Cliddesden a BR(S) EM gauge layout

[bodmin16]

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

My name is Alan and I have been lurking on RMweb for a little while now, making the odd comment and contribution, and spending a lot of time in awe of some of the modelling here.  I consider myself to be as one of the popular modelling magazines put it, as an average modeller, however despite this I thought I'd take the opportunity to show off some of my modest modelling attempts.  Hopefully there might be a few interested, if so please let me know and I may take the opportunity and very occasionally post some more, if not please also let me know!  I will of course take any constructive criticism and hopefully I might learn a few things.

 

Cliddesden was a station on the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway and this is my interpretation of a what might have been, assuming that the railway was rebuilt after the 1st World War but to higher standards than those of the Light Railway.  The layout out was originally the germ of an idea over 20 years ago and what you can see before you in the pictures is the result of the last 3 or 4 years work.

 

I have been modelling on and off all my life in OO, with dabblings in N gauge, OO9 and O gauge, however I decided that this layout should be EM as personally I prefer the appearance over OO, of course there are some excellent OO layouts and likewise some poor EM layouts.  So please don't take my comments about EM gauge as any form of snobbery.

 

As I said previously this has been an idea for a layout for approx 20 years and I have been collecting kits and bits and pieces for that time and of course what is happening?  just about all the manufacturers have produced RTR versions of a lot of the kits that I have in various build stages, oh well it's a good job I enjoy building things although i doubt I'll reach some of the standards of some of the guys on here.

 

The construction methods used are not exactly new or ground breaking but I'm happy to use proven methods, however a friend of mine is using the layout as a test bed for a number MERG projects to control the trains, which once proven he will use on his new layout.

 

Well that's some of the philosophy behind the layout, but if anybody is still interested, you've reached this point of the post before boredom set in and want to hear more please give me a poke in the ribs and I'll put a few more words together.

 

Thanks for taking a peek into my imaginary world.

 

I also have a couple of videos on my youtube account - sorry the quality is not great!

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/lswr53?feature=watch

 

 

[Danemouth]

Andy,

 

An average modeller and you are dabbling in EM? By the look of the stuff in the photos I suspect your skills are at a higher level than that!

 

A nice straightforward trackplan - I look forward to seeing it develop.

 

Regards,

 

Dave

[andytrains]

Alan.

Looking forward to seeing this develop. Hope your progress is quicker than mine!

Andy.

Edited August 5, 2013 by andytrains

[Oldddudders]

 

An average modeller and you are dabbling in EM? By the look of the stuff in the photos I suspect your skills are at a higher level than that!

 

A nice straightforward trackplan - I look forward to seeing it develop.

 

 

I must agree - EM immediately separates you from the OO set. And the vid shows you are successfully converting locos and stock, so that box is ticked.

 

My only comment would be that I can't see a runround - but no doubt you've a train-plan that allows for that.

 

And I assume you haven't considered calling it Buggleskelly? Perhaps a Will Hay figure on the platform might nod to the film made on location there. On the other hand, I will NOT say "You're wasting your time!" because it looks very promising.

[BG John]

You could have a different entrance to the fiddle yard at the platform end - a line of washing across the track

[bodmin16]

Thanks to all for the positive feedback and I will write more when time allows and there is progress, but it will probably be an occasional series. Some of the photos above are a few months old and there has been some progress since they were taken, once I have the layout wired up and trains running I hope that progress will speed up further. I will also do some more videos. To answer some of the questions:

 

No passing loop - Basingstoke is to the left hand end of the diagram and Alton to the right, the Alton end of the loop is on the Alton end fiddle yard board (i.e. hidden from view) if that makes sense.

 

Buggleskelly - I don't take myself or my hobby too seriously and I plan to have an homage of some sort to Oh Mr Porter, so it maybe a washing line or I had thought of a camera crew involved in a remake of the film etc.

 

"You're wasting your time?" - I'm sure my wife thinks so, but I beg to differ?

 

I have few converted locos and stock together with a couple of kits and also a couple of eBay bargains, and I mean bargains! And going back to not taking myself too seriously I do plan to run a few trains purely because I like them, however I have stories to justify running them.

 

I will elaborate further some other time.

 

Thanks again,

 

Alan

[The Evil Bus Driver]

Great choice. I do find these Colonel Stephens lines really fascinating. I almost ended up building this station years ago but lack of money and space put that on ice.

