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Atso
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Hi all,

 

I thought I'd start a new thread covering my attempt to build a layout of Hadley Wood station in N gauge. Firstly, please don't expect lightening progress on this (the boards haven't been built yet!), as I've got plenty of things I need to do for another people, but I've wanted to make a light start on this for some time.

 

I've built and abandoned several layouts over the last few years as none seemed to satisfy me. It was a visit to (and operating) Tony Wright's 4mm scale 'Little Bytham' layout with a few friends that finally convinced me that the problem was that I was trying to pack too much into my designs, that they were becoming unrealistic and that modelling an actual prototype would be more fulfilling for me.

 

I looked at several prototypes for the basis of this layout but all my initial preferences exceeded the available room of 12' x 3' by quite a way - Hitchin would have been my first choice but I'd have needed 20' to do it justice! Feeling a little down that I might not be able to model a prototypical location after all, I remembered Hadley Wood.

 

post-943-0-61359600-1525509297.jpg

(Unknown credit)

 

For those who don't know the station, it is a compact station on the ECML flanked at either end by tunnels (approximate 416m apart or 9'3 in N gauge!) with New Barnet to the south and Potters Bar to the north. The tunnels proved to be a bit of a headache to both the GNR and LNER as it force the line to narrow from a quadruple to double stretch of mainline - this was a major bottleneck on the system that wasn't quadrupled until the late 1950s. As I'm modelling the 1930's it'll be an intensively worked bit of line.

 

Up until the quadrupling work, a small goods yard of two sidings and a head shunt was provided. Originally, the sidings were put in place (1885) to allow the delivery of building materials for local housing - part of an agreement reached between the GNR and a local property developer to build the station in the first place (the developer had to pay a rent/fee to the GNR until a certain number of properties had been build and inhabited). Following the completion of the housing, the sidings were turned over for coal and general goods (hay being something Hadley Wood apparently had in abundance).

 

The station also had an historic railway figure attached to it for a time. None other than one Herbert Nigel Gresley lived in Hadley Wood (until the late 1920's) and used the station to commute in and out of Kings Cross (and wherever else he was needed)! A plaque was installed at the station a few years ago to commemorate this.

 

Unfortunately, the quadrupling work and later electrification forced the removal of most of the old station and today only the staircases to the platforms survive. However, the drawings for the station building are apparently held at Kew Gardens and several photographs of it have started surfacing.

 

Edited by Atso
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So after that long introduction, where am I with this project? The answer is very much still in the research stage (with a little bit of construction) but I have come up with a track plan.

 

post-943-0-26691700-1525509537_thumb.jpg

 

Hadley Wood's layout was quite simple with five turnouts and, apparently, by the early 1930's only two signals (one of them a was a colour light). St Enodoc very kindly found a signaling diagram from 1932 which strongly suggests that there were no ground signals (and I've got not photographic evidence to say otherwise). This seems plausible to me as the Greenwood box to the south had control over Hadley Wood by this point and would only unlock the Hadley box (referred to as a ground frame!) when the goods sidings were in use. I would think that, given the proximity of the box to the turnouts, that shunting would have been done using hand signals/verbal commands. However the diagram disagrees with the 1935 OS map has it does not show the crossover on the mainlines. I'll be including it for operational interest regardless if it was still there or not.

 

The fiddle yard makes use of kick back sidings to get the most into the 16' width (the scenic section will be 20' wide). To get around the problem of reversing trains around the 180 degree curves the outer two loop lines are devoted to this operation (highlighted in red below); This also allows the kick back sidings to be sorted out while not affecting the loop lines. The shortest siding will accommodate a formation 2'10 in length (including locomotive) while the longest loop line is just over 8' long. Twenty storage roads are available in total and the turntable has been provided to turn/swap locomotives with the minimum of handling. There are a few short sidings that'll be used to store the odd bit of stock.

 

post-943-0-76895200-1525510244_thumb.jpg

 

The trackplan is to scale but I have moved two buildings forward from the backscene so that I can include them on the layout. These are 'The Railway Tavern' (which failed to get a license and by the 1930s was a private dwelling) and a pair of semi detached houses (one of which may have been the Station Master's house).

 

I plan on using Finetrax code 40 rail for the scenic section and have already built one point and the crossover in anticipation of the day when some baseboards can be erected.

 

post-943-0-42345500-1525510520_thumb.jpg

 

Finally for the moment, I've been trying to work out the basic dimensions of the signal box. I have a lovely picture looking south with a quadset passing it and this has allowed be to come up with one known dimension (the height). Unfortunately, I've been unable to find a single picture of the front of the box so this is a bit of guesswork.

 

post-943-0-46353500-1525510609_thumb.jpg

 

All very rough and ready at the moment with quite a lot to be worked out before I can have a go at building the box.

 

Next week is going to be taken up with commission work so I doubt their will be much more to report for awhile....

Edited by Atso
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  • RMweb Gold

Interesting, and clever, fiddle yard concept.

