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Berrington and Eye GWR/LNWR Joint Line 1912 - Layout


Brassey
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I have changed my focus from Church Stretton to building a layout of Berrington and Eye also on the Shrewsbury and Hereford line.  The layout diagram below was produced with the aid of Templot by using the wrap function to get the OS map to follow the curve.  Luckily the original was on a curve; just not so vicious as can be seen on the photo I took, with the station building now in residential use!  

 

This has produced a layout that is actually to scale though it is a very compact station.  I have chosen not to model the down platform that continued under the road bridge which makes for more compactness.  The scenic part of the layout measures 2.4m by 2m.  The length of the curve is 3.2m.

 

It may prove not to be the most interesting of layouts to operate with one siding but my main motivation is in seeing complete express trains running and not necessarily in shunting.  Only a couple of local goods stopped here anyway; one for each company.

 

The next stage is to cut out tops for the baseboards which follow the shape.

 

Peter

 

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Edited by Brassey
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  • 3 weeks later...

Layouts do look good on curves, although they are a damn site more difficult to find places in the average domestic place to put up - guess how I know that!

 

If you go to my Glenmutchkin thread, you will see that I have used Slaters 7mm coursed stone for stonework - it looks very similar to the stone on that station building (although possibly too large?).

 

Keep us all informed as matters unfold?

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Thanks Guys for the interest.  As stated in my other thread

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/56807-church-stretton-1912/

 

I abandoned the idea of a straight layout as I would have needed 25 feet to get it in and allow for prototype train formations.  In the thread above, there's a pic of the full size plans laid out on the living room floor so I can just get this to fit with a minimal fiddle yard at each end.  Longer term I plan to have this as a roundy roundy layout either via a loft conversion or something similar.

 

Having pasted the plans onto ply as templates, I have now cut the birch ply tops, as per pic.  I am well on with the central board and will post more images when things are a bit further on.

 

Cheers

 

Peter

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

A Bank Holiday weekend and a week away from the office has meant some progress on the layout.  2 of the 3 scenic boards are built with the third underway.  So here's an update

 

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The full-size track plan was attached to ply to form templates to cut the top boards.

 

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9mm ply sandwich ends were attached to the ends of the tops.  The technique used owes much to Gordon of ET fame on this forum and his curved board construction.

 

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Two boards are complete with the 3rd board's end piece ready and attached at the right hand end.  There are longitudinal braces under the boards which are not visible from this shot.  I will attach the sides later which won't be for strength but will be cut to follow the scenery. 

 

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The templates laid on top of the baseboards.  These templates will later be sacrificed as I cut through to form the track bed as, in addition to the transition curve, the mainline will also be on a cant.

 

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Baseboards from a different angle which shows the full extent of the curve.  Both these boards have the maximum radius of the transition.  The third board, with the station building, is straighter where the transition starts.

 

Other commitments coming up mean more progress won't follow for a while in the short term.  It would be good to get the third board sorted someday soon.

 

Peter

 

 

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  • 5 months later...

It's been a while since progress was reported upon but things have continued nonetheless.  The boards have all been braced and the shaped sides attached.  I discovered that these would benefit from being stronger and are therefore made from 2 layers of ply laminated together.  The picture shows all 3 boards with the track template laid on top.

 

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The second pic shows the underside of one of the boards.  I have used 44mm x 44mm blocks to help form the shape of the curved sides - a technique I'd picked up on this site.

 

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Also on this pic can be seen that I have started to cut out the road bed.  This is to create the desired cant on the main running lines.  I am using a lamination of two layers of 6mm birch ply to form the road bed, suitably braced, and I hope this will help to hold all together without further bending/warping.  The yard lines are 1mm lower than the main line.  I have limited this in order not to create a kink at the cross overs into the yard as the levels change.  This was something I'd previously discussed on this forum and recommended by Coachman.  The ply seems to have successfully followed the line and shape but all will tell when the track is finally laid.  The cant on the main line is at 6" (2mm) at the maximum curvature, which is prototypical to the LNWR specs of the day.  

