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Recreating the Berrow Branch?


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Tingewick certainly featured in one or other of the earlier versions. Can't recall if it was a terminus or through station though.

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1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

I think it was both, at different times, in different shapes.

It was indeed.

Tingewick was a through passing station on the first version "The North Bucks (Great Central) Branch described in MRC towards the end of 1948 where Stony Stratford, with two goods sidings, was the "twig" terminus with its junction within Buckingham's station limits. On this layout Buckingham was semi-permanent and the rest of the railway  was on portable folding baseboards (though the whole lot was exhibited at the Model Railway Club's Easter Show in 1948)

 

In the more portable and rather smaller U shaped version of Mk 2 of the "Buckingham Branch Line" built in 1950, Tingewick, with just a run round loop and a single goods siding  was the twig terminus and was in front of the "hidden marshalling yard" with a junction in open countryside after Gawcott Halt.  The following year in version two it was again a through station, though not a passing station, just before the storage yard entrance , The third and fourth versions were an L and a U respectively with just Buckingham and the first "Denny fiddle yard" with five storage sidings (accessed by a fan of points) on a removable tray (where trains were stored when the layout was not erected)  mounted on a turntable for operation. 

In 1956, with a large vicarage now at Peter Denny's disposal, the Buckingham branch became permanent with a sub branch to Leighton Buzzard (Linslade) from a fairly substantial junction at Grandborough Road that was also the junction for a connection to Verney Junction on the LNWR Oxford-Bletchley line. The first Leighton Buzzard was similar to Stony Stratford- which had been sold on, with four points effectively arranged as two crossovers providing a run round and two sidings.

 

Quite a few models have used the idea of a twig with its own terminus facing the terminus of a branch line (or secondary main line) to add operational interest and often to hide a fiddle yard as on the Berrow Branch but I think they've been far more common in models than in reality. The only examples that spring to mind in Britain are Abbotsbury off the Dorchester-Weymouth line and Brixham off the Newton Abott -Kingswear line but both of those had their own separate junction stations at Churston and Upwey Junction Station respectively. Trains to Abbostsbury did originate at Weymouth which is what makes this pattern useful to add interest to  a layout but Brixham had its own branch trains from Churston.

 

There were (and still are) of course several reversing junctions such as Fort William where most trains continued through, often after shedding or adding coaches which makes them very useful for us as train movements are effectively doubled.*

However, the only examples I can think of where the main terminus was also the junction for a minor dead end branch line were the line from Wick to Lybster and the former light railway from Fraseborough to St. Combs.  There were probably a few more but far more common was the situation at Exmouth where the main branch came in from a main line junction while a lesser line wandered off, often roughly along the coast to connect with another branch, in that case the Sidmouth branch. That's the scheme that John Charman used with Charford and cutting it off as a freight only line seems a very credible back story to justify a small facility in front of the fiddle yard.

 

*There was a situation somewhere in between with the line from Trouville-Deauville to Dives-Cabourg where three or four of the Paris- Trouvill-Deauville expresses carried through coaches to Dives-Cabourg  and the coastal resorts between them.

 

Trouville-Deauville (the station is between the two adjoining resorts) was and is the terminus of the fairly secondary main line from Lisieux on the Paris-Caen-Cherbourg main line and the separate line to Dives runs parallel to it for a couple of kilometres before striking off west with no separate junction.

This is the SNCF schematic from 1957 but the main line from Lisieux has since been singled and more recently electrified.

You may have seen the pre-electrification terminus with a steam train in the ITV Poirot episode "Murder on the Links" The extension from the goods yard (now a car park of course) to the "Bassin a Flot" ran across the main road in front of  the station to a small port and maritime industry area  on the left bank of the end of the River Ouques that separates Deauville, the posh resort to the west,  from Trouville, the less posh resort to the East.

