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East Drizzlington, a fictional former Great Eastern Railway terminus in 1949, bordering on a micro layout.


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Hello all,

 

Here begins my first proper effort at building a layout.

 

The premise is a ex Great Eastern Railway terminus station, located somewhere in between Peterborough and Rutland Water in an important city, slightly bigger than Huddersfield. The location on the map below would be approximately where “Luffenham Heath Golf Club” is.

 

This would be the fictional terminus of the northernmost mainline of the GER, an extension of the line from Peterborough, motivated by a wealthy local lord who wished to ship his considerable quantities of Beeswax south to London, without using the GNR or NER. Strange indeed.

 

IMG_1114.PNG.1fceda551950f0814283ba8244a0880b.PNG

 

 

Trackplan:

 

It is illustrated in the photo below, and has since been ballasted. The Hill on the far side will be removed and another platform will go there. The station, as it was funded by a lord, will be a bit sparse for the northernmost terminus of the GER, as it won't have a canopy, which has nothing to do with my finding it hard to build one. The station building in reality will be a very Victorian looking ho scale "werkstatt" made by the German company Vollmer, and you can find a picture of that here. Mine has an extension off to one side and has a more yellow brick color with red "lining."  All the track is from Hornby, why I don't know but here we are. 

 

The baseboard is a very roughly 3.5 by 1 feet, and I covered in a layer of insulation foam to deaden noise. At one end there is a two track tunnel portal, forming the scenic break on that end. The other scenic break is not need as its a terminus. The background will probably be a plethora of Will's brick retaining walls.

 

Rolling stock:

 

Coaches will be primarily ex LNER Gresley corridor coaches in BR crimson from Hornby, as I prefer it over blood and custard. The maximum the layout can handle will be three coaches though, so perhaps the trains were sectioned at Peterborough and only three were sent down to East Drizzlington? 

 

Wagons will be from the Huntley & Palmer's biscuit factory in East Drizzlington, the primary employer, and textiles from the local mills. So this means some van trains can be run. Sheep farming is also quite big in the surrounding area, so some sheep trains will be run down to London. However as at the moment no provisions have been made for a goods yard to appear on the layout, these probably won't be run very often if at all, so the primary service will be 2 or 3 Gresley coaches behind a B12.

 

 

Motive power: 

 

Motive power will consist of a Hornby B12, and at some point I think I might acquire a Bachmann J72. The latter will be for shunting duties, should there be any.

 

 

 

 

Some photos now, the first one showing the rough trackplan.

 

IMG_2829.jpg.3b1654db3e140ffd09a04a5dfba9d985.jpg

 

 

This one shows the station building roughly in place and without a foundation.

 

IMG-2938.jpg.2d3e46b2b47f97816a078c23a3afbb2a.jpg

 

 

 

So, why did I decide to model this? Well, in 2013 I went on my so far only trip to the UK, and spit quite a bit of time around Stamford and Rutland water, and liked the area far to much. I have also always liked the LNER, particularly B12s, and when one came up for sale in the USA I decided it was time to begin. I found Peterborough an interesting place, having ridden there on the Nene Valley Railway, a memorable experience. Not as memorable though as being peed on by a sheep in Rutland Water.

 

 

Douglas

 

 

 

 

Edited by Florence Locomotive Works
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4 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

without using the GNR or NER

Hi Douglas,

 

The local lord obviously didn't fancy the MR or LNWR as options either.

 

Interesting idea, and will watch with interest.

 

One of the settlements on the map is 'Edith Weston'.  I once knew a woman of that name who lived not far from the village.  She told me that, in the local hostelry, if she showed proof of her identity she could have a free round of drinks.

 

Good luck with this.

 

regards,

 

Alex.

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I was born in Stamford Hospital back in 1954, and for the first six years of my life, I lived at The Crown Inn in Tinwell, which is just inside Rutland on the Stamford to Ketton road - of course you could have cement traffic from the works there. Another idea for your goods wagons could be Collyweston Slate - this is explained in the link below.

 

https://www.messengerbcr.co.uk/news/articles/collyweston-stone-slating-keeping-the-skills-alive/

 

RAF Wittering is also nearby - perhaps Dave Hunt could be a passenger on your imaginary line . . . . . . ! !

.

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Evening all,

 

 

A good bit of weathering was done this evening, and the station building was finished off. I have actually found a small canopy which will be attached to the station, but it will only cover the immediate area outside the doors. The station is also in need of an interior, however I’m thinking of just putting black construction paper all over the inside as the big windows will be covered by the canopy, so a major view inside can’t be easily had.