My gut feel for crossover is that it might have been removed when the box was changed to GF status. Much easier operationally to limit to a trailing connection off the Down line. Less operationally interesting on a model, so I’m with you for retaining it.

Paul.

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Your fiddle yard is far too clever for me even to begin to understand how it fits with the plan, but I’ve often thought Hadley Wood would make a brilliant self-contained model so I’m excited to see you take it on.

 

I’ll be watching with interest. Good luck!

 

Paul

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G'Day Folks

 

I'm sure I've seen a picture showing a double slip behind the signal box, but then again !

 

manna

Easy there Manna, trying to work everything out is difficult enough without throwing additional spanners into the works! :P
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Interesting, and clever, fiddle yard concept.

My gut feel for crossover is that it might have been removed when the box was changed to GF status. Much easier operationally to limit to a trailing connection off the Down line. Less operationally interesting on a model, so I’m with you for retaining it.

Paul.

I suspect that you are right Paul. Apparently it was deemed that a station master wasn't required and responsibility fell to the Master at Potters Bar. There isn't an exact date for this but I suspect it coincided with the signalling works and control passing to Greenwood.

 

Retaining the crossover might require an additional compromise to historic accuracy (I plan to run stock representing 1928 - 1939 so that's another compromise!). There was a somersault signal mounted on the south side of the bridge controlling the wrong line. The few photographs I have from the late thirties of this end of the station show that it had been removed. I suspect that this went at the same time as the crossover and that it was used to signal that up pickup goods could cross onto the down line. Therefore, as I'm retaining the crossover, would I need to retail that signal as well?

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Your fiddle yard is far too clever for me even to begin to understand how it fits with the plan, but I’ve often thought Hadley Wood would make a brilliant self-contained model so I’m excited to see you take it on.

I’ll be watching with interest. Good luck!

Paul

Hi Paul, I've just about got the workings of the fiddle yard straight in my own head! Luckily, XtrackCAD allows you to run virtual trains so I have tested that this work as I think they should. Reversing N gauge stock should prove interesting and that's the reason why I've added some straight roads to remove the need to reverse around 180 degree curves. Some tests on another layout (not mine) show that everything will stay on the rails as long as the track is well laid.

 

I agree that Hadley Wood is an ideal prototype for a compact layout of a station on a major route. It wasn't my first choice but the more I find out about the original station, the more I am drawn to it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi,

 

Just discovered this and a great location to model. You will certainly be able to run an intensive service with bags of variety. I have a photo somewhere in my archive of Hadley Wood station building from the roadside and also some side shots of the steps down to the platform taken at the point of commencement of the widening. Let me know if they would be useful and I’ll try and dig them out.

Good luck with the project, will be watching with interest.

 

Best regards,

 

Jeremy

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G'Day Folks

 

Looking at the picture at the top of the page, I can see how the GNR would have four tracked Hadley Wood, two Island platforms and two single bore tunnels, the same as Wood Green and the tunnels a Cemetery/Oakley Park.

 

manna 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi,

 

Just discovered this and a great location to model. You will certainly be able to run an intensive service with bags of variety. I have a photo somewhere in my archive of Hadley Wood station building from the roadside and also some side shots of the steps down to the platform taken at the point of commencement of the widening. Let me know if they would be useful and I’ll try and dig them out.

Good luck with the project, will be watching with interest.

 

Best regards,

 

Jeremy

 

Hi Jeremy,

 

Thank you for the words. I would be most interested in the photographs if it isn't too much trouble, many thanks.

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You remind me of how I felt before my current project, which is a model of a real WCML location as close to scale as possible in 4mm.

Hadley Wood is an ideal location to build as accurately as possible.

I am enjoying the challenge of trying to get buildings & structures accurate instead of building something "which looks decent & will fit".

It sounds like you'll enjoy this.

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You remind me of how I felt before my current project, which is a model of a real WCML location as close to scale as possible in 4mm.

Hadley Wood is an ideal location to build as accurately as possible.

I am enjoying the challenge of trying to get buildings & structures accurate instead of building something "which looks decent & will fit".

It sounds like you'll enjoy this.

 

Thanks Pete,

 

I'm looking forward to the challenge of it all. However, the two non-railway buildings are long gone and finding any decent photographs or drawings is proving very difficult. I really want to include them on the layout (hence the slight compression in the width in that location) so I guess it will have to be on a best endeavours basis!

 

As I'm a bit cash strapped at the moment, I've been considering building the fiddle yard track using code 40 rail and copper clad sleepers. I've also got a couple of unusual formations which I could build by cutting up some Peco scissor crossings and double slips but the cost of these is eye watering at the moment! Therefore, I spend a little time this morning working out a basic CAD design for a short radius turnout - I haven't managed to get along with Templot yet!.

 

post-943-0-69559600-1528215460.jpg

 

It is all very basic but will eventually serve to provide me with a template from which to build a test point to see if the idea of building all of my own track is feasible. The check rails are currently set at 0.8mm clearance but, having measured the back to backs on some of my Peco wagon wheels, I think I'll need to open these up to 0.9mm before printing the template.

