour, the Great Eastern, which had absorbed the former Eastern Counties Railway and the Lynn and Hunstanton Railway in order to serve the area, owns a significant minority stake in the WNR and is its supporter. The WNR's other neighbour, with which relations are equally cordial, is the Midland and Great Northern Railway, which was constituted in 1893 and which represents the progressive amalgamation of several former independent lines, including the Eastern & Midland and the Lynn & Fakenham. Overview The railway, among the first to be built in this part of Norfolk, arrived at Castle Aching in 1855, one end of Birchoverhams & Achings Railway. Soon to be renamed the Castle Aching & Birchoverhams Railway, the line was built to link these two populous and agriculturally rich districts of West Norfolk. This was of especial benefit to the Achings district, which now had easy access to the market at Birchoverham Market, and the enthusiastic support and investment of one of the district's principal landowners, Lord Erstwhile of Aching Hall, who was key to the realisation of the railway scheme. From Castle Aching in the south, the line ran broadly north with stations opened at Hillingham (south of which the line crossed over the Lynn & Fakenham railway, later part of the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway, where a spur subsequently linked the MGN to the WNR), Birchoverham Market, Flocking and Birchoverham Staithe on the coast. Between Birchoverham Market and Birchoverham Staithe, the West Norfolk's line was subsequently crossed by the independent West Norfolk Extension Railway, a part of the Lynn to Hunstanton Railway absorbed by the Great Eastern Railway. Birchoverham Staithe was a small port on the north coast of Norfolk, but had shown signs of progressive silting to the channels through the mud banks to the docks. In 1862 a decision was made to seek an alternative outlet to the North Sea and a branch line was built to the coastal village of Fakeney to the east, via Birchoverham Town, Middle Walsingham and Halte. Also in 1862, from a junction just north of Castle Aching, a short branch line was constructed to the east to the market town of Achingham, a town of considerable consequence in that part of the county, which had been bypassed by the original route. No doubt the Board of the Castle Aching & Birchoverhams Railway was moved to expand at this point by the arrival of the Lynn & Hunstanton Railway (opened 1862), later absorbed by the Great Eastern, before this new rival had a chance to reach any further. Following this expansion, the railway company adopted the title "The West Norfolk Railway" in 1863. The West Norfolk Railway's local network expanded during the remaining decades of the Nineteenth Century. These decades saw a considerable rise in tourism across the UK and the West Norfolk constructed a spur north-west from Birchoverham Market in order to serve the burgeoning and fashionable seaside resort of Birchoverham next the Sea. This produced considerable revenue for the West Norfolk, both from passengers using its services and also from the significant through traffic from other railways that the resort attracted. The Midland Railway, the Great Northern Railway and their jointly owned Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway were able to run through services from the Midlands and the North via South Lynn. The Great Eastern Railway ran through services from the south via Ely and Cambridge, and the from the North along the Great Eastern and Great Northern Joint line via March. An attempt by the West Norfolk to develop Shepherd's Port, on the west coast, as a rival to Hunstanton, failed however. The West Norfolk, which had upgraded and extended its line to the nearby coal port at Wolfringham Staithe for the purpose, lost heavily as its investment in infrastructure, new stock and the construction of Shepherd Port's Grand Hotel, did not produce the expected returns. This could not have come at a worse time for the West Norfolk, which had built a number of new lines, some of considerable length, during the preceding decade and a half, and had been obliged to borrow significantly in order to do so and to finance the additional stock needed to run these routes. Towards the end of the century the West Norfolk had also needed to renew a considerable mileage of the original 1850s-1860s permanent way. Thus, the failure of the Shepherd's Port scheme was very nearly the straw that broke the camel's back. The failure of Shepherd's Port marked the turn of the century as a time of straightened circumstances for this generally prosperous line, though the company's finances had largely recovered by the mid 1900s. The West Norfolk had built several other lines during the 1870s and 1880s. To the west of the mainline, at the Achings end of the original route, it built new routes to the west. Here, at Aching Constable, the West Norfolk developed a substantial locomotive, carriage and wagon works, as well as a station. From here a branch led north west to the coast at Wolfringham (crossing the Lynn & Hunstanton Railway), a tramway, jointly owned and managed with the Great Eastern Railway, went west to the port of Bishop's Lynn, and to the south west a line was built in a sweeping curve round to the south east, down through the Thetford Forest, and terminating over the border in Suffolk at Bury St Edmunds (Mildenhall Road). A spur was built from the northern end of this line to Trinity Hallsend to make a south-facing connection with the Great Eastern at Magdalen Road. This made an easy connection with Great Eastern routes from March and Wisbech, Cambridge and Ely, and King's Lynn. Further south along this route, another junction led to the West Norfolk's longest and most ambitious extension, a drive eastwards to reach the County town at Norwich West station. Castle Aching Station & Facilities Castle Aching station was constructed in 1855 in a Neo-Jacobean style that was a reasonably popular revival style for railway architecture of the period, regardless of company or region. Similar examples can be found, for instance on the South Eastern Railway's Medway Valley line (Wateringbury and Aylesford, 1856), and at Alston, the terminal station on the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway's branch from Haltwhistle (1852). Alston makes a particularly interesting