Edited August 5, 2013 by The Evil Bus Driver

[nest]

Very interesting Alan, look forward to seeing it develop

 

Nestor

[bodmin16]

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

 

There has been quite a bit of progress since I originally posted, things are moving at a supersonic pace considering earlier rates of progress.  Thanks to a huge effort and lot of assistance from my mate Dave Harris we have built a number of MERG boards and programmed the control panel so trains are now running.  I sort of know how it works but it is far too clever for my little brain so please don't ask too many questions as I could only string a few non-technical terms together to try to explain what is happening.

 

Basically the push buttons on the panel operate the points, switch controllers between the main line and the yard, and ultimately interlock the signals and level crossing gates.  This will include not supplying power to the track over the crossing until the gates are open to railway.  

 

Attached are a few pictures and a link to latest youtube video.

 

 

The wiring needs tidying up!

T9 departs Cliddesden with a train from Basingstoke to Portsmouth and Southsea via Alton.

This is one of my ebay bargains, £20 finecast kit bought as seen here just needs some minor fettling and details such as smokebox number, crew and minor work on the tender.  Runs very well.

 

Alan

[Dorsetmike]

Minor nitpick, the lowest BR numbered T9 was 30116, pre BR the lowest number was 113, 113/4/5 were among the 13 T9s converted for oil firing in 1947, then laid aside in 1948 and never converted back to coal burning and withdrawn in 1951. However it looks like a wide cab version too, not easy to see but I think a narrow cab one would have the coupling rod splashers lined, if so the only ones with 8 wheel tenders were 30337/8, the rest of the 300 series received 6 wheelers when transferred to the Eastern and Central lines during the 1920/30s. Still renumbering could be included as minor fettling and detail.

 

30104 was an M7 class 0-4-4T.

[bodmin16]

Minor nitpick, the lowest BR numbered T9 was 30116, pre BR the lowest number was 113, 113/4/5 were among the 13 T9s converted for oil firing in 1947, then laid aside in 1948 and never converted back to coal burning and withdrawn in 1951. However it looks like a wide cab version too, not easy to see but I think a narrow cab one would have the coupling rod splashers lined, if so the only ones with 8 wheel tenders were 30337/8, the rest of the 300 series received 6 wheelers when transferred to the Eastern and Central lines during the 1920/30s. Still renumbering could be included as minor fettling and detail.

 

30104 was an M7 class 0-4-4T.

Thanks for the heads up, TBH I have not looked at it too much yet and is pretty much as bought.  I will have a dig through my photos of the period at sometime and make a decision and check some of the details.  I'm not a great one for exact detail but that is probably one of those glaringly obvious errors when you know it's there.  Congratulations, you are the first to spot this, and please if you have any other observations please let me know.

[bodmin16]

Just  a quick post before I take my beautiful wife out for the evening.

 

After a lot of head scratching, a certain amount of frustration and a lot of perserverance and patience I got the level crossing sort of working this afternoon.  some tweeks and calibration needed. Please see youtube for some comments/explanation.

 

if you wan to know more please let me know and i'll respond when i have more time.

 

thanks for your patience.

 

Alan 

 

[bodmin16]

Hi all,

 

Just thought I'd give a quick update. No photos or videos as not much changed above board or for that matter below. There has been a lot of testing and adjustments, including fettling of the track etc. Briefly we identified a few issues with noise from dirty wheels etc which resulted in servos twitching and doing odd silly things however a software mod and a couple of other adjustments have improved things no end and I am currently continuing testing with the loco with dirtiest wheels to test the system to the maximum. The other thing that has happened is the installation of the components to operate the electro-magnets for uncoupling (DG couplings) and these now appear to be working correctly. A number of adjustments have also been made to the level crossing gates which are in the final stages of installation after reworking the method of mounting the gates on the board.

 

In addition a lot of thought has been being out into a whole raft of other jobs that need doing, these include finishing the fiddle yard boards, building the signals etc etc.

 

Finally I spent last Saturday tidying the garage where the layout currently lives as I have worked out that I can have the layout set up in the garage and get one of the cars in as well. The wife's car being a convertible is not used during the winter and we really wanted to get it back in the garage for the colder and wetter months. I thought I was going to have to pack the layout away and have to move car out to set up every time I wanted to play, well now it appears that I don't have to and I will be able to play trains when ever I get the inclination, what a result!

