Quote

Firstly, apologies to anyone who may have seen this layout on NGRM-online! I'll try and keep things brief and sum up the build so far in as small amount of entries as possible. FWIW, the content in this particular entry is new!

In my fictional world, the imaginary spit of Sandy Shores would outwardly appear as a very laid-back and relatively tranquil place. And indeed at the time this layout depicts (1952 ish), it probably is! But history has not always been so kind. The sand bars just offshore have long been a hazard for shipping; numerous ships have met their fate here. Meanwhile, the weather, whilst delightful in summer, turns to a bleak and windy wilderness come winter. So how and why did the Sandy Shores Light Railway (SSLR) come into being?

Mid to late 19th Century

Given the danger to shipping, it should come as no surprise that in the early 1850s a stone lighthouse was built upon deep foundations on the foreshore; similar in design to the Low Light at Spurn Head. In order to bring heavy supplies for its construction, it was decided that a narrow gauge line should be built across the dunes; for the spit was too narrow and soft, and access too difficult for any other form of transport. The line also served another purpose; carrying personnel down to the coastguard station, and of course the new lighthouse. At some point after this, a small stone quay was built (predominantly for small fishing vessels) and the railway served as a useful way of transporting people, goods, supplies to the coastguard cottages, and materials for maintenance of sea defences and such.

Early 20th Century

Thanks to the natural beauty, the area slowly became popular with tourists; to the point that a steamer pier was built to satisfy demand in the early 1900s. Once again, the railway was pressed into use. Sadly though, this was short lived as the pier was built too short and vessels often ran aground; particularly as the sand relentlessly silted up the seabed. With the steamer pier out of action, and WWI beginning to bite, there was little need to have the railway running. Thankfully the lines only locomotive was stored in the shed; although most wagons were left uncovered, and soon deteriorated in the salty sea spray.

WWII

The onset of WWII would see the entire spit taken over by the MoD. As part of the takeover, the railway was pressed back into service; initially to help construct all the various buildings. Given its strategic position overlooking an inlet; a bunker, battery, and several pillboxes were hastily constructed. Even the abandoned steamer pier was restored and lengthened to solve the silting issue. Even after construction had finished, the railway was retained to keep up maintenance of the coastal defences. Eventually, with the war over and the spit surplus to requirements, the MoD finally passed the spit and its railway back to the local authority. Sadly, late one winters night, a freakishly big storm wiped out the far end of the old (lengthened) steamer pier. A decision was made to demolish the rest shortly after, leaving only a few stumps. Given the soft terrain, it didn't take long for the battery and pillboxes to slip away into the sea or get covered in sand; and indeed whilst the battery and bunker are both hidden under the dunes, one of the pillboxes is just about visible, haven sunken into the foreshore!

Preservation

A few years later, a small party of interested people was formed, with the aim of restoring the railway back to its former glory. Like many fledgling groups, volunteers were key in getting the line back to working order. Whilst relying on donations meant facilities were at first rather basic, and progress slow; it's purely thanks to them that what we see today exists for all to enjoy! Their pride of fleet (a 40hp O&K contractors loco) was donated to them after having worked at Calshot (not really, but shh...!) for many years. Indeed, the passenger stock and some of the goods wagons can also be traced back to RAF Calshot, having become surplus to requirements there. An ageing "Tin Turtle" can also occasionally be seen on short freight work, but is not favoured by the crew! Plans are also currently afoot to satisfy fare-paying customers with a small railcar, although workshop space is... well... virtually non-existent! Negotiations with a larger preserved line for use of some workshop space are "in the works" (so to speak!).

Back to Reality

Now that we've taken our flight of fancy, I think we should perhaps go back to the real world for a bit and briefly talk about the reasoning behind the layouts existence, and how it operates.

Rather than being designed from the start as a small layout, Sandy Shores was originally intended as a tiny test bed for scenic techniques for my big oil refinery layout Old AGWI Rd, but.... well, I got transfixed by my own dream scenario! The plan below shows the final idea before I changed tactics completely. The board to the left of the dotted line is the Ashlett Creek board (as already partially completed) from AGWI, whilst the section to the right of the dotted line would have been the extension. The idea being that I could test out relevant scenery techniques on the new extension on a small scale before committing to the larger boards. It would also have meant that I could take the Ashlett Creek board and the extension and have it as its' own layout. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it!) the curves would have been too tight, and in the end the idea of a self contained small layout won me over instead!

Back to Sandy Shores. With my previous layouts all based upon real locations, for this one I really wanted to create a "dream" scenario - set on a fictional sand spit somewhere on the South Coast. The kind of place where nothing is done with any sense of hurry, and a narrow gauge train trundles slowly across beautiful sand dunes to a charming (if slightly tatty!) halt. A lighthouse sits on the foreshore, with remnants of military past sunken in the encroaching sands. Whilst deep in the dune, a converted railway carriage is where I call home; it's all very idealistic, but it's good to dream, is it not?

On a more sensible note, the comparatively simple and small layout was designed to get in as much as possible; whilst leaving enough room to prevent the layout from looking cramped and "busy". I still wanted to use this as a scenic test bed, so a lot of the same elements on this layout will be found on Old AGWI Rd. later on. For example, the quayside, walkways/jetties, mudflats, corrugated iron buildings and coastal setting are all to be found on both layouts. But I was also keen to put in features and scenes that inspired me in real life; such as the lighthouse, grounded railway carriage home, and remnants of WWII military buildings. I'm also a sucker for coastal settings (as can be seen from all of my layouts!), and this is the second one to be set on a spit! The one thing that I wanted to portray above all else was a tatty seaside narrow gauge railway; the type where only the bare minimum of maintenance is carried out, and facilities are modest at best.

The final size of the layout was dictated mainly by the smallest footprint that would allow everything in that I wanted to portray whilst keeping it small enough to carry and set up by myself; hence the 4' x 2' 2" board size. Oh, and the board shape? Well... I have an annoying habit to prefer awkward and smooth curved shaped boards; that's all there is to it!

As can be probably guessed from the track-plan above; the layout's operation is rather unusual, but is a necessity given the lack of space along the spit; there being no run-around loop. Until the layout can obtain a railcar, usually any passenger trains have to arrive carriage-first. Alternately, when a second locomotive is available, a bit of shunting can be carried out to release the loco ready for the onward journey. Freight trains on the other hand are much easier to handle as both sidings kickback off of the headshunt trestle. The added bonus being that subject to careful driving, a locomotive can shunt the sidings whilst a passenger train arrives. As there is no signalling on the line, all movements are done by eye and at very low speed!

Well, I think that's about everything for this set-up post; it's been a long time coming (both in terms of writing it, and getting it here on RMweb!).
Next blog entry, we'll take a look at both the design of the boards construction, and we'll also see those designs put into action as I explain how the woodwork was built.

I really hope you enjoyed this blog post; feel free to post questions or comments down below!

Jam