478454838_TrouvilleDives1957001.jpg.752689954c04c457aaa43b2c8b415cea.jpg

 

Though the line through Dives-Cabourg had continued back to the Caen main line at Mezidon it's been a terminus for many years and in any case through coaches from Paris always came via Trouville-Deauville hauled by steam until 1975. The line is still open but is now operated by regional diesel units with no more through trains to and from Paris. It includes a particularly attractive section along the beach front between Houlgate and Dives

XGC_sur_la_digue_de_Houlgate_(1)_par_Cramos.jpg.aa919de9267123db74b2eae25f881289.jpg

Image creative commons by Cramond

27 May 2017 TER n° 852565 (Trouville-Deauville - Dives-Cabourg) operated by autoral XGC n° 76528 runs along the dyke at Houlgate in Normandy

 

 

 

Edited by Pacific231G
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Thanks, and apologies to the OP for apparent diversions.

 

My logic is that this “twig off a branch, with end of twig concealing FY” topology has an honourable history, which includes other examples worth scrutiny, and that being such a good idea, i’d expect it to have a long future.

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Having a second station on a layout does add enormously to the operational potential of any layout.

 

The exchange of traffic for working up the branch can still take place if you only have one station but it makes so much more visual sense if the destination is modelled too.

 

It certainly works on Buckingham and it is really interesting to see how many of the early inspirational layouts include the feature.

 

Berrow was right up there with Buckingham, Charford, Marthwaite, and Borchester as my early inspirations.

 

A recreation would be nice to see.

 

I did find an obituary notice for an H N Pyrke who died aged 91 some time ago, so the builder is probably no longer with us but I wonder what happened to the layout and the stock?

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I think the charm of Berrow, and other similar layouts, lies in what we now see as it's naivety, short sidings/platforms, unworkable fiddle yards etc, none of which detracted from it's enjoyment, and bearing in mind coaches and other rolling were short at the time it all scaled out.

I remember reading about Berrow, and Mac Pyrkes other projects, in the RM's of the time and thinking they were a step up from the norm.

 

Mike.

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1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

Thanks, and apologies to the OP for apparent diversions.

 

My logic is that this “twig off a branch, with end of twig concealing FY” topology has an honourable history, which includes other examples worth scrutiny, and that being such a good idea, i’d expect it to have a long future.

 

No apology needed, I'm finding it quite interesting 

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123

 

I’m 90% sure that bits of your French example were dual gauge, with the 60cm CFC, but I might be getting mixed up and that it was the purely local to Caen, rather than through to Paris, SG line that was dual gauge ....... need to check.

 

K

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1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

Thanks, and apologies to the OP for apparent diversions.

 

My logic is that this “twig off a branch, with end of twig concealing FY” topology has an honourable history, which includes other examples worth scrutiny, and that being such a good idea, i’d expect it to have a long future.

According to Mac Pyrke's first article on Berrow in Sept 1958, "Only two passenger trains and one goods train a day now visit this small station (E. Brent) and during the day the tracks here are used a carriage sidings, as the accomodation at Berrow is limited" He went on to say that the real reason, and a good one, is that if the layout is going to be left set up in a shared family room such as the lounge it should look attractive. A set of bare storage sidings, with the best will in the world, is unlikely to achieve that. A number of Cyril Freezer's corner L plans used a quayside to serve the same purpose and I could see that not being an eyesore.

He built the first version in about six months which should give most of us pause to reflect on our own progress. 

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On 03/05/2019 at 14:28, Nearholmer said:

123

 

I’m 90% sure that bits of your French example were dual gauge, with the 60cm CFC, but I might be getting mixed up and that it was the purely local to Caen, rather than through to Paris, SG line that was dual gauge ....... need to check.

 

K

Going :offtopic:

 

Hi Kevin

I'm 100% certain that they weren't and it WAS the local railway from Courseulles to Caen that you're thinking of.

All the lines I've quoted were east of the River Orne and were standard Gauge. The 60cm Chemins de Fer du Calvados  did have a roadside tramway from Bénouville on the Caen-Luc sur Mer line that crossed the Orne canal on a swing bridge and ran north and east to Dives-Cabourg where it had its own terminus opposite the Etat station which is now itself a terminus.  There was no dual gauge track but a standard gauge siding did kick back from the Etat goods yard to the C.F. du Calvado  terminus to allow transhipment.