 

Hopefully I can provide a more detailed update with more to show in the not too distant future.

 

Alan

[bécasse]

 

 

I have posted above a pair of drawings showing the original station building at Bentworth & Lasham. The original drawing was to 7mm scale, but as I failed to include a scale rule on my drawings in those days I would add that the building was about 36 feet long by 12 feet wide. The building at Herriard was all but identical with the only difference being that the lamp was set at a different height.

 

Cliddesden, the third station on the line, had a building the same size but the opening in the front was only one sliding-door width wide, so the building was identical to the right of the marked centre-line but to the left (apart from the frame post for the single door which was immediately to the left of the centre-line) the open space covered by the door in the other buildings was plain wall covered in corrugated-iron sheeting - the windows were all the same as on the two but I am not certain as to how the interior was arranged behind the plain part of the front wall. (Unfortunately, the building seems to have been mucked about with when it became "Buggleskelly" and the film is unhelpful when trying to resolve this question.) The lamp was fixed at the same height as that at Herriard but approximately centrally over the single door opening rather than at the centre line of the building.

 

The sliding doors weren't original, the stations opened with open fronts but the sliding doors were added very quickly. Before the Great War Herriard had a passing loop with the points and home signals (NO starters) worked from a ground frame. There is no sign of this GF in contemporary photographs and I suspect that it may have been sited the booking office side of the initially open area (and thus subsequently behind the righthand sliding door) - the tablet instruments would have been in the booking office.

 

The building at Herriard survived, in poor condition, until comparatively recently. The drawings were prepared from photographs but checked against the remains at Herriard.

Edited February 1, 2014 by bécasse

[bodmin16]

I like the diagrams of Bentworth station, thanks for posting. As I said in my original post this is very much my version of history and to that end the station building is going to be of a similar design to that of Medstead and Four Marks on the Watercress line. At the moment the station building is a clear Perspex box so a bit of work to be done there.

 

I would like at sometime to build an accurate and prototypical model of one of the stations on the Basingstoke and Alton light railway which would probably be Bentworth and Lasham. It is still just possible to make out where the track used to run in the fields parallel to the Basingstoke to Alton road, although as the field gets ploughed each year it is gradually disappearing. And of course the station has only gone in recent years.

 

There has been some progress to my layout, although it is not immediately obvious. I have converted a further couple of wagons to EM gauge (previously Ratio wagons built to OO gauge), couplings have been fitted to allow more told testing of the uncoupling magnets. Some fettling of the track has been undertaken and experiments with colouring for track weathering etc has been done on some scrap pieces of track. The timber has been cut for the two fiddle yards as the layout has moved from the middle of the garage to one end so that the MX5 can seek shelter during the winter months. I still have room to work on the

Layout and I now have a tidy garage as a result, it's amazing how much junk you collect over the years a lot of which is now in the possession of the local council!

 

Just to add a bit of colour a picture.

 

Class 33 waits in the platform for entry into the loop to shunt the Basingstoke to Alton pick up goods.

 

Alan

[Oldddudders]

The uncoupling magnets appear to be particularly powerful.

[The Bigbee Line]

The uncoupling magnets appear to be particularly powerful.

No silly, its 'magnahesion'

[RailWest]

"Before the Great War Bentworth & Lasham had a passing loop with the points and home signals (NO starters) worked from a ground frame. There is no sign of this GF in contemporary photographs...."

 

Surely you are talking about Herriard here ??, as there was no passing loop or signals at B&L. The GF at H appears to have been at the rear of the platform immediately past the Alton end of the station building.

 

"...other jobs that need doing, these include ..... building the signals etc etc......"

 

I assume that you're applying a dose of 'modeller's licence' then, given that AFAIK there were no signals at Cliddesden (the one in the film being a 'prop')?

 

[MartinWales]

Is that the Basingstoke and Alton in Australia?  

[bodmin16]

The uncoupling magnets appear to be particularly powerful.

The magnets are seep magnets powered by 12v doc power supply. There is a clever little bit of electronics that sends a 2 second pulse of electricity to the magnets when the relevant button is pressed on the control panel.

