JCL

Haha, I think a few people might want to take him up in the witch p**** discussion. Batemans is about a 5 minute walk from the station - follow the path to the windmill. They did win beer of the year a few years running a few years ago now - hmm on checking, quite a few - 1986. I always like to refresh my memory when I go back there, but my preference is a pint of landlord.

 

There was a somersault there, and one at Havenhouse, a request stop a couple of miles closer to Skegness, but it had gone by '97. Apparently the big grey box that landed next to the signal box this year is a part of the resignalling scheme. The railings in front of the station building are needed because the platform height had to be increased by a few brick courses. I remember my sister causing a delay to one train to Skegness by falling between down the gap between the train and the platform edge - not a bad achievement for a straight platform!

 

Down to the hardware store this week. This Week, all things being equal, I'll be making the frames out of plywood sides and stretchers and 2x4 bracing at the end, and my current thought is to use 1" pink solid foam insulation sheets on top - there will be a few general slopes, but it's pretty flat around Wainfleet. The sheets are pretty stiff on the frames and hopefully shouldn't warp.

After doing a lot of reading of this site and taking in the advice that's been given, I'm decided to move from the armchair to the basement and start a layout. Taking the lessons from my aborted layout attempt at the beginning of last year, from which I learnt how to do a number of things wrong, I'll be (hopefully) creating a representation of Wainfleet station in Lincolnshire.

 

Wainfleet Station opened as a single line terminus on the Wainfleet and Firsby Railway in 1871. The extension to Skegness was completed in 1873, and the line was then doubled in 1900 as the number of holidaymakers to the coastal town increased. The golden years for traffic were the 1930s. The line was due to be chopped by the Beeching Axe along with miles and miles of railway in Lincolnshire, but somehow it survived, although as a shadow of its former self. Goods traffic ended in 1964, and the footbridge and canopy were removed as the station became unstaffed in 1969. Although the goods yard track was taken up quickly after closure, the shed lasted a long time after that as a place for storage. Now called the Poacher Line after the Lincolnshire Poacher, trains still serves the town hourly to both Skegness and Nottingham.

 

Well that's the background. I'll be modelling the layout as a double tracked loop around the walls of the room. There were a few reasons for choosing this station and for modelling it as it was in 1964:

• it's my home town!
• there are goods shed, station buildings, crossing gates, weighbridge, signal box, and unusual footbridge (gulp)
• there is a sharp curve just after the station that will tie in with the curve that will have to happen to put the layout in the room.
• local traffic is varied: stopping service to and from Skegness, coal, cattle, sugar beet and others.
• doing an around the walls loop means that I can run longer excursions that act as through trains to Skegness - essentially watching the trains go by
• plenty of different engine types, many of which are or will be available rtr - B1, K3, J11,J39, 4MT, DMUs such as the Derby Lightweights, 105, 108. An Atlantic would be nice, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I've found some books on the subject, and spent the last couple of months going through them. I've also been all over Google, Flickr and eBay looking for old photos and taken the opportunity to take photos myself of what's left. to my shame I didn't have a tape measure, so I went by numbers of bricks and standard door sizes for most measurements. Finally Bing Maps and Google StreetView have been great for checking details such as signals.

 

So the model will be of the mid-1960's but as this is for me, I'm going to do a "what if" and pretend that the yard wasn't lifted which will mean that I can run the trains I remember as a kid in the 1970's and 1980's. To that end I've a 31, 47, 37 (all Lima from years back that I've cleaned up and put decoders into), and a couple of class 20s.If I'm going to do a "what if" I'm also going to run Oliver Cromwell that ran a Jolly Fisherman special a couple of years ago.

 

Anyway, here's the station plan, the main station area can fit on an 8'x3' board, and the curve on the left pretty prototypical, the one on the right isn't as the track that side was straight. I'll keep the rest of the loop simple for a while and concentrate on the station area so that I can make sure I get it done.

 

And here are some photos I took this summer:

 

 

This one shows a bit of the tight curve at the end of the station, I remember the squealing wheels!

 

Edited the post to get it to make more sense and to amend a date.

listening to the lorry engines changing down gear as they approached the corner

 

I'm guessing you must be a light sleeper!

I feel like I've turned up to the party as the dishes are being washed and put away! This was a great read from start to finish, and well done getting in under the hundred pounds.

Hi Robert

 

It's been a while since I've been on - I run a B&B here in Canada and it's pretty busy in the summer! It's been great catching up with the news.

 

Thats spooky JCL! Do you remember the 'A C Whittington' general store by the 90deg bend in the A52 at the Skegness end of Wainfleet? That was run by my grandmother and thus where we used to stay in the 1970's. And do you remember the minah bird in the hardware store in the market square?!

 

 

I remember it well. I was in Wainfleet a few weeks ago and saw the garden where the the shop was. Unfortunately it was demolished by a truck quite some time ago. I used to go in there as a kid for bags of flumps - very dangerous it was as well, especially in the summer as it was on that 90 degree corner on the main road to Skegness. I remember she was a very nice lady who was always kind to kids.

 

cheers

 

Jason.

I actually used to travel through Grantham as a child in the opposite direction, as my mother's side of the family was from Wainfleet/Skegness.

 

Well I'm from Wainfleet as well , I left when I was 18 in 1986, so a little after the period you're modelling! Do you think it would be possible to see a picture of the station buildings the next time you put some up?

 

cheers

 

Jason

That's really great. Living near Skegness as a kid, then moving to London later in life, Grantham was the station we almost always changed at (in fact I'll be flying over from Canada and passing through the station in a few weeks), so it will be really interesting to see this develop. I hope all goes well with it, and I concur about the C1! One quick question, were the 6-wheelers kit built or scratch-built?

 

Jason

Thanks for your advice Allan, it certainly helped today

 

I've just thought, my questions about the cutter has taken over the thread about card rolling stock. If it's ok with everyone I'll start a new thread so this one can get back on topic.

 

cheers

 

Jason

My Cameo turned up in the post today. Worked fine out of the box, and while I'm impressed, the mat is really sticky and tears the paper I was using with the test cuts - I'm assuming that it will become less sticky in time.

 

I'm looking forward to running off a few window frames and cutting tests etc once it settles down. Meanwhile, walls and rooves tomorrow I think

Thankyou!

There's more information here than I could ask for. Thanks for answering my question. I think I'll get the Cameo as to start off with I'll be cutting windows in card. It looks like it's only limited by your imagination. Has anyone used styrene sheet with the Cameo at all?

 

Jason

There's some great modelling here!

 

I was just wondering about that craft Robo Cutter. There seems to be a lot of different sorts and a huge price range. Can anyone recommend one in particular? Will some of the "cheaper" ones do the job?

Hi there, I know it's been said, but I think your work is great, and it's inspired me to get going on mine.

 

cheers, Jason

If I can drum up the cash this would be good for me. I would be after 4 for my layout, and at the moment there's no way I'd have the skills to put one together convincingly. It'll also be interesting to see I could bash the Dapols though.

The quality of the work is amazing. If you're ever exhibiting in Calgary, Alberta I'll make sure I'm at the front of the line to see it! I get to Liverpool from time to time because my wife is from the Wirral. Next time I'm there I'll have a good look around and see if the station area is as good as your model.