 

Having now prepared all the road bed, I am now busy laying cork to form the ballast prior to laying track.  To create the shape of the roadbed, I cut through right through the baseboard tops and template I'd previously created which I'd done by mounting the paper plans onto 6mm ply.  Care has to be taken not to cut through any of the bracing at the same time!  The sacrificed templates of track shaped offcuts are now being used to shape the cork for the ballast.  More pics will follow in due course.

 

Cheers

 

Peter

Edited by Brassey
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  • 1 month later...

Just a quick update on the layout progress; there's not much to see from the photography which is not a strong point of mine.  I have now completed all the road bed by laying a second layer of 6mm ply and achieving the desired cant by packing the road bed at the cross-members under the top.  (See earlier pics to see the cross-members from underneath.)  I have then stuck the Templot track plan onto the roadbed using PVA.  I hope that you can make out in the photo that I have superimposed original LNWR turnout plans over the Templot output in the appropriate places using Photoshop.  The plain track was already configured to LNWR specs in Templot with help from Martin Wynne via this site.  I am now ready to start laying track which I plan to do directly onto the baseboard.  I am going this route, rather than build the track off board, in order to preserve the flow of the transition curves.  Hopefully ther will be more to see when I finally get some track laid but maybe not this side of Christmas. Peter

 

Edited to move image!

 

 

 

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Edited by Brassey
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Hello Peter, I seem to have compeltely missed both this and your post about the W4s! But found it now, thanks to your question about the lamp huts.

 

Looks very good so far, very impressed with the baseboard construction!

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  • 1 month later...

Hello Peter,

Excellent work so far! I look forward to seeing progress, partly as I live about 5 few miles away from Berrington. So if you ever need any measurements taken of the prototype I can nip down there for you.. We often go to Berrington Hall to exercise our son.

I have attached (I hope) a photo I had on my computer of the station. I can't remember where I got it from..  off the internet somewhere so you have probably already seen it.

Best wishes,

Darren

post-19246-0-07965400-1391434715.jpg

 

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Hi Darren

 

Thanks for the post and sharing the image.  I have indeed seen this rare view of this side of the station before and the photographer has shared higher resolution versions of this and another view with me.  The LNWR Society last year acquired a folder of notes and images of this part of the line and I have copies of those images too which date from around the same time in the 1960's.  What is far more rare are any views in pre-grouping days.  I did enquire of Berrington Hall as to whether they had any pictures taken at the station as I would have thought the family in that house would have made much use of the station (and the loading dock).  I have not yet received a reply.  The Hall itself has quite a history too as it is reputed to be haunted because all 3 of the sons that were there at the time were killed in the First World War.  I think the building was owned at the time by a cloth merchant from Manchester or something similar.

 

Peter

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  • 1 year later...

Well not too much progress to report a year on.  The track is laid on 2 of the 3 scenic boards with the 3rd started.  A change in location though has required a rethink on the fiddle yards so I am occupied with that at the moment.  Here is a shot from one end; point blades etc. still to be added when this shot was taken.

 

Peter

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Readers may have observed that the last picture of the baseboard end finishes on a curve and cant which is not the ideal way to enter or leave a fiddle yard.  

 

I had not really concentrated much on this end of the layout as the opposite end features the station building and a road over bridge which makes a natural scenic break.  Under the bridge I had allowed for a straight, flat roadbed.

 

Anyway, at the other end I need to add a transition piece to remove the curve and cant before the "minimal" fiddle yard.  So it was back into Templot to add an "easement to straight" as I wanted a smooth transition from the existing transition curve (which might help prevent derailments in P4 too!).  Herewith an image of the Templot plan which is not the most exciting piece of track ever drawn but shows what is required.  Templot automatically created the additional piece in one panel length (294mm) which conveniently is about the the amount of room I have to play with at that end of the layout.  The track is to LNWR spec.

