Appledore (North Devon) - OO scale layout

[roundhouse]

As my oldest layout is about to head North after its next show at the Bluebell railway this July (2012), for an indefinite period of time I thought I might do the story of this 30 odd year old layout which has been rebuilt numerous times, so a few might find this interesting or even remember this layout from many years ago as an L shaped 9 ft by (I think) 9 ft one through its renaming as a 'modern' image oval layout in the 1990's, and back again to a 1960's one with newer stock DCC and sound.

 

 

To start off here are a few scanned photos of the layout in its original form in about 1985 and no back scene which came later. This was my second layout with scratchbuilt turnouts but this time I decided to use the SMP Scaleway bullhead flexi track which looked far better than soldering up copper clad sleepers and rail.

 

Some of the old H & M solenoids are still on the layout to this day although many have since been replaced.

 

 

The whole station was built with great similarity to Seaton but located on the old terminus of the Bideford Westward Ho and Appledore railway that was torn up in World War one. My change in history is that the LSWR rebuilt the line connecting it in at Bideford but with a triangular junction allowing access to Torrington. A few years later, under Southern control the station was improved in a similar vein to that at Seaton.

 

 

To be continued.....

 

 

Ian

Edited November 5, 2019 by roundhouse

[roundhouse]

The stock that was available ready to run for a layout based in North West Devon was very mininmal at the tiem so a fair amount had to be either modified ready to run or kit built. The Ian Kirk Maunsell coach kits filled the gap in the coach fleet and one Bullied used on the ACE working was constructed using Comet brass sides fixed onto a Southern Pride underfarme roof and lcear sides. Thiss coach, being flush glazed is still used on the layout.today.

 

Whilst the L shape layout worked fine, the corner board was awkward to transport and for many exhibitions an awkward size to fit in.

 

So it was decided to change this fior another straight board in about 1985 The track plan remained much the same and the goods shed was moved onto the new board. The layout became 15 feet long by 15 inches wide A backscene was also added at this stage.

 

The corner board still exists stored somewhere in the loft.

Edited May 19, 2012 by roundhouse

[roundhouse]

After modifying the layout to a straight form, I ended up with an odd number of boards all the same size, so it wasn't long before plans were drawn up for a 4th scenic board.

 

This board was a sraight addition so no modifications to the other boards were required.

 

Torrington station had a milk loading point so I decided there would be a dairy at Appledore. This conissted of a scratch built structure on a short siding off the mainline, the other side of the road bridge. The building also hid the exit off scene into the fiddleyard.

 

The layout, now 18 feet long remained in this form for some years into the early 1990's and did quite a few shows, mainly in the South East and was my main layout until building Fort Myers and a move into our own place.

 

Now for soem more photos - not the best but its all I have from back then.

 

 

This photo show my much modified Hornby Hymek just pasing the new siding ot the diary.

 

And here is the dairy

 

Finally an overall shot of the extension board aswell as the board that repalced the original corner board.

[Ramblin Rich]

Hi - I quite like the look of this, it certainly captures the "ex-Southern" vibe.

From your first comment, does this mean you still have the layout but it's moving on in July?

[roundhouse]

Rich

 

Yes I still have the layout. I have started doing some work on tidying up the wiring etc ready for a show at the Bluebell in July. It is moving in October up North to do a show then it stays up there for an indefinite period of time but with the odd possible appearance back down South.

The layout looks a little different these days which I will get to in a couple of posts time but is basically the sme station ith the engine and goods heds moved around a bit etc.

 

Ian

[DLT]

That's a very nice looking layout Ian, any more photos to come?

 

Many thanks,

Dave.

[roundhouse]

Dave

 

Yes there is but I am struggling to find any of it when it became a 'modern-image' layout in the early 1990's. Plenty taken in its current format though.

 

Ian

[roundhouse]

By the mid 1990's Appledore was over 10 years old and had done quite a few shows including the National Model Railway Clubs show at the Horticultural Halls.

 

After completing Fort Myers, attention turned back to Appledore to see what life could be put back into it.

 

Having spent many weekends linesdiing atround the country and especially the West Of England, it was decided to turn the layout inot a 'modern image' layout. Now I had a sinlge garage to set layout up, I worked out that adding 7/5ft radius curved boards to each half of the layout I could make it into an oval 16 feet by 7.5 feet wide.

 

As the layout was to become a through junction station, it moved to South Devon on the partially singled South Western mainline to somewhere around Honiton. It was to be the junction for a branchline line to the coast. It was to be named Branscombe Junction but a slip up saw me name it Boscombe only realising the mistake after I had accepted invites and printed all the Network Souht East nameboards!

 

Boscombe now represented a point at which the double track went to single line, with a branch running South to the coast. A second through platform was added along with a level crossing where the engine shed and bufferstops used to be when it was Appledore. ALong the front of the fiddleyard a wagon works was added but oit wasnt easy to shunt having to lean over the fiddleyard to see it. The rest of the backscene was removed.