comparison, because in common with Castle Aching, it features a train shed and through engine shed. The building is constructed using stone quoins infilled with local carstone rag. The overall effect is, in the words of Nikolaus Pevsner in volume 2 of his guide to Norfolk architecture, "not bad". Both the engine shed and the station buildings were extended in the 1870s. The style of the original structure was maintained, but brick quoins were used. The single platform has been extended, twice, to its present length; once in the 1870s, and again in the 1880s, the extensions being constructed of wood. There is a small goods shed and weighbridge office in the yard constructed in a style to match the station. There are three sidings to the yard. One serves end and side loading docks and the livestock pens. One serves the goods shed, there being cranes both in and outside the shed. The third generally handles coal, lime and feedstocks. The offices of several local traders occupy the yard, including Israel Turner, coal merchant, and a representative of the West Norfolk Farmers Association. The main running lines, including the loop lines, were all re-laid to bullhead in 1898. The sidings, however, retain the original vignoles rail, spiked directly to the sleepers. The WNR persists in the practice of laying fine ballast across the top of its sleepers in the station areas. As at Alston, the lines terminate with a turntable, with locomotives using the table to run around their trains. The original 40' turntable, supplied by Lloyds, Foster & Co, has been extended in order to accommodate small 4-4-0 locomotive types, such as the Midland & Great Northern C Class and the West Norfolk Railway's own Sharp Stewart bogie passenger class. At Castle Aching the platform, loop and shed roads all converge at the turntable. Tender engines employed on the mainline need to turn, so combining the turning and the running round of locomotives is efficient. The West Norfolk also turns its tank locomotives, such as those employed on the Achingham branch. The explanation, which may be apocryphal, traditionally given for this practice is that it was insisted upon by the wife of one of the Directors in the 1870s on the ground that locomotives travelling bunker-first offended her sense of propriety. Below, WNR Northern and Central Section Locomotives & Rolling Stock Locomotives of the West Norfolk Railway The WNR grew to require a substantial fleet of locomotives, though it never designed and built its own locomotives but relied in the main upon purchasing the designs of private locomotive builders, primarily those of Sharp, Stewart & Co, but also Neilson & Co and Beyer Peacock. Locomotives were, however, maintained and rebuilt by the West Norfolk at its Aching Constable works. Above, Sharp Stewart 2-4-0 of 1878, WNR No.6, thought to be seen here at Hillingham The WNRs earliest locomotives came from a variety of builders, including several from E B Wilson, but later the company tried to standardise its mainline classes using Sharp Stewart designs. These were not always available in the quantities required within the time the WNR needed them and recourse was made to Beyer Peacock on a number of occasions when Sharps could not supply. Branch line engines tended to be purchased ad hoc as need arose from a variety of sources and the brief financial crisis around the turn of the century led the company to cease to order new locomotives for a time and to have recourse instead to second-hand purchases. All this meant that, despite the emergence of three standard classes of which there were several examples, West Norfolk motive power remained pleasingly varied and characterful. Locomotives of the West Norfolk Railway - In service in 1905 (withdrawn locomotives in italics, followed by year withdrawn) - Listed by date entering service 1856: 2-2-2 E B Wilson of 1854, WNR No. 1 1877 1856: 2-4-0 E B Wilson of 1854, WNR No. 2 1877 1856 0-6-0 E B Wilson of 1854, WNR No. 3 1872 1856: 2-4-0WT E B Wilson of 1851,WNR No. 4 1878 1857: 0-6-0WT E B Wilson of 1850, WNR No. 5 1875 1857: 0-4-0ST Neilson & Co of 1856, WNR No. 6 1878 1857: 2-2-2WT W Fairbairn & Sons of 1850, No. 7 1867 1859: 0-4-2 Todd, Kitson & Laird of 1838, WNR No. 8 - 5' - stationary engine at Aching Constable 1872 - placed in working order and sold to the Norfolk Minerals Railway in 1883 1859: 0-4-2ST Sharp Stewart of 1859, WNR No. 9 - sold to the Norfolk Minerals Railway in 1897 1861 0-6-0 Thwaites & Carbutt of 1861, WNR No. 10 - 4’6” - leased to the Norfolk Minerals Railway in 1889, sold to the NMR in 1895 1861: 0-6-0 Sharp Stewart of 1861, WNR No. 11 - 4’6” - same type as Cambrian SGC and Furness D1 1861: 0-6-0 Sharp Stewart of 1861, WNR No. 12 - 4’6” - same type as Cambrian SGC and Furness D1 1862: 2-2-2T Neilson & Co of 1862, WNR No. 13 - 5’ - standard gauge version of loco supplied to the Dublin & Drogheda Ry 1863: 0-6-0 Sharp Stewart of 1863, WNR No. 14 - 4’6” - same type as Cambrian SGC and Furness D1 1863: 0-6-0 Sharp Stewart of 1863, WNR No. 15 - 4’6” - same type as Cambrian SGC and Furness D1 1864: 2-4-0 Sharp Stewart of 1864, WNR No. 16 – 5’6" - same type as Cambrian SPC and Furness E1 1864: 2-4-0 Sharp Stewart of 1864, WNR No. 17 – 5’6" - same type as Cambrian SPC and Furness E1 1867: 4-4-0, Neilson & Co of 1866, WNR No. 7 - 4’6½” - Smaller version of Cowan's GNoSR K Class 1872: 2-4-0T Vulcan Foundry of 1872, WNR No.8 – similar to that supplied to Japan 1872: 0-6-0T Sharp Stewart of 1872, WNR No. 3 - as also supplied to Furness and Wrexham, Mold & Connah's Quay Railways 1872: 2-4-0 Sharp Stewart of 1872, WNR No. 18 – 5’6" - same type as Cambrian SPC and Furness E1 1872: 2-4-0 Sharp Stewart of 1872, WNR No. 19 – 5’6 " - same type as Cambrian SPC and Furness E1 1874: 0-6-0 Beyer Peacock of 1874, WNR No. 20 – 4’9” - Ilfracombe Goods type 1875: 0-6-0 Sharp Stewart of 1874, WNR No. 4 - 4’6”- same type as Furness D1; ordered by FR, not purchased, went to WNR 1877: 0-4-2T, Neilson & Co/SW Johnson of 1877, WNR No. 1 - same as CV&HR GER T7 derivative 1877: 0-6-0ST Fox Walker of 1877, WNR No. 2 - same as supplied to Great Yarmouth & Stalham Lt Ry 1878: 2-4-0 Sharp Stewart of 1878, WNR No. 5 – 5’6" - same type as Cambrian SPC and Furness E1 1878: 2-4-0 Sharp Stewart of 1878, WNR No. 6 – 5’6” - same type as Cambrian SPC and Furness E1 1878: 0-4-0ST Beyer Peacock of 1878, WNR