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After doing a lot of reading of this site and taking in the advice that's been given, I'm decided to move from the armchair to the basement and start a layout. Taking the lessons from my aborted layout attempt at the beginning of last year, from which I learnt how to do a number of things wrong, I'll be (hopefully) creating a representation of Wainfleet station in Lincolnshire.

 

Wainfleet Station opened as a single line terminus on the Wainfleet and Firsby Railway in 1871. The extension to Skegness was completed in 1873, and the line was then doubled in 1900 as the number of holidaymakers to the coastal town increased. The golden years for traffic were the 1930s. The line was due to be chopped by the Beeching Axe along with miles and miles of railway in Lincolnshire, but somehow it survived, although as a shadow of its former self. Goods traffic ended in 1964, and the footbridge and canopy were removed as the station became unstaffed in 1969. Although the goods yard track was taken up quickly after closure, the shed lasted a long time after that as a place for storage. Now called the Poacher Line after the Lincolnshire Poacher, trains still serves the town hourly to both Skegness and Nottingham.

 

Well that's the background. I'll be modelling the layout as a double tracked loop around the walls of the room. There were a few reasons for choosing this station and for modelling it as it was in 1964:

  • it's my home town!
  • there are goods shed, station buildings, crossing gates, weighbridge, signal box, and unusual footbridge (gulp)
  • there is a sharp curve just after the station that will tie in with the curve that will have to happen to put the layout in the room.
  • local traffic is varied: stopping service to and from Skegness, coal, cattle, sugar beet and others.
  • doing an around the walls loop means that I can run longer excursions that act as through trains to Skegness - essentially watching the trains go by
  • plenty of different engine types, many of which are or will be available rtr - B1, K3, J11,J39, 4MT, DMUs such as the Derby Lightweights, 105, 108. An Atlantic would be nice, I'll keep my fingers crossed.
I've found some books on the subject, and spent the last couple of months going through them. I've also been all over Google, Flickr and eBay looking for old photos and taken the opportunity to take photos myself of what's left. to my shame I didn't have a tape measure, so I went by numbers of bricks and standard door sizes for most measurements. Finally Bing Maps and Google StreetView have been great for checking details such as signals.

 

So the model will be of the mid-1960's but as this is for me, I'm going to do a "what if" and pretend that the yard wasn't lifted which will mean that I can run the trains I remember as a kid in the 1970's and 1980's. To that end I've a 31, 47, 37 (all Lima from years back that I've cleaned up and put decoders into), and a couple of class 20s.If I'm going to do a "what if" I'm also going to run Oliver Cromwell that ran a Jolly Fisherman special a couple of years ago.

 

Anyway, here's the station plan, the main station area can fit on an 8'x3' board, and the curve on the left pretty prototypical, the one on the right isn't as the track that side was straight. I'll keep the rest of the loop simple for a while and concentrate on the station area so that I can make sure I get it done.

post-14192-0-88448600-1351461634_thumb.jpg

 

And here are some photos I took this summer:

post-14192-0-61110500-1351461458.jpg

 

post-14192-0-54779200-1351461461.jpg

 

This one shows a bit of the tight curve at the end of the station, I remember the squealing wheels!

post-14192-0-66340100-1351461464.jpg

 

Edited the post to get it to make more sense and to amend a date.

Edited by JCL
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Guest stuartp

1. Bateman's brewery?

 

2. Somersault signals in recent memory?

 

Yes to both of those. I visited in late 1990 whilst surveying level crossings for the AOM at Sheffield, and they were replacing one of the signals with a new semaphore. (Possibly the one protecting the crossing - I'm reasonably sure it was Wainfleet). There were certainly somersault signals elsewhere but I'm afraid memory is fading and after 20-odd years one damp featureless bit of Lincolnshire looks very like another.

 

I do remember two things about Wainfleet - I was ordered by the AOM to visit Bateman's brewery (we didn't as it happens, I don't drink and the old boy allocated to me to hold the other end of the tape measure denounced it as 'witch p***'), and there was a fish and chip shop in town with a coal fired range, owned by an ex-signalman. The highlight of the trip was sitting in Blotofts box having a brew when a Tornado came over the top of the box at a height considerably less than 250' resulting in all three of us getting covered in tea.

 

It's a long way from my normal area of modelling interest but I shall enjoy watching this. :-)

Edited by stuartp
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  • RMweb Gold

Haha, I think a few people might want to take him up in the witch p**** discussion. Batemans is about a 5 minute walk from the station - follow the path to the windmill. They did win beer of the year a few years running a few years ago now - hmm on checking, quite a few - 1986. I always like to refresh my memory when I go back there, but my preference is a pint of landlord.