 

The idea of the layout was good but the fiddleyard was really just too small and with only 5 roads (one for the branch), operating it was too hectic and I soon struggled to find operators keen enough to help out.

 

We did a few shows, one of which was Trainwest when it was in Chippenham in 1998. If I recall this was its last show as an oval layout where the photos below were taken.

 

A general view of the layout showing the extra platform.

 

The wagon works was fairly basic

 

There was a reasonable maount of shunting to be had from the few sidings.

 

Not quite sure why the green peak was on the layout. The pub was modelled on one of our favourite pubs. It still exists sitting on a shelf on the landing these days. One day it will be reused on a layout.

[roundhouse]

After the few hectic shows we had with Boscombe in oval format I took the decision to turn the layout back into an end to end layout. There wasn't much modification rewuired so the curved boards were stripped and in 1999 these were used to build my N scale layout California Coast which is another story.

The extra platform was kept but a walk way was created across the end of the platforms and bufferstops added once again. The fiddleyard also had the stop blocks put back in place but the scenic wagon works remained in situ. The backscene along the whole length of the layout was also reinstated.

The layout now became the branch terminus.

The layout had a few more shows in this format but it really didn't get the same level of invites it had done in its earlier years. This wasn't an issue as by the turn of the centrury, Fort Myers and the new N scale layout were the ones we were taking to shows.

Edited June 18, 2018 by roundhouse

[roundhouse]

With so much more detailed finer scale Southern region steam locos becoming available such as the newer Hornby Bullied light Pacifics, M7 etc. I was missing having a layout to run these locos on.
I decided that Boscombe would be no more and Appledore would be reincarnated, moving back to its orginal location of North Devon.

In 2000, the third platform that was added in the change to Boscombe was removed. This time instead of being a grassed area, a carraige siding similar to that which existed at Bude, was laid. The engine shed was put back in place but this time just before the station platforms. The goods shed had track laid through it once more anda general reconfiguration of the goods yard.

The wagon works along the front of the fiddleyard was awkard to shunt as mentioned earlier, so a street running scene was created, leading to the shipyards at Appledore.

The rebuilt Appledore was ready for the Croydon MRS show in October 2000. The layout would still betraditionally DC controlled at this point.

Some photos of the rebuilding of the layout below:

With the third platform removed, the boards were ready for the new carraige siding to be laid once the cork was down.


The goodshed had moved yet again and now bedded in prior to painting.


I am not sure what I had been drinking but must have been thinking of Thunderbirds and Tracy Island!!


A mogul N simmers alongside the platform.


A little help from a well known time traveller to move the layout back into the early 1960's!


The new street running ection in fornt of the fiddleyard.


An overview of the stationapproach and goodsyard


The pride of the fleet at that time.

Edited June 18, 2018 by roundhouse

[Ramblin Rich]

Very interesting evolution - I like the idea of a street section to the shipyard, reminds me of Pembroke Dock. So, is this the final incarnation...?

[roundhouse]

Rich

 

More or less but there are some fundamental changes to the operation and stock to be posted.

 

Also I am working on the layout at present so some possible changes before its next show.

 

Ian

Edited May 23, 2012 by roundhouse

[DLT]

Definitely the right move Ian, its got a very convincing Southern/West Country look to it.

I await developments!

All the best,

Dave.

[roundhouse]

Thanks Dave

 

An amusing incident sprung to mind that happened way back in the early years of the layout.

 

Before the advent of digital photography and the home PC in the early 1980's a friend altered a black and white photo of Seaton station and put 'Appledore' on the front of the station. We did a fake history of the line. At a show a couple of blokes wacthing the layout commented that they had actually been to the station at Appledore as they recognised it!

 

We didnt spoil there memories by saying it was all fictitious!!

 

Ian

[Rivercider]

What an interesting history, in all its incarnations the layout looks like one

I would have spent some time watching if I had seen it at an exhibition.

Maybe one day I will catch up with it,

 

cheers

[roundhouse]

Kevin

 

 

One of its early shows in the current form was as far as Barrow In Furness up in Cumbria but the furthest West the layout has been is Taunton in early to mid 2000's.

 

Ian

[roundhouse]

Now that Appledore was reborn and had done a few shows in this latest encarnation, attention turned to the couplings. Whilst the tension lock / Hornby type had performed well over the years, after having used Kadees on USA stock I eventaully took the decision to change the couplings on all the Appledore stock. Some of the newer locos and wagons were easy to convert by swapping the NEM tension lock to the NEM Kadees. ]However most of the Bachmann stock that had the NEM pockets were at the wrong height. Wagons were easy as just removing the NEM paocket provided the correct height to glue a Kadee numbe 5 with its plastic enclosure to the underside of these wagons.
Other locos took some thinking to vome up with a suitable method to convert to Kadees but in the end it all worked out OK.

As the track was already in place I did not want to rip any up to install the under track magnets but didn't want the unsightly track mounted ones. I found some small square section magnets in the Squires shop. These could be turned until the correct magnet field orientation could be achieved then 4 of these magnets were glued side by side to fit between the rails. The sleepers were cut out and the magnets partially sunk into the track. A small amount of ballast helped to hide them as a small mound of ballast on the track..

