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Ian J.

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  1. Ian J.

    En Route

    By Ian J.,


    General
    Here's a first version of the diagram for the S&P's line, distances not to scale:

     
     
    As part of understanding operation and signalling, I've indicated where the passing / run round loops are with green infills.
  2. Ian J.
    As some here will have noticed, I'm having a cull of my stock collection. What's going out are almost all items that don't fit within two themes. In order to help me with making sure I don't sell something relevant to the themes and to help focus future purchases, I thought I'd ask here for input on what stock (locos, carriages, wagons and departmentals) was known to run within them. The two themes are related as they are the same geographically, but differ in period. Note that I'm not planning a model of the entire geographic area! It's just a way of defining my stock list.
     
    The area and time periods are pretty much absolute, the intention being to restrict stock and not to find excuses to include stock! There are, however, a few items in my collection that don't fit, but they will stay for sentimental reasons.
     
    The two periods are 1961 and 1985, and cover a specific area of the Southern Region.
    1961 has a leeway of a couple of years either way, so from 1959 to 1963. This allows some examples of locos and stock that would otherwise have disappeared by 1961.
    1985 has more leeway earlier than after, so from 1983 to 1986, but not including the advent of Network SouthEast. Also, the geography differs in that lines that were closed by that time obviously have no prototype to work to.

    The geographic extent is centered around the Poole - Bournemouth corridor, with the following extents:
    To the West, just short of Dorchester Junction on the Southampton & Dorchester line, so that the GWR main line from Weymouth to Castle Cary and all the Western Region stock associated with it is avoided.
    To the East, up to and including Brockenhurst, but not as such beyond.
    To the North, just short of Alderbury Junction on the Salisbury & Dorset Junction line. This avoids the stock from the Southampton - Salisbury line, and from the Waterloo - Exeter main line, even though I have a liking for the class 50s!
    Additionally, anything that ran on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway proper is also in scope. However the junctions at Bath, Highbridge, Radstock, Templecombe, etc are not included, but the Southern end at Broadstone and to Bournemouth West is.

    I already know a fair amount of the stock, so I've made a list of what I already know below. Some of it may be inaccurate as I could be including things that didn't appear within those time frames (particularly the 1985 one as my memories are strong for the late 80s and early 90s). I suppose what I'm trying to find are the less obvious locos and rolling stock items that made occasional visits, and also a few of the one off appearances that may not have been covered in general information in books and the like about the area.
     
    I'll be doing my own research and will add to the blog as and when, I'm not expecting others to go off and actively research for me. I'm also not expecting anyone to reply quickly, this is really intended as a slow running posting to help build up the list as and when other members here remember.
     
    1985:
    Locos:
    08
    09
    20 (20 901 and 20 904, weedkilling train)
    33/0
    33/1
    33/2
    47/0
    47/3
    47/4
    47/8
    73/0
    73/1
    73/2

    Carriages (predominantly on the Inter-Regional services from Poole to the North):
    Mk 1
    Mk 2 a/b/c/d/e/f
    Mk 3a Sleepers? (can't remember when these services started)

    Units:
    4REP
    4TC
    4VEP

    Wagons:
    100T Bogie Oil Tanks
    4 Wheel LPG Tanks

    1961:
     
    Locos:
    Southern:
    700
    B4
    E1 4-4-0 (mentioned in 'Rails to Poole Harbour' working out of Salisbury in 1959)
    G6
    H15
    L (Wainwright SECR)?
    LN Lord Nelson
    M7
    MN Merchant Navy (Rebuilt)
    N
    N15 King Arthur
    O2 (only to 1956 at Bournemouth, but I like them and Kernow are doing them so worth having )
    Q
    Q1
    S15
    T9
    U
    V Schools
    WC/BB West Country/Battle of Britain (both original and rebuilt)

    Western (both on and from the S&DJR, and from Dorchester and Basingstoke to Bournemouth):
    2251 0-6-0
    43xx Mogul
    57xx Pannier Tank
    8750 Pannier Tank?
    Hall
    Modified Hall
    Grange (6815 in 1965, not sure if they appeared before that)

    Midland:
    2MT Prairie Tank (Ivatt)
    2P 4-4-0
    3MT Prairie (Stanier) (mentioned in 'Rails to Poole Harbour' off the S&DJR in 1960)
    3F Jinty
    3F 0-6-0
    4F 0-6-0
    4MT Mogul (Ivatt) (Not sure these ran during the '59 - '63 period)
    5MT 4-6-0 (LMS)
    7F 2-8-0 (S&DJR)
    8F 2-8-0 (Stanier)
    L&Y Pug
    Sentinels (47190 and 47191, at Radstock)
    S&D 0-4-4T (58086 lasted to 1959)

