Tolmouth. BR(S) (Sea) Salt or Binegar

[JZ]

Well, inspired to pull my finger out my backside by the likes of Coachmann, Tetleys, Ben Alder, to name but a few, I have decided to finally get a move on with my next layout, Tolmouth. My last layout, Somercombe was never finished, but I soon found that it didn't really do what I wanted of it. Just too easy to let trains run around and around. Why did I start it ? Don't really know. I had always planned at some stage to build a terminus in a seaside town when I had the space, even started a couple of times. But house move, divorce, then lack of funds, meant they all fell by the wayside. In the meantime, a few layouts did appear. Aberporth (OO), a small seaside terminus on the Cardigan coast. Cherrapunji Junction (OO9), Indian narrow guage. Both portable and exhibited at Bath MRE back in the 1990's. Cherrapunji Junction was later re-landscaped into an English village and finally sold on ebay for a ridiculous amount. Later came Scourie Harbour. Built for the first RMweb challenge, other commitments saw it delayed and it didn't get finished until after the closing date, it was later rewired for DCC and it does still get pulled out for the occasional session. And there was the loft layout. Originally little more than a large loop of track to run trains on, then rebuilt into a double track mainline with a diesel depot for my son. But it suffers, as all lofts do, of being too bloody cold in winter and too damn hot in summer. Eventually the loft will get a Velux™ and the layout rebuilt into something set in the Somerset Coalfield, but that's in the future.
So back to Tolmouth. What is it ? Well, it's a seaside terminus and very loosely inspired by Weymouth. It is exGWR, now Southern Region and is in Dorset, roughly were the real Weymouth is. It will have 4 platforms, with the station building on the side, like Weymouth, although I will have a stone built structure. The longest platform will take 8 carriages, two slightly shorter ones taking 7/8 and the shortest taking 4/5. There will be a small goods yard, but most freight will be handled at the harbour, via a street tramway. I envisage there being a larger harbour with more Channel Island cargo than Weymouth. There will be a 4 road engine shed, turntable and coaling tower, these being post-war replacements due to bombing, there will also be some carriage sidings. The harbour branch will also provide me with roundy-roundy facility. It will only modelled as far as a scenic break.
One thing I do want is a gradient out of the station, past the carriage sidings. Like the climb out of Weymouth past Jersey Sidings. Using a 14' length of timber, I conducted a few tests. The maximum length of train each engine type would be expected to handle was tried at various grades. Some loco's were well above expectations, some not. In the end I decided 1in100, which looks about right and all my loco's are capable of mounting with their maximum load.
Track will be a bit of a mixture with SMP or C&L in the station, yard and MPD and Peco code 75 to represent FB. One line may be done with concrete sleepers and pale ballast to represent newly relaid track. Points are all handbuilt or SMP kits and all powered by Tortoises. Track on the harbour branch will be handbuilt on copperclad so I can put checkrails in the roadway. I use Kadee™ couplings, so under track magnets will be fitted at strategic locations, besides which, with the station area being 3ft wide, manual uncoupling could be awkward.
Passenger traffic will be similar to what Weymouth had in the late fifties/ early sixties plus a few Channel Island boat trains going on to the harbour. Freight will be modest at the station, with just a goods sheds and coal merchant. Most will go to the harbour.
Non railway building will me a mix of RTP, scrathbuild and kits and mostly low profile. As for railway buildings, the station is being built out of Peco kits, much modified, the goods shed will be the trusty Ratio one. Signal box is the Heljan kit, as it looks fairly like the one at Weymouth. Coal tower is from Hornby. A bit OTT I know. The engine shed is Bachmann and the turntable will be Peco.
Stock will be a mix of WR and SR with some ER and MR coaches on excursion/holiday traffic.


Anyhow, this is the rough trackplan.

Not to scale I might add.

Work has finally started on pulling up the old layout., spent 4 hours pulling track pins out of the fiddle yard. This time I will use PVA.

[Karhedron]

Nice looking plan. The seaside terminus gives scope of a reasonably compact setting but still playing host to decent express-length trains. I like the mix of GWR and SR, especially with the fine crop of recent SR releases. Look forward to seeing this one progress.

 

I have a vague idea for a similar terminus based loosely on Penzance but with SR running rights in N gauge. But must get Chew Magna finished first or Mrs Karhedron will not be impressed.

[Danemouth]

A nice plan, similar to what I would like to achieve with Danemouth. May I make one suggestion - draw the plan using a tool such as Anyrail (the free version will be sufficient) so see what precisely will fit in your available space.

 

In particular I suspect that the turntable will take far more space than shown in the drawing - I know from experience!

 

Looking forward to seeing things progress,

 

Dave

[JZ]

In particular I suspect that the turntable will take far more space than shown in the drawing - I know from experience!Dave

 

I've already laid some track and templates out on the shed floor to get an idea of how much room it will take. With 19'9" x 9'9" available, space is not at that much of a premium, although the MPD may yet end up on a peninsula in the centre of the shed.

