Milford-on-Sea - was Lyme Regis

[Nick C]

Edit - slight change of plan, see page 2...

 

So following the rather premature demise of my previous project, I've decided to start planning it's replacement - although actual construction won't begin until I'm certain that the shed is fully waterproofed, and insulated. This time I'm going for a smaller fiddle-yard-to-terminus layout, to allow room for a decent sized workbench and room for other DIY projects in there as well. Sticking to my preferred SR late-50's/early-60's era, I spent a while looking through and drawing out different track plans, and trying to come up with something that had the features I wanted, yet would fit the space I've got (15'x9', but some of that will be lost to insulation, so it'll be nearer 14'6"x8'6" usable space) without too much compression - and realised that Lyme Regis fitted the bill nicely - I've had an attempt at drawing it up in Templot and I think it'll fit reasonably well, with just a little compression of the length and the imposition of an unprototypical 3' radius curve to get into the fiddle-yard.

 

So it'll be Adams Radial tanks and ex-LSWR coaches, followed by Ivatt 2MTs with Maunsell 2W sets - the only things not available RTR are the Bulleid D2406 BCKs for the through coach off the ACE, and the SECR 100-seaters that were in the W sets for the first couple of years - plus of course the LNWR sleeping car that lurked in the yard for some years!

 

This winter will focus mainly on research, and hopefully at least see a start on the buildings, with boards and trackwork following in the spring - I'm planning to use the new kit pointwork from @Wayne Kinney if it's available by then (with B6's and a single slip!) - most likely with Peco bullhead plain track, as I've managed to salvage most of that from the old boards.

 

I've got the Middleton Press and Oakwood books on the branch, and the mid-20's map from the NLS site. What I've yet to be able to find is a decent large-scale 50's map, or lear photos of the approaches to the station.

 

 

Edited September 3, 2022 by Nick C
changed topic name

[Jeremy Cumberland]

The Disused Stations site (http://disused-stations.org.uk/l/lyme_regis/index.shtml) has the 1959 1:2500 map, although it is photo-reduced. However, it ought to be easy enough to compare against the 1929 NLS map, and this is also on the Disused Stations site at what appears to be the same scale of reproduction.

 

I very strongly recommend you get a copy of From Devon to Dorset: The Story of the Lyme Regis Branch by Martin Smith and George Reeve. The pictures are superb and your era is well-covered, although not all the photographs are dated. However, there are 1959 and 1960s studies of the engine shed, two of which show the platelayers' hut beyond (half of it in one picture and, fortuitously, the other half in the other) and there is an undated (presumably post-war) study of the advanced starter in which the concrete road bridge is clearly visible in the background.

[Nick C]

Thanks Jeremy - I've got the Smith/Reeve book on it's way, so I'll look forward to reading that!

[Nick C]

A first attempt at a scale drawing of the trackplan, exported from Templot:

[Stephen Freeman]

Photos show a single blade trap point between the single slip and main line turnout.

[Nick C]

1 hour ago, Stephen Freeman said:

Photos show a single blade trap point between the single slip and main line turnout.

Thanks, yep - I need to add both that and the double-bladed one on the bay/up siding. I also need to confirm the length of the loco release headshunt, as it looks longer in photos than the adjacent siding, yet virtually the same on the map.

Edited January 6, 2021 by Nick C

[Stephen Freeman]

48 minutes ago, Nick C said:

Thanks, yep - I need to add both that and the double-bladed one on the bay/up siding. I also need to confirm the length of the loco release headshunt, as it looks longer in photos than the adjacent siding, yet virtually the same on the map.

The book I have  "From Salisbury to Exeter the Branch Lines", only has one photo showing the release road which actually looks slightly shorter than the adjacent non-platform line.

[Nick C]

22 minutes ago, Stephen Freeman said:

The book I have  "From Salisbury to Exeter the Branch Lines", only has one photo showing the release road which actually looks slightly shorter than the adjacent non-platform line.