No. 21 - similar BP's own Gorton works shunter 1880: 0-6-0 Beyer Peacock of 1880, WNR No. 22 – 5’ - standard BP similar to McDonnell 101 Class 1880: 4-4-0 Sharp Stewart of 1880, WNR No. 23 - 5’ 6 ½” - same type as Cambrian SBC and Furness K1 1883: 2-4-0 Crewe Type of 1857, ex Lancaster & Carlisle, WNR No. 24 – 5’1” - 3 sold by LNWR, the other 2 went to the E&MR 1883: 4-4-0 Beyer Peacock of 1883, WNR No. 25 – 5’7” - similar to LSW Adams 380 Class 'Steamroller' 1887: 4-4-0 Sharp Stewart of 1887, WNR No. 26 - 5’ 6 ½” - same type as Cambrian SBC and Furness K1 1887: 4-4-0 Sharp Stewart of 1887, WNR No. 27 - 5’ 6 ½” - same type as Cambrian SBC and Furness K1 1895: 2-4-0 Sharp Stewart/Melton Constable of 1874, ExCMR-E&MR, WNR No. 10 – 4’7” - Purchased from M&GN 1899: 0-6-0T Sharp Stewart of 1874, ExCMR-E&MR, WNR No. 9 - Purchased from M&GN 1901: 0-6-0T Brighton Works/W Stroudley A1 of 1874 (No. 65), WNR No. 28 - Purchased from LB&SC Coaching stock of the West Norfolk Railway WNR Coach Stock Development This subject may be conveniently divided into two periods, from the opening of the line, in 1855, to 1871, and, from 1872 to 1905. The reason for this is that 1872 marked the introduction of fresh stock on the WN’s expanding network, and coaches from this period are the oldest to remain in regular revenue earning service by 1905. New Stock, 1872-1881 These new coaches, known as “New Stock” by the West Norfolk, apparently regardless of how aged they became, were initially supplied by the Metropolitan Coach & Wagon Works. Noting the similarity with coaches supplied by the Metropolitan to other railway companies, G R Tweddle, the West Norfolk's leading rolling stock historian, surmises that they were built to the Metropolitan’s own designs. The Metropolitan certainly supplied similar coaches to other railways, including an 1871 composite and the 1872-3 block sets to the LSWR. The opening of carriage shops at Aching Constable in 1874, however, meant that, by and large, the WN would build its own coaches from then on, and they seem to have followed the Metropolitan’s designs to build more New Stock. New Stock was characterised by the vertical panels above the waist and quarter lights with square lower corners and large, or triple, radius tops. Door lights, however, were square in all 4 corners and door vents were rectangular. In these latter details they provided a contrast with contemporary GER stock, where the door lights also had curved tops, whereas the GER door vents of the day had curved ends and were of a particularly bulbous type. The waist was marked with rectangular beading, typical of the period. Over the years the New Stock was upgraded, including the provision of continuous upper foot boards, vents to the Third Class compartment doors, gas lighting and, of course, continuous vacuum braking. The years 1878-1881 saw little in the way of coach construction, as the earlier spurt of New Stock had largely satisfied the Line’s needs for the time being. The coaches that were constructed at Aching Constable over these years may be seen as something of a transition; body dimensions saw modest increases in length and height, and the WN modernised the design slightly by adding recessed waist panels in place of the square-cornered beading. In this it was ahead of the GE, which seems to have been remarkably conservative in its coach body styling, retaining raised beading until 1885. By 1905, sightings of New Stock on the mainline were few, though contemporary photographs do show some in use; a former all First, downgraded to a Second, and a former all Second, downgraded to a Third. Some were withdrawn and their bodies grounded and used for various purposes along the line. Several more remained in revenue earning service, cascaded down to branch line service and there formed into sets. The Achingham branch ran a 4-set of New Stock, the Fakeney branch had three. 1882 Stock A new generation of WN coaching stock was built at Aching Constable from 1882. These saw further increases in height and length and the introduction of 6-wheel stock, though the WNR continued to build 4-wheel mainline stock until 1904. New stock was needed for the WN’s expanding system, which saw lengthy extensions built during the 1880s, south to Bury St Edmunds and east even as far as Norwich. Furthermore, the ‘80s was the decade in which Birchoverham Next the Sea expanded considerably as a fashionable resort, even rivalling Cromer as the premier north coast resort. More and better coaches were needed. In style these continued the rounded tops to vertical panels and quarter lights, but initially retained square door lights. The waists had recessed panels. The door vents were changed to a more conventional rounded-end pattern. Coaches to this design were built 1882-1887, and constitute the majority built. These may be conveniently labelled ‘Type A’ to distinguish them from further coaches built in 1888-1892 (‘Type B’) to the same basic design, but introducing large or triple radius tops to the door lights. 1893 Stock As the 1890s dawned, traffic on the West Norfolk was growing heavier, and the decade would see significant investment in locomotives and stock, and in renewing the permanent way. Furthermore, the West Norfolk anticipated a significant addition source of passenger traffic as a result of its efforts to promote Wolfringham, on the west coast, as a second major resort on its system. The new coaches were built in two batches, 1893-1898 (1893 Type A) and 1902-1905 (1893 Type B), the hiatus representing a period of severe retrenchment due to the failure of the Wolfringham 'Shepherd's Port Scheme', and during which any coaches required were purchased second-hand, introducing a leavening of antique variety in a coaching fleet that was, by and large, to reasonably modern standards. The 1893 Type A coaches adopted essentially the same dimensions as the 1882-types. The main difference was a further update in body style, with a more modern style of small radius corners to all panels and lights above the waist, something that the GER did no adopt until 1896. When coach building resumed in 1902, the new style was essentially the same, but Type Bs saw an effort to standardise carriage lengths to just one for four-wheel and one for six. Agriculture and Industry in West Norfolk Agriculture The chocolate box, to modern eyes, countryside of