Popular Post wiggoforgold Posted October 28, 2013 Popular Post Share Posted October 28, 2013 (edited) There was a village near Huntingdon called Diddington. Its gone now, flooded to make way for the construction of Grafham Water. This does mean that no one can go to the area looking for traces of the railway, only to find nothing there. In reality there wasn't - Diddington station is imaginary. The original idea for Diddington was for a terminus station on the edge of the East Midlands, just west of the ECML at Huntingdon. Over the years the imaginary location has moved slightly eastwards, and Diddington is now situated in the Fens, probably a bit north of Cambridge, in the direction of Peterborough. In my imagination the locomotives working to Diddington would have been stabled at March, so that's the sort of area we are in. The track plan is based on a plan by Iain Rice called "Downingham", published in "Modelling Railways Illustrated" (now defunct) about 15 years ago. The resultant layout measures 3.6 x 4m, including a cassette Fiddle yard on the 4m side. The layout wasn't conceived as an exhibition layout, though it has been exhibited, and will be again. It was made in sections to facilitate movement from the garage where it was constructed, to the room where it lives. As a result it is easily dismantled for transport. I don't have a drawing of the track plan to hand (I must make one), so here is an aerial view of the station area which shows the track layout. Track is SMP for the plain track, while the points are homemade using copper clad sleepers. This picture shows some of the track, and also some of the line's motive power. More will follow soon, but I've got to go out now, so here's a suitable ending for the time being. Edited July 25, 2022 by wiggoforgold 50 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 Alex What a great looking layout! I do hope you will not mind if I steer you a little concerning Diddington, as I lived for a large chunk of my life in Buckden, which is about a mile away. Diddington is very much alive and well, if very small (smallest parish in Cambridgeshire). You can see its very attractive brick church tower from the A1. Grafham Water was actualy one of the less destructive reservoirs, as it only submerged one or two farmhouses and a road (and the valley, of course). Massive protests at the time, naturally, but the wildlife it has attracted has more than made up for any loss. None of this, need I say, detracts in any way from a very fine piece of modelling - can't wait to see more photographs! Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 46444 Posted October 28, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 28, 2013 (edited) Morning Alex, Great to see a layout thread started on Diddington at long last. The pictures capture the layout nicely and certainly gives a feel for the area. Look forwards to some more pictures and progress updates. Cheers, Mark Edited October 28, 2013 by 46444 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiggoforgold Posted October 28, 2013 Author Share Posted October 28, 2013 Hi Anthony Thanks for the steer. I used to live in Hemingford, but apart from a visit to St Ives last year to do a cycling event, haven't been in the area for nearly 30 years, so I'm working from memory. I can remember Grafham Water being built by damming Diddington Brook and the farms being submerged under the water. At that time the project was still being called "Diddington Reservoir" I think. Here's an overall shot of the layout, which may be of interest. I'm currently working on an extension to the agricultural tramway which leaves Diddington station at the right hand side of the picture. There's some pictures of the board in my blog. More will follow as construction proceeds. In the meantime I've edited my signature to give a link to some earlier pictures of the layout I posted in my gallery. Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackRat Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 Looking good Alex! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post wiggoforgold Posted October 28, 2013 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 28, 2013 Sorry - clicked on "post" before I added the pic. Here it is. 22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lincoln40a Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 Hi Alex Good to see some fenland scenery, the broard depth of the layout set's the scene well. My 'HOLMES YARD' layout is very much in it's early stages. but it too, is very flat ! Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 (edited) Looks like a nice model of the St.Ives mill there too? Later to become the home of Sinclair and the 1st electronic calculator of course. Stewart Edited October 28, 2013 by stewartingram Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windjabbers Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 Great to see a Great Eastern layout, and so nicely modelled. Hadn't found this one before. I am particularly interested in this one as I am working up a plan for a fictitious 2nd second station in Cambridge which assumes that the line from St Ives (and services from Kettering and March) ran into a separate station! Best Wishes David 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post wiggoforgold Posted October 28, 2013 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 28, 2013 It is and it isn't the St Ives mill. I always call it a combination of the mills at St Ives and Godmanchester. It was done from photographs, which were mainly of the St Ives mill, but the rail access and loading areas owe much to Godmanchester. I remember the St Ives mill being used by Sinclair's. When I was there last year it appeared to have become luxury flats. I wanted to create some scenes of places where I used to play as a child, so here are a few: The bridge at Godmanchester: The boathouse at Hemingford Grey The old turntable pit at Huntingdon East Also on the layout are The chapel at Brigstock, Northants (my brother used to live down the road) The goods yard office at St Ives, which became the vets surgery. My model is substantially shorter than the original, which was attached to the goods shed itself. 25 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
