Oxton in 0 gauge - February 2019 update

[DaveF]

History of the line

Oxton is a village in Nottinghamshire about halfway between Southwell and Nottingham.

In 1876 James Webb, a wealthy resident, decided to open a colliery at Darcliff, to the north of the village. He also obtained powers to build a railway to connect his colliery to the Midland Railway's Nottingham to Lincoln line at Lowdham. He also built a short branch from this line to serve Oxton. The line followed the Dover Beck for most of its length.

As so often happened money ran out before the branch to Oxton was completed and the Midland Railway was prevailed upon to buy and operate the whole line. The colliery company retained powers to run their own engines and stock on the route.

In later years the line was extended beyond the colliery to join the Midland Railway's Southwell to Mansfield line just east of Rainworth.

The colliery celebrated its centenary, finally closing in 1989, though the branch to Oxton closed in 1971, being diesel worked in its final years.

The line north of Darcliff colliery closed in 1965 at the same time as the Southwell to Mansfield line

Passenger services only ever ran on the southern part of the route between Lowdham and Oxton, with miners trains to the colliery. The miners trains ceased in 1965.

The route today

The route of the line has been totally obliterated as though it never existed, so there are no remains.

This is hardly surprising, as the line was never even planned, let alone built, nor was there ever a Darcliff colliery.

However, much later there was a colliery at Calverton only a couple of miles from Darcliff, though the railway to serve it ran to the west, nowhere near Oxton.

All the places mentioned can be found on the relevant OS maps, 50,000 scale sheets 120 and 129.

About me

I have been building model railways for over 50 years, since I was a child and currently work in 0 and N. In the 1980's I helped build a number of layouts as a member of the "Blyth 61172 Association", which were exhibited around the north east. Forsinard, Challoch Junction, Port Solway were among the layouts we built. Nowadays I probably fit into the group defined by the old Railway Modeller as "the average enthusiast".

The Model

The model depicts Oxton station before 1914. As befits a small village it was a small station with two goods sidings, a short spur for cattle and horses together with a passenger platform. Unusually the engine shed is at the end of the headshunt, this was according to the plans of James Webb as it had been built before the money ran out.

Baseboard

It is built to 7mm scale, the layout is 13 feet by 2 feet, the usual 2"x1"framework, covered in ply with Sundeala on top. It is not portable. It is set 30" from the floor, so it is below the window.

Photos

Attached are three photos which show progress so far. The next job is probably going to be a photographic backscene to replace the current one.



Oxton overall view 18th November 2009




Oxton station and yard 18th November 2009



Oxton hidden sidings and industry 18th November 2009

David

[Jack]

Looks good, although I think the photo backscene will make a big difference. I've never been a big fan of the peco printed backscenes.

 

One more inspriation along the road to starting my layout!

 

Keep the pictures coming.

[DaveF]

Track and ballast

 

All the track is Peco 0 gauge bullhead, now on its third layout. I remove the old ballast by dousing the baseboard in hot water then when the glue has softened lift the track and wash off the old ballast.

 

For ballast I used Woodlad Scenics coarse ash for the Midland part of the layout and a fine grade of ash for the industrial siding. The difference is just visible.

 

One day the shiny gateposts will be painted to seperate the two companies track.

 

What the factory will make is as yet undecided, but the older ones among you will know that it is in the wrong part of the country to be a treacle mine. (You will need to have been reading model railway magazines for a long time to understand that!).

 

 

Oxton ash ballast

 

David

[Forward!]

nice manegable layout- well executed. Bin the peco backscene and the luminous grass mat and I think you'll make an immeasureable improvement to it! Thanks for posting the pictures- nice layout!

 

Will

[DaveF]

nice manegable layout- well executed. Bin the peco backscene and the luminous grass mat and I think you'll make an immeasureable improvement to it! Thanks for posting the pictures- nice layout!

 

Will

Many thanks for the comment.

The grass mat is just the base onto which I will apply "proper" grass using my local n guge group's Grassmaster, when I get time. The backscene should be done this year, unless I do some more tracklaying in the loft on the 00 layout!

 

David

[Forward!]

David,

 

static grass sounds interesting!. I haven't seen it done in 7mm scale- I went down the teddy bear 'pelt' route for mine- because of the cost of covering a fairly large area quickly. should look great!

 

Will

[DaveF]

The new backscene

 

Over the Christmas period I finally added the new backscene, using one of the Gaugemaster products.

 

As I had used white painted hardboard for the backscene and border adhesive to stick on the previous Peco backscene I was able to simply peel off the old backscene paper, leaving a clean white surface.