West Norfolk belies the fact that this is the fertile land that saw the agricultural revolution yield the abundance of produce necessary to support England's industrial and urban growth. In the county Thomas William Coke, the first Earl of Leicester, promoted new farming methods such as crop rotation and soil nurturing in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, heralding a new dawn of agriculture combined with science. This made West Norfolk a rich, productive and prosperous agrarian economy in the Nineteenth Century and the railway arrived just in time to allow West Norfolk farmers to exploit new and distant markets. The area is a mix of arable and pasture, with the richness of the land attracting a seasonal migration of cattle herds from Scotland for fattening up, or finishing, prior to market. Norfolk short-horn sheep are reared locally, in addition to cattle. While most herds are for beef, some diary herds take advantage of the ability to move milk and other diary product swiftly by rail whilst still fresh. Among the crops cultivated in the Achings is lavender. To the east of the Achings is a land of abundant fruit orchards. Much of the fruit crop is able to take advantage of the Bishop's Lynn tramway to reach where it can be marshalled for rapid onward transport by rail to London or to the Midland conurbations. Egg production has seen a significant increase and there is now an egg dépôt serving as a collection point for local farmers for sale and onward distribution. The dépôt is to be found in the yard at Achingham railway station. Agricultural production was also boosted by developments in soil fertilisation. Initially the Achings supplied fertiliser from the local coprolite beds, which operations utilised a horse-worked tramway pre-dating the WNR, but latterly guano has been imported and processed at Bishop's Lynn by the Norfolk Fish Oil & Guano Company, which had secured the Heligoland Guano Concession. Such developments helped to spur the exploitation of areas hitherto regarded as unfit for cultivation, such as the Model Farms of the West Norfolk Soil Amendment Company on Birchoverham Heath, served by a narrow gauge railway that links the farms together and with the West Norfolk Railway. Industry The area is known for quarrying and aggregate extraction, including sand, gravel, carstone and chalk. Iron ore is also extracted and calcinated locally at kilns at Wolfringham Warren. Many of these activities, extraction and processing sites, are linked and served by the Norfolk Minerals Railway, which runs inland of the western coast, broadly parallel to it, before it turns to descend to the coast and link with the West Norfolk Railway at Wolfringham Staithe, where mineral product can be transhipped and coal supplies obtained. Subterranean sulphur argued for the presence of shale oil deposits, which led to the setting up, prospecting, drilling and processing of shale oil around the turn of the Century by Norfolk Oilfields Limited. Despite significant investment, no oil of a commercial quality was ever obtained and the scheme was subsequently exposed as a fraud upon its investors. The fish oil and guano processing plant at Bishop's Lynn has already been mentioned. More fragrant local manufactories include jam and the noted Royal Sandringham Lavender Biscuits (by appointment to HRH King Edward VII). There are a number of local foundries and agricultural engineers. A small such operation is found at Castle Aching. Finally we should not forget brewing. Castle Aching itself has a small brewery, located opposite the railway station, supplying local hostelries with its Aching Ales. At Achingham substantial rail-served maltings are found behind the railway goods yard. Certain bulk necessities are imported, most notably Baltic timber, via the port at Bishop's Lynn, and coal, which has two principal routes to West Norfolk; by rail, often from the South Yorkshire fields via the GER-GNR Joint Line, and by sea, brought from the Durham coalfield via collier brigs to Wolfingham Staithe and thence by rail to the points of consumption or distribution. Ecclesiatical History of West Norfolk Church Organisation The parish lies within the diocese of Norwich, which was extremely large and unwieldy, compromising over nine hundred parishes. The Bishop of Norwich for the years 1857-1893 was the Hon. John Pelham DD, third son of the Earl of Chichester and a product of Westminster School and Christ Church Oxford. He was content to preside over a diocese of this size. His main contribution to the story of the railways of West Norfolk was his absolute refusal to bow to evangelical pressure from within his church, or, indeed, from without it, to oppose the running of Sunday services by the West Norfolk Railway, whose Directors, also high-churchmen, were generally unsympathetic to the strictures of sabbatarians. Bishop Pelham's successor, John Sheepshanks, Bishop of Norwich 1893-1910, a Cambridge man, was born in Belgravia the son of a Coventry clergyman, and educated at Coventry Grammar. He served a missionary in British Columbia in an attempt to bring God to the Canadians. He was doctrinally also High Church, but he exhibited a different approach to the running of the diocese. On his installation in Norwich, he was noted for his austere living arrangements and reforms. In terms of diocesan administration, he created new posts, taking advantage of the revival of suffragan sees that had begun in the 1870s to appoint assistant bishops. While Bishop Sheepshanks reserved much of the administration of the eastern part of the diocese to himself, north-west Norfolk, south Norfolk and west Suffolk, and east Suffolk were to benefit from suffragan appointees. Above left, Bishop Sheepshanks Above right, Revd. Horatio Coldwell, Suffragan Bishop of Aching & Lynn The diocese of Norwich had suffragan sees of Ipswich and of Thetford, which were created by the Suffragan Bishops Act 1534 but the sees had fallen into in abeyance after just one incumbent until Thetford was next filled in 1894 and Ipswich in 1899. Pursuant to the Suffragans Nomination Act 1888, it was possible to create new suffragan sees and that of Aching & Lynn was instituted in 1894. The parish fell within the archdeaconry of Lynn, which was created from those of Norwich and of Norfolk on 28 August 1894. Other denominations In Castle Aching, in addition