Lulworth Castle, 1930's to 2000's

[PaulRhB]

After my other 4mm project has been put on hold due to storage space I felt it was time to see what I could do that would fit in the flat and actually allow me to have a 4mm layout that I could run at home.

 

So I started with an idea that Lord Weld of Lulworth set up a light railway to serve Lulworth Cove and replace the narrow gauge tramways west of Norden, (on the Swanage Branch), and it was absorbed into the Southern at the grouping.

Then I wrote a basic history:

The line was built as a light railway in 1890-92 to serve the clay pits on the Weld Estate and connect with the Southern railway at Norden on the Swanage branch. With the increased military activity, in 1915, a siding was added from Tyneham Pit to the army camp at Lulworth. The line was absorbed into the Southern Railway during the grouping post WW1. In 1924 the land claimed by the War Department for the firing ranges would have severed the line between Povington and Lulworth Castle. The Railway Operating Department and engineers built a diversion around the edge of the new range instead of having to disrupt training with the essential supply trains.
The three pits at Tyneham, Povington and Creech kept the line profitable and there was a limited passenger service serving Lulworth Castle and the camp.
The line to Lulworth Camp reverses at the station and climbs almost in a circle passing the end of the station as it gains height towards the camp. The tight radius means the line is restricted to short wheelbase locomotives. Post WWII Military traffic was mainly restricted to supplies and small armoured vehicles as the new tanks were too big to be carried by train.
Closure came with the end of the Swanage Branch.


Then I came up with a plan for a terminus, to save two fiddleyards, and also a good reason for the branch that serves Tyneham pit and Lulworth Camp to reverse. The gentle climb allowed by the loop round follows the contours that would have made a through station impossible in real life.


Now I knocked up a plan using WORD that is based on a simplified Swanage plan and worked out the signalling using the cheapest solution possible. The buildings are going to be RTP from the Bachmann range and the two provender stores will be one spilt in two using the bandsaw. I wanted this to be quick and achieveable in a fairly short time. Track will be SMP with handbuilt points from Marcway and it will all be wired for dcc so I can have sound too.


I'm mainly intending it to be BR era with the M7 and push-pull set and probably the Beatties & O2 being pressed into service too due to the tight curves on the quarry and MOD lines, (just because I can).

So I also drew up a Signalbox diagram that will double as the control panel.


Domestic bliss decrees it won't be permanently up so I came up with a cabinet faced with kitchen cabinet doors that can sit in the hall and act as a sideboard when not playing trains. It also splits in two to go in the car and has spare capacity for storing more stock at home.
The idea of the cabinet is that it will act as a support for the centre board and the two ends will stand on their own legs either end.
Height may be an issue using the doors I've chosen as it makes it a little taller than I'd like for someone in a wheelchair so there may be changes to this part.

Edited May 19, 2018 by PaulRhB

[Danemouth]

Paul,

 

A good concept and track plan. I will watch this layout grow with interest and probably more than a little envy,

 

Regards,

 

Dave

[pete_mcfarlane]

Looks goodn - keep us informed of progress.

[DLT]

Very nice Paul, small in space and achievable in a reasonable timescale.

I look forward to seeing the progress.

 

All the best,

Dave.

[PaulRhB]

Well the buildings, plain track, stock, controller and some of the wood is in stock so I need to get the boards done and order the points. Baseboards next week!

[PatC]

Like the look of the plan Paul, nice and compact just the way I like them. Like the storage idea too, wonder if I could get something similar past Mrs C?

 

Look forward to seeing things develop.

 

Patrick

[Bibby Line]

Paul,

 

Very interesting concept and very detailed, look forward to progress reports.

 

Thanks also for the photo link.

 

Eddie

[kipford]

Damm you beat me to it. Was looking at this for a future project a couple of weeks ago! Good luck and I look forward to seeing it progress.

 

Dave

[PaulRhB]

I settled on a storage cabinet that passes the, it looks like furniture so it's allowed in the house, test pretty quickly but I was still trying to find a solution to the wheelchair user layout height issue.

The cabinet is designed to stack so it can be put in the car should I choose to exhibit it and my initial idea was to support the middle board on it and then put the other boards either end with their own legs. This gives a track height of 1230mm, 4ft. I did a bit of research and found some documents on designing for wheelchair users and these give an average eyelevel of 1080mm, 3ft 6 1/2inches, for an adult in a wheelchair. Thanks to someone on the NGRM forum who checked using a friends chair this seems about right and still leaves the layout at a convenient height for me standing to operate.

 

I settled on a baseboard top height of 1000mm, or 3ft 3in, to allow a bit of leeway and for the average height look slightly down on the model.