    Eastern:
    A3 (60112 St Simon, on a railtour in 1963)

    BR Standards:
    2MT Prairie Tank
    3MT Prairie Tank
    3MT Mogul (too late?)
    4MT Tank
    4MT Mogul
    4MT 4-6-0
    5MT 4-6-0
    9F 2-10-0

    Diesels (using TOPS classifications):
    04
    33/0
    47/0
    73/0

    Other:
    Peckett 0-4-0 ('George Jennings', Parkstone)
    RS&H 0-4-0 ('Bonnie Prince Charlie' and 'Western Pride', Poole Docks)

    Carriages:
     
    Pretty much any of the following:
    Mk 1s
    Bulleids
    Maunsells

    plus:
    Gresleys (an Articulated Twin noted in particular)
    Thompsons
    Staniers

    Wagons:
     
    Too many to mention!
     
    Books checked:
    Branch Lines Around Wimborne (Middleton Press)
    Southern Steam in the South and West (OPC)
    Celebration of Steam - Hampshire & Dorset (Ian Allan)
    The Salisbury & Dorset Junction Railway (Kestrel Railway Books)
    The Changing Railway Scene - Southern Region (Ian Allan)
    Rails to Poole Harbour (Oakwood Press)
    Steam Around The Hampshire & Dorset Coast (Ian Allan)
    The Last Days of Steam in Dorset and Bournemouth (Alan Sutton Publishing)
    Glory Days: Steam in Dorset (Ian Allan)
    Dorset Steam (Capital Transport)
    British Railways Past and Present: Dorset (Gough & Mitchell)
    Steam Days in Dorset (Waterfront)
    More Southern Steam - South and West (Bradford Barton)
    Southern Railways in the Latter Days of Steam (Book Law)
    Southampton to Bournemouth (Middleton Press)
    Bournemouth to Weymouth (Middleton Press)
    Bournemouth to Evercreech Junction (Middleton Press)
    Burnham to Evercreech Junction (Middleton Press)
    Bath to Evercreech Junction (Middleton Press)
    Somerset & Dorset Steam Finale (Runpast Publishing)
    The Somerset & Dorset Line (Ian Allan)
    The Somerset & Dorset Remembered Part 2 - Highbridge to Bournemouth (Book Law)
    The Somerset & Dorset Remembered Part 1 - Bath to Evercreech Junction (Book Law)
    The Somerset & Dorset in Colour (OPC)

  3. Ian J.
    The old boards (three 4' x 2') from an aborted previous build, and the six old 'test track' boards (four 4' x 1' and two 1' x 1') have now had all their components stripped, track removed and all but one sanded to clean off the top surface. The one not sanded was a scenic board that was going to be a station, and I'd glued down a layer of cork and surfaced it for a yard area. Unfortunately this wasn't easy to remove, so there are some gouges in the surface that will need filling. The board is still damp from water used to loosen the glue holding the cork in place so it will need to dry out first, then I can sand it to remove as many bumps as I can before filling the gouges. The appearance of the top surface of all these boards is not of concern as I'm intending to put a layer of cork down to lay the track on, not for sound proofing but to keep the fiddleyard track at the same height as the scenic boards when they have cork used for the ballast shoulder.
     
    Once that's done, the next job for the old boards is to strengthen their corners with 2"x1" softwood blocks that will also be the backing for each of the boards' alignment dowels, and fit said dowels. After that, it will finally be time to rearrange the room where all this is to go so that I can test the fit (there's a notional 1" of spare space in the room for the layout on its length!), before fitting the clasps that will hold the board joins together.
  4. Ian J.

    Penmouth Harbour Diagram

    By Ian J.,


    General
    I've knocked this up today. Took a while to get that subtle curve in, AnyRail doesn't provide any tools for quickly doing curved shapes so shape control points have to be added and aligned by hand:

     
     
    Note that, in the fiction, the 'goods yard' is a late addition to allow reworking the demonstration freights away from the main station of Tynworth. In the fiction's original idea there would have been no freight sidings for the railway as the station was for boat trains only, and the port handled all the freight. However, with the 'rebuild' of the port to use its western entrance for bigger ships, and all but close the eastern entrance (where this station is), this land was used for general storage of port equipment. The land was returned to railway use when the heritage line was able to afford the re-opening, and there was seen to be a significant tourist revenue to be had for people visiting The Pen (the large island of rock at the harbour's mouth).
     
    Note that I've attempted to add appropriate signalling, but I'm in no way sure it's right.
  5. Ian J.

