Aberdaron Harbour

[GaerwenBR]

Hi all

well, is this fourth time lucky? I have started 3 previous threads but due to many circumstances they haven't reached anything like completion. They were Port Dinllaen in 2012, Chester Northgate in 2013 and Cemaes Bay, Anglesey in 2018. I've always enjoyed seeing ex GWR and ex LMS locos working together (goes back to being a teenager on Chester station in early 60s) and wanted a layout to reflect that interest.....also I enjoy all the scheming and planning that "might have been" layouts bring. So, Aberdaron Harbour is another might have been had the line from Pwllheli been extended along the coast to Aberdaron, which lies near the tip of the Lleyn peninsular. Below is the loose trackplan and although quite busy, I hope it conveys a small but busy port station built in a confined space, any of you who have visited Aberdaron will know just how small it is.

Anyway, here it is, a full rationale behind the layout will be uploaded shortly....

Roger

[GaerwenBR]

OK, backstory to Aberdaron Harbour......first, the actual history..

Aberdaron is a small village near the tip of the Lleyn peninsular in North Wales. The Cambrian Railway opened their  station at Pwllheli on Thursday 10 October 1867. Manganese had been mined at Rhiw, a few miles from Aberdaron, from 1840? and 2 jetties were built to ship it out, the first at Porth Cadlan using donkeys to haul the carts and the other at Porth Ysso where a light railway was built from the mine to the jetty.Between 1840 and 1945 195,000 tons of manganese were mined, with a peak of 17,000 tons in 1906. As you may know, manganese is used in the production of steel and the mine closed early in the 20th century....but what if....

 

fictional history

a new station was built in Pwllheli in 1873 and the decision taken to extend the railway to Rhiw to capture the manganese traffic flows, and on to Aberdaron in 1876. A harbour breakwater was built as Aberdaron is open to the prevailing weather from the Southwest. This was built to give Cambrian Railways, later GWR, a departure point in North Wales for sailings to Ireland. As a result, Aberdaron began to grow and a new station was constructed in 1907, albeit in a very confined site. Also, as the mine at Rhiw was hemmed in by the terrain, no runround loop was built so trains deposited empty hoppers in the mine sidings and full hoppers were taken the 5 miles to Aberdaron where the loco could runround.

After 1945 Abersoch and Aberdaron began to grow through tourism and passenger sailings to Ireland continued alongside Holyhead, together with exports of fuel oil from a dedicated wharf.

Due to the traffic flows, the junction at Afon Wen was modified to a triangular junction to do away with trains having to reverse there.

So, that's where we are in 1962/3 with Aberdaron portions of London trains such as the Cambrian Coast Express to Paddington and The Welshman to Euston, plus of course the The Cambrian Sleeper from Aberdaron to Cardiff, timed to link with the arrival of the ferry from Wexford in Ireland.

Totally improbable of course, but hey....it's my trainset and as always, Rule 1 applies.

regards, Roger

[GaerwenBR]

Hi again

right, baseboards......the start of all good layouts! The layout is being built in my spare room and will be L shaped. framing is pretty standard...50mm x 25mm softwood, ladder construction with 9mm plywood tops. The scenic section is 2.95m x 72cm, tapering down to 40cm, then turns left through 90 degrees, into a small fiddle yard on the other wall, 1.60m x 45cm. If I disguise the fiddle yard entrance I might just get a Black 5 + 4 Mk 1s, but we'll see.

Control is DC, simple wiring in sections with some turnouts electrofrog, some insulfrog....all Seep motor controls. I did toy with the idea of DCC, but the present high cost of locos really dictated that I stay with simple DC, after all this is not an exhibition layout and with only one controller (me) and one loco moving, I reckon DC will suit the layout fine.

The loco stud is limited at present, comprising of

Hornby Black 5 45274

Hornby 4F 44198

Bachmann 3F 47673

Bachmann 2251 2277

Bachmann 3MT 82001

but with a birthday and Christmas coming up I can hear an 8F and a Hall coming!!

Stock is slowly being built up, coaches a mixture of suburban and corridor Mk1...all maroon except for 3 choc & cream for the CCE. Goods stock is a mixture of several makers, but more and more Dapol kits. I find that suitably weighted and with Hornby metal wheels and Bachmann couplings these are as good as anything else, especially at present day costs.

Finally, buildings...these are a mixture of Superquick, Metcalfe, Scalescenes and scratch built....but all the kits are being modified and covered with Scalescenes textures....trying to get an individual feel to the layout.

So, that's all for today......take care all

Roger

[Graham T]

This sounds interesting Roger, I've always liked the GW/LMS joint idea.  Look forward to seeing more.

[GaerwenBR]

Morning all

thanks Graham, it's going to take a while but so enjoyable....

I forgot to post the trackplan of board 2 which joins the other at left side....not sure if I'm doing this right but below should be the trackplan (Anyrail) of second board.

Sitting on Anglesey today working out a rough timetable while some glue dries on goods shed. I appreciate less is more but I'm not a fan of looking at an empty station for an hour until the next train is due.

Am planning a daily service of 3 coaches to Paddington (CCE), similar to Euston (Welshamn) via Bangor, then locals to Bangor, Llandudno Jnc, Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth plus the night train to Cardiff but not sure if I have the room for sleeping cars......best wait until all track laid and check platform length.

Anyway, back to planning....hopefully trackplan will appear below

regards to all

Roger

[stivesnick]

Thanks for the 2nd part of the track plan - when I saw the first part, I imagined you were planning a massive sector plate to link all the tracks together!.

 

Are the sidings on the 2nd part being used as an engine shed or is that intending to be just outside the station? Would such a terminal include a turntable? 

 

There is a thread in this forum on a layout based around the real station at Stranraer Harbour. Operationally it could be very similar to your layout if you are looking for ideas and it does include sleeper trains!

 

Nick 

[GaerwenBR]

Hi Nick

thanks for the interest and comment.....I did think about loco facilities but in reality would such a small station command them? I know this is fiction, but I am trying to keep fairly prototypical. My first thoughts were to have them as carriage sidings and imagine all locos travelled the 25 miles or so back to Pwllheli for servicing, or do you think that would be too far?....or I could imagine they were just the other side of the bridge (to hide the fiddle yard)

I had seen the Stranraer thread but not followed too deeply....will do now, thanks for the suggestion

Just back from running the dog on Newborough beach and starting to build a rake of Dapol tanks

regards

Roger