"Caleta" semi-fictional Costa Brava in N

[Guest]

OK... the morning caffeine's kicked in so bear with me while I share my thoughts...

One of the bi-fold doors hasn't bowed at all and is good quality seasoned knot-free pine. If I knock out the centre panels and decorative moulding beads, I'll have a couple of sturdy frames each 6'6" x 15". Each frame will be made up of two sturdy side rails, morticed and tenoned to top, centre and bottom rails. If I rejoin these frames on raised hinges to allow for the height of the backscene, I can then add scenery and trackbed risers to them, much like an open-frame baseboard. Bearing in mind that I want to to include the low bridge running over the storm drain and also the slope down to the beach, this would be ideal. Weight isn't too much of an issue as once folded, if it's a two-person lift into the van, I can live with that. When folded closed, if I add some protective end panels, I should have a decent box that will survive transport.

Unless I've been stupid and missed something obvious, I might just have a baseboard.

[br2975]

I'm guessing you can buy internal doors in Spain ? They should be acclimatised and warp free.

 

I've not seen any 'flush doors' on sale in Spain - generally most properties are built with the same varnished wooden panelled doors.................

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I've no doubt they are about.

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There are a number of ex-pat run charity shops on the costas, which could be a source of reasonably priced furniture built of seasoned timber.

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Failing that, midnight raids on skips and bins could produce dividends.

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When we bought in 2002 - pallets were 'the currency' for those requiring rough sawn timber - but most eventually disappeared into wood burners.

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Brian R

[Jason T]

Whereabouts are you moving Pete? The wife's family live in Elche and I love it there although the mid summer heat does my nut in.

 

There were two model shops in Elche until quite recently although both have now closed.

 

The line from Alicante to Murcia via Elche has some interesting old DMU's, a small amount of freight and I seem to recall seeing a loco hauled passenger service once too. There is a steam loco on display in Elche (a huge 2-8-0) between the bus station and university and the station at Torellano has a small railway museum or at least a collection of railway heritage items (including an industrial shunter) although I have to admit I have never visited it. Oh, and a couple of years ago on the tram line from Alicante beach northwards, there were a couple of locos parked up that looked remarkably like Class 20's.

 

Not much help in your quest for model shops but interesting all the same.

 

Cheers,

 

Jason

[Guest]

Whereabouts are you moving Pete?

 

About 15 minutes south and a smidge inland from the ex-pat hell (or heaven, depending on your PoV) of Torrevieja. Wife and I have hoovered up a few cheap repossessed holiday lets in La Zenia that need a little work (one/two bed, communal pool, walking distance to beach... you know the kind of thing) and are looking for a family home to go with them. Don't want to be too close to Torrevieja itself, it's just too built up and too English for my liking, but happy to commute there to service the apartments. If we have a little property portfolio, that will give us something of an income. My Spanish is getting better all the time and wife's health much improved by the climate, so a bit of a no-brainer really.

I know Elche quite well, v. nice.

[Jason T]

The Elche festival in August is fantastic; beer, fireworks, food, processions, the mad play in the church, more beer, etc.

[br2975]

About 15 minutes south and a smidge inland from the ex-pat hell (or heaven, depending on your PoV) of Torrevieja.....................................  

 

Don't want to be too close to Torrevieja itself, it's just too built up and too English for my liking,....................................

 

Been there, seen it, turned around and drove back down the N.332.

[colin penfold]

Pete, I am sorry but I might be the bkoke who mentions that thing you haven't thought of (again)

 

If you use the Bi-fold doors, the scenic side will have to be "above the fold" as will everything else - wiring, point motors etc etc, because the fold will bring the "below the fold" surfaces flat against each other when folded. Have you checked the hinges will allow that, by the way?

 

Sorry mate.

 

Am retreating to the cellar now in the hope it will function as a makeshift bunker

[Guest]

Colin, I think I get where you're coming from... does this diagram make sense?

 

 

Once closed, I can use end panels and a front panel to secure the box for transport.

[Guest]

Been there, seen it, turned around and drove back down the N.332.

 

Lol... it's not everyone's cup of tea, is it? Not suggesting for a second that we're going to live in the centre of Torre, but it does have everything we need (including an income) so I can live with being a 20 minute drive away.

 

Edit: My wife's just discovered there's a Primark and a C&A (remember them?) in La Zenia. Wow.

[colin penfold]

Hi Pete, yep, that's what I was hoping you knew you needed to do

[br2975]

Lol... it's not everyone's cup of tea, is it? Not suggesting for a second that we're going to live in the centre of Torre, but it does have everything we need (including an income) so I can live with being a 20 minute drive away.

Initially, we thought of a finca for our retirement, but then realised, we'd be remote, we'd be getting older, and whilst the wife also drives - she's a reluctant driver on the 'wrong side'.