 

58114293-C969-458B-ADD7-89734956E95A.jpeg.7bc44310d324d315422a41477d3df186.jpeg

 

I also remembered that dad accidentally bought a ex LNER BR maroon Thompson 1st corridor, which was given to me today as he has a Western Region layout. While on the whole it’s not a bad model, being from the early 2000s era of Bachmann, it still needed some bogie weathering and a black wash on the roof, which got done this afternoon. 
 

Here are some photos of it, and I think it turned out decent.


41CF24AF-AD2F-42B5-B738-A1BBFD3F2C04.jpeg.1ae251116c1bad9ebca840c124d18e54.jpeg

 

68520579-C39E-4081-B497-9E73A49DF1BF.jpeg.bf02c892a47dfb73d2070cd239b4692d.jpeg


 

As one can see I’ve hacked the tension locks off the bogies, as I think I I’m going to fit over scale functioning 3 link couplings to all the stock, but I haven’t decided yet. Tension locks won’t be used though, sprat and winkle is the other main option. 


@Mike Bellamy, thank you for the info on the cement plant and slate, those will be a bit more believable than a biscuit factory! However that idea may not go away in entirety, perhaps they had a warehouse in East Drizzlington.

 

 

Douglas

 

 

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Afternoon all,

 

 

Some big work was down today that I had been putting off for a while, i.e. the cutting of the platform and part of the foundation of the station. I’m not sure what wood it is, but it’s an old skirting board is already nicely finished. There are some big gaps between pieces and these will be filled with putty in time. 

81EEED1C-963F-43B3-A9BC-618B5C44271D.jpeg.82712c072e66273f8b0d163ad2896023.jpeg

 

4D44EAA4-201C-48D7-92FB-F2D0DA33B1E7.jpeg.c3c9bf18785cf70a876b5bcc4d6e6a7a.jpeg

 

I’ve also glued some bracket s onto the station to take the canopy. I’m not sure I will fit the canopy in the end as it seems like it looks a bit on the small side for such a station. The canopy itself is scratch built, and the brackets are from Alexander Models (USA). 
 

FEE78D51-28D0-4755-9C4E-CA93A0D646E4.jpeg.29c80f3a3a748e0efc642e153a65714e.jpeg

 

047D90F9-5427-4399-B644-1399B95D500F.jpeg.6d9ca6353a59fe6efd4db742285e3c80.jpeg

 

You may also see in the background of the platform shots that some trees have been placed on the embankment. I’m not sure they will be staying as they look a bit Australian and not very Lincolnshire. 
 

Other things will be done today, including some more ballasting and the tunnel portal will be getting a black wash to turn it a little less Georgian-Opening-Ceremony looking.

 

 

Douglas

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Douglas: My first thought about the canopy is that it would run rainwater back towards the building.

It would be better sited along a platform.

 

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17 hours ago, BR60103 said:

Douglas: My first thought about the canopy is that it would run rainwater back towards the building.

It would be better sited along a platform.

 

Thank you David, I thought it looked funny but couldn't think of why. It may be mounted columns over the platform then.

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Afternoon all,

 

 

I came to the conclusion yesterday that the layout in its then form was really to cramped, not small, cramped, for a B12. This was mostly around the entrance to the shorter platform, where the track goes right up next to the embankment. I tried cutting away the embankment, but as it was made from paper mache and wood it proved very difficult. So in the end I went and simply lobbed off have the embankment with a Japanese pull saw, greatly improving the overall feel of the layout. The razor saw was used the finish up the cut.
 

B5AA8131-EA91-4105-A816-4D84289117E8.jpeg.d2b24915fa596e5aa7d729b6914e67bc.jpeg

 

F6029AAD-DB7A-4D9E-BE33-35C093B878E7.jpeg.388965fad7bab54a225aa50cbd160500.jpeg

 

A2459BCC-B125-41C2-AFB1-D466200B0D1C.jpeg.b990a517448ca9e2b6e269df0605a7ea.jpeg

 

 

This has freed up more room for a much gentle entrance to the short platform, and now a cutting won’t have to be made into the embankment for the station building extension. What will go in this new space I’m not sure, but probably allotments with a Peco backscene.  The keen eyed of you will also probably notice the tree in one if the photos, they are some slightly crude wire ones bought form the local Hobby Lobby as a spur of the moment decision. They aren’t great but may still work with some better greenery.

 

 

Douglas

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