I also used this to see what the eye line would be for a 6ft 4in (me) stood in front so the lighting rig doesn't block the view at this height for taller people.

I'm intending to have the bacscene boards seperate so I can make them taller and still fit in the storage cabinet with extra stock boxes etc.

Edited September 29, 2012 by PaulRhB

[Tim Chambers]

Fascinating project Paul, I like the graphics! An interesting area in which to site a layout-did you know that in 1899, plans were deposited for the "Lulworth and Osmington Railway" to run 'twixt Worgret Junction and Osmington via East and West Lulworth? (J H Lucking, "The Railways Of Dorset").A slightly more detailed description appears in vol 2 of "Castleman's Corkscrew" by Brian Jackson. look forward to more of your progress.

Best wishes, Tim.

[N15class]

I have a slight querry, why does your railway skirt the MOD firing range when the range was only opened after the tank was invented.

I like the idea you have. Having done work for the Welds I hope the contractor does not go bust.

[PaulRhB]

plans were deposited for the "Lulworth and Osmington Railway" to run 'twixt Worgret Junction and Osmington via East and West Lulworth? (J H Lucking, "The Railways Of Dorset").A slightly more detailed description appears in vol 2 of "Castleman's Corkscrew" by Brian Jackson. look forward to more of your progress.

Best wishes, Tim.

Tim, yes but I wanted to have more freight so crowbarred it down to pass the clay works at the expense of the narrow gauge lines, seemed more feasible to provide a line that lasted to BR days. Brians book is superb, his talks are equally good too if you ever get the chance, he's a real character

Edited September 29, 2012 by PaulRhB

[PaulRhB]

I have a slight querry, why does your railway skirt the MOD firing range when the range was only opened after the tank was invented.

I like the idea you have. Having done work for the Welds I hope the contractor does not go bust.

If you look at the overall line pic there's a section within the range that I'm supposing was closed in 1924 when the War Office claimed the land for the ranges, after the tanks. My history says that the Southern and War Office built the diversion round the range, rather than close the line, because it supplied the camp too. Pre war the ability to transport tanks direct to the camp would have made it more feasible to invest in such a scheme.

[N15class]

I do not know if you have noticed as you drive into Wool from Wareham. Just after the roundabout to Bovington, there is a low embankment on the left hand side, which was the old LSWR branch to the camp there.

[PaulRhB]

, there is a low embankment on the left hand side, which was the old LSWR branch to the camp there.

Yep, I was Signalman at Wool for a year as I worked my way up and had plenty of time to read up and explore the history.

They kept threatening to reinstate the military traffic from Wool itself and the ramp is still there in the yard.

 

[PaulRhB]

No physical progress recently apart from buying more stock, there's now a Heljan railbus on test too , too many work home jobs to do.

Design work has progressed well though and I know it will all fit and work so the points will be done after the xmas period and I will get the boards screwed together as all the bits are cut and waiting.

I have also toyed with the idea of some alternative buildiings so, for home use only, I can run some of my large logo 37's on there as well. The Dapol signals will be installed with this in mind so I can pop out the Southern ones and drop in appropriate Scottish ones. There's nothing else that really screams Southern and I will make the fencing removable on pins where it will have old signs which date it. I'm not going to compromise the Southern look for it though so the alternate ones will be homebuilt in the right style but to fit the scenecraft footprint.

Seems sensible to do this rather than build a second layout with the limited space, (I blame Gary's Glenuig!).

[DLT]

I have also toyed with the idea of some alternative buildiings so, for home use only, I can run some of my large logo 37's on there as well. The Dapol signals will be installed with this in mind so I can pop out the Southern ones and drop in appropriate Scottish ones. There's nothing else that really screams Southern and I will make the fencing removable on pins where it will have old signs which date it. I'm not going to compromise the Southern look for it though so the alternate ones will be homebuilt in the right style but to fit the scenecraft footprint.

Seems sensible to do this rather than build a second layout with the limited space, (I blame Gary's Glenuig!).

Interesting idea Paul,

If you are going to double the period and location by removing the Southern Concrete, how about going for TRIPLE period and having a pre-group independant light railway period as well? Odd secondhand early Victorian/industrial locos, ancient 4-wheel coaches etc, etc?

Or maybe thats taking things a bit too far...

All the best,

Dave.

[PaulRhB]

Funny you should mention it but I did think about having 'the original' light railway buildings too. Something like the Bluebell buildings in the scenecraft range. I already know there's going to be comment about brick buildings rather than stone that's why I've only gone for concrete on the provender stores so it doesn't tie down the location too much. Had to think hard about the historical reasoning but it's reasonably plausible that they shied away from the stone due to the speed of the rebuild required and the original wooden buildings were too inadequate for the expected business.