definate maybe Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 At last a layout topic for this fantastic layout Have regularly popped onto your album thread to look at the superb photos but hopefully we can now see more of the story behind it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiggoforgold Posted November 5, 2013 Author Share Posted November 5, 2013 I'm building an extension to the agricultural tramway out of Diddington at the moment. The idea is that there is a small agricultural tramway/light railway across the Fens from Diddington station to a yard out in the Fens. I haven't finally decided on the principal source of traffic, it could be fruit, sugar beet, or perhaps grain, which would give an excuse to have some of the Bachmann grain wagons when they arrive. It's inspired by lines such as the Wisbech and Upwell, or the Wissington light railway. I've started with the joining section, which is a 1.4metre length of straight track with a bridge crossing a fen drain at one end, which gives me the opportunity to model a length of roadside line. It occurs to me that in the future this board my serve as a photographic "plank" as well. I described the initial construction of the board in my blog. I've now laid the track, which is SMP, painted before it was laid in a bed of PVA glue, and ballasted with a mixture of ash and chinchilla grit, sprinkled in the wet PVA. When dry, the excess was shaken off, and the track given a light coat of Modelmates mud brown and sooty black sprays, and a final spray of Tamiya matt earth from the airbrush. I've attached some pictures of the track laying, and finally a picture of the state of construction when I finished last night (apologies for the quality) 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post wiggoforgold Posted November 17, 2013 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 17, 2013 The extension's progressed a bit. Having finished the wood work I've started work on the land form. The trackbed is 3mm ply, as is the adjacent road, and the river bed. The road drops down below track level, and turns away from the railway line before crossing the fen drain. The actual bridge is offstage. Only the rail bridge will be modelled. The land form was constructed by first making a lattice of card strips (I used the stiffener from a shirt box), but something like a cereal packet would do. This was glued in place at each end of the strip using a hot glue gu.n. The lattice was then covered with squares of fabric stiffening material, soaked in plaster. I took some pictures of the work in progress, but unfortunately they were a bit out of focus.so heres a picturew of the tools I used instead. Once the basic structure was nearly dry, I made up an earth mix of plaster, pva glue and burnt umber acrylic paint, and painted this over the scenery, with the exception of the road and river beds which received a similar mix, but without the burnt umber. Once dry, the road was airbrushed with a mixture of Tamiya buff, matt earth, and medium sea grey. This was them painted with pva, and fine ash sprinkled on it to make the road surface. The grass areas were painted with an earth colour mixed from Humbrol Acrylics (I used sand, brick red and matt black), and covered with various grades of static grass.After it had dried I put a train on it to see how it looked. Next stages are to finish the electrics, and the bridge over the fen drain. 23 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 46444 Posted November 17, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 17, 2013 (edited) Great work Alex. That Terrier looks right at home and the static grass looks good. I see the quality glue gun 'lost the will to live' by the looks of things? I'm thinking of investing in one of those Bosch glue guns as they may be more up to the job. Look forwards to seeing the bridge finished soon. Cheers, Mark Edited November 17, 2013 by 46444 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiggoforgold Posted November 17, 2013 Author Share Posted November 17, 2013 There's a funny story about that glue gun. I got all the tools ready before I started work so I could take the photo. I went out and bought a supply of glue sticks. I came home and couldn't find the glue gun. I looked for it for about 48 hours but no sign of it. (I still haven't found it). I convinced myself that either my son had borrowed it without telling me, or I'd simply lost it. I used your glue gun to do the scenery. It was fine, but I've used all the glue sticks I only realized that the glue gun was still in the house when I saw the photograph this evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ess1uk Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Great looking layout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theakerr Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 The bridge and the building deserve more than a like button. They are excellent, especially the bridge. It's like i am looking at a memory. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiggoforgold Posted December 16, 2013 Author Share Posted December 16, 2013 I'm conscious it's nearly a month since I added anything to this. I have been making models though. Internet has been a bit intermittent lately so I haven't done any entries, and when it has been up I've done a bit of modelling rather than sit at the computer. I'm envious of my friends who not only manage a prodigious modelling output, but then have time to take pictures and post about it as well. I've been working on the joining section. I wired everything up (not a long job). When I laid the track I installed droppers to the rails to carry the power, only to realize when I cam to solder up the feeds that I hadn't left enough space between the baseboard frames to get my hand in with a soldering iron to fix everything up. Lesson learned for future reference. Work has progressed on the layout lighting. I've just discovered LED lights, thanks to another poster on here who wrote about them in his layout thread. The lights are on a flexible strip, which is brought in rolls. Mine was 5m long and is easily cut to length. The strip is sticky backed, so installation is easy. Before installing the lights I rebuilt the proscenium, as in the original construction the bottom edge of the proscenium was too high above the layout. The idea of the display is that the proscenium acts as a view blocker, and hides the top edge of the back scene. The bottom edge of the proscenium therefore needs to be low enough so that a person looking at the layout cannot see the top edge of the back scene. This arrangement does mean that the layout must be operated from the front or side, as an operator behind the layout would not be able to see it. Another advantage of the LED lights is their weight. In the past, I've used florescent tubes, but these are heavy and fragile.. The LED set up is much lighter and much less vulnerable. As a result I plan to replace the existing lighting on Diddington with LED's, hopefully in the New Year. (Before I start saving for a Hornby J15). The lights run off a small power unit, which is installed behind the proscenium. I'm totally sold on the system. Its lighter and easier to install than my previous system. It gives a consistent overall light which isn't too harsh, and doesn't have any unwanted shadows. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiggoforgold Posted December 16, 2013 Author Share Posted December 16, 2013 I've done some more work installing the bridge on the joining section. The bridge is a concrete girder bridge, based on the one over the New Fen drain on the Wissington railway.. The abutments are blocks of 60X30 PSE, covered with styrene sheet. The abutments were painted, and surrounded with a lattice built up from strips of card. This was stuck together using a hot glue gun (the one I lost earlier in this thread). The lattice was then covered with squares of dress stiffening fabric, soaked in plaster, once dry, this was painted with an earth colour mixed from artists oil paints (Which I had to hand, having recently come into posession of a load of old oil paints. This has now been covered with static grass, which is now drying. Apologies for any typos in today's entries. I went to the Eye infirmary this afternoon for a routine checkup, and as part of the process they put dilating drops in my eyes which means the screen is currently very difficult to read! Alex 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiggoforgold Posted December 31, 2013 Author Share Posted December 31, 2013 Work on the joining sections been continuing over the Christmas period. I've been helped by 46444, who made the fences and telegraph poles. I'm going to add a few more bushes and a couple of figures, but I want to keep the scene fairly uncluttered. There's some work to do on the bridge, and I'll post some pictures of that when it's done. Oh, and its acquired a name "Middle Fen" (because it's a fen, and in the middle between two stations.) Back at Diddington, D6723 is shunting a horsebox into the horsebox siding for unloading. 19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinWales Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 (edited) Well done sir! The layout captures the wide open look of the ex Great Eastern in the Fens! Edited December 31, 2013 by MartinWales Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post wiggoforgold Posted January 3, 2014 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 3, 2014 I've take some pictures of a trip along the line, which show how everything goes together. The featured train is a Bachmann class 105 DMU, fairly typical for a passenger train in the area in its final years. Leaving the fiddle yard, the line approaches Diddington over the river Ouse. The bridge is a model of the one which used to stand between Godmanchester and Huntingdon East. I didn't have a plan, but I used to row under it, and we had to bring the oars in slightly to get through the arches. I used that as my starting dimension and worked the proportions out from photographs. The model isn't fixed to the river bed with wooden pegs which project about 1cm from the surface of the water, and the bridge piers slot on to this, so the whole lot would easily be removed if the track was lifted. Once over the bridge the line passes behind a farm. This is made of card, from a sketch by George Illife-Stokes of some barns at Marlow. They originally stood on an earlier layout, and are hollow in the middle, because in its original site it slotted over one of the layout folding hinges to disguise it. The pillbox in the background is typical of many which stood by railway installations. It was made from plans in an old Airfix magazine, published in about 1973. After the farm the line passes an acomodation crossing, modelled on one at Cow Lane just outside Godmanchester. The train now enters the station area. The signal box is from a Wills kit (The prototype is Wisbech East, I think, but its typical Great Eastern.) In the background can be seen the disused loco shed, and the turntable pit. The area is inspired by Huntingdon East, though my shed is the old Prototype Models kit of Stamford. The only bit of the loco yard still used is the loco siding, and the DMU is seen passing an EE type 3 waiting here. The DMU draws into the station. It's quite busy today, there being an SR CCT in the parcels bay, and a horsebox unloading at the siding in the background. The station building is based on Thaxted, and is made of plasticard. Like several of the buildings on Diddington, it is devoid of detail on the back, which is never seen. Here's a closer view of the EE type 3 in the loco siding. Its a Lima body on a Bachmann chassis, and more details of its construction can be found in my blog. Finally, here's a picture of the Manning Wardle "Phoebe" on loan from Teign Valley granite proceeding along the roadside tramway "Middle Fen" currently under construction. 25 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold nest Posted January 3, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 3, 2014 This really is fantastic. Not much more to say. Nestor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiggoforgold Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 The fat clergyman and the thin clergyman took a trip out to Middle Fen today to look at the trains. They had arranged to meet leading railway photographer Jonty Chambers, but he had stopped off at Juniper Hill in the East Midlands, and had been so fascinated by that line’s Austerity 0-6-0 that he missed the sight of Brush type 2 D5500 heading across Middle Fen with a parcels train.As for the models, D5500 is a Hornby model, renumbered and weathered. The Morris Traveller is a Classix model. It has been sprayed with Vallejo matt varnish, after which a very light wash of burnt umber oil pain was applied to the lower body panels, most of which was immediately wiped off with a cotton bud. The lower edges of the body were sprayed with Tamiya matt earth. Tyres were painted Tamiya dark grey, and the front wheels were turned by cutting the axle in the middle and bending the axle using pliers at a point just before it enters the wheel. The axle halves were then glued back in place with superglue. The clergymen are from Monty’s Models, painted with Tamiya colours. 19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Jason T Posted January 13, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 13, 2014 Absolutely stunning; what atmosphere. You have probably guessed that I am impressed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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