    A Beer In The Dean

    By Ian J.,


    General
    A quick knock up of Bere Dene's track plan:

    Again, signals are educated guesses, rather than final arrangements. This time the passing loop lines aren't bi-directional. It is my intention to model a section of line between Bere Dene and Arnford as a simple, single straight line through a forest, on a set of 1 foot wide boards I already have. Although I don't think I'd ever have space to put it with this vignette, I like the idea of it being possible to directly connect it to the left end of this plan.
  6. Ian J.
    The first full assembly. With the living room floor cleared, I have been able to do a test assembly of the left and right throat boards, to check their overall alignment in combination with the old curves from a previous test layout build. It was very nearly spot on. Unfortunately the natural variability of a less skilled hand made build has meant that there's a slight gap between the two fill-out boards added to the curves. I'd already added 9mm ply ends to them as I knew they'd come out short, but even that was not enough. I am going to have to add two 6mm ply boards to them to fill the gap. Otherwise, it's not far off.
     
    I thought I'd let my recently won Dean Goods do the honours of being the first loco to sit on the assembly, with the templates in place, and the first of the code 83 turnouts in possible places too.
     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     
     
     
  7. Ian J.
    Due to changes in the way I've interpreted landscape and geology, I've modified the line's route, so below is the new Run Along The Line:

    "From the large market town of Sayersbridge situated on the north-east bank of the River Stur, the main line to Exeter crosses the river by a low embankment to reach the south-west side where the line to Penmouth diverges to the south. It passes through the wooded area of Cold Holt before emerging onto low rolling arable farming land. Further south it reaches the shallow valley of Bere Dene and its halt, where the Arn Stream tributary starts its descent towards the coast. The line crosses by a small bridge to get to the east side of the vale, which it follows until reaching the station for the two villages of Arnford (East and West on either side of the stream). Afterwards the land starts becoming more hilly as we see the Step Ridge in the distance. The station at Dunstow follows, then the line runs through the old hunting forest of Frith before reaching West Frith Station. Shortly after, the branch to Knightonmore splits away to the east at Frith Junction, while the primary line continues south to Ceorfan, the gap in the Step Ridge where the Arn Stream joins the Freme River for its journey to the English Channel. Weytonwell Village follows on the south side of the Ridge, and then passes the quarry where Weyton Stone is extracted. The line descends the steep bank down to the Freme Inlet and Estuary, passing Stokestone station midway. A mile after the bottom of the bank is Stokeholme Halt where the old pottery wharf has become a yacht marina. The line then curves west over the stone sea wall across the inlet mouth, slowing for the swing bridge in the middle. Onwards the line runs along the Jurassic coastline to the west until it reaches the coastal halt of Sto Sands, situated between the beach and the cliffs, with the small village of Sto in the chine behind. Further west still and we reach the outskirts of the large town of Tynworth as the inland cliffs gently descend to sea level and to the centre of Tynworth. Here the passenger journey used to end and only freight continued, but now passengers can continue west to go past the sizable port of Penmouth, and afterwards reach the terminating halt for the popular tourist destination of the outcrop of land known as 'The Pen', accessed by an artifical causeway on foot.
     
    The Branch leaves the primary line at Frith Junction and passes to the north of Step Ridge, the chalk feature that splits the inland fertile land from the rocky coast to its south, first reaching Grange Knowle. Then it carries on to Steepleham Station, the town for which is situated on the Ridge above the line. It then meanders on eastwards to Knightonmore Station where the passenger services terminate. A more recent extension of the line carries on to Arnbrook to provide rail access to the recently established oil well site."
     
    The history has been tweaked as well, but is substantially the same as previously:
     
    "In 1860, the port of Penmouth was a smallish port on the Wessex coast, with only turnpikes to get goods in from and out to the country. The port commissioners, seeing the 'success' of the London and South Western Railway's routes to the West Country, consulted with the town council of Tynworth and other nearby local landowners on the building of a railway to connect with the nearest main line. The route decided on a connection at Sayersbridge, and construction commenced in 1861. Completion of the route was in 1863, with opening on Monday, 4th of May that year. The line was owned independently by the Sayersbridge and Penmouth Railway Company Limited (the S&PR for short, but known as 'the Sap' colloquially) but was operated by the London & South Western Railway until 1868, when the financial troubles of 1866 finally caught up with the owners and they sold out to the L&SWR.
     
    The port of Penmouth and its town of Tynworth flourished once the railway was running, and became quite significant both for trade and population. Most of the route served small village and farming populations, and private landowners, with the only intermediate settlement of any size between Sayersbridge and Tynworth being the split town of East and West Arnford.
     