 

There was a somersault there, and one at Havenhouse, a request stop a couple of miles closer to Skegness, but it had gone by '97. Apparently the big grey box that landed next to the signal box this year is a part of the resignalling scheme. The railings in front of the station building are needed because the platform height had to be increased by a few brick courses. I remember my sister causing a delay to one train to Skegness by falling between down the gap between the train and the platform edge - not a bad achievement for a straight platform!

 

Down to the hardware store this week. This Week, all things being equal, I'll be making the frames out of plywood sides and stretchers and 2x4 bracing at the end, and my current thought is to use 1" pink solid foam insulation sheets on top - there will be a few general slopes, but it's pretty flat around Wainfleet. The sheets are pretty stiff on the frames and hopefully shouldn't warp.

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Nice to something from this fair county i am a yellow belly any way so enjoy building the layout and have fun running your trains and if any asks you can always use rule 1

 

Kevin in Lincolnshire

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Definitely agree with the last post, any layout of Lincolnshire (prototype or fiction) from the last 50+ years needs a Derby Heavyweight class 114. They are continually mis-identified as class 108's even by so called railway experts who should know better. The main difference is that the class 114's were longer (there's an extra window between saloon doors which is the easiest way to identify them), and they are more slab sided than their class 108 lightweight sisters.

 

I'm currently building the DC kits 114 t the moment for my Lincs based layout. I'm using the Bachmann class 108 motor and chassis as a certain Liverpool based retailer was selling one for less than the cost of a Black Beetle motor and dummy bogie. The 108 bodies will get discarded to the spares box or sold on ebay. Of course the chassis' will need cut and lengthened to accommodate the longer 114 bodies. I'll post some pics when it's done.

 

Good luck with the new layout....I'll raise a glass of XXXB to you ;-)

 

Simon

 

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  • RMweb Gold

Thanks David and Simon for the class 114 info - I'm definitely no expert! Interestingly although locos are generally identified in my books and online, DMUs generally aren't. I'll definitely bookmark your build if you put it online - that might be a project for next year if funds allow. Simon, where are you modelling?

 

In other news, I picked up some 2'x8'x 1/2" sheets of expanded polystyrene house insulation yesterday and a couple of sheets of plywood to start making the board. The 1/2" sheets were a lot cheaper than the 1" sheets, so I'll be gluing their surfaces together for stiffness. It's been pouring with rain for 3 days and won't stop until the weekend, so I think this week is definitely going to involve basement time.

Edited by JCL
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I'm modelling a fictitious location called East Kirkstead roughly set in the region of Woodhall Jct on the Witham loop line between Lincoln and Boston. Set in late 1950's it features the majority of motive power that you will be planning to run (B1, K3, V2, J39, C12, J11, WD, 4MT, 31, and our DMU friends Derby Lightweight, Cravens 105, 114, and a 101 which will ultimately get converted into one of the non standard Metro Cammel twins...another DMU recognition issue for the uninitiated!!). Not online as yet but perhaps a project for the winter.

 

Simon

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  • RMweb Gold

I'll look forward to reading about it hopefully. :)

 

So I've been cleaning up the room the railway will be in and I've come across a document that I thought I'd lost. It's a receipt made out by the GNR for the Wainfleet to Firsby Railway (Extension to Skegness Branch) that was written in 1895 - I'm guessing as a part of the sale of the line to the GNR.

 

I'm happy to send a larger version of this if anyone is interested. A copy is going to the GNR society.

 

post-14192-0-63744900-1351739902.jpg

Edited by JCL
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  • RMweb Gold

Thank you, You could easily be right, it is a bit early - I should have thought about that as I have those books. Would you believe that I found the receipt on eBay? The ebayer managed to spell Wainfleet in three different ways! That said, if you go back through the town's history it was spelled a number of different ways over the years Wainfleet, Wainflete, Wainflet, Vainono, etc. I also have a plan of Skegness station from the Model Railway Constructor 1936 if anyone is interested for research. I'm assuming I can't post it up on here.

 

When I was in Skegness a couple of weeks ago I met up with the man that owned the goods yard and shed. He gave me some information about the yon side of the shed that I can't get photos for, and told me about how they used to back the trucks up to the beet siding to transfer sugar beet and potatoes etc into the wagons. Apparently the lady mentioned in one of the books that used to work in the office still lives in town and knows my family, so the next time in England I'll try to call round.

 

The boards are coming together and there will be photos next week as I'm out and about this weekend. Hope you all have a good weekend.

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  • RMweb Premium

Morning Jason. I've just spotted Wainfleet and enjoyed your opening post. This sounds like an interesting project which I'll keep an eye on.

 

What particularly struck me was the similarities in the general plan (your post 1) with a typical Settle & Carlisle arrangement - which I'm modelling (see post 1108 on my thread if interested). You should have plenty of operational interest on your layout and a good range of motive power.

 

Good luck with the project!