I find it is always best to stick a new pre printed backscene onto a white surface, it shows the colours far better. Fortunatly the various buildings had not been permanently fixed in place, which made the task much easier.

 

The new backscene has been stuck on with the same adhesive, but be careful as the Gaugemaster paper is not quite as strong as Peco's when wet, so it is possible to tear them if you try to slide them around. It is better to place them correctly first time.

 

To my eyes it makes a big improvement, compare the photo below with the one in the earlier post and see if you agree.

 

I've also started on the static grass over the grass mat, but that really requires further thought - in due course there will be a new post on vegetation colours at different times of year.

 

 

Oxton new backscene

 

David

[Jack]

Certainly makes for a better appearance, keep up the good work!

[DaveF]

Vegetation Colours

 

In the last couple of months I've spent some time thinking about the time of year depicted on the layout and have settled on late May.

This is unlike many layouts, which, from the vegetation characteristics, seem to be set in high summer - around late August.

 

Looking at my colour slides, and from my training as a biologist, it occurs to me that a layout set in May will have much brighter greener grass, while the trees and shrubs will still show some spring greens, unlike the almost olive colours of late summer (caused in part by the accumulation of waste products in the leaves).

 

There will also be very few seed heads around, which again reduces the buff/brown colouration in the grass areas.

 

Since the layout is set pre 1914 most of the grass on the railway side of the fence will be fairly short, with few if any large shrubs. Companies generally trimmed vegetation constantly to reduce fire risk (and the cost of compensation to farmers), and apparently often took a crop of hay to help feed the railway horses.

 

Even many of the more rural industries did this to keep feed costs down.

 

So there won't be any over grown cutting sides!

 

On the farm side of the fence in late May in pastures there would be more flowers than now (unless you live in somewhere like me in Northumberland, where there are still some old wildflower meadows around to use for reference).

 

So all in all a very different scene from the present day. If only the old photographs were in colour so I could be certain!

 

When I get a bit further I'll try to remember to post some photos, though my scenic work is not a patch on many of those who contribute here.

 

David

[Jack]

Just stumbled back to this layout, which certainly peaked my interest.

 

Are there any updates David?

[DaveF]

Work progresses very slowly - I've been doing things on the 00 layout based on Armathwaite recently, but more will happen later in the summer - when I retire fully (again)!

 

David

[Donw]

The backscene change certainly makes a difference. Can't see clearly what season is on the backscene it may affect what you can do on the scenic bit.

Don

[DaveF]

It's a long time since I posted in this thread, most of my modelling activities in the past twelve months have been on the S&C "00" layout in the loft and the n gauge Swiss railway.

 

I have put four new to me wagons into service and have also acquired some LIMA stock, 2 4Fs, a Class 33 and a Mk1 brake coach since my last post. The LIMA items are for use when non railway minded friends visit and want to "play trains" as they are not too fragile unlike some kit built locos and stock.

 

I have at long last started some scenery on the industrial siding which helps hide the fiddle yard, some very basic grass mat to be titivated with static grass etc in due course and some low relief resin factory buildings from Skytrex. So far these have had a coat of paint on the window frames and doors and on some of the stonework.

 

I am trying colouring the bricks with watercolour pencils, the image below shows progress so far, with a single pencil used to give the basic brick colour. In due course other shades will be added as needed. The coloured pencils were bought in a set in Smiths when they were on offer at somewhat less than half price a little while ago.

 

The building joints will be hidden with downpipes. The arches and circles in the brickwork will probably be done as blue brick.

 

Watercolour pencil bricks, the first stage.

 

Note: the brown cardboard is there to prop up the buildings until they are complete.

 

David

[pwr]

Never thought of using watercolour pencils -what a great idea.

 

PaulR

[DaveF]

Never thought of using watercolour pencils -what a great idea.

 

PaulR

 

It came from another topic on RMWeb and I think I've also seen it in a magazine. In this instance I wanted pale mortar as thelayout is set in 1910 and these buildings would have been almost new then.

 

I should have mentioned that I gave the buildings a thin spray of Halfords white primer to give a key for the coloured pencils, resin would be too "slippery" a surface.

 

David

[Donw]

Nice layout David. Can I make one suggestion try placing a tree or some large bushes at the sides of the semi-detatched cottages it may help to disguise the fact that they are low relief.

Don

[DaveF]

Nice layout David. Can I make one suggestion try placing a tree or some large bushes at the sides of the semi-detatched cottages it may help to disguise the fact that they are low relief.

Don

Don, thanks for the suggestion, I've been thinking just the same, or they may even be removed!

 

David

[pwr]

 

 

It came from another topic on RMWeb and I think I've also seen it in a magazine. In this instance I wanted pale mortar as thelayout is set in 1910 and these buildings would have been almost new then.