Edited June 18, 2018 by roundhouse

[Bibby Line]

Thanks for a very interesting history and some great shots.

 

I was particularly interested in the shot showing the roadside of the station building.

 

I have yet to decide what type of structure to adopt for my model of an enlarged "Exmouth" with a double track mainline, through and terminal platforms. The Art Deco style was used at the rebuilt Seaton of course so maybe, just down the road, Exmouth could have received the same treatment.

 

Eddie

[roundhouse]

Thanks Eddie

 

The building on Appledore is based on Seaton station. There are a few differences in that on Appledore the building doesnt wrap around the end of the platform but otherwisw I tried to follow photos as lcose as I could.

 

Exmouth station was more brick than concrete. It was a smaller version of Exeter Central booking hall which still exists.

[roundhouse]

The installation of Kadees to the rolling stock brought a great enhancement to the operation of the layout. The only drawback is that the magnets used are much shorter than the standard Kadee types so positioning of the stock has to be much more precise to uncouple but did remove the over scale shunters hands.

 

The advantage of these shorter magnets is that it reduces the pull on the steel axles that most manufacturers of UK rolling stock tend to use.

 

The next development was to install DCC.

 

Ian

 

 

[roundhouse]

After a few shows using the Kadees which really Makes a big difference in operating the layout, the next stage was to go DCC.

Fort Myers had been built as a DC operated layout and when that layout converted to DCC, I just used the standard 5 pin din plug that DC controllers used but just wiing the two DCC track power wires in the plug. So instead of the DC controller the DCC system is plugged into the panel and all the section switches swithed on. This allows the layout to be very quickly turned back to DC control should te DCC command station fail., although these days a second command station is available.

Appledore employs this same method. Turnouts are still conventionally controlled although the layout would now benefit from having DCC stationary decoders to operate the turnouts now that we use wireless throttles.

 

Some of the locos were easy to convert to DCC but most required hardwiring the decoders. The hardest was the Bachmann mogul N's and Ivatt tanks but these now benefit fom the installation of sound drcoders. My favourite Sound is the Howes Loksound decoders installed in a few Hornby Bullied light Pacific spam cans. The speaker sits under the chimney afterrmovsl of ome of the metal weight block.

 

Not all the locos have Sound but the plan is to it more, although eith over 30 Bullied Light Pacific I ver much doubt they will all get done. Most of Hesse have the Hornby decoder purchased for around a tenner and despite many people not liking thm I have not had any problems with them so far.

 

This brings us up to the present day situation with the layout. It's last show was at Ally Pally in 2011 and has been sitting in store since, so the decision to lend the layout to Phatbob indefinitely (subject to not getting any more shows down South) so it will be seen at a numberof shows up North atone point.

 

However a fairly recent invite to take the layout to the Bluebell Riley in Early July gives it one more outing in the South East.

 

Some work has now commenced on tidying up some of the rougher bits of wiring, adding more clips to support the baseboard jumpers when boxed up and a few other scenic improvements are likely. I will add any updates here in the next few weeks of any such improvements as theatre carried out together with some better photographs.

 

Ian

[roundhouse]

I have now been working on a few modifications to the layout..some of the baseboards had been fitted with locating dowels to align the tracks some years go thus reducing the number of bolts needed and reducing the time to set up. However the last two baseboards joints still required aligning by eye and two bolts. I have now retro fitted alignment dowels to one of these joints and the last one should be done in the next few days. This has also resulted in tidying up the sleepers and rails at these joints into the fiddle yard so should improve reliability when the layout moves up north.

 

Today we have been to Appledore in North Devon to photograph the surrounding landscape in order to redo the back scene. It was a changeable day with rain and sunshine so we had to wait a while for the hills to clear of rain and shadow. About 10 different sets of panned shots were taken at different settings, some with the camera on manual and some on auto exposure so hopefully one set will be good enough to print out for the back scene. Managed to get this done just in time for pub opening time!

 

If all goes to plan I will post one new photos of the layout in the next week or so.

 

Still trying to convince Phatbob that he needs to run the layout with DCC when he takes the layout out to shows!

Edited June 30, 2012 by roundhouse

[treggyman]

Hi

 

Only just found this thread.....

 

It's really good & shows how a layout can evolve, rather than as I do.....Build another one

Look forward to following further progress

 

Cheers Bill

[roundhouse]

Thanks.

 

Normally I do build another one but in this case I have struggled to build something new that has the same operating interest in the same sort of space. It's taken Phatbob a lot of persuading me to let him have it on loan but as its been sitting in the garage taking up space of a new layout, he eventually got the better of me!

 

Coincidentally today, we worked out that the layout has lasted over three times longer than the real station at Appledore did!

 

Ian

Edited June 30, 2012 by roundhouse

[2ManySpams]

Ian, really like the look of this layout, particularly in its current form. There's hints of Illfracombe and Bude in it too.