Elmleigh Market Junction

[Kelvin Pinnock]

                                                                         Elmleigh Market Junction by Robin and Kelvin Pinnock

   We have been persuaded to do an in-depth study of our layout, so here goes ... 

     Elmleigh Market Junction is a long-stablished loft layout, which has been built and re-built by my brother and I over a period of 40+ years. It is traditional OO scale, and DC powered by a Codar CT2000 bought in the early 1970s, and still going strong.

The layout, which was featured in the February '23 edition of British Railway Modelling magazine, portrays an imaginary cross-country extension of the erstwhile Great Eastern 'Stour Valley' line from Cambridge to Marks Tey, diverging South of Sudbury, continuing East to the village of Stratford St. Mary, and onward to a junction with the GE main line at the fictional town of 'Elmleigh Market', imagined to be in the region of Ardleigh, south of Manningtree. 

     The magazine article was centred on Stratford St. Mary, which is an actual village in the 'Constable country' of the Dedham Vale, on the Essex/Suffolk border, but was never served by a railway line.

The station buildings are of the Great Eastern '1865' design, copied from those at Clare, Cavendish and Linton, and rearranged to suit the location. The operating period of the layout can run from the early 1950s, but definitely ends in the early '60s, before the introduction of yellow end panels.  

    This is just by way of an introduction, so the next task will be to gather up the photos shown so far in the 'Show Us Yours' topic, and display them together here. It will be easier to keep track of them all in one place. 

Edited November 21, 2023 by Kelvin Pinnock

[robock]

Thanks to my brother, Kelvin for the introduction.

I am Robin Pinnock; partly responsible for design, scenery and mechanical engineering on the railway, and I hope to bring some enlightenment to those interested in it's construction.

[NHY 581]

Morning Kelvin, Robin, 

 

Really looking to seeing this splendid layout featured on this thread. 

 

Top stuff.

 

 

Rob

[Worsdell forever]

4 minutes ago, NHY 581 said:

Morning Kelvin, Robin, 

 

Really looking to seeing this splendid layout featured on this thread. 

 

Top stuff.

 

 

Rob

 

Wot the sheep said, looking forward to seeing it.

 

[Fishplate]

Also following after seeing the photos on @AY Mod s topic.

 

Will be hunting out the Feb BRM as a taster for things to come.

[Kelvin Pinnock]

A review of the pictures posted so far in the 'Show Us Yours' forum.

Hopefully, I can do this without the system blowing a gasket.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 6, 2023 by Kelvin Pinnock

[Kelvin Pinnock]

 

 

Further to the preparation of Elmleigh Market, I have a recent photo of my brother Robin repainting the backscene behind the station, as he has done on the entire layout, using his skills as a professional artist before retirement. As you can see, this part of the layout is thoroughly disorganised while this is being done! 

Rob. is referring to a picture of the layout, superimposed on a suitable sky photo taken in a local park.

 

 I must mention that brother Robin ( who posts on here as 'robock' ) is responsible for a lot of the detail work you see in the pictures. The W&M railbus in this picture is an example of his scratchbuilding, built many years before Heljan's version, and still going strong!  

 

Class 21 No.D6120 calls at Stratford St. Mary with a stopping train, during its brief allocation to Ipswich (32B).

 

The W&M railbus passes the station's home signal, in the shade of one of Robin's scratchbuilt oak trees.

 

A little further down the line ...

An Elmleigh Market - bound DMU crosses a timber trestle, based on the preserved example at Wickham Bishops. This one requires a much higher route availability to handle some of the traffic encountered on the branch, but the authorities are probably unaware.

Rule 1 applies.

Edited July 6, 2023 by Kelvin Pinnock

[Kelvin Pinnock]

A closer view of the viaduct, with an all-Great Eastern branch freight train.

 

A view of the trestle from another direction.

 

An arrival at the 'Sudbury' end of the station.

 

The Great Eastern 'coal shed', another of Robin's creations, is based on photographs at Clare and Lavenham.

 

Back in time to the early BR period.

Eastbound local passenger train approaches the station, yet another outing for the E4.