    The earthworks of the line were for most of its length built with double track in mind, but as a cost saving measure many of the bridges were single track only, and of somewhat light construction. The plan had been to replace these once the prominence of the port increased, but with the 1866 financial crisis and the ensuing buyout by the L&SWR in 1868 and an insufficient improvement in traffic, these were never upgraded to double and the line has stayed single for its entire life. It was always mainly a freight line, but its passenger service was adequate to the modest local needs. No direct trains to London were ever run regularly, although occasionally attempts were made to do so, particularly in the 1950s when post-war holidays could be taken and visits to Sto Sands were popular. The line survived the Beeching cuts of 1963/4 due to its freight usage, but with the construction of a dual carriageway direct to Penmouth in the late 60s, the freight disappeared from the line and the remaining passenger usage was simply not enough to keep it running. In 1974 the line was closed, despite an inevitable campaign to retain it.
     
    The campaign to keep it open morphed into a preservation movement, and enough support was gained to prevent the wholesale selling off of the trackbed. From that point on the S&PR Preservation Society managed to slowly reopen the line, with the only track formation obstacles being a few private residence ingresses and the removal of a number of the lightweight bridges. These had been in a poor state and had been dismantled for safety. The opportunity was taken to replace them with double track bridges as each one was arrived at during the 22 years it took to get from Tynworth to Sayersbridge. This meant that by 1996 the line's infrastructure was finally capable of double track throughout, something the line had never achieved while in national ownership. The line was still single track but it became feasible to put in a second line if traffic levels demanded it. After privatisation of the national network in the early 1990s and the reconnection with the national network in 1996, the prospect of commercial freight using the line raised its head. One of the first private freight arrangements was an extension of the branch line to Arnbrook for rail access to the oil well there. An arrangement for regular stone traffic from Weytonwell Quarry was started in 2000, to be followed by some occasional traffic of exports and imports of bulk freight to and from the port. This has allowed the line to improve its infrastructure to allow running speeds of 50 mph when non-heritage services are running. The heritage services use stock not now considered safe enough for such speed, so they are still restricted to the 25 mph limit. A commercial passenger service for commuting has been proposed that will use modern stock and only run in the mornings and evenings, but this would mean the heritage services would have to be stopped slightly earlier on such days. With the freight traffic, consideration for doubling the line has been given, but the freight movements as at time of writing are not thought sufficient to do so and there is no benefit to the heritage operation to implement a second track throughout.
     
    Additional to the loss of some of the bridges after closure, a number of the stations were demolished along with most of the original railway buildings such as goods sheds and signal boxes. These have been replaced either with imported non-S&P originals from various locations around the country, or new builds where no suitable pre-existing replacements could be sourced.  
     
    The colours of the buildings of the original S&PR were dark blue and cream. The stock was the same, with locomotives in plain dark blue, but these were repainted in L&SWR colours after the sale to that company. In SR days the station colours changed to green and cream. The preservation movement became a limited company in the early 2000s, with a rebranding exercise giving the operation the name 'Wessex Rail'. Some of the locomotives and stock have been repainted in Prussian Blue with double gold lining, the livery having been 'borrowed' from the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. The buildings have taken the original S&P dark blue and cream.
     
    The line now flourishes in three ways: firstly, it's a heritage line running steam and diesel trains for visitors; secondly, it has commercial freight traffic adding a useful cashflow; thirdly, and not lastly, it will likely run a scheduled service between Tynworth and Sayersbridge using a couple of leased 'modern' units for commuters."
     
    Next I'm going to work out what would be the best places for the 'vignettes' that could be constructed to show different aspects of the line. There are of course the stations:
     
    Primary Line: Sayersbridge, Cold Holt, Bere Dene, Arnford, Dunstow, West Frith, Weytonwell, Stokestone, Stokeholme, Sto Sands, Tynworth, Penmouth (for The Pen)
    Branch: Grange Knowle, Steepleham, Knightonmore
     
    Apart from the stations themselves, I have some ideas for others already:
     
    Sayersbridge Embankment
    Frith Junction
    Arnbrook Oil Depot
    Arnbrook Clay Pit
    Ceorfan Viaduct
    Weytonwell Quarry
    Stoke Sea Wall Swing Bridge
     
    I'm thinking of having MoD land somewhere, but I don't know which station would be its railhead as I haven't planned that far ahead yet.
     
  8. Ian J.

    A Run Along the Line

    By Ian J.,

    From the large market town of Sayersbridge, the line diverges from the national network southwards, keeping to the level of the plain and with a straight run through the town's suburbs. Once through Steepleham station we leave the town behind us and the line drops lazily down along the West side of the Arne Valley, past the old hill farming area of Dunstow before emerging at the base of Knowle Hill and the station for the Grange. It crosses the Arne here to the East side and parts with the Arne Valley to take a route along the Vale of Bere. The small hamlet of Bere Dene follows, then the line passes the wood of Cold Holt before cutting through the private estate of Knightonmore and alongside the old hunting forest of East Frith. With the forest behind it the line curves back to return to following the the River Arne and reaches the town of Arneford, the only intermediate town on the route. We then snake through the now shallow valley, crossing it three times before reaching Weytonwell, and on past the quarry, the rock from which is known for its luscious sandy stone that is used in buildings the world over. We can now smell the sea as we emerge onto the Arne River's short flood plain and begin the curve to the right for the coast. Stokeholme is passed on the curve and then we're running by the English Channel between sandy beaches to our left and Jurassic cliffs to our right. We pass the halt at Sto Sands where the cliffs dip down as we push through the coastal suburbs to the terminus at Tyneworth. While we as passengers stop here, the line carries on past to Penmouth for the export and import of freight at the port, overlooked by the headland of The Pen.
  9. Ian J.
    Hi all,
     
