Finally plucked up the courage to share progress on a small diorama I've been working on since the Autumn, intended as a way of reintroducing myself to the hobby. So here goes....
The Prototype
Broomhope Siding was located near Reedsmouth, Northumberland, on the Morpeth to Bellingham "Wanney" line. The siding supplied an armaments testing facility in the Broomhope valley below. The siding didn't see regular traffic, and main line locomotives ( J27's, J25's, J21's) would usually disappear down the siding and return with a solitary box van before heading on to Reedsmouth with a goods pickup. The operators of the site Vickers Armstrong had small shunting engines down in the valley but as far as I am aware, no records have been found as to what locomotives these were.
The Diorama
I have chosen to model a small section of single track, somewhere between the mainline junction and the actual testing facility down in the valley bottom. Artistic licence has been applied (a soon to be modified Dapol water tower to act as a view blocker and the relocation of the siding gates a few hundred metres towards the valley) but the scene is based around an ungated road crossing which did exist on the approach to the facility. I have also recreated the gradient, with a gradient of about 1 in 55 (15mm over about 2ft 6" ish) rising from right to left as you view the scene. I don't have a vast collection of locomotives or rolling stock to call upon, so part of the appeal of this location was that I could run prototypically short trains and as such, the fiddle yards are only 330mm long, which will give me just enough scope to run a larger locomotive plus one /van wagon, or a shunter plus two vans/wagons.
Construction
The idea behind this Diorama was partly to test my skills in layout building on something small, rather than biting off more than I can chew, and also partly the result of living in a very small house! The cabinetry is all home made, with a 3" x 1" base frame and 6mm MDF sides, ends, and fascia. The total footprint of the unit is 3ft 8" x 1ft 5", with a scenic run of around 2ft 11". Fiddle yards are a bit of an experiment, and are built in to the unit on hinges so that they fold down and cantilever on hooks/chain. The landscape is extruded foam, shaped as required and then covered in paper mache.
If there is anything I have missed, or you'd like to know, then please just ask. Cheers.