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Temeraire
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Evening all,

As mentioned over at Exford Park I've had the crazy idea of building another layout with the intention of hopefully exhibiting it! I have been pondering whether to go ahead or not for sometime now and once I mentioned the possibility to the 'authorities' and no negative response was received, I decided to jump in with both feet.

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This is the result this evening, a pile of plywood all cut to size ready for assembly into two baseboards and a frame for a traverser! I am entering the unknown here as I've never built a plywood baseboard before or a traverser, let alone an exhibition layout! As things progress I wmill update here but don't expect lightning progress a la Andy P, as I'm on a learning curve here!

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This is the drawn out plan I posted last week on the 'other side' looking from the FY.

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View from the other end.

This plan has been tweaked slightly after some feedback but is essentially the same. The plan is purely fictitious with a china clay loading point and warehouse to give an excuse for freight traffic. The location is intended to be in the Basingstoke-Salisbury-Southampton triangle and I am toying with two names at the moment, Quidhampton and East Leighford. I like the sound of Quidhampton but it kinda places it in a specific location and it might confuse people if I decided to have it third rail connected! The second option I quite like too as it suggests it's maybe not far from the Eastleigh area and also a little tribute to 'Hampshire Hog's' now retired layout Leaford, which is entirely responsible for me even considering exhibiting a layout. (Cheers Kevin!).

Edited by Temeraire
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Hi Ian

 

Looking good to me mate, excellent track plan, good length to...

 

Look forward to seeing the progress of the future developments on the layout, watching it go from drawing plan to moving loco up and down the line.

 

Jamie

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Leighampton? I'd agree Quidhampton is well known by some around the area but you could move it slightly to one of the other places nearby that are less well known. Couston Bottom ;) Bemerton, Fisherton, Wilton Jcn etc are all real places which are easier to repeat.

The parts and plan look good so far Ian. What are you thinking for lighting? I've found led strips good and you can get away with a very lightweight structure.

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Thanks Paul and Bob, I spent time looking at Google maps/earth last night and saw all those names then I came across Tidworth. What if the line to Swindon had survived? Looking at the history it looks to me that the station was a terminal and MoD trains needed to reverse into the base? Could receive trains from the Western as well as NSE.

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Hi Ian, Good to see you starting again and with the same / similar plan as before, as for time wise, I'm getting slower in my OLD AGE, hhahahaaa

 

Good luck and enjoy the build.

 

Hey just a thought, we could have a TOTALLY NSE SHOW :no: :no: :no: :no: , haha

 

Andy :sungum:

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Evening fellas

 

I've decided on the name Tidworth, so here goes with the back story. ;)

 

WHAT IF.............................

 

The ex Midland & South Western Junction Railway route had survived between Romsey and Swindon via Andover due to it's importance as a secondary route from the North to the docks at Southampton, thus relieving pressure from the congested Reading to Basingstoke route and providing an alternative diversionary option?

 

Warning crude drawing alert!

 

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The route connects at Andover to LSWR mainline, makes a triangular jct with the Hants & Berks near Savernake at Grafton Jct and Wolfhall Jct, then at its northern end the GWML at Swindon. So far so good it all existed!

 

Now the fictional bits to make it come together.

 

I've assumed a westbound connection to the GWML to allow traffic from the Bristol direction to access the line (possible re-route of Cardiff-Pompeys?). The village of Tidworth increased massively in size with lots of homes constructed in the 1970s and 80s due to population demand in the Salisbury area, so much so that the previously military only railway line was upgraded and the station rebuilt in the mid 80s just as NSE came into being. NSE serves the station with the services that previously terminated at Bedwyn from Reading continuing to Tidworth. Also  a service from Romsey/Southampton/Portsmouth runs into the station. I'm sure I'll think of other ways to bring various trains into the station as it develops. MOD traffic reverses in the station to access the busy sidings close to Ludgershall much of it coming from Didcot yard via the Swindon routing. Plus the SWITCH warehouse at Andover relocated to Tidworth to take advantage of the new development, and receives a variety of traffic mainly in vans. Lastly ECC opened a new quarry near the station and slurry leaves in silver bullets and these are combined with those from Quidhampton at Andover yard for onward movement.