to the church there are thriving Baptist, Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels and one particular oddity in the form of the sole remaining congregation of the True and Justified Brethren of Memon, known as Memonites, a particularly obscure and unhygienic sect, long in decay. Military History of West Norfolk Birchoverham Heath is the site of the regimental dépôt of the West Norfolks, a regular army infantry regiment, whilst Castle Aching and Achingham have drill halls constructed for the use of volunteer troops who were later formed as volunteer battalions of the West Norfolk Regiment. The West Norfolk Regiment In the Nineteenth Century there were two county infantry regiments associated with Norfolk; the 9th (East Norfolk) Regiment of Foot and the 54th (West Norfolk) Regiment. The latter Regiment was raised in Salisbury by John Campbell, 5th Duke of Argyll in 1755. The regiment was deployed to North America for service in the American Revolutionary War in 1776. In 1782 the regiment was designated the West Norfolk Regiment and given the number that would be carried by the regiment until the Childers Reforms of 1881, 54th. The regiment served in Flanders in 1794, against the forces of the French Republic. In May 1800 a second battalion was raised. Both battalions took part in the unsuccessful Ferrol Expedition in August 1800 and the subsequent equally unsuccessful attack on Cádiz in October 1800. Both battalions then embarked for Egypt for service in the French campaign in Egypt and Syria. The battalions amalgamated in 1802, no doubt the result of reductions in forces made following the Treaty of Amiens with Napoleonic France. Following the resumption of war, the second battalion was re-raised in 1803. The first battalion saw action in South America in 1807, before moving to Swedish Pomerania in 1810 and the Waterloo campaign in 1815, where its role was restricted to the capture of Cambrai in the aftermath of the battle. The second battalion saw extensive service in the Peninsular War before being stationed in Ireland. Throughout the Nineteenth Century both battalions of the regiment saw extensive overseas service including the Fifth Xhosa War in South Africa, the First Anglo-Burmese War, the Anglo-Sikh Wars, the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny (where the fortunes of the first battalion reached their lowest ebb with the devastating fire on board the troop ship SS Sarah Sands), the Anglo-Zulu War, the Second Afghan War, the North-West Frontier, the Anglo-Egyptian War, the Sudan campaigns and the Second-Anglo-Boer War, in which the volunteer battalions also participated. As a result of the Childers Reforms, the regiment lost its number in 1881 and became the West Norfolk Regiment and barracks were provided for it on Birchoverham Heath. West Norfolk Militia & Volunteer Formations The drill halls of Castle Aching and Achingham were built to accommodate men of Volunteer Rifle movement in the 1860s. The volunteers were raised in 1859 in response to the perceived threat of a resurgent Third Empire France. The Volunteer Act of 1863 inter alia authorised volunteer units to acquire land for training. Often the land was gifted by a wealthy landowner and public subscription provided the means to construct a drill “shed” or “hall”. At Castle Aching the castle demesne has long-since passed into the hands of a wealthy Whig family, the Rokewoods, who had built a fine Palladian house in parkland abutting the village. In 1864 George William Rokewood, Lord Erstwhile, scion of this house and a founding director of the West Norfolk Railway, donated the land for the drill hall, which was built around the surviving tower of one of the castle's three bailey gates in 1865. The location was particularly convenient due to the railway, which allowed a unit of West Norfolk Rifle Volunteers to recruit from around the Achings district, and not least from the workforce of the West Norfolk’s own Works at Aching Constable. Above, the Drill Hall, Castle Aching, from an old postcard The Norfolk Militia was created at the time of the Seven Years war, and the first regiment raised pursuant to the Militia Act of 1757. By 1758 it comprised the 1st Battalion Western Regiment of the Norfolk Militia (West Norfolk Militia) and the 2nd Battalion Eastern Regiment of the Norfolk Militia (East Norfolk Militia). In 1797 a 3rd Battalion of the Norfolk Militia was raised, disbanded in 1798 but re-raised in 1803. In 1881 the West Norfolk Rifle Volunteers and the West Norfolk Militia combined to form the 3rd and 4th (Volunteer) Battalions of the West Norfolk Regiment. The 1st and 2nd battalions became the volunteer battalions of the East Norfolk Regiment (the former 9th of Foot). Above, Men of HQ Coy, 3rd (Volunteer) Battalion, West Norfolk Regiment, 1905 West Norfolk Artillery Militia On the north-west coast, the West Norfolk Artillery Militia was formed in 1853, and a volunteer coastal artillery unit remained at Birchoverham next the Sea until well into the Twentieth Century. Above left, West Norfolk Artillery Militia Officers, c.1897. Right, drill at Birchoverham C Battery The King's Own Norfolk Yeomanry The last Yeomanry formation in Norfolk expired in 1849, with some mounted rifles partially filling the gap between 1861-67 in Norwich. There was, thus, a gap of some half a century without a county Yeomanry for Norfolk, during which time there was a Norfolk squadron of the Loyal Suffolk Hussars. This all changed in 1901, when Edward VII instituted the Norfolk (King's Own) Imperial Yeomanry. The Norfolk Yeomanry, thus, had a connection with the King (they were one of three Yeomanry units of which the King was Colonel), whose retreat was, of course, Sandringham. This Royal patronage meant that khaki was not adopted, despite the late date of its formation, and, indeed, it was the last Yeomanry formation to adopt khaki. As a new unit, instituted in 1901, its Commanding Officer, Major Barclay, suggested to the King that the corps adopt a khaki uniform. Khaki had been worn for many years overseas and the Imperial Yeomanry wore it in South Africa. Further, a darker khaki to replace the red and blue of the Victorian Home Service uniforms was to be instituted in January 1902. Nevertheless, Edward VII replied to Major Barclay's suggestion with an emphatic "No, none of that convict stuff for my regiment". The