Maybe once the original idea is finished and if I get round to building some etch kits again to make some old tank locos? It would be nice to run it one day as early then swap to the later period. Should have kept the W&U coaches I sold a year ago!

[PaulRhB]

The pile of bits has continued to grow and I'm left only needing the servos I'm going to use for the points. Points were ordered today from Marcway to match the SMP track, I've built points before in O but its not a favourite job so I cheated but I will be adding cosmetic chairs on the outside to improve the looks over solder.

Until the Wimborne show is over and the G scale is done I won't be starting serious construction but I have been looking at adding sound to locos after choosing the Roco Z21 as my new dcc system. So the loksound micro V4 looks to be the smallest sound chip that I reckon might fit the Beattie tanks and hopefully the M7 too as their current consumption is low and they'll be pulling 3 coaches maximum.

It'll be nice to get the basic construction done so I can pop a board out and work on scenics regularly.

[PaulRhB]

Finally concrete evidence that I'm going to do this

I was looking at bridges as this project was intended to see how far I could push the ready to plant models and couldn't find anything in the style I wanted so I've reverted to kits. Inspiration came from the overbridge at the London end of Swanage station and I have used the Wills stone viaduct kit as it gave me enough parts to build the two spans and leave plenty spare for wing walls etc.

I chopped the piers down to give just enough clearance following photos of the Swanage bridge. The flexible brick sheet for the arch itself was very tough on the first one and required extra bracing, made from bits of the sprue, to get rid of a concave bow in the arch. The second strip was immersed in hot water in a tin cup to form it to the arch, I got this a little too hot so it deformed a bit more but I was able to straighten it out between the sides.

Bracing on the first arch

 

Thumper on clearance tests.

[RailWest]

A couple of comments/queries about the signal diagram. I would have expected the Distant to be 1 and the Home 2 originally, but for the Distant to have become 'fixed' at some stage and 1 become a spare (or re-used for another purpose). As for 7PULL, the reason for a 'S' (Shunt Ahead) arm baffles me, as I would have expected either a shunt disc or a ringed arm.

 

Interested to know your rationale behind it please?

[emt_911]

I have to admit that I'm intrigued by this layout and will have to keep up to date with the progress.

 

I'm impressed that you have taken disabled viewing as a major consideration as the lack of this I believe stops a lot of people being able to enjoy exhibitions.

 

Duncan

[PaulRhB]

A couple of comments/queries about the signal diagram. I would have expected the Distant to be 1 and the Home 2 originally, but for the Distant to have become 'fixed' at some stage and 1 become a spare (or re-used for another purpose). As for 7PULL, the reason for a 'S' (Shunt Ahead) arm baffles me, as I would have expected either a shunt disc or a ringed arm.

 

Interested to know your rationale behind it please?

Ah now I realise I haven't updated the diagram! Yes the S has been replaced with a disc and 1 & 2 swapped. Consequence of using my standard symbol library and not checking it over, that was version 2 after I realised two signals were the wrong way round which must have happened by flipping them.

I have been suitably admonished by my semaphore expert

I'll upload the correct one version 4 tomorrow. V3 put a bracket in and made the siding a bay but it then needed a bigger yard which was impossible in the limited width so I went back to the simpler layout. That diagram also has the odd situation of an advance starter but no equivalent outer home to make an equivalent section. There's been a bit of renumbering too to accommodate it.

Edited March 10, 2013 by PaulRhB

[RailWest]

Thanks for the update!

 

"That diagram also has the odd situation of an advance starter but no equivalent outer home..."

 

IMHO the provision of an Outer Home would have been much more of an odd situation, unless the traffic levels and operational requirements really demanded it.

[PaulRhB]

.

Thanks for the update!

 

"That diagram also has the odd situation of an advance starter but no equivalent outer home..."

 

IMHO the provision of an Outer Home would have been much more of an odd situation, unless the traffic levels and operational requirements really demanded it.

The outer home reasoning was the limited capacity of the station because of the dual traffic from the quarry and MOD. The road restricting the station yard (and my limited width on the baseboard), meaning that the goods yard couldn't be expanded to cope so they had to have the ability to shunt without blocking the entire section to Norden. This was suggested by a retired colleague who said it was feasible under the modifications made by the SR when the War Dept. cut off the original line and provides an option during busy periods for the WD without the expense of another block post at somewhere like Creech. Adding it to the existing box would be cheaper in manpower and maintenance.

 

Here's the revised diagram which I'd created but not turned into a jpg before.