Blackford Bridge - O gauge

[SteveyDee68]

In my late father’s obituary here on RMWeb, I wrote that he swapped from modelling German practice in HO to O gauge when LIMA produced British outline RTR models in the 1970s (if my memory serves me right).
 

He built a through station named Blackford Bridge across the end of the house in the loft, using a third of the loft space and separating it from the rest (storage space) with a “cardboard wall”. On one side a single track ran off under an overbridge into a length of track “through the wall” whilst on the opposite side it ran into a tunnel with just one foot of track beyond. The track was LIMA’s finest, so he wasn’t overly happy with the radius of the curves nor of the geometry of the pointwork. However, trains ran (even if they didn’t really go anywhere) and he happily spent years upgrading his LIMA 4F until, like Trigger’s Broom, there was hardly anything left of the original LIMA model!

 

Then came retirement, and after having the loft properly converted he started building again, this time with a plan for a terminus to fiddle yard in a U shape around the loft. What he had not accounted for in his planning was that his newly acquired kit built locomotives would not go around the radius of the curve required to reverse direction after leaving the terminus - it turned out the loft extension was approx a foot too narrow in width!

 

He therefore settled - rather wistfully - for a terminus running straight into a sector plate fiddle yard along one long wall of the loft space.

 

Sadly, although he had buildings and decent trackwork in place, dementia overtook him and he never sorted out power to the track - therefore Blackford Bridge (Mk 2) was a static and unfinished diorama for his locos and stock to be placed upon. 

 

The name for Blackford Bridge was not taken from a railway station - it is the name of a road bridge crossing the River Roche next to the junction of Hollins Brow and Manchester Road, on the outskirts of Bury. The nearest it ever was to a railway would have been the Bury Corporation trams running to Whitefield (where I assume one would have changed to a Manchester Corporation tram to continue the journey to Manchester).

 

After his death, a decision was taken to dismantle the layout and store his locos and stock - in the process, I discovered that his baseboards had been rescued from his previous LIMA based layout, and that some of those had actually been part of his German HO layout from the early 1970s! I also discovered card packing above and below the boards as he attempted to get a flat surface for his trackwork - which explained why wagons sometimes lifted an odd wheel from the track! In fact, upon dismantling it was clear that much of the baseboard was warped beyond salvaging. The many loose dropper wires from the track above also indicated early signs of his dementia that nobody had spotted - I later found a full wiring diagram he had drawn up meticulously (he was a professional draftsman) and I can only assume that he suddenly found it impossible to relate his drawing to the reality of the underside of his baseboards, where of course everything was in reverse to how he had drawn it.

 

So, why write about a layout that was never completed and, in fact, no longer exists? Try as I might, I can’t part with his models - all of his wagons are kit built by him, and his two BR MK1 carriages are the result of him super detailing some LIMA coaches. He was interested in and modelled LMR (ex MR/LMS) which is not really of much interest to me, although he does have a Hunslet 0-6-0 saddle tank which appeals to my “small shunting locomotive” addiction!

 

I’ve long been thinking about a way of using/displaying his models in a way that uses less space than the usual O gauge station layout; my thoughts have been of an Inglenook (to allow self contained shunting) grafted onto the end of a loop serving a passenger platform, which disappears off stage under a bridge (which he had already built). I shall post a sketch of the idea here for future reference.

 

But why write now about this idea?

 

Let’s just say that a chance visit to my local model shop in search of my pre-ordered Hornby 88DS* led instead to the impromptu purchase of an Ixion Models 0-6-0 Manning Wardle Hudswell Clark which simply begs to be used shuffling a few wagons around! Bearing in mind that I model in OO, it’s an impulse buy that means I need to do something to justify spending the money! Of course, it happens to scratch my aforementioned itch regarding small shunting locomotives - the worrying thing is that its stablemate (in a fetching lined green livery) is also available at the same price and I am finding it massively tempting to purchase it too!

 

There’s a sane part of my brain telling me that if I do buy the second loco then I shall have spent the equivalent of a new Bachmann 4BEP on two locomotives, in a scale I don’t model in! 

Therefore, I must make this layout happen! It will need to be portable in order to store it and - maybe - exhibit it! As a tribute to my father, I can best describe it as “O gauge for the average modeller” as I want to feature as many of his buildings as possible, suitably restored. This may be a long burn project - and perhaps sorting through** and selling some of his unmade EASY-BUILD coach kits might help fund it.

 

HOURS OF FUN!

 

* Not arrived yet, of course!

** Another facet of his dementia - he ‘sorted’ all the kit parts into boxes of like components - etches, wheels, bogies, under frames, roofs, castings, sides etc - with no indication of what goes with what… potentially £100s resale value once correctly reorganised into ‘full kits’ again!