 

 

 

"...other jobs that need doing, these include ..... building the signals etc etc......"

 

I assume that you're applying a dose of 'modeller's licence' then, given that AFAIK there were no signals at Cliddesden (the one in the film being a 'prop')?

 

 

I am taking modellers licence to the extreme, I'm not sure but I may even get it taken away. As I said in the original post this is my take on history meaning this the Basingstoke and Alton light railway lasted way beyond it's real closure date and I have taken liberties to the extreme hence the signals! Apologies to all those that are offended by my interpretation :-)

[MartinWales]

No apologies necessary!

 

Just keep up the good work, as a personal favourite of mine is a 'just supposing' scenario, as you have chosen here!

[bodmin16]

I like model railway exhibitions, went to Warley last weekend and yesterday I went to Portsmouth where I was extremely honoured to be able to drive some trains on Swaynton. I wish My modelling was half as good as that of the NW Surrey guys, it is always a pleasure to spend time with them and I have learnt a few things. It's been a long time since I have been to Warley and indeed to go to two exhibitions on consecutive weekends, so why do I like exhibitions? Well there are the obvious reasons however I also find exhibitions very inspiring, I like to aim to the high standards of some of the top layouts and at the same time if some of the exhibits are not so great then I can take comfort in the fact that my modest skills are not too bad.. PLEASE NOTE I am not criticising either of the two aforementioned exhibitions or the exhibitors, Warley was a great show and I really enjoyed my day and Portsmouth as always is a top class exhibition with top quality layouts and never disappoints.

 

Any way to inspiration I have had more than the average hours of modelling over the past few weeks, partly due to the number of "reality" TV shows there are this time of year so a quick update. The Crompton now has two more wagons in its goods train and this afternoon I completed the legs for the Alton fiddle yard board, and bonus time it actually fits with the car in the garage! I have also finally finished a tree that I was making or at least I think it is finished, I may decide otherwise at a later date. In September I spent a day at one of Gordon and Maggie Gravetts masterclasses at Pendon learning how to make trees and here is the result. I can thoroughly recommend these masterclasses and of course Pendon. There are a myriad of other things that I have been playing with including my newly purchased static grass applicator, test pieces for ballast and track weathering effects etc so I have small pieces of wood which are various colours, with track, ballast and static grass stick on them. I still need to sort out an issue with the level crossing gates, however unfortunately my laptop which has all the files etc stored on it has died, hopefully we should be able to recover the data soon.

 

Thanks for taking a look and an interest.

 

Alan

Is that the Alton end fiddle yard board I see before me or another resting place for layout building materials and tools?

[bodmin16]

I've been prompted to post again by responding to a post by coldgunner about the Railway Modeller kit. So here goes:

 

Christmas was a busy one this year so not too much modelling over the holiday period however things have picked up since. I have made a mock up of the railway cottages that will go on the Alton end of the layout behind the railway and I have established that I have more room than I originally thought, I guess that this will be a great opportunity to add some detailed scenery. I have started to build the station building which is basically a clear plastic shell that will have the various walls glued over the top. I realise that the picture below shows crooked doors etc however everything is currently loosely tacked on with masking tape. The pick up goods in the platform now has a few more wagons, some semi-finished.

 

Under the boards I have been making some mods to the wiring as I wasn't happy with some of the connectors etc that I had used. The crossing gates are still proving a little problematic and need some reprogramming however my laptop is still dead although one of my neighbours is fixing it - I don't want to pressure him as he is doing it for a favour. I have also bought some paint for the Hampshire unit so I may start on that in the not too distant future.

 

Also there has been more testing and fettling of wiring, point work and track.

 

Alan

[bodmin16]

The uncoupling magnets appear to be particularly powerful.

I have just checked this on a different laptop and have jsut realised that the picture is upside down, yet on all other devices that i have seen this on the 33 is not the Australian version.  I guess I need to update a bit since I;ve not been here since February!  I have had some progress although time has been a little limited for a whole load of reasons.  So perhaps over the weekend I wil post some pictures if anybody is still interested and yo haven't all wandered off.

Alan

[aussiebrfan]

 So perhaps over the weekend I wil post some pictures if anybody is still interested and yo haven't all wandered off.

Alan

 

That would be great! Look forward to seeing photos of your progress. The tree from earlier looks brilliant.

Glenn