A single from Brighton to Lydney, please.

[kirtleypete]

I've had a small 0 gauge shelf layout at home for a while, and until a couple of weeks ago it was LBSCR set in around 1888 so I could run my stock from Saltdean. It looked like this....

 

 

However, I was persuaded to visit Bristol show by John Smith, and while we were there we stopped at the DCC Supplies stand for a chat and for John to fill in a form ordering a Dapol Terrier in SR black, their limited edition engine. I should have wandered off to look at a layout, but I didn't, I picked up the form next to it which was to order a limited edition 08.

 

I was sensible enough to just fold it up, put it in my pocket and take it home, I didn't fill it in.

 

I filled it in the following day instead. 

 

When you model the LBSCR in the 1880's you really need an 08, but there's just something about them...they're just so nice! 

 

The 08 won't be ready until August, but of course that didn't stop me planning and my eyes turned to the shelf layout.  It now looks like this............

 

 

The transformation form Sussex in 1888 to the Forest of Dean in about 1960 wasn't as difficult as you might think!

 

Now, I know that 08's didn't run in the Forest but this is just for a bit of fun at home, it's never going to be exhibited and I like the Forest of Dean...I was brought up in Dursley and as a child visited the Forest many times. I wanted to create something with the look of the Marsh sidings at Parkend, grass covered but still in use and very much freight only. 

 

I didn't alter the track at all...first I stuck a self adhesive backscene from ID Backscenes over the exisiting one to give a rural scene with a village and lots of trees (it's actually Yorkshire, but don't tell anyone!). Then lots of grass was added to the track, using static grass fibres but just put in place on diluted PVA glue using my fingers. I added a little Severn & Wye station building to the loading dock, as though it had been moved there as a goods office after the passenger stations closed in 1929. It's nice and clean in newly applied BR colours, a contrast to everything else which is overgrown and weathered. 

 

That was pretty much all that it took, seventy years in time and 150 miles or so in distance in a couple of evening's work. 

 

 

 

I ordered some Dapol wagons and it began to look like a layout. There was one problem of course; no engine.....I couldn't wait until August to play with it and my LBSC loco's looked a bit out of place. 

 

I took a deep breath and looked at the Lionheart website.............

 

 

One Pannier and a tank wagon later, I can play trains and it's really fun. The loco is a little beauty, and as the 08 will be in early BR livery they go together very well and that's all it needs, two engines and half a dozen or so wagons. 

I've been able to enjoy myself weathering things again which you can't really do on Victorian stock as it was kept so clean. 

 

In the foreground I've added a disused plateway which were once so common in the Forest, just for the fun for modelling it. The tram plates are just L section Plastruct - easy! 

 

 

I've added a couple of road vehicles from Oxford Diecast too.

 

 

So that's it, eight feet of Forest of Dean to play with. I'll take some more pictures of the Pannier when the crew and lamps arrive.

 

 

Peter

[brianusa]

The F o D is a special place for many modellers and good to see another great example.

 

Brian. 

[kirtleypete]

I've had the chance to finish off the Pannier today, adding crew, lamps and a bucket and fire iron on the rear lamp brackets. 

 

 

The lamps probably want toning down a little. 

 

 

 

 

Finally, I couldn't resist having a play with this picture!

 

 

Peter

[F-UnitMad]

"Like" is, once again, totally inadequate...

 

Fantastic stuff - quite a transformation & utterly believable! Love it!

[brianusa]

To return to the original premise, Terriers were not necessarily out of place as they seem to have ended up all over the place.  Fortunately, some are now gathered back on home rails.

 

Brian.

[NeilHB]

Wonderful work Peter - having spent the last couple of weeks reading Vols 1-3 of Wild Swans Forest of Dean Railway it really does look and feel like a FoD layout!

[kirtleypete]

Oddly enough Neil I've spent the last few days doing exactly the same thing!

 

Have you seen Lightmoor's colour album on the Forest? It's superb. I keep going back to a picture of a Class 22 diesel which is yellow on the ends, then blue and in the middle is orange and brown where it had been on fire....it was still running. What a weathering challenge that would be.

Peter

[Blackthorn]

That looks fantastic! I really like the plateway, I don't know that I have seen that modelled before. Now you just need a model similar to The Royal William locomotive that was tried on the Cheltenham and Gloucester railway    

 

Mark.

[south_tyne]

I've had a small 0 gauge shelf layout at home for a while...

 

So that's it, eight feet of Forest of Dean to play with.

 

Peter

Hi Peter,

 

Just stumbled across your fantastic little layout from a link elsewhere! I love the transformation you've achieved and whilst I'm not really a GWR affectionardo I do admit I have a real soft spot for a pannier tank "...must not give into temptation..."

 

If you don't mind me asking... is the scenic part of the layout 8 feet long? Then with a fiddle yard to add? Also how wide are the baseboards and have you used standard Peco turnouts?

 

Anyway, love what you've done on the layout and in weathering the stock, and apologies for all the questions!

 

Cheers,

David

[kirtleypete]

Hi David,

 

Yes, it's just eight feet by eighteen inches with a three feet long track running off the end along the top of a bookcase which acts as the fiddle yard/headshunt and can be removed when I'm not using it. The points are all Peco, as is the track, it's all very simple. I connect the Lenz DCC system using two leads with crocodile clips! Since taking the pictures I've bought a Heljan class 25 which didn't run in the Forest until the 1970's. It doesn't matter, it's just a bit of fun to play with at home.

 

Peter

[south_tyne]

Hi David,

 

Yes, it's just eight feet by eighteen inches with a three feet long track running off the end along the top of a bookcase which acts as the fiddle yard/headshunt and can be removed when I'm not using it. The points are all Peco, as is the track, it's all very simple. I connect the Lenz DCC system using two leads with crocodile clips! Since taking the pictures I've bought a Heljan class 25 which didn't run in the Forest until the 1970's. It doesn't matter, it's just a bit of fun to play with at home.

 

Peter

Hi Peter,

 

Thanks for your reply, that's great. It is really useful to see what you can achieve in that kind of space. I have roughly 8' available too but may be able to incorporate some kind of 'fold down' fiddle yard when being operated. The Peco turnouts are long and so are a determining factor in what can be squeezed into the scene! You've done a great job though, developing a fairly simple but still very interesting track plan that gives plenty of operational value in a small space!

 

Cheers again and I for one would like to some more pictures of the layout if/when you get time!

 

David