Portable 00 Goods Yard - 1926 SR

[rue_d_etropal]

always interesting to read about anything that relates to British HO even if the heading incorrectly refers to OO.

Now to do the original design and the reasons for creating the layout, full justice it should be done in HO. It is still tricky building some British models in HO, unless you are prepared to build everything yourself, so to show the average modeller what is possible, maybe only using proprietary chassis and track.

I would not build it myself as a folding layout, as it is difficult to store and transport. I am now aiming to make my layouts fully portable, ie can be carried easily, possibly on public transport. I love a challenge. Using 5 box files gives a length of 6ft, plus maybe another as a fiddle yard(?).

[BG John]

I'm thinking up a plan to build it using my surplus stock, buildings and scenic materials. It's better than dumping it all, or leaving it cluttering up the drawers and boxes where I keep the stuff I need for my other layouts. It would be in EM, as that's what almost all the stock is, which seems fine to me, as EM is pretty much the 4mm scale equivalent of HO, and was being used in the 1930s I think, if not earlier.

[ThePurplePrimer]

Dare I ask if you've made any progress yet?

Hi John

 

This is the layout I always come back to and still plan to do it. I am in the middle of moving right now ( nightmare ) and don't have the space for a big layout so this looks even more attractive than ever.

 

As an upside in a few weeks I should be able to walk 200 yards from my front door to watch some GWR locos going over a Brunel viaduct

[BG John]

Hi John

 

This is the layout I always come back to and still plan to do it. I am in the middle of moving right now ( nightmare ) and don't have the space for a big layout so this looks even more attractive than ever.

 

As an upside in a few weeks I should be able to walk 200 yards from my front door to watch some GWR locos going over a Brunel viaduct

If you're moving back in time as well as to a new location, how are you going to keep us informed on your progress with it?

[Nearholmer]

I've always thought that the layout that is the inspiration behind this thread was utterly fascinating from a "modelling history" perspective, so I do hope that a "replica" makes it into life. It would be a neat parallel to the Ffarquhar Branchlayout being built by another member.

 

Similar prototypes?

 

Have you looked at Miskin Siding and the adjacent Beluncle Halt? Vast amounts of atmosphere per square inch.

 

Kevin

[BG John]

I've always thought that the layout that is the inspiration behind this thread was utterly fascinating from a "modelling history" perspective, so I do hope that a "replica" makes it into life

I have a cunning plan, and while it won't be an exact replica, it should have a kind of retro feel to it, but not quite a 1920s one. Or maybe it should be described as a dustbin where I dump all my surplus railway junk from the last 45 years!

[ThePurplePrimer]

I am intrigued now as to what John has in mind

 

If I don't build a very close replica I do have an idea that re-imagines it in a retro way - not 1926 retro though - I have even started collecting some things for the idea.

 

I have always been quite taken with the Hornby Dublo collectors layouts I have seen but they don't scratch my modeller's itch

 

The idea was / is to build a version of it using Kitmaster and Airfix kits - ie the locos using suitable chassis , airfix rolling stock and airfix buildings and lineside accesories - even Airfix ( Dapol ) figures - I have the choice of two shunters both diesel and steam and a larger tank too. Airfix wagons would give me a very decent selection. There are just enough airfix buildings that would be suitable and a bridge that I would need.

 

I have a stock of wagons and loco kits , obviously I have the figures but I have not bought any of the building kits (yet)

 

I would probably build the track using soldered copperclad rather than rtr track

[BG John]

I am intrigued now as to what John has in mind

When I was laying the track for my new EM layout, I realised I had enough left for another small layout. It struck me that I had quite a lot of surplus models and materials cluttering up the place, so why not turn them into a layout. I've drawn up a few plans for Walkley inspired layouts, and it seemed the ideal solution. Almost all the surplus stock is EM, so that's what it will be. People were modelling in 18mm gauge back in the 30s or earlier, and it's rather similar to 16.5mm gauge in 3.5mm scale that Walkley used, so seems acceptable.