I've just found a clear picture of it in the Oakwood book to answer my own question, looking along from behind the bufferstops - the loco release is about 3 sleepers longer than the siding, and just over 20 sleepers long in total (so probably a single 60ft length, based on 24 sleepers per length and the lack of clarity in the shadows making it hard to count!). I might make it slightly longer anyway to allow for visiting rule 1 locos...

[prtrainman]

Nick,

 

I don't know if this gives any more information than you have found already but there are 2 pages on Lyme Regis in 'An Historical Survey of Selected Southern Stations' by G.A Pryer & G.J. Bowring.  They include a scale diagram of the track layout & building footprints, a signalling diagram & 3 photos.

 

Philip

[phil_sutters]

I don't know whether any of Dad's photos capture anything of interest for you, but they can be found in this album. 

 

[KeithMacdonald]

Re Disused Stations site (http://disused-stations.org.uk/l/lyme_regis/index.shtml)

 

I love what I'm assuming is a typo in the caption for the last photo.

 

Quote

A passenger train stands in the platform with assorted goons wagons in the goods yard in August 1948

 

Who knew that Goons were imported through Lyme Regis?

 

21 hours ago, Nick C said:

A first attempt at a scale drawing of the trackplan, exported from Templot:

 

I concur.

 

[Nick C]

14 hours ago, KeithMacdonald said:

Re Disused Stations site (http://disused-stations.org.uk/l/lyme_regis/index.shtml)

 

I love what I'm assuming is a typo in the caption for the last photo.

 

 

Who knew that Goons were imported through Lyme Regis?

 

 

I concur.

 

Thanks Keith - that's the 1929 map, there's subtle changes to the goods yard between then and the 1959 one, with a single-slip replacing the two points between the loco shed and the yard, and the middle siding then coming off the first one, not the goods shed one, an the addition of a number of coal bins alongside the long siding

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

I avidly collect track plans for layouts I'll never build....

 

[Nick C]

4 hours ago, Dr Gerbil-Fritters said:

I avidly collect track plans for layouts I'll never build....

 

Don't we all! Thank you for the map!

[KeithMacdonald]

11 hours ago, Nick C said:

Thanks Keith - that's the 1929 map, there's subtle changes to the goods yard between then and the 1959 one

 

@Nick C- thanks for that, I had got into a bad habit of using the older maps shown on NLS. The 1959 ones are clearly better (when available).

 

[ikcdab]

I don't know where you live, but local records offices normally have large scale mapping. But guess there all closed at mo.

Otherwise you can see the more recent large scales at old maps.com. you can see them reasonably well for free, but you have to cough up if you want a copy. It might be worth paying out to get the map.

[Nick C]

12 hours ago, ikcdab said:

I don't know where you live, but local records offices normally have large scale mapping. But guess there all closed at mo.

Otherwise you can see the more recent large scales at old maps.com. you can see them reasonably well for free, but you have to cough up if you want a copy. It might be worth paying out to get the map.

Thanks Ian - old-maps.co.uk did indeed have exactly what I needed!

[AndyB]

Hi Nick.

 

I don't know how much info you are after but wessexcoastgeology.soton.ac.uk is a great resource covering quite a swaithe of the south coast west of Southampton.

 

There's a section covering your area of interest.  

 

Cheers. Andy

[The White Rabbit]

@Nick C - I don't know if you have it but South West Railwayman by Donald King (George Allen & Unwin) has a sizeable part describing the author's experiences working at Lyme. I doubt there's much information about the track plan you don't have but it does describe life on the branch well, if you can acquire a cheap copy it might help with the atmosphere. 

[Nick C]

10 hours ago, AndyB said:

Hi Nick.

 

I don't know how much info you are after but wessexcoastgeology.soton.ac.uk is a great resource covering quite a swaithe of the south coast west of Southampton.

 

There's a section covering your area of interest.  

 

Cheers. Andy

Thanks,  I ought to have known about that, being a Southampton alumnus myself (had a couple of friends who read geology too...)

 

2 hours ago, The White Rabbit said:

@Nick C - I don't know if you have it but South West Railwayman by Donald King (George Allen & Unwin) has a sizeable part describing the author's experiences working at Lyme. I doubt there's much information about the track plan you don't have but it does describe life on the branch well, if you can acquire a cheap copy it might help with the atmosphere. 