 

post-13283-0-06070300-1425471543_thumb.jpg

 

 

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Next stage, similar to the build on the scenic boards, I mounted the plan onto an appropriate piece of 6mm ply.  This was to make a template for the roadbed but also I plan to use the templates as the actual roadbed though I scrapped the ones I made for the scenic sections.

 

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I did not have any of the birch ply left that I used for the main baseboards so I used a scrap piece of 6mm marine ply for the top of this transitional board. It was not worth buying another sheet just for such a small board.  I may live to regret it though as this 6mm ply is not as thick as the birch 6mm ply (5.5mm v 6.5mm approx.) so I am going to have to make adjustments to get matching rail heights at the baseboard joints.  

 

This board was curved to shape using my jig saw.  I also cut out the two track templates with the jig saw and these can be seen placed in position.  Under this board I am going to add cross-members to hold the trackbed in place better, particularly as I have used some inferior ply in the sandwich. On top will be added cork floor tile which will also have to be pre-cut to shape.  Setting the jig saw at an angle should help to achieve a reasonable ballast shoulder

 

The fiddleyard as such is seen attached at the other end of the new board.  Again I will have to take care to get the rail heights correct.  This currently has an MDF surface and I plan to use a cassette system; I guess this sould be sufficient for the purpose rather than ply.

 

My dilemma now is, should the new tansitional board be part of the scenic layout or is it part of the fiddle yard?  I could do with the extra length to fit in a signal particularly as I am going to have to devise some form of scenic break at this point, probably another road bridge, so the signal would need to be before that in order to be seen.

 

Peter

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  • 1 month later...

The Easter break saw the transition board track laid, wired and completed and inserted into the layout.  My tests thus far show that a loco and a few wagons can negotiate this twisty piece of P4 track but I have yet to build a full length train to travel over it; so we will see.

 

I have also added the start of a scenic break on entry into the fiddleyard and cut the arch to allow the trains to leave and enter.  This will be another road over bridge which was not on the prototype but I can't come up with a better scenic break.

 

Coincidently, the new track aligns precisely with the cassette system I am using in the fiddleyard.  This was unintentional as the fiddleyard was only built as a mock up but the 6mm MDF top allows the 12mm MDF cassettes L angle aluminium to line up with the top of the rails on the scenic section. So another headache avoided.

 

Next step is to complete this fiddleyard and its wiring before moving back to the third and final end board and its fiddleyard that includes most of the pointwork on the layout.

 

Peter

 

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  • 10 months later...

 

A brief update.  The third and final scenic board has long had the track laid and wired.  Trains can now run successfully from each end of the layout though I have not fully finished the fiddleyard cassette systems. 

 

Appended is an image of this board with a template overlaid which has a scale enlargement of the o/s map stuck on it.  This shows the location of the station building in relation to the track plan and the road over bridge. 

 

A friendly member on here who lives in the locality has kindly made contact with the current owner of the station building and taking some measurements.  These, along with pictures I have collected will help in the accurate construction of the building.  Some of the earlier photos confirm how close the siding actually was to the rear of the building.

 

post-13283-0-54742000-1455369261_thumb.jpg

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If anyone is wondering about the pasting up of the o/s map to produce the layout, Templot conveniently produces and outputs A4 sheets of the track plan and any background images that have been added as explained earlier on in the thread.  The individual sheets are numbered and include trim marks that allow you to line them all up next to each other - very clever.  I just stuck them down onto large sheets of ply to produce templates for the baseboards to cut them to shape etc.

 

As can be seen, after almost 3 years and a certain amount of abuse such as being thrown into the loft, some of the A4 sheets stuck on the templates are lifting and looking worse for wear but I trust the ones now stuck under the track work will hold!  I just used slightly diluted PVA to stick these down and so far, so good.  Now I need to build more stock to fully test the track work before I am confident enough to ballast it having added any cosmetic chairs required beforehand.  There are also a couple of point blades still to be secured but the layout does run in both directions.