Edited by Atso
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According to my parents, girlfriend and Facebook, it is my birthday today - I'm now getting to the point where I like to try and forget these! However, this morning did see a nice selection of presents for Hadley Wood.

 

post-943-0-05283100-1528276598_thumb.jpg

 

My parents bought me the final two Finetrax turnouts for the scenic section of the layout, these will be employed to access the goods sidings. Some spare sleeper bases were also in the package which provides me with spares and (hopefully) an easy way to hold rail in gauge (and upright) while the initial few solder joints are made on the toe of the points.

 

My girlfriend got me Papyrus - actually, I found it on Ebay last month for very little money and pointed it out to her. It runs perfectly and I wonder why nobody else bid on it... This one will be backdated into Gresley's original A1 'Great Northern' as she was c. 1937 with high sided non-corridor tender. I just need to finish the other three Dapol A3 conversions I've had on the go for eight months first!

 

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Hi all,

 

I spend a couple of hours this afternoon building one of the Finetrax N gauge B6 turnouts I got yesterday.

 

post-943-0-36384300-1528396128_thumb.jpg

 

The other one of these will be the last turnout required for the scenic section of Hadley Wood! :)

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Hi,

 

As promised, I've managed to dig out a few photos of Hadley Wood station from my collection. These were taken during the widening of the station during the late 1950's. Hope they will be of use.

 

post-10222-0-59611500-1528404410_thumb.jpg

COPYRIGHT CORNISHTRAINSJEZ

 

post-10222-0-19563400-1528404744_thumb.jpg

COPYRIGHT CORNISHTRAINSJEZ

 

post-10222-0-82825700-1528405003_thumb.jpg

COPYRIGHT CORNISHTRAINSJEZ

 

 

Best regards,

 

Jeremy

 

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Thank you so much for posting these Jeremy, they are very interesting and useful images.

 

The final turnout for the scenic section was built this morning. :) Here is the collection of Finetrax turnout kits.

 

post-943-0-93722800-1528458849_thumb.jpg

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Having now completed all the turnouts for the scenic section of Hadley Wood, I turned my attention to scratch building a test piece for the fiddle yard - my first attempt at scratch building a copper clad turnout.

 

post-943-0-85470000-1528549227_thumb.jpg

 

Amazingly it works and a Peco wagon runs smoothly through the turnout. As I don't have any track gauges, I used my calipers to set the gauge and check rail clearances. Total cost of the materials can only be a couple of pounds and I'm feeling quite smug with myself at the moment! Ok, the soldering could be neater but I have gone back an gaped the sleepers since the photo was taken.

Edited by Atso
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Having now completed all the turnouts for the scenic section of Hadley Wood, I turned my attention to scratch building a test piece for the fiddle yard - my first attempt at scratch building a copper clad turnout.

 

attachicon.gifCopper clad turnout test build.jpg

 

Amazingly it works and a Peco wagon runs smoothly through the turnout. As I don't have any track gauges, I used my calipers to set the gauge and check rail clearances. Total cost of the materials can only be a couple of pounds and I'm feeling quite smug with myself at the moment! Ok, the soldering could be neater but I have gone back an gaped the sleepers since the photo was taken.

 

 

You should be feeling smug. If it works first time that's a real result and they are so cheap to build too.

There is something very satisfying about building your own trackwork.

 

Best regards,

 

Jeremy

Edited by cornish trains jez
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You should be feeling smug. If it works first time that's a real result and they are so cheap to build too.

There is something very satisfying about building your own trackwork.

 

Best regards,

 

Jeremy

 

Thanks Jeremy, there really is something satisfying about making track isn't there!

 

I worked out the cost of the materials for the turnout at £1.11! Just a little cheaper than a Peco code 55 turnout...

 

I couldn't resist knocking up some straight pieces, laying the whole lot onto a piece of shelving and crudely wiring the whole lot up to see if it would work with a loco.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thank you guys,

 

Manna, you're right, it didn't just fall together. However, most of the basic stuff was done in a day. To work out how I was going to do the slip blades and actually make it work took another two weeks (on and off, not solidly working on it!).

 

Zomboid, to be fair, I did build a prototype double slip in between that I didn't document on here. While it wasn't perfect, it taught me (and was encouraging) enough to convince me to have a go at the scissor formation. As this (and its eventual partner) is key to the entrance to each end of the fiddle yard, I didn't want to put it off any longer. I'll be knocking up a test track to see how the scissor performs with formations running through it. I suspect that I'll need to add a second floating tie bar to support the ends of the inner blades in the longer term.

 

I've also found one wagon that wouldn't run through the formation. However, a quick tweak of the back to backs has cured this (I suspect it won't be the last!).

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G'day Folks

 

Well the next time you go to the loo, can you knock me up a double slip in 00, while your sitting around doing nothing for a couple of minutes.........! :jester:

 

manna

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