 

I should have mentioned that I gave the buildings a thin spray of Halfords white primer to give a key for the coloured pencils, resin would be too "slippery" a surface.

 

David

 

I guess then it will probably work on plaster too. I am going to use this over foam board to create my buildings and scribe the brickwork as per Gorden Gravett. This method should work as well as paint. Thanks for the tip

 

Paul R

[DaveF]

During the last few months progress has been slow but I thought now was time for an update.

 

Further research into Oxton's railway has revealed that the loco shed, a feature of James Webb's original plans, was found by the Midland to be surplus to requirements and was demolished before 1910, so it has been removed,  giving a view of the pub near the station.  It also makes the layout easier to operate.

 

Oxton loco shed removed

 

Similarly the signal box had been thought to be similar to the small cabin at California Crossing, Gloucester. Again further research suggests that the box was not a standard Midland design and was similar to a small LSWR cabin at Calstock.  So a replacement is being built.

 

Oxton old signal box

 

Oxton new signal box under construction

 

The low relief factory has also been built to hide the fiddle yard.  As yet it is not clear what it makes, judging by the presence of a threshing machine perhaps it is something to do with agricultural machinery.  Don't ask about the GER tram loco!

 

Oxton factory

 

One of the advantages of a fictional location for a very small layout is that you can choose to alter the history, hopefully in a plausible way as the layout develops.

 

By the way, I am well aware of at least some of the errors on the layout when compared to prototype practice, this will be discussed in a later post.

 

David

Edited for punctuation error

[DaveF]

It's been a very very long time since I last wrote anything about this layout, it does still exist and work continues slowly.  Over the last year and a half much of the work has been on timetable development.

 

For this I started by extracting the real train times at Lowdham, which would have been the junction for Oxton, from the October 1922 Midland Railway passenger working timetable.

 

This enabled me to work out possible arrival/departure times from Lowdham for Oxton, allowing time for passengers to move between platforms etc.

 

I then decided how long the journey would take and where the passing station would be - it ended up almost exactly half way along the line.

 

Next I drew up a graph to show the train movements on the branch, making sure I had paths for the passenger services, local (pick up) goods - 2 a day, and the movements of coal trains from Darcliff Colliery along the shared part of the line.  

 

So far it would just about work, but one pair of trains have very tight timings at the passing station and will need further thought.

 

Lastly I drew up a chart of arrivals and departures at Oxton and have spent many happy hours running rains from the station to the hidden sidings and back.

 

At the moment I am working on a playing card system for deciding on which wagons come and go each day.  There are around 50 wagons in all to choose from, Oxton goods yard can hold about 10 plus 2 in the cattle dock siding, a goods train can only 5 wagons plus loco and brake van.  The factory siding can accommodate 2 wagons.  The wagons not in use live on shelves in the railway room.

 

Over the same time period a number of wagons have been added to the available stock.

 

A few  recent photos below.  Don't digital cameras show up the deficiences in one's modelling!

 

M&GN No 10 at Oxton

I didn't notice the lamp growing out of the dome until I added the image to this post.  At one time at least one M&GN 4-4-0T was used by the Midland, they loaned a 0-4-4T to the M&GN in exchange.

 

Signal box and lamp hut

 

 

cattle dock and wagon

 

 

David

Edited to tidy up what I have written.

David

[pwr]

Good to see this again

 

Paul R

[DaveF]

Shades of grey - wagon colours

 

I acquired much of the rolling stock when Dad had to give up 0 gauge, he could no longer get up into his loft.

 

Both his and my Midland Railway wagons had been painted using Precision paints "Midland Wagon grey", a medium lead grey shade.  As we both used either Slaters or PC Models (now HMRS)  Pressfix transfers the wagons are varnished with a thin coat of matt varnish to protect the lettering.

 

Depending on the make of the varnish, and whether I had added a small amount of brown to tint the varnish a little, the final shade of grey on the wagons showed small variations.

 

Then I bought some secondhand wagons, one of which is supposed to be in Midland livery, but a completely different shade of grey (on the left in the photo).

 

Wagon colours

 

At first I thought they looked odd together but then looked at colour photos of grey wagons in BR days and black and white photos of Midland Railway wagons pre 1923, especially in Midland Wagons Volumes 1 & 2 (Essery, OPC).   This made me realise the huge variation in shades of grey between wagons.  In the case of Midland wagons in black and white photos from very very pale to almost black.

 

As the grey paint weathered it is known to have darkened.

 

To complicate matters the Midland bought some "surplus" grey paint after the First World War originally intended for naval ships.  This was mixed with black and other residual paints to make "smudge", used only for repainting repaired wagons.  This could almost be described as "pale black".