 

The plan is to do an as close as practical copy, using what I have available. I need to use larger radius points, as the original is quite a close match for Peco small radius, that are too tight, so it will require an "interesting" bit of pointwork. I've got an SMP 3 way point kit, and enough spare copper clad sleeper strip and bits of rail to make the three points. Other than that, I'm hoping it will be quite a quick job, as I intend to work to the rather basic standards of years gone by. I can use up my stock of flock powders, and if I run out dye some sawdust!

 

I've got plenty of other layouts on the go, so maybe ought not to start another one, but having a clearout of surplus stuff will make life easier, and I may as well dump it on the surplus baseboard I have, rather than leave it lying around in boxes and drawers! It will be some time before I can do the scenery on the other layouts, so it will be good to have the chance to do some on this one, even if it's not up to modern standards.

[Nearholmer]

I very much like the Airfix retro-layout idea.

 

It reminds me of something that used to be in the window of one of the two coal merchants' offices in the high street when I was small. They had a layout that was almost all Airfix kits (newly out!), but I can't recall what the loco on it was, HD possibly. The main focus was, naturally enough, a coal yard, with their name on it. It was a regular "nose on the window" stop on the walk to primary school.

 

Somewhere, I might even have a photo of myself or my brother looking at it, which my father took one winter evening during a "long exposure shots of heavy snow, lit only by street lamps" session, which I remember was a b cold experience that couldn't be over quick enough for my liking!

 

Kevin

[ThePurplePrimer]

I very much like the Airfix retro-layout idea.

It reminds me of something that used to be in the window of one of the two coal merchants' offices in the high street when I was small. They had a layout that was almost all Airfix kits (newly out!), but I can't recall what the loco on it was, HD possibly. The main focus was, naturally enough, a coal yard, with their name on it. It was a regular "nose on the window" stop on the walk to primary school.

Somewhere, I might even have a photo of myself or my brother looking at it, which my father took one winter evening during a "long exposure shots of heavy snow, lit only by street lamps" session, which I remember was a b cold experience that couldn't be over quick enough for my liking!

Kevin

Hi Kevin

 

I would love to see that photo - sounds really interesting

[Nearholmer]

Well, so far, I can't find the picture I was thinking of, but I have found two photos of part of the layout, no trains or track though!

 

Here is an iPhone photo of a 35mm slide, held up to a lamp ...... The slide is actually sharp, so all this fuzziness is my fault, not my late father's!

 

They clearly went Airfix Mad here, but the coal office was next to the toy shop that sold the kits on one side, and the jewellers shop owned by an exceedingly good model engineer on the other, so I imagine the three shopkeepers worked together on this.

 

Date? I would guess about 1963.

 

Kevin

 

Edit: But, some of those aren't Airfix kits are they? The windmill is Noch or Vollmer, perhaps, and that little shop on the right, I recognise, but can't place.

[ThePurplePrimer]

I don't think the Airfix windmill was that shape ?

 

This thread has me thinking about this project again and I could do with using a few Ratio buildings - does anyone know when ratio started making styrene model buildings ?

[BG John]

Here's a way to do it in EM with larger radius curves. The original used something close to Peco small radius points, far too tight for EM, so my solution is to put the two points on the straight track on top of each other! Not sure what the resulting thing is called. I thought it would end up as a Barry Slip, but there are two extra crossings because both curved tracks are on the same side. It's not a slip either. Anyway, it's a train set, and it looks like a bit of fun to make, and not beyond my abilities (I hope!). The Y point has a minimum 37.9" radius curve at the moment that I'd like to improve on a bit, but it may well be OK as it is. Not a bad fit really.

 

 

The points will take a bit of time to make, but everything else should be pretty straightforward. It's nothing like the work involved in the original, where he even had to make his own motor for the loco! Assuming I actually do get started on it, you'll have to wait to see more detail of the double point thing, as I overlayed the two turnouts in Templot, then roughly drew the extra crossings in by hand on a printout, so it will be made with a bit of trial and error. I think I've got it worked out so it will work, and I've done more complicated stuff in P4 broad gauge!

