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A Muddy Field North of Doncaster


richbrummitt

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My current layout is documented by way of a blog (linked in signature) but I thought that I would try a thread for this one. Not just for a change but because I hope for more interaction and I will need some help. My groaning shelves of pre-grouping and Great Western focused books are not going to be any use on this one.

 

A bit of background

 

My generous wife produced a Christmas present containing a T gauge HST set, track &c. I had considered such an acquisition since first seeing T gauge at Warley a few years ago. I liked the novelty of it as much as anything and thought that it would make an excellent project to run full length trains at speed through the landscape. I wasn't sure that I wanted such a diversionary project. I definietly didn't need one but over the back end of last year I had a desire to have a model of small trains that I could watch speeding by. I was born in the early eighties and remember the TV advertisements for the HSTs so this really does appeal. I couldn't get the idea out of my head and so it goes. I have a smaller room in our new place, made up for by the provision of an attached garage that need not house the car. The room can accomodate a 2m scenic section such that a scale half mile of line can be represented. It would be fantastic to have more but I know that I am lucky to have dedicated model space at all and am grateful for it! What follows will be my attempt to make this train set oval into a model railway.

 

I plan to 'automate' the layout such that I can just watch the train (yes one!) run. The T gauge controller has two inputs for auto reversing sensors and the range includes turnouts that can be run into from either line but when approaching the toe of the switch only the straight road is followed. Using these features it should be straightforward to create a layout where the train travels up one line and then off scene to be auto reversed before returning along the other and then auto reversed to go back up the first line again. 

 

The title? That comes from my paraphrasing of a quotation on the Wikipedia entry for East Coast Main Line attributed to the then director of the GNR describing the location of the end of their line near Shaftholme as "a ploughed field four miles north of Doncaster". This thread was going to have another name entirely but one of the largest decisions has already been made: that of where to model. My criteria were double track - rather than four - and somewhere on the ECML (preferably in Yorkshire). It was whilst researching dates, train formations and livery details that I stumbled upon a thread with a picture of the 5 miles to Doncaster sign on it and thought that could be a possibility. I had to look up the exact loaction (just north of Shaftholme junction - use these co-ordinates on google maps 53.593573,-1.119646) but it is on almost exactly the same latitude as my childhood home and close to the location of my first proper job so it seems appropriate. I've no idea how I will recreate the signs themselves at the required size yet! The junction itself won't feature (it won't quite fit the space without compression on it's own) but the cooling towers to the east are likely to feature on the backscene if the model ends up being viewed from the west side. 

 

I am aware from my research that the junction itself is in the process of having a significant facelift. I don't think that the farmland will have changed much over the last 25 years so that shouldn't be too difficult to understand and replicate. I am interested to learn when the overhead electrics were placed though? I think the line here was completed and ready for testing in 1990 so I guess I will have to model the masts if I'm going to aim for a late eighties time period?  

 

No pictures yet because although I have the stuff out of it's boxes to see how well it goes (very smoothly and quite fast enough too, as it happens) I'm sure that most of you know what a small oval of track with an HST on it looks like, and just how ridiculous! The next stage will follow once my current deliberations on whether a single 2.3m long baseboard will be a nightmare long term are concluded. It could be very unwieldy, even if very light, but I don't expect that these little wheels will be tolerant of baseboard joins.
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Here's a track plan (dimensions in millimetres):

 

post-8031-0-89420600-1391462076.png

 

The backscene is drawn in long dashed lines. Arrows show the direction of travel for the running lines. The A's show the location of the sensors for the automatic reversing. At the back (drawn in dotted lines) are some potential staging for an alternative HST or perhaps a freight service to provide variety and something for the operator to do if I can get it out of the room to exhibit. The dimensions will be a little off and I expect that the 2300mm will become 2400 by the time I'm finished. This will still fit in the room where it will reside without reducing the length of scenic area.

 

 

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