 

The other point is that no matter what the shade of grey the lettering always stands out as a very stark white.  This is because the Midland used a self cleaning Oxalic paint for the white lettering.

 

So what does this mean for my models?

 

I'll keep using the MR grey paint, but if I buy a wagon in a different shade I'll not alter it (unless I have to reletter it).

 

I do have a tin (which is very many years old) of what Precision Paints described as MR dark wagon grey, which is almost black, one day I may paint a wagon with it to see what it looks like in 0 gauge - I do have one 00 wagon painted with it.

 

If I ever get around to weathering wagons I'll need to make sure the lettering still stands out.

 

But I won't worry any more about exact shades of grey!

 

David

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

Great to see this thread resurrected.  Tell us more about the M&GN 4-40T, it's a beauty.  I must admit pre-grouping O scale could tempt me away from my first love...

[DaveF]

Great to see this thread resurrected.  Tell us more about the M&GN 4-40T, it's a beauty.  I must admit pre-grouping O scale could tempt me away from my first love...

 

The M&GN 4-4-0T is a model of the locos supplied by Hudswell Clarke to the Yarmouth and North Norfolk Railway and the Lynn and Fakenham Railway between 1878 and 1881.   There were seven locos in all, they passed to the Midland and Great Northern Joint as a result of amalgamations.    Despite there only being 7 locos in the class there were many differences between them, including chimneys.

 

One was withdrawn around 1904, one at an unknown date, three in 1917 and two in 1932.

 

In M&GN days their numbers were 8, 9, 10, 19, 20, 40 and 41

 

In 1906 Nos 8, 10, 19 and 40 were loaned to the Midland Railway where they were used on push pull services with converted Pullman cars (the American ones).  In return three Midland 0-4-4Ts were loaned to the M&GN.

 

For some years they remained in M&GN livery but received an MR crest in place of the M&GN lettering.

 

The model of No. 10 is from a set of parts (not sold as a complete kit) from Loveless (purchased at a Gauge O Guild event in Newcastle probably over 15 years ago).  Wheels are from Alan Harris, I cannot remember the details of  motor and gears.  Various other parts were sourced from  a variety of  places, a few bits were home made.  I built it as a present for Dad.

 

Rivets were added with a riveting press, the number of them is approximately right.

 

Once I had all the bits it was fairly easy to make and runs very well, though at first the bogie sometimes  derailed on points - cured by limiting it's movement.  One day I may fit a spring to control it better.

 

It was brush painted with Precision Paints and lettered with PC Models (now HMRS) transfers.

 

To me it looks right and is one of my favourite locos but the detailing may not be exactly correct for the 1906-12 period.

 

3 photos of the loco on an earlier layout.  I don't have any copyright free photos of the prototype.

A link to a photo and information on M&GN locos:   http://www.lner.info/co/MGN/locomotives.shtml

 

 

 

 

David

Edited to add photos, link and make minor corrections.

David

[DaveF]

Once again it's been a long time since I added anything to this thread.  Since late June last year I've spent a lot of time playing trains opertaing the layout to timetable, which has proved very enjoyable.  I've also almost got the playing card system for deciding wagon movements  working properly, at present there is a tendency for Oxton goods yard to fill up too much over a 7 day timetable period, so some further tweaking is needed.  Once it works reliably I'll try to describe it in detail on here.

 

For now I can say that before each day's timetable starts I deal a card for each wagon on the layout and on the storage shelves which determines where it has to be at the end of the day.  The possible destinations are Oxton, Factory, Rest of the World and Stay Put.

 

I've obtained a few more wagons, photos of some of them are below.

 

The first one is from POWSides, using a Parkside Kit.   Devlins owned a very big fleet of steam trawlers based at Granton, near Edinburgh.  I'm not sure why one of their wagons would be at Oxton in Nottinghamshire.  I can only assume that the Oxton factory makes an item which is urgently needed for one of the trawlers and that an open wagon was despatched to collect it.

 

Devlins wagon

 

I bought the next one second hand as an almost completed model which I have painted and lettered.  Those who know about NER wagons will notice that the lettering is not quite correct, that will be rectified when I find some suitable transfers.  It also needs the remaining handrails fitting.

 

NER 13T hopper

 

The last one is a Midland Railway 20foot one plank wagon from JLTRT.  This is not quite completed, there is still some cleaning up to do, the paint so far is to show imperfections (glue splashes)  on the body more clearly.  It has been built with one sided brake gear as running in the early part of the twentieth century.  Photos of wagons in that condiiton are in R J Essery's book: Midland Wagons Volume 1, pub. OPC

 

Midland long low.

 

David