 

For the meantime, work continues dismantling the old layout.

[TheFonz1]

Well I hope you finish this layout as you seemed to be not to sure regarding the last one! I have been interested in the street tramway in the location for a while but unfortunately have never visited unless I was to young to remember, I am therefore looking forward to your efforts on this layout good luck with it. You can get back to dismantiling the old one now lol

[JZ]

Well I hope you finish this layout as you seemed to be not to sure regarding the last one!

 

I came to realise that watching trains round and around is not really my thing, probably had too much of this with train sets in the past and this was my first roundy-roundy. Always enjoyed a bit of operational interest and this layout will do that. All trains will have to shunt to the carriage sidings and the loco turned. The shed will enable me to have more loco's out at the same time, probably 25-30 including the fiddle yard. The black track in the plan may yet continue to form a branch(ie.Abbotsbury) with a run around and single siding, although mostly worked by pull-push service or railcar. And I will most likely put in a small halt on the main before it disappears into whatever forms the scenic break into the fiddle yard.

[JZ]

A couple of shots of the station building. It combines 2 Country station kits and the stations master's house kit. Will tiles have been used on the roof, which is yet to be painted. A bit more flasing needs to go around the chimneys.

This is the roadside.

 

And this, the trackside.

[JZ]

Spent a few hours todays salvaging points from Somercombe for re-use on Tolmouth. I'm pretty useless at point building and these are Marcway or built by A N Other, but prefer handbuilt for their looks and running qualities, so it was with much care I soaked then gently eased them away from the cork base. Now my back hurts. But I have saved 7 out of 7 so far, just another 2 for tomorrow.

Painted the roof of the station building today with Railmatch Dark Brick. More than a little surprised when I went back later to find it had dried gloss. Brought it indoors near a source of heat and it is finally going matt. Also made a start with the platforms. These too are mostly salvaged from Somercombe, but will need extending as the longest will be 85" to take a full 8 coach train and allow for a bufferstop.

[JZ]

Work continues.
Today, as the fiddle yard area is fairly clear, I did a mock up of the station area.



Like at Weymouth, behind the Pullman will be a wall, probably topped with railings, and a road. At the far end will be another road backed by shops, pubs and a Hotel.
The buildings in the last picture are likely to be the ones behind the stops, with the others extending beyond where the goods yard will be. On the outside endof the platform there will either be a brick wall or wooden screen, or maybe just railings and I was wondering if the should be something behind the buffers.
Now we've had a couple of days of dry weather, I have collected the plywood for the replacement base board for the station area and work can now start on this on Monday.

[JZ]

The postman brought me these the other day.

I will be using the bottom running-in boards if I decide I have the space for a branch. If I do, it will continue the third line from Tolmouth, disappear into a tunnel, then just have a small station, run-around and a single siding, maybe two. I may make it detatchable for exhibiting.

One thing I hadn't taken into account when deciding to have a gradient, was a rail that I had fitted around the shed to support the original boards and the power ring. Now the total height difference will be 1½" and the intention was to drop the station board by this amount, but the position of sockets means that I have to take an alternative approach. Of course the easy thing would be to raise the fiddle yard boards by this amount. But this requires moving all the shelving I have above it to make spacing for the racking that is between the fiddle yard and said shelves. I have decided to go for hanging the staion boards from L-shaped brackets that will still allow it to clear the sockets, just. Another reason for going this route is that it makes it slightly easier to reach the back of the layout, the board will be 36" wide and 46½" from the ground now. And it means that the low relief buildings will not be hard up against the backscene, as the rail will be in the way, though I think this improves the look.

Also bought some 3mm Depron foam for laying the track on.

[JZ]

Just purchased the last buildings I need for the backdrop. I suppose I could have had a go at scratchbuilding, but it's really not my forté. At least with a resin casting I get what I want and am less likely to think "I wish I had done better". Now work can start in earnest. Only drawback is that I only have 1 day off before Christmas and I need that to revise for my rules the following two days But at least all the materials are now in place to do it and a couple of latish starts this week will give a chance to fit the baseboard in place. Then maybe, just maybe, I can start getting some pictures of progress.

[steve22]

The station building looks very impressive. Good to see the station and stock in it's setting too, gives you the feel of a 'real' railway. The terraced rows take me back and the overall scene reminds me of a holiday in Weymouth, 1966. Two visits to the station (when Dad would take me); I saw 35005 Canadian Pacific the first visit and Croydon 34056? the second. The only Southern locos I saw, pre 1968. I'm trying 3mm Depron too on my layout, if it ever gets running. Keep us posted, it all looks promising. As a Volvo admirer (3 owned in the past) I won't be drawn by your tag line!

[JeffP]

Interesting plan.

For four station platform faces, I'd lose a road in the engine shed and add one for carriages. especially at a terminus.

[JZ]

Interesting plan.

For four station platform faces, I'd lose a road in the engine shed and add one for carriages. especially at a terminus.