    So, after some help here with arranging the throat parts of a fiddleyard, below is a picture (from Anyrail) of the arrangement I'm likely to settle on for the common fiddleyard parts that I hope to use for various 'vignettes' of the S&P's line. It's designed on the principle of 'adaptable modularity', so that different lengths and widths of arrangement, and different track exit positions on the scenic sections, can be made and the fiddleyard parts should always be able to be connected to them.
     

     
    I have used Peco Code 83 for the side 'throat' and curve sections. I have a fair bit of old Peco Code 75 that I intend to use for the straight yard boards. For the scenic sections (in mauve) my intention is to use something like C&L or Exactoscale components. The wiring will be DCC only, with multiple buses (track power+signal; 12v acc power; 16v acc power; lighting power) using circuit breakers for each point board and/or related boards so that wrong running into points set against won't stop being able to change the point's position.
     
    I'm hoping to be able to build my own MERG point accessory decoders to power already acquired Tortoises, Fulgurex and Peco Solenoid motors.
     
    The curve boards already exist from part of an old test track layout from where I used to live in London. Minimum curve is therefore approx 32in/812mm. Stock will have back to backs adjusted to improved running, and check rails on the Code 83 pointwork may need adjusting, but as they are metal, I'm hoping that won't be too much of a problem.
     
    I've learnt a bit more about how to align the boards using pattern makers alignment dowels, particularly how to retrofit them to my existing boards of my own construction. I'm hoping that means I can reuse them rather than dismantle and discard (for recycling, if I have to).
     
    As I work through ideas in my head, Sayersbridge (the S in S&P) is turning out to be something of an analogue for Salisbury. However, it's very important to realize it isn't Salisbury as in my fictional geography it sits somewhere between Salisbury and Exeter. As such it's taking on a significant flavour of Salisbury, but with more than a dash of Templecombe and Yeovil thrown in, together with some unique elements. There are a number of differences to how it would look (nothing like Salisbury from a buildings point of view), and a few differences as to what would be running through it and terminating at it. I hope that goes some way to explaining some of my question threads regarding what services ran on the Waterloo - Exeter services.
     
    Sayersbridge, however, is too big for me to tackle at the moment. So my focus will be on the 'vignettes' of sections and stations on the S&P line proper. I think that's more manageable for now.
     
     
  10. Ian J.
    I've been working on reworking some javascript code I found online to produce a gradient profile using the Canvas element from HTML5. This is my initial gradient profile for the S&PR:
     

     
    Any feedback gratefully accepted. I would prefer to make corrections and modifications to the gradients sooner rather than later to save hassle, even though the generator can handle the data independently of the drawing better than the original code could
     
    Edit: profile replaced with an updated one with the incorrect level at Arneford fixed.
  11. Ian J.
    I've cleaned up and checked alignment (by eye) the six main boards for the fiddle yard throats left and right. The images here show them on the largest flattest area I have at the moment, my kitchen floor. The room where they will eventually be set up is a bit clogged with detritus at the moment:
     

     
    There is a little bit of warping visible in the left lower centre board, but that will be flattened out once the framing is done:

     
    There is the odd gap that looks worse in the images than in actual reality:

     

     

     
    The more noticeable gaps between upper and lower curves are not critical as no track will be running over them, and they're close enough to my eye to be OK:

     

     
    Again, the slight warping is visible here, but will go once framed:

     
    Overall I'm reasonably pleased at how they have turned out.
     

     
    Next I have to tidy up the four small spacer boards, then get everything framed up.
     
  12. Ian J.

    Diagram Alley

    By Ian J.,


    General
    A couple of diagrams. First Cold Holt and then Penmouth Waterside. Both featured in a thread on RMweb for signalling advice. Apologies for image quality, the files get compressed by RMweb's upload process and there's nothing I can do about it (it seems to be something to do with their pixel width, not their actual file size).
     
    Cold Holt is an interchange station between the S&P and the National Network. None of it exists in model form at present so it would be entirely new.

     
     
    However, for Penmouth Waterside some of it exists already.
     
    In the fiction it's a station that didn't exist originally when it was the site of a two loco engine shed and turntable with no loop, and just a single line through.
     