 

There I think I've got it all covered to allow a good variety of services to keep the punters happy!

 

 

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I like your choice of Station, I know the area Well and am modelling Ludgershall, I assume you've seen the web site Swindons Other Railway, which will give you some historical pictures, maps and information about the Line, from that site you get the information that Tidworth Station is on a  1 in 264 and imediately on leaving the station a 1 in 90 are you going to model that? (One of my great Uncles (fathers side) was a navvie on the Tidworth Branch extension and my grandfather (mothers side) a ganger at Ludgershall) .

 Tidworth had a military railway running off of the line and down to the barracks, are you going to find an excuse to keep that as well?.

 Note that Tidworths station had 835 ft platforms (40 ft wide)  or roughly 1M 67cm in N Gauge so you may need some compression.

 

The extra rail link northwards from the Tidworth branch at Ludgershall would have been an interesting construction as it would have needed a cutting to the north of the Medical supplies Depot through Windmill hill, or needed to chop off the northern end  of the military part of Ludgershall station although the 1990s extention of the line to that depot could have been part of that. Being without that link on my model of Ludgershall will mean a more interesting operation time for trains going North from Tidworth.

 The Q

Edited by TheQ
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Like the New Layout Name (very Wiltshire/Hampshire sounding) and good choice of Location, lots of potential traffic flows. Very much look forward to seeing the layout develop.

Was speaking to the Hampshire Hog last night about the Changing Trains DVD (Vol3 Basingstoke to Ilfracombe), on the DVD there is a shot of an NSE Class 50 with x5 NSE mk2, this could have been a Tidworth to Salisbury service.  Should we be looking out for you to get some more NSE mk2 TSO to go through Exford works?

 

I bet NetworkRail wish the Andover to Romsey line was still open, especially after that Freightliner train catching fire last night and blocking the line Between Salisbury and Romsey.

 

Nigel

Edited by Melangoose
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Hi Q

 

Thanks for your input I had seen the website you mention and spent most of the other night looking at it and others linked to it, that's how I ended up with the plan above. Whilst I am using Tidworth as the location of the model it is not intended to be an accurate representation of the station as it was, more just a location to justify the model, although the knowledge that there is a steep climb away from the station would excuse a lot of thrashing from my sound fitted locos. ;)  

 

I've assumed the Northbound connection could've been made close to the site of the sidings at Ludgershall during the remodelling and upgrade to the line and station in the 80s, also the line into the barracks at Tidworth is still in use.

 

Do you have athread running for your layout?

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I've not yet started a thread on my layout, this is definitely the layout of a lifetime, and progress at the moment is slow. Hopefully later this year I'll have something to post. The 60 ft ish shed I've built for it is not yet complete but should be soon. I have a fair amount of research done, which will be the basis of my first posts.

the Q

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Hi Ian I too like the Tidworth story, all very feasible and loads and loads and loads of great operation, I trying to find a reason to buy a Pollybulk or Traffic Services for Kingsley.

 

I used to Ride at Tidworth in my Moto Cross days, nice countryside to model on the back scene.

 

All the best,

Andy :sungum:

Edited by Andrew P
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Hi Ian,

 

Look forward to watching your progress with this. Exford Park was awesome to see and i'm sure this new project will be too! I think i will be going back to something NSE themed with my next layout once i move.

 

Cheers

 

Arnie

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Hi ian

 

I will be keeping an eye on this one.

 

Back in the day I was posted to 10 Field Workshops, REME at Tidworth. Our workshops were on the site of the old goods yard and military sidings. Today it is a leisure centre.

 

I like the backstory.

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Back in the day I was posted to 10 Field Workshops, REME at Tidworth. Our workshops were on the site of the old goods yard and military sidings. Today it is a leisure centre.

 

I like the backstory.

I was drawn to this thread by the name, as I'm just in the process of checking all my equipment ready for tomorrow, when I will be competing in the Dorset and Wilts Indoor Archery Competition at the Tidworth Leisure Centre. I will certainly take more notice of my surroundings now I know there's a railway connection! I will watch the progress of this layout with interest.

Arthur

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