 

I've not got that,  I'll add it to my reading list, thanks. 

[Nick C]

So as mentioned in first post, the whole project can't begin until the shed is ready. As it's a log cabin style building, it turn out there's a few peculiarities compared with a conventional shed - in particular it seems that insulating the walls will be difficult, as you can't have anything fixed to more than one plank, in order to allow for expansion - this is probably part of the cause of some of the water ingress.

 

After conversations with the original supplier, and a supplier of timber treatments, suitable sealants, preservatives and paint have been purchased, and the renovation started today.

 

 

 

These show the 'before' state. I've had a dehumidifier running for around 6 hours a day all week, and the corner shown has dried out quite a bit. I can't paint the outside until it's a bit warmer, so today I removed the window, fitted a temporary cover, dismantled it, sanded it down and treated half of the bits with preservative. Tomorrow should see the second side of said parts treated, with the other half following during the week, followed by paint - and hopefully the timber around the hole will dry out.

 

Meanwhile I'll order the materials to re-cover and insulate the roof...

 

[Nick C]

I can't believe it's 6 months since I last posted on this thread - that's bad even by my slow standards...

 

The shed has been re-roofed, dried out, painted externally, and flooring and insulation laid. It;s much nicer out there now - I've not tried it on a really cold winter's day, but on the few hot days we've had this summer, it has been quite pleasant in there, wheras it was unbearably hot before.

 

I've since built a workbench, which I'm quite proud of - 3x2 framework, with the top recycled from the side of an old built-in fridge cabinet.

 

 

I then built a framework for the layout to sit on (which I've not taken a photo of) - I took great pains to get all the legs exactly the same length and build it perfectly square, only to have to add shims under most of the legs as the floor isn't level!

 

I'm now onto baseboards - I've cut the tops from 9mm ply, and have attempted to cut the sides and ends 100mm deep from the same - but I've no hit a problem, as my carpentry skills clearly aren't as good as I'd like, and some of the sides aren't perfectly square, I suspect the saw moved slightly. Which makes me wonder - do I make some kind of jig to hold them exactly as I trim off a few mm from each to square them up, just live with a slight difference (mostly about half a mm max, except for two longer ones that vary by about 2mm over their length), or junk the dodgy ones and cut new?

 

Also how much bracing do all-ply baseboards need? The station throat board is 54" by 24", so I'm thinking two crossbraces 18" apart for that one, and one each for the shorter boards (36"). Do people recommend diagonal bracing as well? I don't want to make the same mistake I did on the previous layout and have boards that aren't strong enough and warp...

[ikcdab]

9mm is good for the top. But I like to use much thicker for the sides. I laminated three layers of 6mm together to give side 18mm thick. Not only does this make it very rigid, but gives you something to screw into.

I used a handheld circular saw which was worth its weight in gold. Laminated the stuff together then cut to size afterwards.

To be honest, you want your baseboards to be right. It's the foundation of everything. If you are not entirely happy, then scrap (or reuse) those bits and do it again. If you look on my layout thread you will see what I did 

Ian C

[roythebus1]

I actually have a large-scale track plan obtained from the old Plans Arch at Waterloo, plus drawings of the station buildings. They're a but faded as I've had them over 30 years and they've been stored in one of my vintage buses.

[Nick C]

36 minutes ago, roythebus1 said:

I actually have a large-scale track plan obtained from the old Plans Arch at Waterloo, plus drawings of the station buildings. They're a but faded as I've had them over 30 years and they've been stored in one of my vintage buses.

That's interesting to know. I've got the drawings from the South Western Circle, I wonder if they're the same? I'm assuming that the ones you have are too large to be easily copied? 

 

I've not been updating this thread as I've not had a lot to report. I built the baseboards over the summer, and put down some of the track, but can't finish that until I can get, or make, a suitable single slip. Therefore it's currently sitting there, slumbering away underneath the Plumtree Cross boards.