    In heritage era a sizable expansion was undertaken onto empty adjacent port land. The turntable was moved and a decent sized engine shed put in, plus a locomotive works. The area immediately offstage below the bottom of the layout is supposed to be a service road and sea front so nothing practical can go there, which is why the signals are all 'inside' the layout. The two lines to the left are both bi-directional, and all three roads through are also bi-directional.
     
    From a model and running perspective, the two central boards already exist from a previous layout build attempt, and as I only have 8 feet of operational scenic space where I currently live they have to be viable on their own without the two outer boards. Some of the track layout of that previous build is in situ and can't be moved (mainly the turnouts across the central board join) but the tracks below the shed (station and extra road) will be newly arranged (although it's going to be fun trying to lift and relay the C&L turnouts).

    Note that some of the track (notably the shed access Y) is not joined up - this is because the available track objects in AnyRail don't fit with what's actually in place, which is hand-built C&L points with some subtle curves in them. There was no suitable Y so that's just a placeholder Peco Y.
     
     
  13. Ian J.

    A Small Update

    By Ian J.,

    The left and right fiddle yard boards are now fully fitted with alignment dowels, and with only a couple of places where I've had to use some cereal packet card to even out the alignment:
     

     
    Now, a couple of coincidental observations with regards to measurements, if you're into this sort of thing: the width of the minimum arrangement (as above) is 7 feet and a quarter inch. The outer circumference length of each of the old test track curves is four feet, eight and a half inches
     

     

     
     
  14. Ian J.

    Second Accident

    By Ian J.,


    General
    Second, because I'd dropped a board during build which dented a corner and bent one of the join clips.
     
    This time though the damage is a little more terminal to the recently attached barriers:
     

     

     
    Occurred during disassembly this morning when I wasn't being quite cautious enough to ensure that the board was properly supported during leg removal. Proves that the acrylic is pretty fragile, and acts as a reminder to me to be careful in all respects when assembling or disassembling the layout. I'll have to order replacements as repair would be impractical. I might make that a slight over order so as to have some spares in case of similar happening again.
     
  15. Ian J.
    A bit of progress to report. I'm currently waiting for a delivery of copperclad strips for board end track attachment and alignment, so in the meantime I've done some test setups of the boards; checked for alignments; put the templates on top; checked some track positioning issues; cut the cork underlay for turnouts and plain track; and started punching holes into the templates to allow marking of the board surfaces where the rails need to go:
     
    An initial set up of the ends and the primary centre board:

     

     
    A secondary set up of the ends only, templates positioned for effect:

     
    There is a minor issue with turnout position where, across board joins, I'm going to have to overlap them to get a clean cross board run:

     
    This causes a gap to be created earlier in the turnout run, and will need to be dealt with (probably by using a small cut of rail inserted into a rail joiner). This issue has been caused because the AnyRail software joins the tracks exactly, and doesn't take into account board joins:

     
    The 'test track' arrangement as it will be, where there are no intermediate staging or scenic boards. Templates and turnouts laid on for effect:

     
    Cork underlays cut for the four straight turnouts...:

     
    ...the left-hand curves...:

     
    ...the right hand curves...:

     
    ...and strips for the plain track:

     
    Punching holes in the templates to allow marking of the rail positions on the board tops...:

     
    ...done with this nifty little tool from Hobbycraft:

     
    🙂
  16. Ian J.
    The first board (numbered 5) is now assembled. The cutting of the holes was very 'splintery'. I need to come up with a way to reduce the sheer amount of splinters that come off the cut plywood (both for the holes and the edges). I'm wondering if varnishing now might not be a bad idea to help seal up the edges. Another idea is to put insulation tape on the straight edges. I don't know how I could do the sam with the hole edges though.
     

     

     

     

  17. Ian J.

    A Potted History (Fictional)

    By Ian J.,

    In 1860, the port of Penmouth was a smallish port on the Wessex coast, with only turnpikes to get goods in from and out to the country. The port commissioners, seeing the 'success' of the London and South Western Railway's routes to the West Country, consulted with the town council of Tyneworth and other nearby local landowners on the building of a railway to connect with the nearest main line. The route decided on a connection at Sayersbridge, and construction commenced in 1861. Completion of the twenty-nine mile route was in 1863, with opening on Monday the 4th of May that year. The line was owned independently by the Sayersbridge and Penmouth Railway Company Limited (the S&PR for short, but known as 'the Sap' colloquially) but was operated by the London & South Western Railway until 1868, when the financial troubles of 1866 finally caught up with the owners and they sold out to the L&SWR.
     
    The port of Penmouth and its town of Tyneworth flourished once the railway was running, and became quite significant both for trade and population. Most of the route served small rural village and farming populations, and private landowners, with the only intermediate settlement of any size between Sayersbridge and Tyneworth being the town of Arneford.
     