 

 

 

 

Edited January 10 by SteveyDee68
Corrected loco builder after contacting Minerva Models

[marc smith]

Hi @SteveyDee68

Firstly, sorry to hear about your Dad. Dimentia can be an awful condition for the family of the sufferer. 
Secondly though, I think an O Gauge layout, built to use some of your Dad's buildings, and to make use of some of his stock is an excellent project.
He would have bought and built them to make use of them one day, and I'm sure he would have been pleased to know you are doing just that.

I was a 4mm modeller, and once I'd built an O gauge wagon kit - I was bitten by the bug. It was many years before I'd actually built a layout though, and that's another story, of more than one part.....

I'd bought myself an Ixion 0-6-0, even thought I was modelling BR blue diesel era - because it's a cracking model. Moreoever, it's ideal for a small shunting layout, and it's lovely to watch, just shuffling a few wagons about.

We all seem to buy models from eras we don't "usually" model - but so what? If it brings you a little bit of pleasure, or makes you change approach a little... then why not? Best of luck with this. Just go for it and make use of some of your Dad's models.

Happy new year BTW :) 

[Hal Nail]

9 hours ago, SteveyDee68 said:

There'sa sane part of my brain telling me that if I do buy the second loco then I shall have spent the equivalent of a new Bachmann 4BEP on two locomotives, in a scale I don’t model in! 

 

Ah, but if the insane part of your brain points out you'd get most of your money back on eBay if it came to it, then everyone is happy!

[SteveyDee68]

On 10/01/2024 at 13:37, Hal Nail said:

 

Ah, but if the insane part of your brain points out you'd get most of your money back on eBay if it came to it, then everyone is happy!

Checking on eBay just now I’ve spotted a brand new one (Hudswell Clark) at £265 (a cool £70 more expensive than my second hand version) and a sound fitted version for £380, so I’m happy with my sub £200 price tag and can’t see myself parting with it.

 

Of course, assuming that selling anything on eBay will garner you a profit is a short cut to insanity but as a salve to purchasing something for the sheer hell of it I suppose the argument carries some weight! 🤣

 

You’ll notice I now  refer to the new loco as a Hudswell Clark rather than a Manning Wardle - turns out that I misidentified my loco 🙄and only got corrected after contacting Minerva Models about the possibly of data sheets on the model! (Their near-legendary customer service standards are deserved - emailed speculatively last night and they replied first thing this morning)

 

So, all in all, an interesting 24 hours.

 

Steve S

Edited January 27 by SteveyDee68

[Hal Nail]

14 hours ago, SteveyDee68 said:

as a salve to purchasing something for the sheer hell of it I suppose the argument carries some weight! 🤣

It works for me!

 

Think of it as an investment - you've bought a 70 quid gain  :)

[SteveyDee68]

Well, I’ve been playing around with drawing software and come up with the following…

 

 

Showing the end of the loop (two lines exiting under overbridge on the right), with the station platform also continuing on under the overbridge (and through the backscene). I’m guessing perhaps only a single coach might be seen pulling up at the station, but ideally two coaches (although one is half off-scene when at the platform). Incoming loco has room to run around coaches and draw train off again into the fiddle yard.

 

Which leaves freight…

 

Ignoring the goods shed road, the platform face to fit five wagons, the loop three and the front siding three wagons on scene in order to form an Inglenook shunting pattern. The dotted fourth wagon in the front siding is a blocker, and not used in the puzzle. Assembling the five wagons in the correct order to depart from the platform face should provide some interesting shunting moves.

 

What is not clear in the drawing is the single slip giving access to the loop from the headshunt/turnaround spur, and to the goods shed off the loop line.

 

Buildings above not to scale, but comprise 1) station building & platform 2) goods shed 3) cattle dock 4) weighbridge & office 5) coal merchant’s staithes and office 6) yard crane and 7) road overbridge, all built by my late father and included. The goods shed is probably too large… 

 

If not sorting out wagons for a shunting puzzle, cattle to cattle dock, general merchandise to the goods shed, coal to the back road (end of the headshunt), and craned goods served by the front siding.

 

Now, I wonder how small a footprint this could be built in? (I am guessing more than the nominal 7 foot that a straight adaption of the 4 foot OO Inglenook would take!)

 

HOURS OF FUN!

 

PS
I should add that he also had quite a bit of track, including unused hand built points including a single slip. Will need to check the box to make sure!

 

 

 

Edited January 14 by SteveyDee68
Trackage! Stupid autocorrect corrected in text!

[skipepsi]

If space is a problem a 3,2,2 inglenook would be smaller.