 

The layout is non DCC as, according to the 1912 timetable, only one train was ever passed through the station at one time so it will not take too much to control.  Only 4 local goods stopped each day: one for each company in each direction.  So not a great amount of shunting either but my aim is to watch the fascinating mix of train formations go by.

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  • 1 year later...

Hi are there apdates on this layout it looks fascinating do you mind if I ask what the radius of the curve is

Regards

John

 

Hi John

 

Thanks for the interest.  I gave myself a week off last Summer to complete and ballast the track but it took the week just to fully wire up, make functional and fine-tune all the point work.  I don't want to ballast until everything works.  I ran out of time. So visually there is nothing different to see at the moment.

 

I am now in the chicken and egg situation of having no stock to test the track work and no track work to layout-test stock so I have been focussing on making the stock which is taking longer than I imagined. 

 

From memory, in Templot I set the start of the transition curve radius at 0 (which is where the fiddle yard enters the station end; so on a straight road) the final radius I think i set at the metric equivalent of 5 feet.  Templot then sets the transition.  I can't remember whether I calculated the length at 3.2m or whether that's just where the curve reached 90 degrees on the plan.  You can read that I added another infill board to straighten the road again so that it can enter the other fiddle yard on a straight road.  The overall length of the track thus is about 3.5m which is not particularly long but it was a very compact station.

 

Another member of RMWeb very kindly surveyed and drew the station building for me so I have a plan to build that but stock is the priority at the moment.  The layout does run from one fiddle yard to the other with my ancient Wills 1854 Pannier Tank built over 35 years ago.  On the workbench at the moment is a Malcolm Mitchell 517 tank which will pull a rake of 4 wheelers for which 2 of the 4 chassis are built; all of course in P4.  I also have some Dean Goods in the works and next up will be an old George Norton LNWR Cauliflower with an appropriate LNWR goods train behind it.  My kits for this project include a Bill Bedford D32 van which I acquired at Scalefour North recently.

 

Cheers

 

Peter

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  • 10 months later...

Well it’s two years since Darren Ray of this Parish and he of Handcross fame very kindly measured and drew for me the station building and bridge at Berrington and Eye.  And I have done almost nothing with them! So his success with his layout has shamed me into getting my finger out and doing some progress on my layout.

 

Readers will note that things have stalled whilst I have tried to get the track working properly.  For the past two summers I have taken a week off to work on the track and, although things have moved in one direction or another by fractions of a millimetre, there is visually not much difference.  So no pics have been uploaded.

 

The main challenge is to get the up and down trailing entries to the yard working without derailment.  As was common in pre-grouping days, entries into yards off a main line were always trailing for safety.  The challenge is to get a goods train to reverse across these formations which is one of the most difficult movements on a model railway.

 

As previously stated, there were only 4 local goods trains timetabled; 2 in each direction.  On closer examination, the LNWR Down local goods was CR (Call as Required).  The LNWR timetables don’t give arrive and departure times but looking at the times from the previous and following stations, no time was allowed for shunting at Berrington and Eye for these trains anyway.  The GWR local goods however, have arrival and departure times shown and were both allowed 10 minutes at Berrington and Eye so these would have done the shunting if any.  So that’s 2 trains out of 90 per weekday going through the station that would have entered the yard!  So my agonising over the point work only effects less than 2% of the trains.

 

To show that I have not been totally idle on the layout side of things though, I’ve overlaid the station building footprint drawing over the O/S map template and this shows how accurate the whole plan is.  Bearing in mind that I am literally building the layout onto a blow-up of an O/S map, this is quite reassuring.

 

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I even started to make a mock-up of the building in card from the fantastic drawing to see how it fits height wise:

 

post-13283-0-52822400-1520170965_thumb.jpg

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Hurrah! Well done, Peter. I look forward to seeing further progress. I'm sure you'll get that single slip to work eventually.. Either that or you'll just have to model the part of the day that doesn't have northbound goods trains.

Keep it up!

Darren

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