[Moxy]

Edit: But, some of those aren't Airfix kits are they? The windmill is Noch or Vollmer, perhaps, and that little shop on the right, I recognise, but can't place.

 

Tri-ang Model Land maybe?  http://www.tri-angrailways.org.uk/indModelLand.html

 

Some of these went to Dapol & were available from them for a while, but the tooling has since been sold on, nobody seems to know where.

 

HTH

 

Moxy

 

Edited to correct link

[joppyuk1]

Tri-ang Model Land maybe?  http://www.tri-angrailways.org.uk/indModelLand.html

 

Some of these went to Dapol & were available from them for a while, but the tooling has since been sold on, nobody seems to know where.

 

HTH

 

Moxy

 

Edited to correct link

Beat me to it. I had a few of these on my (very) old layout some 40 years ago!  This is an interesting thread, and I'm thinking of pinching some of the ideas. I've got a couple of three foot long boards looking for inspiration.

[ThePurplePrimer]

I have been thinking about my version - I am imagining I built my version in 1976 which would have been the 50th anniversary of the original.

 

I will use the Kitmaster and Airfix kits I talked about earlier but does anyone know what would have been available from Ratio back then in regards to buildings ?

 

I didn't know about the TriAng building kits so thats been really interesting and a few of those building kits would be perfect if I could find some somewhere

[DanielB]

This is a great concept for a layout. Truly great.

 

The idea is very, very similar to the popular modern craze in the USA of modeling small shunting layouts that deliberately omit run around loops and other "easy tools" for the added operational interest.

 

No run around loop, and both facing and trailing spurs (sidings) make for a much more interesting experience when operating the layout, and allows for a longer operating sequence.

 

I know the models might not be everyone's cup of tea in here, but I would thoroughly recommend reading works by Lance Mindheim - the operational concepts he suggests are just as applicable to British layouts.

 

The great thing with small layouts like this is that they can't fit massive sidings, long run round loops and the like in the space available - making a much more interesting experience to play with.

 

Besides - a lot of industrial prototypes in the UK were very much like this, so it's not too far removed from reality.

 

Enjoy the project, Rob. It'll be a heck of a lot more rewarding than you might think!

[Nearholmer]

Moxy

 

That is what they are, yes!

 

I'd completely forgotten this range, and looking at them, it is a pity it died-out, because there are some very good designs in there.

 

The big danger of this thread is that it could start me building a compact retro-layout in 00, to go with all the other half-finished projects that I have ...... Er ....... Half-finished.

 

A "Piano Line" would be an obvious option. A friend of mine built one for his then young son, a chap who must now in be in his mid-forties, using a Triang "Nelly" locos and a Dock Shunter as motive power, and it was great fun.

 

Kevin

[BG John]

The big danger of this thread is that it could start me building a compact retro-layout in 00, to go with all the other half-finished projects that I have ...... Er ....... Half-finished.

 

A "Piano Line" would be an obvious option. A friend of mine built one for his then young son, a chap who must now in be in his mid-forties, using a Triang "Nelly" locos and a Dock Shunter as motive power, and it was great fun.

 

Kevin

I'm hoping mine will be a real quickie, so it doesn't delay my other projects, encourages me because I can get it finished quickly, and helps to clear out all my surplus stuff.

 

A Piano Line in O-16.5 is one the next two planned layouts!

[Pacific231G]

always interesting to read about anything that relates to British HO even if the heading incorrectly refers to OO.

Now to do the original design and the reasons for creating the layout, full justice it should be done in HO. It is still tricky building some British models in HO, unless you are prepared to build everything yourself, so to show the average modeller what is possible, maybe only using proprietary chassis and track.

I would not build it myself as a folding layout, as it is difficult to store and transport. I am now aiming to make my layouts fully portable, ie can be carried easily, possibly on public transport. I love a challenge. Using 5 box files gives a length of 6ft, plus maybe another as a fiddle yard(?).

Hi Simon

I like your idea of building a version of Walkley's layout in five box files and look forward to seeing more on this.