[SteveyDee68]

1 hour ago, skipepsi said:

If space is a problem a 3,2,2 inglenook would be smaller.

 

Exactly what I have said elsewhere! However, should I go that route for a bit of shunting fun, I would still try to use some of my dad’s buildings but not the station or goods shed as those are way too big, and certainly forget about passenger facilities!

 

Steve S

[skipepsi]

In that case I would work it in reverse what size space have I got, what of my Dad's buildings do I want to display what track fits in the space left?

[SteveyDee68]

Have just finished reading through the Osney Town Wharf and Osney Town thread by @rcf - what inspiring modelling in O gauge.

 

It has made me step back a little and reevaluate what I should be doing in so much that I have never done anything in 7mm scale, so perhaps should build a simple diorama using the smaller buildings my dad made with either one or two tracks at most - if there is room to include a point, then a simple fork at most.

 

Food for thought (not much else I can do at the moment - not even got to my main computer yet to search for missing images for my threads!)

 

 

Steve S

[SteveyDee68]

Just realised I took some photos of my dad’s layout before dismantling it, posing stock on it to get a flavour of what he wanted to achieve.

 

 

Two coach local passenger service at the station, pulled by a 2-6-2 tank loco. Overbridge over the platform just out of shot to the right.

 

 

Overview - the end of the passenger platform can be seen under the bridge. He had started a river in the last foot before the fiddle yard, but wasn’t happy with it scenically.

 

 

Overview of the goods yard. The only building in position before I took this photo was the goods shed - I had to hazard a guess for the others, as he had them all lined up in order of size along the front edge of the baseboard, in front of the long siding.

 

I placed the buildings where I thought they looked natural. In retrospect, I guess the front siding would most likely be for coal - he just needed more coal staithes to match those he built for his original layout.

 

 

Closer view of his goods shed - which has 5mm thick ABS plastic at its core! The basic shape for the main body of the building was vacuum formed as a favour from the lads on the shop floor where he worked - he drew up the design for the mould, they built the mould, cast his building and disposed of the evidence without the bosses knowing anything about it! It is so strong you can stand on it (which I remember him doing when he first brought it home and before any holes were cut into it). It then has layers of plasticard glued on to form the relief, the whole lot then covered in brick paper. 
 

It used to have a basic platform inside but over the years he added more detail - the poor photo shows the interior

 

 

I realise now that he must have worked on it upside down with it cradled somehow, as the roof was part of the ABS plastic moulding. It may not be perfect or hyper-detailed, but to me it is special because he spent time and effort on it, and he cared about modelling it to the best of his abilities.

 

Steve S

Edited February 1 by SteveyDee68

[SteveyDee68]

Some more photos (so I don’t forget I have them!):

 

 

Blackford Bridge station building, which I think is modelled on plans of a station from the Settle & Carlisle. I remember him making the gas lamps - they are metal tube, with the heads assembled from pieces of clear plasticard and Mepak (?), assembled with much fumbling and cursing over many, many evenings. I seem to remember him finishing them and an article appearing shortly after in the Railway Modeller where somebody had done the same and put grain of wheat bulbs in them to light them up; I asked him whether he planned to do that and him replying “B*gger that for a game of soldiers” 🤣

 

 

Another view of the goods yard - office of the same era as the railway station, and his coal staithes can just be made out behind the wagons. The water tower at the rear is the only building I don’t recognise and think he may have bought that at an exhibition, as it is made of plaster. The bauxite van is one of four which I also think he bought, as I never knew him paint any of his kit built wagons in bauxite!

 

 

In this view can be seen the weighbridge office (same age as the station building), the signal box and a provender store. The latter I knew he built after he retired, and if I build a diorama as mentioned earlier, that will be included (together with the weighbridge and office, the coal staithes and possibly the yard crane (not shown).

 

The signal box was also built for his original layout, and I remember being intrigued by it as it was placed with its back towards the viewer! All that detail, and the only way to see it was to remove the roof!

 

 

You can see there’s damage to the uprights on the stairs and a couple of the stanchions around the walkway need fixing, but the signalman is still at his post inside. I used to marvel at the little shed for the “facilities” too - hopefully that is in one of the boxes of “bits” to help complete the cameo.

 

I hope that gives a gist of why I feel the urge to “show off” my dad’s modelling in his memory.

 

Steve S

[alant]

Hi Steve,

I think your ideas to re-use your late Dad's items is great and hope you manage to build something fitting.

I believe the station building is actually modelled on a SMJ railway one, possibly Byfield or similar. There were plans in an old Railway Modeller magazine in about 1968/69 from memory.

Alan.