King produced his General Officer's pattern blue patrol jacket and that became the model. Yellow facings were adopted, though it will be seen that there were colonial and khaki uniform elements until 1905. Above left, Norfolk Yeomanry uniforms 1901-1914 Above right, the Yeomanry provides escort to visiting royalty, sometime after the introduction of the new uniform in 1905. A troop of C Squadron parades at Achingham. Some other local places Achingham, West Norfolk A well-built market town and parish situated in the shallow valley of the River Lesser Ache in West Norfolk, Achingham has a railway station at the terminal point of the West Norfolk Railway's Castle Aching to Achingham branch. The population in 1901 was 2,907. Above, the station, Achingham, around the turn of the century Above right, R J Sillet's Maltings ran along the side of Achingham's station yard History Achingham was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. King Henry III granted a Royal charter in 1250 and Achingham has been a market town ever since. The parish church of All Saints dates from the Fourteenth Century, and replaced the old Saxon church. Achingham has long been associated with two activities, printing and bell-founding. Fakenham's historic association with printing dates to 1803 when a Freeman of Norwich, Stewerley Chadderton, came to Fakenham and began a small printing business. Bell-founding has an even longer pedigree in the town, the business originating in the Fourteenth Century and carried on by the Tailor family since 1784. In June 1859 a public meeting was held in the Corn Hall for the formation of an Achingham Rifle Volunteer Corps. The Reverend Raleigh made a short speech urging people to join. About thirty men did, the eldest an elderly fat banker of 70 years, and the youngest a seventeen-year-old. They were kitted out in a grey uniform. The Corps met regularly for drill and exercise. In 1881 the Corps became part of the Third (Volunteer) Battalion of the West Norfolk Regiment, men of the battalion serving during the late war in South Africa. In more recent years (1901), our gracious monarch, King Edward VII, has re-formed the county Yeomanry, and the Achingham Troop of C Squadron of the Norfolk (King's Own) Yeomanry, Imperial Yeomanry, is located in the town. Several members of the troop transferred from the Norfolk Troop of the Loyal Suffolk Hussars, having seen service in South Africa. Purlew & Schlott This famous firm of Norfolk model engineers and toymakers was founded towards the end of the Nineteenth Century by Joseph Wensum Purlew and August William Schlott. The partners commenced business in 1894 in a shed at the back of Purlew’s house on Norwich Road, Achingham, West Norfolk, as a manufacturer of components for live steam model stationary and locomotive engines. They soon outgrew the shed and moved to a small purpose-built facility, Jubilee Works, in 1897, located on Station Road, Achingham. Above, left Jubilee Works, Station Road, Achingham, right, Purlew & Schlott WNR and GER items Public Establishments Achingham Cottage Hospital Achingham Rural District Council Achingham Union Workhouse Cemetery Corn Hall County Court, Corn Hall County Police Station Imperial Yeomanry Post Office Reading Room & Library, Corn Hall Volunteer Fire Engine House West Norfolk Regiment, volunteer battalion Economic Activity The town holds a livestock market on Tuesdays and a general market on Saturdays. Wednesday is early closing day. The town hosts a number of industries and other businesses, principal among which are: Achingham Argus, newspaper (published Fridays), Station Road Achingham Egg Consortium, station yard Achingham Gas Works J W Barrett, livestock auctioneer Capital & Counties Bank R W Dewing & Co, malsters, Station Road T R Goggs, flour & corn merchant and miller (steam & water), Bridge Street R J Sillett & Son, seed merchants and malsters, Station Road Joshua Tailor & Co, bell founders Wyke & Coxham, print works Purlew & Schlott, model engineers and toymakers, Station Road The Birchoverhams (Market, Town, Staithe, Next the Sea), West Norfolk The Birchoverhams are a group of towns and villages forming a district in West Norfolk that runs inland from the north Norfolk coast marking the course of the River Birch. Birchoverham Market A small town and the commercial and administrative centre of the Birchoverhams, Birchoverham Market is very pleasantly seated in a valley sheltered from the sea, in a rich agricultural district. The town lies in the parish of All Saints, the church being of flint and dressed stone dating from the Early English and Decorated periods. The living is held by a Rector and is a substantial one; it is in the gift of The college of scholars of the Holy Trinity of Norwich, in the University of Cambridge. There has been a market in the town since at least the Twelfth Century, though by the middle of the Nineteenth Century the fortunes of the town were in decline and it look set for a picturesque obscurity until the coming of the Birchoverhams & Achings Railway, later the West Norfolk Railway, led to the revival of its fortunes. Today the town is bustling and the population of the parish was recorded as 1,712 in 1901. Birchoverham Town Birchoverham Town has the distinction of being a village and home to the parish church of St Cuthbert, yet is in size a mere hamlet, smaller than Birchoverham Staithe, together with which it forms the civil parish of Birchoverham. The church of St Cuthbert dates from Norman times and is most unusual in having a central tower. Birchoverham Staithe A rather larger hamlet than Birchoverham Town, at about a mile distant from it and next to the creek-side harbour, comprising mainly modest cottages and quayside warehousing, boat-building and chandlery. ‘Staithe' is an Old English word meaning 'landing place'. The original settlement was Birchoverham Town, which lies a mile or so inland and was once a busy inland port situated on the navigable River Birch. Like many of the North Norfolk rivers, the Birch has since silted and declined. By the early Eighteenth Century, Birchoverham Town had faded into bucolic obscurity, while the Staithe continued to see significant coastal shipping traffic, which benefitted from connection with the Castle Aching and Birchoverhams Railway in the mid-1850s. As early as the 1860s, however, silting of the harbour