    The earthworks of the line were for most of its length built with double track in mind, but as a cost saving measure many of the bridges were single track only, and of somewhat light construction. The plan had been to replace these once the prominence of the port increased, but with the 1866 financial crisis and the ensuing buyout by the L&SWR in 1868 and an insufficient improvement in traffic, these were never upgraded to double and the line has stayed single for its entire life. It was always mainly a freight line, but its passenger service was adequate to the modest local needs. No direct trains to London were ever run regularly, although occasionally attempts were made to do so, particularly in the 1950s when post-war holidays could be taken and visits to Sto Sands were popular. The line survived the Beeching cuts of 1963/4 due to its freight usage, but with the construction of a dual carriageway direct to Penmouth in the late 60s, the freight disappeared from the line and the remaining passenger usage was simply not enough to keep it running. So in 1974 the line was closed, despite a campaign to retain it.
     
    The campaign to keep it open morphed into a preservation movement, and enough support was gained to prevent the wholesale selling off of the trackbed. From that point on the S&PR Preservation Society managed to slowly reopen the line, with the only track formation obstacles being a few private residence ingresses and the removal of a number of the lightweight bridges. These had been in a poor state and had been dismantled for safety. The opportunity was taken to replace them with double track bridges as each one was arrived at during the 22 years it took to get from Tyneworth to Sayersbridge. This meant that by 1996 the line's infrastructure was finally capable of double track throughout, something the line had never achieved while in national ownership! The line is currently still single track but it is now feasible to put in a second if traffic levels demand it. After privatisation of the national network in the early '90s and the reconnection with the national network in '96, the prospect of commercial freight using the line raised its head. An arrangement for regular stone traffic from Weytonwell Quarry was started in 2000, to be followed by some occasional traffic of exports and imports of bulk freight to and from the port. This has allowed the line to improve its infrastructure to allow running speeds of 50 mph. Not all stock is considered suitable for that so some services are still restricted to the 25 mph limit. With the freight traffic, consideration for doubling the line has been given, but the freight movements as at time of writing are not thought sufficient to do so and there is no benefit to the heritage operation to implement a second track throughout. There are plans to put in double track in a [couple of places] to ease operation in the Summer when both the freight and heritage operations are running simultaneously.
     
    Additional to the loss of some of the bridges after closure, a number of the stations were demolished along with most of the original railway buildings such as goods sheds and signal boxes. These have been replaced either with imported non-S&P originals from various locations around the country, or new builds where no suitable pre-existing replacements could be sourced.
     
    The colours of the buildings of the original S&PR were dark blue and cream. The stock was the same, with locomotives in plain dark blue, but these were repainted in L&SWR colours after the sale to that company. In SR days the station colours changed to green and cream. The preservation movement became a limited company in the early 2000s, with a rebranding exercise giving the operation the name 'Wessex Rail'. Some of the locomotives and stock have been repainted in Prussian Blue with double gold lining, the livery having been 'lifted' from the S&DJR's colours. The buildings have taken the original S&P dark blue and cream.
     
    The line now flourishes in three ways: firstly, it's a heritage line running steam and diesel trains for visitors; secondly, it has commercial freight traffic adding a useful cashflow; thirdly, and not lastly, it now runs a scheduled service between Tyneworth and Sayersbridge using a couple of leased 'modern' units for commuter and shopping passengers.
  18. Ian J.

    An Update

    By Ian J.,


    General
    I completed the boards enough towards the end of last year to do a test assembly in the room where they will go. It does fit with about a quarter inch of space at either end, though the window sill at one end is very 'tight' to one of the angle struts for the legs. The 'scenic' section is an old beginnings of a shed. I hope to 'complete' that enough to represent the heritage shed that would be at Penmouth. I also have in mind an additional 4 foot board each at either end of the shed to open up the area the shed sits within, but that won't fit in the room available of course. It would be for future sets ups in other places where space would allow.
     
    No more progress since as there are boxes stacked up underneath it and piles of paperwork that need sorting out on top of it, and I hate doing paperwork sorting. It could be several months before I get much further.
     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  19. Ian J.

    Finally...

    By Ian J.,


    General
    ...the 7mm copperclad for securing of rail at the board ends has arrived! Yay!
     
    Unfortunately the railway room is in a mess, as I had decided to try and sort out what boxes of stuff I have and try and get everything grouped more suitably in my various boxes. So the floor is not exactly clear. Being a hot weekend and all, I think I won't be fixing any track down just yet. Not so yay.
  20. Ian J.