 

I must disagree with you on one point though, Rob's heading for this topic is not incorrect. When Walkley built his layout it was in OO as that then referred to 16-16.5mm gauge for which some people including Walkley were advocating the correct 3.5mm scale and others 4mm/ft scale. The original article in the June 1926 MRN is titled "Mr.A.R. Walkley's Portable "00" Gauge Goods Yard".  It wasn't unitl several years later that the term H0 was coined (I believe by J.N. Maskelyne editor of Model Railway News from 1936)  and OO came to mean 4mm/ft scale with a number of gauges ranging from 16mm-19mm.  It was only after 4mm/ft using 18mm gauge was renamed EM (by the BRMSB) that OO, in Britain at least, came to just mean 4mm/ft using 16.5mm gauge.

 

Walkley's layout, and his article about it, is fascinating. It wasn't an attempt to build a shunting puzzle but was really a "proof of concept" of using what was then seen as a very small scale incorporating a number of his then very novel ideas. These included: two rail electrification using permanent magnet motors to give automatic reversing,  automatic couplers, his ideas on leaving room  for scenery expressed in an article "Too Much Model Railway" in January 1926,  and even his idea on weathering. The layout even had a painted backscene.

To build a complete working layout in this scale at that time was no mean feat when only a handful of people were even experimenting with OO gauge though Edward Beal had also made some progress. The only other complete 00 layout featured before then was the Rev. H.A. Turner's  extensive layout described in MRN in June 1925 but that was powered by commercial German clockwork mechanisms. Turner commented that, as these lacked reversing mechanisms he had to have a turntable at the end of each terminus so presumably trains were made up by a five fingered "shunting horse".  

Walkley pioneered a great deal of what we now take for granted but I'm not sure to what extent later development flowed directly from his work rather than having to be rediscovered. Alan Wright, who built the original Inglenook Sidings  as a shunting puzzle to fill a gap in one of the Manchester exhibitions,always said that he'd not even heard of A. R. Walkley's Portable Goods Yard until much later

[Nearholmer]

Excellent thread here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/112607-bing-table-railway/

 

Shows what "the trade" was offering in the small scale at the time, or, put another way, what Walkley was bettering.

 

K

[BG John]

You can buy a copy of Model Trains International No 83 with a copy of the MRN article here for £3.10 including postage.

[joppyuk1]

I had what I thought would be a quick look at your that link to the old magazine. Half an hour later I was still browsing the issues! I've saved the site till I have more time, such a pity most of the issues I'd want are sold out. A good argument for putting the back file onto CD and selling them on that way.

[BG John]

Sorry! I just found want I wanted, ordered it, and went back to straining my eyes studying the detail in the photos from the scans of the MRN article I have! I'm hoping the reprint will be a bit clearer.

 

Incidentally, there are a lot of differences between the plan and what was actually built, so it's well worth getting hold of the photos. I thought it was odd that the road was fenced from the cottage and garden, but not from the railway, but there's actually a fence alongside the loco shed line, and the road follows a rather different route.

[Pacific231G]

Sorry! I just found want I wanted, ordered it, and went back to straining my eyes studying the detail in the photos from the scans of the MRN article I have! I'm hoping the reprint will be a bit clearer.

 

Incidentally, there are a lot of differences between the plan and what was actually built, so it's well worth getting hold of the photos. I thought it was odd that the road was fenced from the cottage and garden, but not from the railway, but there's actually a fence alongside the loco shed line, and the road follows a rather different route.

Not much better I'm afraid John. I've rescanned the three photos from the June 1926 MRN at 600dpi along with a fourth from the December edition and I'm seeing the original halftone dots long before any digital artefacts so there's no more to be got out of the originals. I've emailed you the new scans but I've just resampled them to keep them under the 1Mb limit and I can't see any difference. The original halftone dots are still very much larger than the digital pixellation so nothing should be being lost from the originals. They can now be PMd to anyone else who wants them. There's slight blurring at the extreme edge of one of the phottos because my MRNs are in a bound volume so the inside edge of the page won't lie flat but there's no detail lost that can't be seen in one of the others.