Felton Lane (Goods)

Worsdell forever · November 10, 2010

Size.

Felton Lane (Goods) is 9'3" long by 18" wide. This makes a total area of 1998" well within the required 2010", phew!!

A brief history of the railways in the Crook area.

The Bishop Aukland and Weardale Railway reached Crook in 1843 and The Weardale Extention Railway was completed in 1845 from just outside Crook station and headed west towards Tow Law and beyond.

In 1847, these railways together with The Weardale Railway, The Wear and Derwent Railway and The Shildon Tunnel Company were grouped together to become The Wear Valley Railway and was Leased by The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&D). It was absorbed into the S&D on23rd July 1858.

The Crook and Willington Railway.

Along with these other small railway companies that were promoted by the S&D was the Crook and Willington Railway (C&W) which was opened in 1855 along with the Hedley Hill branch which headed north to meet up with the Deerness Valley line towards Durham. The C&W left the Hedley Hill branch at Billy Row Junction turning north east and under the West Durham Railway line. The line passed near Oakenshaw, where the only inermediate station was built, before heading east to the terminus just beyond Felton Lane on the edge ofthe village of Willington.

Three branches were built off the line to collieries at West Brancpeth, Oakenshaw and Willington which were the reason for the line and the main source of traffic.

The terminus of the line was first called Willington but when the line from Bishop Aukland to Durham was opened by the NER the next year it had a through station at Willington and the C&W station became West Willington, after the S&D merged with the North Eastern Railway in 1863 the situation stayed the same as the S&D section was still run semi-independantly to the NER until the death of S&D engineer William Bouch in 1876. In 1882 the C&W lost it'spassenger service but the coal yard at West Willington was enlarged and the goods yard improved, so ensuring it's future. The name was changed to Felton Lane (Goods), although there was also plenty of parcels traffic.

(By the way, the Crook & Willington Railway is entirely fictitious)

Baseboards.

Baseboards 1 and 2 are made with a 2â€x1â€ frame with a 1/2â€ plywood top,board 3 is a lot lighter (1/4â€ ply) as it does not have any track on it. They are fastened together with 6mm bolts and brass alignment dowels. The legs are three single A frames that slot into the baseboard frames with diagonal braces to hold it all securely, board 3 only has a diagonal brace and no leg.

Track and electrics.

Plain track is C&L flexitrack, the points are built up from C&L components. Ballasting is done during the laying process, after the track is aligned the ballast is sprinkled onto the wet PVA. The whole lot was then sprayed with Railmatch 'Frame Dirt' and the rail sides painted a rusty colour.

The layout is operated as 'one engine in steam' so there are no section breaks. Point motors are old H&Ms with large push buttons on the panel. Electro-magnets for uncoupling (I use DG couplings) are selected using a rotary switch and operated with a push button.

Buildings.

The stone buildings are made from 2mm card with an outer layer of Slaters stone plastic, the brick buildings are the same 2mm card but with Scalescenes brick covering them. The slates are Scalescenes. Windows are either built up from Evergreen strip or are Dornaplas mouldings.

Scenics.

The contours of the land are built up from expanded polystyrene and covered with a layer of newspaper/PVA, this was then covered with a layer of filler and then painted brown. I have used Greenscene and Woodland scenics scatters and bushes. The trees are 'sea foam' ones from Woodland scenics. Pavements and coping stones on walls are 2mm card. The road surface is filler painted grey and weathered, the yard surface is fine ballast.

Details.

A few figures and details have been added, although not too much as I think many otherwise excellent layouts are spoilt by adding too much.The figures are from Monty's Models and bits around the yard ate from Knightwing, Langley and Springside. Cars and lorries are mostly kits or modified die-cast.

Occurrences of the number five.

Some of these were planned, 5 bridges, houses, chickens and rabbits, but some just seamed to appear such as 5 wagons (+ brakevan) fit in the fiddleyard and 5 letters in the word 'Pease' in the street name.

Felton Lane appeared as the second Rmweb 'pic of the week' and has been to two exhibitions â€“ Bishop Aukland in May and Goathland in July. Itis booked to go to two more, Darlington in December and Pickering next August.