    Planks for the Memory

    By Ian J.,

    The strips of plywood have been cut to length for all the outer frame parts of the boards. There's some additional cutting to do for reinforcing the board ends so they can take alignment dowels. The ply is only 6mm thick, so not deep enough to drill for the dowel parts and still have something to put screws into. Also, cross members still need to be added, but I'm waiting till the outer frames are in place before sizing up and cutting those.
     

  21. Ian J.
    Today I have been mostly jigsawing - with the grateful help from a friend for somewhere to work where noise and mess aren't an issue, the six primary throat boards and the four small ancilliary boards for the fiddleyard have been cut. They need some cleaning up due to splintering and a not entirely accurate cut line, but that shouldn't be too difficult with my electric hand sander here at home. It'll still be noisy but nowhere near as much as using the jigsaw
  23. Ian J.

    The Project

    By Ian J.,

    The idea of the S&PR - The Sayersbridge and Penmouth Railway - is for a series of related model railway boards that will utilize materials I already have but don't fit any particular prototype. As such, the model would represent a heritage line with some commercial freight operation on it. It is set in a fictional landscape and as such can't be directly linked to any existing lines or geography, but it gets pretty much all its ideas from the Hampshire - Dorset - Devon coastal area and as such is L&SWR / SR / BR(S) in operation, if not in construction.
     
    No actual modelling or construction work can happen at the moment due to life circumstances getting in the way. This blog is then a statement of intent, with a lot of high level thinking about what I hope to be able to do sometime in the future.
     
    The next posting will be a potted history of the line, followed by a summary of a run along it.
  24. Ian J.

    Bits & Pieces

    By Ian J.,

    OK, I've done a bit of an inventory of the non-rolling stock scenic stuff I have sat in boxes, and this is a summary:
     
    Landscape etc:

    Canalside x1 Countryside x4 Goods Yard x3 Industrial x8 Loco Shed x12 Non Specific x2 Residential x6 Station x8 Town x2 Trackside x19 Village x4
    Vehicles:

    Buses x12 Cars x68 Coaches x3 Emergency Car x6 Lorry (Articulated) x9 Lorry (Rigid) x7 Taxi x24 Van (Large) x6 Van (Small) x10
    Now, these summaries don't show enough detail to really back up what I have in mind, but to have put in the entire list for each would be too big. Suffice it to say, from my knowledge of what I have I'm thinking of a layout based on a large-ish town in the south of England, notionally on the Devon/Dorset border, but not any actual town. It will be at the end of a 'stub' of a branch/secondary line that used to carry on down to a small port (and no, it's not Lyme Regis!). The port is being rejuvenated with some ferry traffic and also some bulk cargo both imports and exports. The closed part of the line is now a heritage railway, with the interchange with National Rail at the large-ish town. There are several small stations serving villages between the town and the port, suggesting the line is ten or more miles in length. The rejuvenation of the port has meant that Network Rail and a couple of private freight TOCs have taken an interest in 'leasing' running slots on the heritage railway for freight purposes. This means the heritage line gets some of its infrastructure upgraded (hence the relatively good condition of its operating elements like signals etc).
     
    Certain things in my collection of items above pointed to this scenario. Such things as several Coastguard vehicles and the nine articulated lorries suggested somewhere near the sea and some kind of port. The somewhat 'obscene' number of taxis suggested the large-ish nature of the town. I already have some layout boards constructed which have the loco shed, and these can be adapted to have a small industrial estate. Next to this could be a truck stop of some kind, used as overspill because notionally there's not much space in the small port for many trucks to rest up.
     
    I have enough plywood cut to construct quite a few extra boards, and what I'm thinking is that there could be a kind of shallow flood plain next to the large-ish town with a navigable river (the canal bit comes in there) and also allows me to make use of some bridge bits. It also allows me to get away with keeping the name of the project to Sayersbridge, which has been the name for the previous projects I've tried. This would be Sayersbridge, Mark III
  25. Ian J.

    Barriers to Entry

    By Ian J.,


    General
    As per a post on in the main forum, I've now started to sort out derailment barriers for the boards. I found a supplier, bought two test pieces and have been able to make choices as per what to get.
     
    The curved boards will be getting 2mm thick clear acrylic, and the straight boards 3mm acrylic. Holes have already been drilled to take bolts to mount the barriers in place.
     
    I've placed an order for enough strips to do the ends and up to four 4'x2' boards on both the scenic and fiddleyard sides.
     
    As far as the boards are concerned, I think the next jobs will be to fix any remaining structural issues (one or two frame elements are still loose and a couple of the top boards need regluing to the frames where they haven't sat in place properly), then to clean them up by sanding down the splintering edges, and then paint them to hopefully seal them up. I've decided against varnishing as they have too many construction marks on them. It's going to be white underside, a dark grey-blue for the sides, and cream for the tops.
     
    Some pics of the fitting of the two clear acrylic test pieces:
     

     

     

     

     
     
     
     
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