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In the end, a development won; but many of our original neighbours have come and gone (not down to us, I hasten to add).

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As for the N.332 - we avoid it like the plague, using either the E-15 or AP-7.

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Still a couple more years for us before a permanent move.

 

Brian R

[Guest]

Been doodling... bear with me.

 

The plan below was thrown together using sectional track. In reality, I'll use flexi to get as smooth a curve as possible. I have an intense dislike of just joining the end curves with a section of straight track... it never looks natural. If you imagine the scenic single track stretched out straight, it's about 6' which will mean a loco and 8/10 coach Talgo set won't look daft. The individual coaches are quite short, so a 6 coach Arnold set is only 458mm!  This isn't the final track plan, it will evolve.

 

 

Playing around with Bing and Google Maps reveals something that could make a handy scenic break at the left hand end. I particularly like the town name on the rocks. To be replaced with whatever fictional name this little layout ends up with.

 

 

6'6" isn't a great deal of room to play with but it hits me as about right for a transportable N layout. I definitely want to incorporate the low railway bridge over the storm drain and also the pedestrian suspension bridge pinched from Calella itself. Also, a foot crossing and a level crossing (letting cars onto the beach) is a must. Not sure how to handle the scenic break at the right hand end but it's early days yet.

I've had one of those bi-fold doors up on some trestles for a better look and it could quite easily provide the framework. Might attack it with a hammer later to knock out the centre panels and beading.

 

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

Could you do one with mixed gauge track and call it Paella?

 

(er, hat, too warm for a coat, where's the brolley? - and away)

[br2975]

RENFE Class 440 units, Calella, circa 1984.

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More to come.

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Brian R

[Stubby47]

For the other end, just move the track slightly in land and have a hotel / cafe / apartment block on the beach / in front.

[br2975]

Oh, and a couple of years ago on the tram line from Alicante beach northwards, there were a couple of locos parked up that looked remarkably like Class 20's.

FGV (Ferrocarril Generalitat Valencia) metre gauge at Alicante.

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South of here is an electrified tramway along the 'paseo'.

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Northwards the line passes Villajoyosa, Benidorm, Altea, Denia etc.

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In the mid-80s the railway was still part of the state owned FEVE narrow gauge network.

 

In those days 3 yellow "CAF" museum pieces were used on the 'Limon Express' which took 'cava fuelled' package tourists from Benidorm up to Denia.

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Other services were operated by DMU sets.

 

Over the years the FGV was brought under the wing of the Valencia regional government and modernised, using Babcock & Wilcox (Bilbao) B-B diesels and new units.........

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Here are a couple of shots of locos, about 20 years apart.

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Brian R

[melmerby]

Lots of changes in Spain since I last went many, many years ago.

 

Torremolinos station was in what is now a central square and the trains ran straight through on the level including a level crossing over the main road south.

(I was also there when it had closed and was being upgraded and buried under the centre!)

 

North of Alicante the NG trains were steam hauled by a quaint loco (tank IIRC)

 

The Hotel we stayed in north of Calella was the Taurus Park (still there as the "Golden Taurus Park Resort") and it stood alone with nothing around it! IIRC the line was not electrified and the Catalan Talgo passed a couple of times a day up and down.

 

I should have some pictures taken on a 126 camera but I think they were lost years ago, unfortunately.

 

Keith

[Guest]

Oh, and a couple of years ago on the tram line from Alicante beach northwards, there were a couple of locos parked up that looked remarkably like Class 20's.

 

Here are a couple of shots of locos, about 20 years apart.

 

I'm wondering if the loco in Brian's second photo (post #66) is what Jason thought looked like a Class 20? I can certainly see the similarity.

[br2975]

Some more shots of RENFE Cl.440 units at Calella, during the mid-1980s.

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Sorry about the quality.

 

Brian R

[Guest]

Thanks for the images Brian... great stuff. Mention has been made of the line being "upgraded" for the Barcelona Olympics. Does anyone know exactly what that involved... or was it just a case of investing in new stock? For example, looking at the lineside fencing in the two shots above, that seems to be unchanged today and certainly looks identical in the recent Streetview images. I think maybe the catenary masts have been renewed since.

I had an idea about countering the effects of any slight movement in the timber (in relation to the trackbed, especially at the join), so once I've thought it through a little more, I may start butchering some wood. SWMBO is getting the 'ump about the amount of space my curent OO project is taking up, so that may be disassembled and put on the back burner for a month or two. Now, something that folds up to 6'6" x 15"... that'll fit anywhere...

 

Edit: Thanks to Andy's links, I'm pretty sure a Talgo will be the first item of stock.