area was preventing newer and larger vessels from entering the harbour. Today (1905), the Staithe still benefits from fishing and coastal shipping, but is restricted to the smaller sailing vessels that ply the trade. The fishing and trading folk of the Staithe benefit from a public house, the Fisherman’s Rest, the rather more commodious Viscount Nelson, an inn on the main coastal turnpike road. The parish of St Cuthbert maintains a chapel and a Reading room. Birchoverham Next the Sea Traditionally a fishing town, Birchoverham Next the Sea was first mentioned in the Doomesday Book. Today (1905) the Old Town clusters round a creek to the west of the low cliffs that house the modern town. There is still a very active fishing fleet based at the town and the town maintains a lifeboat station. There is a fisherman’s Institute, reading room and mission chapel. Blessed with fine beaches at the foot of the cliffs, by the 1860s, Birchoverham Next the Sea had begun to attract its first aristocratic and upper middle class tourists, no doubt due to the frequent visits of the Prince of Wales (now our blessed Sovereign, King Edward VII), who was instrumental in the development of the town’s golfing links. Having, in 1855, built a railway from Castle Aching to Birchoverham Market, the principal town in the district, and through it to the harbour at Birchoverham Staithe, the West Norfolk Railway obtained Parliamentary powers to build an extension by forming a junction north of Birchoverham Market station to the cliffs above the beaches, making it convenient for the burgeoning resort and leading to its considerable growth. The station was opened to passengers in 1875. The railway has brought visitors in significantly greater numbers. The town now enjoys a pier (1897), at the end of which is the Jubilee Pavilion, which attracts the finest performers in the worlds of light opera and music hall and holds frequent dances. In addition to the plethora of small and medium hotels, villas for rent and boarding houses, the town boasts the Grand Hotel, a large establishment offering the highest standards of comfort and refinement to an international clientele. A public horse-tram provides a convenient way to traverse the length of the resort and, together with numerous ‘cabs and the private horse ‘buses provided by the principal hotels, connects with the railway station. Birchoverham Heath A previously barren wasteland to the south of Birchoverham Market that the engineers of the Castle Aching & Birchoverhams Railway had to cross. The Birchoverham Turnpike was built across it in the Eighteenth Century and it became a haunt of highwaymen and footpads for a time. The area has since seen some development. To the north of the heath, in sight of the town, is the Jubilee Barracks, headquarters and barracks of the two regular battalions of the West Norfolk Regiment, opened by HRH the Prince of Wales in 1887. Above, a colourised view of Jubilee Barracks, Birchoverham Heath Extensive areas on the southern portion of the heath are now under the care of the West Norfolk Soil Amendment Company, which is in the process of bringing the land into production. The company's model farms are linked by a modest narrow gauge railway system with exchange sidings alongside the WNR mainline. Above, the model farm of the West Norfolk Soil Amendment Company, Birchoverham Heath Bishop's Lynn, West Norfolk Bishop's Lynn, or Len Espiscopi, is an English seaport and market town in West Norfolk, located on the east bank of the River Great Ouse, south of the outflow to The Wash. The town is concentrated between the Wooton Old Creek to the south and the River Great Ache to the north. It is closely associated with its immediate neighbour to the south, King's Lynn. History The Hanseatic League, a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Northwestern and Central Europe, had come to dominate Baltic maritime trade and by the Fourteenth Century Lynn was becoming rich on the Baltic or German trade, making it the busiest port in England at that time. Constricted between the Purfleet to the north and Mill Fleet to the south, the Mediaeval town was in need of expansion when, in 1422, Bishop Fordham of Ely established the "newe towne" between Wooton Old Creek and the river Great Ache to provide additional docks and warehouses. In 1481 Bishop Morton authorised a market and commissioned the church of St Audrey. Trade built up along the rivers and canals that stretched inland and the town expanded between the two waterways. When the Bishops of Ely lost jurisdiction over Lynn to King Henry VIII in 1537, the new town, a separate parish, was not included and remained within the possession of the Diocese, and it, alone, retained the name of Bishop's Lynn. Under separate jurisdiction, Bishop's Lynn was determined to hold its own against its larger neighbour to the south, an attitude that prevailed throughout the early modern period. In point of schools, colleges, guildhalls, hospitals, almshouses and churches, Bishop's Lynn proved itself determined to match King's Lynn. The ultimate expression of this policy of parity was when, in 1685, the architect, and former Mayor of King's Lynn, Henry Bell, was obliged to provide Bishop's Lynn with virtual duplicate of the Custom House he had designed for King's Lynn. Above, left the Customs House at Bishop's Lynn, and, right, one of a pair of Black Hawthorn tanks contributed by the WNR to the Bishop's Lynn Tramway Committee, heads with a train of tramcars towards Aching Constable By this time, however, the Lynns had declined in status as ports. From the Sixteenth Century they had suffered from the discovery of the Americas, which benefited the ports on the west coast of England, and the growth of the port of London. By the Seventeenth Century, Bishop Lynn's trade was primarily the export of wheat and the import of iron and timber. In addition, Bishop's Lynn had a share in the importation of wine from Spain, Portugal and France. There was also an important coastal trade, as bulk goods were more quickly and economically moved by sea than land. In the Eighteenth Century the increase in agricultural production resulting from the agrarian revolution in West Norfolk saw produce exported to London by sea. Later, the increased demand for coal created by industrialisation and urbanisation lead to coal from the Durham coalfields