 

Cheers,

 

Jeff

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Hi JCL, I just noticed where you live. My son (Roger John) also lives in Fernie and is into Mountain Biking, Skiing. He works the Bar at one of the local hotels (next to the Crysler Dealer). I grew up in Grimsby and my 1st wife came from Louth. When we were courting our Saturday night activity was driving to the various country pubs within about a 40 mile radius of Louth, so it is almost certain we would have found some of the pubs in Wainfleet. I now live in Deep River ON and have an OO layout based on the Grimsby to Boston Line although I cheat and have A4s, A1s and A3s running. Maybe we can meet up next year when we do our annual visit.

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  • RMweb Gold

Hi Jeff

 

Thanks so much for that, it does seem to be very similar. I started reading your thread the other day, your work is astounding!

 

Hi Theakerr, I've sent you a PM. (or is it an IM?)

 

Just back from the Banff Mountain Film Festival in, erm, Banff. The forced air duct cleaner is around tomorrow so that is an incentive to finish clearing the room. The new boards will start to go in on Tuesday with a back wind.

Edited by JCL
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  • RMweb Premium

Cheers Jason,

 

Good to hear you will be surging ahead shortly. I like your trackplan and concept and it'll be great to watch it all develop. Are you a scratchbuilder or a predominantly RTR man? A few years ago I would never have dreamed I'd even consider scratchbuilding structures, let alone turnouts... Look what effect RMweb has had!

 

Keep us posted with your progress.

 

Jeff

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Hi Jason,

 

Good to see that you're 'going for it' and look forward like others to watching progress. A couple of suggestions before it's too late:

 

Although the railways of Lincolnshire were famously straight, no need to align yours absolutely parallel with the baseboard edge? Looking at your plan, you could set the station scene at no more than 5 degrees (say) to parallel to get away from the 'trainset' look.

 

Don't forget to include the crossing of a 'drain', with the inevitable fisherman sitting looking hopeful!

 

Cheers,

 

'Robert'

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Hi Jeff, I'm going to have a go at scratchbuilding structures mainly using card (as I've loads of it from when I sold and mounted photos in town), but pretty rtr on anything that has wheels at the moment. Mind you, I don't want to come across as accomplished in any way - I've only just got back into this and a lot of what I've learned has been on here and the Model Railroader websites!

 

Hi Robert, you found me :) I agree, it is a bit parallel, I haven't printed off the templates from XTrkCad yet, that'll be the end of the week so I'll have one more play with it. My only problem is that, from the pavement on the end of the road to the last point (I had turnout and switch in my head) on the right is 8' which is the length of the insulation and plywood I have. There's no reason why the lines coming away from the station need to be parallell to the sides though. Although the rails are pretty straight as a rule, there's a kink in them on the way to Havenhouse station (see map) There will certainly be some dykes around though as Wainfleet isn't Wainfleet if there isn't moat around each field. It's one of the reasons I'm using the expanded polystyrene insulation (not styrofoam) on a plywood frame.

 

Well, after pulling everything out of the room and throwing a brush around the floor, the boards started going in today. This bit should be done by the end of Wednesday.

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Since I last put an update up Winter has arrived in Fernie. We haven't had the snow that they've had on the coast and the Prairies, but it has meant that there's been a lot of work outside getting everything ready for the winter season. On Friday I was back downstairs and putting the baseboards/benchwork together. I've used 12mm plywood for the sides and bracing, and a 12mm-21mm-21mm sandwich at the ends. The middle layer has pockets that allow the legs to slide in and out or rather up and down as I level the the boards. Its when you do something like this you realise how uneven the a floor is. The framework has been covered in extruded foam insulation panels instead of plywood as they are easy to get and transport here. That said I've a couple of boards to finish because the hardware store doesn't open on a Sunday, so hopefully I'll get a cheeky couple of hours either tomorrow or Tuesday to do that. The layout will be at 46" so that I can a) get under it easily to get into the back cupboard and B) put the Ikea cupboards under there to store the paraphernalia that seems to amass in that room.

 

The track-plan was put together in Xtrkcad and printed off. Now that the plan has been laid out and sellotaped together I've realised I can take Robert's advice and will be able to lay the main station area at a slight angle. The underlay will be cork sheet from Staples as I can get it easily (my local hobby shop is about 3 1/2 hours away and Staples is only an hour), and I'll use some more insulation to build up the slight slope along the back of the main board - even out on the coast there are very slight slopes!

 

I'm so pleased I've finally got out of my armchair!

 

Sorry about the poor phone camera photos...

 

post-14192-0-79975700-1353293366.jpg

 

post-14192-0-01831900-1353293368.jpg

 

post-14192-0-99301200-1353293368.jpg

Edited by JCL
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Well done Jason - you've done the hard bit and made a start. Looks like you'll have a solid support structure for your boards.