The 60cm line between Bénouville and Dives closed in 1932 as the swing bridge needed replacement and it wasn't thought viable to lay tracks on the new bascule bridge over the Orne ship Canal. The new bridge was to become rather famous twelve years later. The Caen-Luc sur Mer line was the last line of the C.F, du Calvados to remain open but the early morning train to Caen on 6th June 1944, though ready to depart, never left the station. This is the roadside line you've undoubtedly seen in archive footage of British troops on D-Day as they moved inland . The trampling of Sherman tanks etc. damaged the line beyond economic repair but it was living on borrowed time anyway. The bascule was of course codenamed Pegasus Bridge. 

 

There WAS three rail dual gauge track on the C.F, du Calvados but it was west of the Orne along the coast between Luc sur Mer and Courseulles which it shared with the Chemin de Fer de Caen a la Mer. This was Standard Gauge but, like the C.F.du Calvados, was also a local "départemental" railway. Narrow gauge d'Interet Local Railways tended not to mix with the main line standard gauge railways d'Interet General  so when they met usually did so on the opposite side of the Place de la Gare  (station forecourt) or to one side of them rather than trackside.  There is  a good example of this at Bayeux where the C.F. du Calvados station building became the gare routier (bus station)

Edited by Pacific231G
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Well explained.

 

Remaining OT, I’ve explored nearly all of the CFC routes, and even have a fallen tile from the roof of the big worships/depot at Bayeux, beyond the bus depot station,, but (shame on me) paid no proper attention to the SG lines that it interfaced with. And, one of the well-known D-Day (actually day after, I think) photos shows the father of a friend of mine commanding his tank near the Orne Bridge - said friend used to be an SNCF Society member in the dim distant, so you might even know him.

 

Right, i’ll try to stay on topic now.

 

 

Edited by Nearholmer
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One feature that might be added to a new version of Berrow is a genuine might-have-been fifteen inch gauge railway, as described by J.B. Snell in One Man's Railway (the story of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch) "...Greenly discovered two places with possibilities. One was at Brean Sands in Somerset between Burnham-on-Sea and Weston-Super-Mare....A map in Greenly's surviving papers shows its course as commencing on the inland side of Burnham, some little way from the Somerset & Dorset....It then connected with the main Bristol & Exeter line of the Great Western at Brent Knoll station before following its own route, parallel but at some distance from the GWR, to a separate station on the outskirts of Weston. A branch line to the Brean Down peninsula was pencilled in."

Greenly and Howey eventually chose Kent rather than Somerset, at least partly because the Southern Railway was distinctly more encouraging than the GWR had been.

Edited by Andy Kirkham
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On 03/05/2019 at 11:19, Pacific231G said:

 

Quite a few models have used the idea of a twig with its own terminus facing the terminus of a branch line (or secondary main line) to add operational interest and often to hide a fiddle yard as on the Berrow Branch but I think they've been far more common in models than in reality. The only examples that spring to mind in Britain are Abbotsbury off the Dorchester-Weymouth line and Brixham off the Newton Abott -Kingswear line but both of those had their own separate junction stations at Churston and Upwey Junction Station respectively. Trains to Abbostsbury did originate at Weymouth which is what makes this pattern useful to add interest to  a layout but Brixham had its own branch trains from Churston.

 

There were (and still are) of course several reversing junctions such as Fort William where most trains continued through, often after shedding or adding coaches which makes them very useful for us as train movements are effectively doubled.*

However, the only examples I can think of where the main terminus was also the junction for a minor dead end branch line were the line from Wick to Lybster and the former light railway from Fraseborough to St. Combs. 

 

 

A further example that I have just come across is Southwold

1018857510_railwaymap_large_r2_c2.jpg.11dcd1f790dde90423789015a6c34c19.jpg

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On 05/05/2019 at 14:11, Andy Kirkham said:

 

A further example that I have just come across is Southwold

1018857510_railwaymap_large_r2_c2.jpg.11dcd1f790dde90423789015a6c34c19.jpg

Hi Andy

so far as I know the Southwold Railway's Harbour extension never carried any passengers. It was mainly intended to serve the fishing industry but that was in terminal decline by 1914 when it was actually built. During WW1 the line was taken over by the War Office and the harbour branch was fairly heavily used to carry coal and supplies to the small naval vessels then using the harbour. I don't know how much if any traffic used the harbour branch between the end of the war and the railway's sudden closure in 1929. I think I have an Oakwood Press  book about the ralway somewhere but would need to dig it out.