[Guest]

As threatened promised, I set the better of the two bi-fold doors up on a pair of trestles and knocked out the centre panels. I think this will be ideal as the basic framework, I doubt I could build better from scratch, especially as the frame is morticed and tenoned and unbelievably rigid. Without the decorative panels, weight is also greatly reduced and the entire thing can be picked up and put under one arm. A good base to build on, I think.

 

[br2975]

Preserved Beyer-Garratt at Barcelona Termino mid-1980s

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Brian R

[Geep7]

Just got back from Spain myself, with thoughts of doing a bit of Spanish railway modelling. Not that SWMBO knows yet!

 

If you think just a single line might be a bit limiting in scope, there is always the coastal line from Barcelona going south to Tarragona. The line is double track, and closely follows the coast. I was staying in Torredembarra, and the track plan of the station there, is not too dissimilar to your West Croydon layout, although it has a through loop, rather than a turn-back siding. I'll post some pics up later when I have a chance.

 

Incedently, Electrotren do a model of the Renfe 440R in HO, not sure about N, but I know Ibertren used to make one.

[McGomez]

I´m liking those pictures Brian.

I´m really starting to like the Spanish 1980s era stock. They had some really good liveries about. It´s funny but I´ve never really liked the British Rail two tone green livery for locos (blue is the colour for me) but I´m really drawn to the green Spanish diesels with the yellow stripe ending in a curved chevron on the ends.

 

With regards the changes to the railways in and around Barcelona, the lines closest to the centre saw the vast majority of the changes although they may have given the outer suburban stations a new image and new stock was introduced but the lines remained the same.

 

Inner city changes include the station of Sants which is on a par with Birmingham New Street but without the spotters on the ends of the platforms. Infact Sants is completely covered and a bit of a dark hole. From there a cut and cover tunnel was used that exited aound the Sant Andreu Comtal area with a line curving back off to the Estació de França which was Barcelona Terminus in old money.

 

The area known as Poble Nou to the north of the centre used to be an industrial area with a railway network. I´ll have to have a seach through my Spanish sites but I´ve seen pictures of the Talgo trains parked up in this area along with freight stock but can´t remember the name of the depot. This area was bulldozed and was where they built the olympic village and 1001 other apartment blocks since then.

 

The Metro also received an overhaul in terms of some existing lines and new lines were also built.

 

I used to live 40km to the south of BCN and commute to Sants daily. The new double decker trains had recently been introduced with class 269s on one end and also the 3 car class 447 which appear in one of the photos back up the page but the old class 440 EMUs still plyed their trade too. The DD trains didn´t go up to the northern coastline AFAIK.

Here is one of the few photos of any train interest I took during these years from the balcony of the apartment where I lived at Vilanova i la Geltru.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mcgomez_iberica/14043225136/in/datetaken/

 

And just to the north of Vilanova, one of the double decker trains on it´s way to BCN.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mcgomez_iberica/13109459053/in/datetaken/

Just incase anyone is interested, the electric locos were a Mitsubishi design and are nicknamed Japonesas or Japos for short although I think they were all built under license in Spain.

 

Another of Spains railway museums can be found at Vilanova in a preserved roundhouse.

 

Andy.

 

[Guest]

Just got back from Spain myself, with thoughts of doing a bit of Spanish railway modelling. Not that SWMBO knows yet!

 

Chris... double track briefly crossed my mind but I fancy having a go at this more for the scenic side than anything else. I think I'll stick with single track as the occasional passing train will be ample for me. For some reason, I can't help thinking of it as more of a diorama than a model railway.

 

I´m liking those pictures Brian.

I´m really starting to like the Spanish 1980s era stock. They had some really good liveries about. It´s funny but I´ve never really liked the British Rail two tone green livery for locos (blue is the colour for me) but I´m really drawn to the green Spanish diesels with the yellow stripe ending in a curved chevron on the ends.

 

Thanks for the info Andy. All hugely useful, especially as I knew nothing to begin with. I'm not 100% keen on today's liveries and stock and also find myself drawn to an era maybe 25-40 years ago. Strange.

 

Also, keep those photos coming Brian. Fascinating stuff.

If anyone else has anything lurking on their hard drive, please feel free.

 

A trip to Wickes in Norwich is needed tomorrow so a few bits and pieces for the layout board(s) will no doubt accidentally make their way into the van. Need to find some beefier hinges for a start. I made a start on a layout in N a year or so ago and I built the fiddle yard sidings on a sub-frame supported on threaded rod risers to allow some adjustability. If I can find a picture to show what I mean, I'll upload it here. I think that extra adjustability could pay dividends with any temperature variation once the layout makes the journey to Spain. I also have an idea about connecting the track between boards that will also give me a little extra flexibility.