 

Keep the updates/photos coming!

 

Btw, I can't imagine what it's like to have your "local" hobby shop 3 hours away!

 

Jeff

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Thank you. :)

 

I've got a couple of tips for working with the foam and plywood:

- the plywood sides will be bendy, but you want them to be straight, so put a series of tabs along the length and the ends, then glue the top edges and slide the sheeting into that. If the sheeting is square it'll force the frame to be square - ill take a photo later,

- the 8' panels I bought were 7' 11 3/4' - measure yours before building a frame 8' long D'oh!

- don't be tempted to cut the foam part way through and then snap it; it won't snap cleanly,

- use plenty of glue and open the window

- no solvents!

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At one point I thought it wouldn't happen, but I've finally got all the boards are finished now and faced with hardboard (which is apparently also called masonite - always learning) to stop the foam sheets from damaging. The legs aren't particularly good looking right now, but I will have to leave these until later because the garage now has the van in it and is sorted out for Winter. It's great to be able to finally put the table-saw away, especially as I'm allergic to sawdust! I won't be painting backscenes until the spring, so I've added tabs to the back of the baseboards for the hardboard backscenes to slot into. They will allow me to position the backscenes later without having to separate the layout up.

 

I've fiddled around with the track-plan in Xtrackcad printed it off and taped it together. I've also checked clearances and everything seems to be good. I've just got to work out how I'm going to transfer the plan to the cork sheeting that I'll be glueing down. I don't really want to waste too much sheeting because it's not easy to get locally.

 

The track itself is a mixture of Peco and Atlas. There is a Peco single slip and a double slip, and to make sure I'm not messing up the geometry I've bought their corresponding Peco points. Points that aren't leading to a slip are the Atlas points I bought some time ago in Calgary. The main problem with them is that although my Canadian stock and newer British stock can go through them, the older Hornby locos and coaches don't go through them very well - well actually they bounce out of the top of them because the back-to-back measurement is too small. I don't want to mess up the locos, so I'm probably going to get some sandpaper and sand the plastic check rails slightly to open them up a little.

 

Here's a couple of photos of the "finished' boards. The curtain hides a cupboard, which isn't ideal, but would allow me a chance to see the main station board from both sides (another good reason to be able to remove the backscene). Plenty to be getting on with :)

 

post-14192-0-43658000-1353899364.jpg post-14192-0-24386400-1353899365.jpg post-14192-0-08270000-1353899366.jpg

Edited by JCL
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I've very fond memories of Wainfleet for a different reason. Having rode speedway & grasstrack for many years i used to like the Wainfleet clubs meetings they did 2 a year then did the international Lincolnshire Poacher meeting which was a longtrack more than anything & super fast. Maybe a scratch built grasstrack bike on the back of the car would be a very interesting addition to the layout.

 

Good luck with your project it looks as though you've got off to a good start there.

 

Simon

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High JCL.

 

Your boards look really well constructed, I like the idea of using a foam top to the board - it will make it easy to get some relief in below the track.

 

For the cork sheeting - work out where you need the cork to be on the plan, then arrange the plan on the boards (you said you were going to put it on at an angle), once you are happy where the plan sits, mark through the plan into the foam with a knife, and then join the dots. This gives you an outline to cover on the board - and you can cut the cork sheeting to size before gluing it down. I do it this way on most of my layouts. You end up with a board that looks something like this:

 

post-6640-0-31026600-1353911828.jpg

 

This looks like it could become something special - I'll keep watching

 

Michael

Edited by MichaelW
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  • RMweb Gold

Hi Michael

 

Thanks for that, that's what I'll be doing this week. I'm going to concentrate on the area in the plan in my original post, and the rest will be enough to turn it into a round-and-round for now. Later I've plans for the other third of the room as I've a collection of Canadian Pacific locos and wagons. I'm intending to have a scenic break either side and the other side will be based in Canada, possibly the foothills between here and Lethbridge. Here's a photo I took last Winter; we have these passing through 12-14 times a day.

 

post-14192-0-83090900-1353946533_thumb.jpg

 

My previous aborted attempt to put together a layout based on the Heart of Georgia used foam. I messed up the track laying and just couldn't get smooth running. That said, on the foam side, it's really easy to press items into it such as telegraph poles, trees, fences etc. It's a bit problematic if you are motorising points, but I've seen people glue plywood squares underneath the foam as a mount. Maybe the best is to have a layer of plywood with foam on top.

 

I've not much scope for a lot of foam mountains in deepest Lincolnshire. The area I'm from is pretty flat, and my wife still takes the mickey out of Wainfleet's Green Hill; she calls it a loose collection of dirt. That said, I did watch this Youtube video a while back, this feller has a LOT of energy (enough for a series of videos)!

 

 

cheers

 

Jason

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