Edited July 6, 2023 by Kelvin Pinnock

[Kelvin Pinnock]

Heading for a race meeting at Newmarket.

 

A pause in the morning's shunting.

 

Harvest time, and a train of produce for the London markets.

 

The PW gang are heading off for a track inspection.

Edited July 6, 2023 by Kelvin Pinnock

[Kelvin Pinnock]

The PW gang continue on towards Elmleigh Market.

 

Not so railway-related, but still part of the overall scene.

The garage owner is confused by a delivery he thought he had cancelled, and a heated discussion about the price of petrol ( in 1960! ).

 

The road to Stratford St. Mary.

Edited July 6, 2023 by Kelvin Pinnock

[Flying Pig]

This is quite beautiful and the scenery and backscene are stunning.  I think Constable would have been proud of it.

[Graham T]

Simply top drawer!

 

[Kelvin Pinnock]

And now, just a few snaps taken during the preparation of the article in BRM.

Most of the pictures are taken by Rob. with his phone camera, as a DSLR is just too big for this kind of work. There are multiple exposures taken with the phone firmly mounted, then downloaded and 'stacked' to produce to the required depth of field. 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 6, 2023 by Kelvin Pinnock

[37Oban]

Cracking layout!  It's what my partner and I are aiming for with a future layout!  We'd be happy if it turns out half as good!

 

Roja

[AndyB]

What a lovely looking layout. 

A bit of nostalgia for me as our scout troop used to have its annual camp on farmland adjacent to the line at Lamarsh. The DMU was blue by then though. 

Thanks for sharing your photos. 

[robock]

A short video showing the inside motion of a scratch-built J19 from a few years ago. Many compromises were made to squeeze everything into the OO width chassis. There are only a few videos on the dedicated YouTube channel at the moment, but more are sure to follow in due course.

 

[Kelvin Pinnock]

A couple of overall views of Stratford St. Mary.

 

 

Edited July 6, 2023 by Kelvin Pinnock

[nest]

This is some really excellent modelling, guess I better find the Feb BRM!

 

Nestor 

[robock]

Plan of Stratford St. Mary, and an incomplete track plan of the scenic sections, including Elmleigh Market.

 

 

 

Edited July 6, 2023 by robock

[robock]

The character of Elmleigh Market station, on the Great Eastern main line, is quite different to the sleepy backwater of Stratford St. Mary.

Standard 4 76033 started life in the early 1970s as an Airfix kit, later rebuilt almost entirely in nickel silver, only the basic boiler, tender frames and tank surviving from the kit. Yes, I know the prototype 76033 had a recess in the cab side for token apparatus.!

[Kelvin Pinnock]

Back to January 2016, and Robin repainting the backscene of Stratford St. Mary.

 

 

Edited July 6, 2023 by Kelvin Pinnock

[Kelvin Pinnock]

On 16/06/2023 at 11:58, Kelvin Pinnock said:

And three more brings the review up to date.

 

Stratford St. Mary station forecourt.

 

The W&M railbus continues on towards Elmleigh Market. 

 

 

Edited July 6, 2023 by Kelvin Pinnock

[robock]

53 minutes ago, Kelvin Pinnock said:

Back to January 2016, and Robin repainting the backscene of Stratford St. Mary.

The original (imaginary) location of the station was to the west of the village of Stratford St Mary, with open fields in the background and a fictional large house beyond the level crossing. Years later, when cycling around the area, it occurred to me that a better location would be on the B1029 Dedham Road, east of the village, and the photos show me referring to Google Street View images of the area during the repainting, although I kept the large house with Scots Pine trees from the original painting. The sky had also faded badly, and was repainted with some trick perspective for viewing at different angles.

[Captain Kernow]

On 16/06/2023 at 00:15, Kelvin Pinnock said:

a long-stablished loft layout

Just wondering if any part of the layout is transportable, in other words, is it likely to appear at an exhibition, please?

 

[Jules]

On 16/06/2023 at 11:38, Kelvin Pinnock said:

 

I think you've posted a picture of a real location by mistake!

 

Fantastic layout and no mistaking where it is set.