 

I'm going to use Bachmann's 4 road shed, so that's pretty much fixed, but I had considered adding another carriage siding, possibly two.

[JZ]

Had been my intention to post some pictures of me signal box choices, but cannot upload pictures into topic today. So it will wait.

[JZ]

Right, here we have my dilemma. I have the domestic and retail stuctures, but still need a signal box. It had been my intention to use this one.

The Heljan/Knightwing box, suitably painted in Southern Region colours.

 

However, the box at Weymouth was replaced in the late 1950s with this.

So I'm thinking of something more modern, though not quite so large.

Two I have in mind are these.

 

The Southern art deco style would need some rebuilding to have a squared windowless rear. The latter one is I believe based on an LNER design, but is certainly around the size I had in mind.

Another option would be to build something like this one.

]###

 

Something to mull over during the holiday period. 

And I leave you with a question. When BR built new boxes, did it have any standard designs, were they just designed for a particular location, or were big four continued with into the fifties ?

[griffgriff]

Have you seen the Hornby 'Scaledale' range for 2013?

 

If not it might be worth a gander 

 

 

HINT

 

Woking would be way too big for you, I can think of something a good DEAL better

[The Stationmaster]

Generally BR Regions simply carried on from former Regional practice although in many cases older designs were updated for new work or completely new (Regional) designs appeared right through to power signalboxes of the 1990s.  I don't think any wholly new designs for mechanical boxes appeared after the 1970s and boxes built then, or later, utilised earlier designs. 

 

In your case you appear to need either a GWR (or even WR) design or a post nationalisation Southern Region design.

[griffgriff]

Generally BR Regions simply carried on from former Regional practice although in many cases older designs were updated for new work or completely new (Regional) designs appeared right through to power signalboxes of the 1990s.  I don't think any wholly new designs for mechanical boxes appeared after the 1970s and boxes built then, or later, utilised earlier designs. 

 

In your case you appear to need either a GWR (or even WR) design or a post nationalisation Southern Region design.

 In that case... something like the cabin at Upwey?

[petethemole]

Alternatively, the box hasn't been replaced by BR(S) and you use a GW type such as the new Ratio kit., which seems to be about the size of the original Weymouth Station box, although not the same design.

Pete 

[JZ]

Upwey box was not dissimilar to The Heljan offering, albeit smaller. The 1950s box at Weymouth has similarities to the 'Odeon' style Southern Railway boxes, red brick and concrete, large overhang on roof and large pane windows. Something could be knocked out with the Bachmann model as the base. Many structures on the Weymouth line south of Yeovil Pen Mill are of Southern decent, the footbridge at Maiden Newton and concrete panel fences at Thornford and Chetnole, plus many lineside huts.

Alternatively, the box hasn't been replaced by BR(S) and you use a GW type such as the new Ratio kit., which seems to be about the size of the original Weymouth Station box, although not the same design.

Pete 

Been looking at this as well.

[ess1uk]

Looking forward to seeing this progress, sounds interesting.

[The Stationmaster]

Alternatively, the box hasn't been replaced by BR(S) and you use a GW type such as the new Ratio kit., which seems to be about the size of the original Weymouth Station box, although not the same design.

Pete 

 

The new Ratio 'box is probably too small - as far as I can work it out off the floor size and prototype comparisons you could posssibly jus about squeeze a 30 lever frame into it, although ideally no more than about 27-29.  It looks nice with good proportions but it is - quite logically of course - very much a 'small station' size.

[45568]

What, if anything, are you going to do to represent the harbour branch? I ask because I spent holidays at Weymouth 1962-65, and was quite happy to be left on the station in the morning. The arrival of the boat train in, to the sidings filled by fruit/vent. vans for the tomatoes, was a highlight. You could substitute the Kernow USA tank for branch power, your layout!

FWIW, I would go with the SR Odeon box, appears about the right size etc., and it could have happened!

 I also remember Post office coaches in green!

Cheers, Peter C.

[JZ]

Going to go with the Odeon box, but will be taking a saw to it as I only want it single faced. The aim is a fusion of the 1957 Weymouth box with Portsmouth Harbour and Templecombe. Will's flexible brick sheets, the type that come with the viaduct kit, are a pretty good match with Bachmann brickwork.

 

 

What, if anything, are you going to do to represent the harbour branch? I ask because I spent holidays at Weymouth 1962-65, and was quite happy to be left on the station in the morning. The arrival of the boat train in, to the sidings filled by fruit/vent. vans for the tomatoes, was a highlight. You could substitute the Kernow USA tank for branch power, your layout!

FWIW, I would go with the SR Odeon box, appears about the right size etc., and it could have happened!

 I also remember Post office coaches in green!

Cheers, Peter C.

The harbour branch will have it's own fiddle yard and also a connection to the main fiddle yard to give a roundy-roundy for running in loco's. The scenic bit will only be about 3-4ft, just a bit of street running. I have a USA tank on order  .