The Beccles & Bungay Railway in 009

[cnw6847]

My first attempt at 009 is in the planning stage.

 

The story goes:

 

The Beccles & Bungay Railway was formed in the late 18 hundreds.  Financed by W.M.Clowes & Sons LTD and a few other local businessmen.

To keep costs down narrow gauge was opted for.  2' gauge was chosen.

 

Clowes are printers,  they owned an Ink factory.  The ink produced was transported by rail into Beccles and also sold to Clays at Bungay.

 

The seven mile line had a number of stations starting at Beccles then Barsham Hll, Barsham, Shipmeadow, Mettingham and Bungay.

 

Other than ink and some raw materials for the factory, traffic consisted of agricultural products, livestock and coal.  Passenger trains also ran but were never particularly well used. People in Beccles and Bungay preferred the standard gauge Waveney Valley Line.

Traffic picked up considerably during the two world wars but at the end of WW2 the large amount of surplus army lorries spelled the end for the B&B Railway which managed to survive until 1950.

 

My layout is going to be set in late Spring 1944. There is a small station consisting of a loop and one siding which serves a small goods shed and a cattle dock. Also on site is the Clowes ink factory.  Coal is brought in with some other raw materials and finished ink taken away.  Woad and linseed is grown locally to produce the ink and this is brought to the factory from the local area by horse and cart.

 

Also nearby is a rifle range.  The local volunteer rifle corp originates from 1859 and the rifle range is used by the local home guard who use the train to get to the range.

(The exact location of the rifle range is unknown)

 

The railway is pure fiction but the Ink Factory and rifle range are factual.

 

I haven't started construction but have the backscene which my wife had done for my first wedding anniversary gift!

It will be a point to point layout with hidden sidings each end. The main board 48" long by approx 20".

I shall be using Peco track and DC electrics.

I have one loco which I am close to finishing and some rolling stock kits to build!

Its early days and progress won't be fast but hopefully it will be an interesting venture into 009.

 

Thank you for looking and I will post some photos of the site, backscene and loco under construction.

 

Cheers

 

Richard

 

 

backscene for layout

 

Edited February 7, 2016 by cnw6847

[cnw6847]

not much has happened of late but I have drawn a sketch of the track plan
 

 

Timber has been purchased for baseboard and most of the track.

Baseboard will be 48" x 20" although width could be adjusted if need be.

I am going to use Peco mainline and the rustic for the front section serving the engine shed and ink factory     

 

[cnw6847]

The arrival of some Peco setrack curves in late April has lead to the tempory postponement of the Ink Factory Layout above and I am currently modelling another station on the Beccles & Bungay Railway, Shipmeadow.

Set in 1944, Shipmeadow is a small Hamlet but has a large Victorian workhouse. The workhouse has been turned over to a local farmer to house chickens.

The workhouse still exist today and it is now converted into houses.

The layout is 48 inches x 20 inches and is really a starter for me in 009.

The station is a simple loop with one siding which was put in to serve the workhouse.

so far I have laid the track, installed motors, wired everything up, painted track and put supports for backscene.
Work will now commence on the scenery.

 

 

[cnw6847]

Well what a hectic few months its been.
Work, kitchen renovation, organising our open day and trying to finish my layout for the open day meant I didn't get as much done as I had hope.
The following pics shows how far I got and the last one shows the B&BR's new loco (purchased form the sales stand at the open day!)

[cnw6847]

Blimey, its been some time since I updated.

Here are a few pics of the layout from the Norwich exhibition yesterday with recent items making their debut on the layout.

IMG_0568 by Richard Doe, on Flickr

IMG_0569 by Richard Doe, on Flickr

IMG_0583 by Richard Doe, on Flickr

IMG_0587 by Richard Doe, on Flickr

IMG_0570 by Richard Doe, on Flickr

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Edited May 26, 2018 by cnw6847