entering the port. Bishop's Lynn also developed a significant ship-building industry. Nevertheless, the port had ceased to grow and, while the nearby ports of Wisbech, Mereport and King's Lynn continued to prosper, it may be said that in the Eighteenth and for much of Nineteenth, Bishop's Lynn slept. When the railways came to King's Lynn in the 1840s (the Lynn & Dereham), Bishop's Lynn was neglected and, later, bypassed by the Lynn & Hunstanton Railway in 1862. Revival From the 1870s Bishop's Lynn began to benefit from an expansion of the railway network and, therefore, of trade, that was coming to the area. The opening of the Lynn and Sutton Bridge Railway (1864) increased traffic, as did the development of nearby Sandringham as a Royal estate. At King's Lynn the increase in traffic led the Great Eastern to replace the Lynn and Dereham's original wooden station of 1846 with a new one in 1871-2, and in 1875 it built a goods line north to the docks at Bishop's Lynn. Exports from further afield could now be embarked at Bishop's Lynn, while goods brought ashore there could be distributed more widely. The Bishop's Lynn Improvement Act of 1880 finally heralded the expansion of the town's docks to the north of the Great Ache and provided capacity for the new generation of coastal and ocean-going steam screw vessels, boosting the port's capacity and utility considerably. From the 1880s the Scottish Herring Fleet began to call at Bishop's Lynn on its annual autumnal migration down the east coast. A new import was established by the Norfolk Fish Oil and Guano Company which had purchased the Heliogland Guano Concession in 1882, which proved to be a shrewd move because the Imperial German government was obliged to honour this 50-year concession after the isle transferred to it in 1895. The company established a processing plant at Bishop's Lynn. In the meantime, a scheme had been proposed in the 1870s to improve access to market for fruit growers and farmers in the lands to the east and south east of Bishop's Lynn in order to militate the effects of the developing agricultural depression. This led to a proposal for a tramway, jointly owned and managed by the Great Eastern and West Norfolk Railways, to connect the district to the West Norfolk Railway's lines inland to the east, but also extending west to Bishop's Lynn. Authorisation to construct it was enshrined in the Great Eastern Railway Act 1881 and the line was opened in 1885. Bishop's Lynn was, at last, connected to the nation's railways in the sense of gaining the longed for passenger service and a railway as common carrier. Much seaborne trade continued to be handled by the GER harbour branch. The tramway facilitated the export of West Norfolk produce via the port and the importation and distribution of goods such as Baltic timber to the West Norfolk region. The population of the town in 1901 was 6,542. Norfolk Minerals Railway This rather antiquated line began life as a horse-drawn tramway. It did great business hauling coal off North-Eastern collier brigs from Wolfringham Staithe, though that trade greatly diminished following the opening of the GN-GE Joint Ry from 1883, and coprolite workings, though these are now defunct. The line endures, servicing other mineral activity, behind the strip of west coast, having developed by linking lines concerned with carstone and sand extraction, limestone quarrying and calcination. The line runs roughly north-south from the Paperhall Quarry to the calcining bank at Wolfringam Warren, where it strikes coastward to Wolfringham Staithe, at which latter place it connects with the WNR. Above left, map of the NMR by 'Nearholmer' Above right, NMR No.5, believed to be a rebuilt long-boiler tank engine The Norfolk Minerals Railway is made even more quaint than its rambling, ramshackle wanderings dictate by its eclectic assemblage of antiquated and second-hand stock. Acknowledgments In relation to this page, thanks go to Mr Phil Sutters of this parish, who made a smart, proper, version of my hand-drawn insignia for the West Norfolk Railway, to Shadow, also of this parish, for the most splendid poster, and to Nearholmer for his contribution of Wolfringham-Shepherd's Port lore. The contributors to the topic and to the layout are too numerous to mention and too important to summarise here, but emerge in the following pages. Thanks to them all. (c) 2019 James Hilsdon, all rights reserved. Material published on this web page is copyright James Hilsdon and may not be reproduced without permission. Copyright exists in all other original material published on the internet by James Hilsdon, either under that name or under the nom de plume 'Edwardian'
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Having been into track building for many years and a constant user of Templot I have been watching the development of 3D built track. For some time I was hesitant about this method first coming across some early work via Shapeways, then some Excellent work by Off the Rails in 7mm and Modelu in 4mm. Finally building a British Finescale EM gauge turnout Last year around the time of scale forum (2022) Martin Wynn sent me some early prototype prints (These are test prints from an old (then) unfinished piece of work) These are test prints for both plain and turnout bases, very much under development The sleepers and timbers have rectangular holes which the chairs fit into A close up of the plain track and ballast will cover the raft which holds the sleepers and Timbers A selection of both standard and bridge chairs and their plugs Not quite the best photo but it shows the detail Slide chairs This is me playing with some test pieces as at the time not all of the turnout chairs had been designed However it is useful to show the concept. plus if required how easy it is to build double track. This photo shows chairs threaded on to rail, but the system has moved on. Now you can fit the chairs first, then lay the rail in place and clip it in A closer view A different view Now there has been a short video produced by James Walters (Bexhill West) showing how the latest version works, at Scaleforum (2023) it was a show stopper https://85a.uk/templot/club/index.php?threads/plug-track-video-series.771/#post-8839 As for me I have a shopping list of items I need to get up and running
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