 

Were one building a model of the Southwold Railway (possibly relaid to standard gauge as was planned in 1909 but never carried out) the Harbour branch would be an excellent feature to hide the fiddle yard though you might have to cheat by reversing its orientation as otherwise the quayside would be behind the tracks.

Edited by Pacific231G
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On 05/05/2019 at 04:30, kevinlms said:

It ought to be remembered that Mac Pyrke did another version of the layout, in the April 1993 Railway Modeller - no track plan.

Hi Kevin

I've listed all the articles I can find about Berrow on the other active thread about the layout here 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/131447-the-berrow-branch/

I've now dug out several articles about his later railways, including the E. Brent one, which indicate that Berrow was retired in about 1980 after he had built Penholme LMS* and St. Davids, a smaller more portable GW branch line that fitted in the  garden shed that had housed Berrow.  At some point Berrow was sold but he kept the S&D  locos he'd built for it so East Brent, an enlarged version of the Berrow  was built for the 1990 Oxford MRS exhibtion. It was 11 foot long, eight foot of that scenic. The fiddle yard could accomodate two coach passenger trains and "reasonable" goods trains but he doesn't say what form it took.

It might be possible to derive a possible track plan from the photos in that article as he says that he was now using SMP three foot radius point.

I don't know whether the 1993 Railway Modeller article on E. Brent was the last article he wrote. 

 

Returning to the OP and Anglesmith's idea of recreating Berrow (if we can have tribute bands, why not tribute layouts?)

It does seem from reading Mac Pyrke's later articles that he found Berrow the most operationally satisfying of his five (or more?) layouts and AFAIK he never wrote anything about timetabling and operation of his later layouts. 

 

*Mac Pyrke says in his article about Penholme in the November 1982 Model Railways that the first version of Penholme,, which was a larger three platform single line terminus with a smaller terminus in front of the five road ladder storage sidings,  didn't really work for him. It had by then been modified (with relatively little change to the track plan) to be a double track terminus with a separate traverser based storage sidings. .

Both versions of Penholme were 21ft long including storage sidings and based on three pairs of folding three foot six by twenty inch modules. I have the impression that Penholme was a purely exhibition layout. I don't know how long it lasted but he does say in the E. Brent article that in 1989 he hadn't exhibited a layout for some time.

 

Edited by Pacific231G
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34 minutes ago, Pacific231G said:

 

Returning to the OP and Anglesmith's idea of recreating Berrow (if we can have tribute bands, why not tribute layouts?)

 

 

I must confess my motives are entirely selfish. I am presently tied up with a few other (non-modelling) projects, but in the mean time I am contemplating my first layout. The Berrow - East Brent trackplan ticks a lot of boxes for me. What I don't intend is to build a faithful reproduction, but rather something heavily inspired by Berrow. 

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Remember the New Romney branch from Lydd was one of the kick-back branches. Trains from Ashford and beyond would take the branch from appledore, go to Lydd-on-Sea, reverse than go back towards Lydd but take the branch to New Romney. The line closed in the mid 1960s but is still open for nucear flask trains and special as far as Lydd-on-Sea/The Pilot.

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On 03/05/2019 at 11:19, Pacific231G said:

........

 

Quite a few models have used the idea of a twig with its own terminus facing the terminus of a branch line (or secondary main line) to add operational interest and often to hide a fiddle yard as on the Berrow Branch but I think they've been far more common in models than in reality. The only examples that spring to mind in Britain are Abbotsbury off the Dorchester-Weymouth line and Brixham off the Newton Abott -Kingswear line but both of those had their own separate junction stations at Churston and Upwey Junction Station respectively. Trains to Abbostsbury did originate at Weymouth which is what makes this pattern useful to add interest to  a layout but Brixham had its own branch trains from Churston..........

 

Probly fair to add to the above Bridport/West Bay from Maiden Newton.

 

Even a much bigger and longer example is the mid-Hants post electrification pre closure/preservation. DMUs to Alton from Southampton. Only rare occurrences of through trains at Alton.

 

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