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dseagull

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  1. dseagull
    Isfield
     
    The Cuckmere Valley Line began at Isfield, with services departing from Platform 3. Facilities at Isfield were shared with the Wealden (Lewes-Uckfield) Line Station, with A.E Lavender the local coal merchant, also involved with sand, granite and the shingle extracted from Cuckmere Haven. Whilst most passenger trains terminated at Isfield, a few ran onto the Wealden Line, pausing at Platform 1 before continuing towards Uckfield, Eridge (for connections to Hailsham and Polegate via the Cuckoo Line) and Tunbridge Wells West (for connections to London). Leaving Isfield, the line turned quite sharply away from the course of the section of the Wealden line which continued towards Lewes, skirting the ancient Plashett Wood. Crossing farmland, the line then curved gently round before running close to Shortgate Lane to enter Laughton.
     
    Laughton
     
    After entering the village, the line crossed Laughton Road before entering the station, just off the present day Church Road. At Laughton a single platform was provided with a loop, small goods shed (similar to that at Horam on the Cuckoo Line), small livestock holding pen, and a seperate siding to serve the various brickworks.
     

     
    Leaving Laughton, the line passed close behind the village school and All Saints Church, built in the 13th Century and containing the remains of two 18th Century Prime Ministers, both members of the important Pelham family, continuing on the gentle curve to head for Ripe.
     
    Ripe
     
    A short time after leaving Laughton, the line ran into the western side of the small hamlet of Ripe. Here, a basic halt was provided with a single siding for coal and 'smalls' traffic, dealt with by a small 'booking in' office staffed by a part-time Clerk.
     

     
    Berwick
     
    Leaving Ripe, the line crossed the main Lewes-Eastbourne 'East Coastway' line by means of a simple overbridge, passing the outskirts of the village of Selmeston, with the station opposite the Church (St Michaels & All Angels). At Berwick, another loop was provided, with a single siding for freight for the village (larger facilities being provided off the East Coastway line at the station which, upon opening of the Cuckmere Valley line, had been renamed Berwick & Selmeston. A headshunt from this siding ran to a loading dock, adjacent to which was the 2-Foot Narrow Gauge siding of the Ludlay Brick and Tile Company.
     

     
    Alfriston
     
    Shortly after leaving Berwick the line changed direction, curving over the Alfriston Road before running alongside the River Cuckmere, from which it would take it's name. Alfriston Station occupied a pretty location, built on a gentle curve just off North Street, close to the centre of the village, and boasted a goods store as well as livestock pens.
     

     
    Litlington
     
    Leaving Alfriston, the line curved to cross the Cuckmere, before running into Litlington, the terminus of passenger operation on the line. Here a loop is provided, as well as basic goods facilities and a siding running to the Long Man Brewery. Litlington, as with Isfield, is also the location of a coaling stage with water tower (fed from the river), to enable locomotives to be refueled prior to the journey either down to the coast, or back northwards.
     

     
    Following Litlington, the line takes a reasonably straight path alongside the river, crossing again at Exceat, before terminating close to the shore - a loop is also provided. The East Sussex Transport & Trading Company also maintains a small siding for stabling a shunting locomotive, which although plated to work over LBSC metals as far as Litlington Station, is primarily used to shunt loaded wagons into the opposite track of the loop, to enable empties to be delivered straight to the loading platform.
     
    Sources; All information on Narrow Gauge Lines from http://cambrianmodels.co.uk/eastsxng.html .
  2. dseagull

    Ripe - More Progress...

    By dseagull,

    Progress has continued with some more additions and work on the Ripe layout/cameo.
     
    After screwing the various pieces together (angle brackets and a couple of mending plates from Screwfix, and some 19mm screws from Wickes), I used some spare Fablon/Sticky Back Plastic purchased from Poundland ages ago for one of Charlie's homework projects to neaten the front up, as there were a few marks and chips from the process of screwing it all together. This neatens the front of the layout up nicely. I had planned to use Cork tiles to provide underlay for the track, however my stock of these appears exhausted and, not wanting to spend £10 on a new packet of which I needed 3, I decided to look for other options. A trip to Poundland again brought the solution;
     

     
    These are Foam sheets in A5 size, sold for kids craft activities. They come in a pack of 10, with five different colours, and as the place suggests, cost just £1. I was expecting some variation in thickness, but they all seem remarkably the same, they cut very easily with kitchen scissors, and stick down easily and quickly with bog standard PVA. I saw these on Saturday, but didn't buy them straight away, so yesterday afternoon it was a quick trip into town before they closed at 4 to grab some - should have gone with my instincts when I first saw them, as they are ideal for the job. I imagine Hobbycraft would do these in bigger sizes, but no doubt more expensively!
     
    I have now also cut the track (SMP with Peco Code 75 Pointwork) to size, and, with the discovery of a couple of points in a bag beneath my desk (one Medium and one Small Radius), have decided to go with these so that I can get going, without having to wait until payday to buy some new ones. This has had the effect of straightening the track a little, so I have introduced a slight curve to the 'main', which now curves away from the Seed Warehouse siding before running offstage.
     
    The points have both had the springs removed (I can only assume they were salvaged from some long-forgotten layout or another!), but I think the depth of the plinth will allow me to use Tortoise Point Motors with no problems, probably with the switches for them poking through the front fascia.

     
    I also dug a few bits out of the cupboard to enhance the 'visual plan'/3D Mockup - although the platform section at the back which is serving as the bay is too wide and too long, so has to be viewed with some imagination. The Litlington Goods Store though does fit nicely, and in the absence of anything else, I may well use this - or I may build another, more low-relief version. The Tree front right was a helpful find, as it had conveniently been made 'low relief' by having most of the back cut off already! - and it has also made the decision for me that there will be a hedge running along the 'rail side' of the white (Woodlands Scenics Incline) slope, which will serve as the base for the farm track.
     
    The big change though is the building at the back left - previously, it was to be a cottage and sit up against the backscene, however by moving it forward towards the tracks a little, at the expense of a garden, I can have a road going behind it - in the picture above you can see a Morris Van (also a placeholder, although a horse and cart would look nice!) poking out from behind it. In the last post I mentioned having some doubts about the road from front to back, so this has solved that problem as well - with the cottage now becoming a shop (the front will be facing the backscene). Construction of this will be brick and flint, to really 'set the scene'. The level crossing remains, however it will now serve for road access to the farm and the Seed Warehouse only, rather than being a public road. The Crossing gate shown is just a placeholder - MSE list an LBSC level crossing, which will be ideal for the job (Geoff Forster has made a superb job of their GWR example on his stunning Llangunllo
     
    So - on the whole, some genuine progress, although there is a bit of a sinking feeling that the 3' I chopped off the back would have come in very handy! (I'd love to put in another siding for the coal yard, some allotments and a bridge over a stream, but there is simply no room) - still, he who never compromised never made a model railway, and I must adapt to the space available to me!
  3. dseagull
    Work has continued on the Ripe layout since the last update, with some significant progress on the 'boring bits', with all track now laid and wiring to be tidied up tomorrow, once the glue holding it down has had plenty of time to set.
     
    Going back a little though, this was the scene a few nights ago. Excuse the snapshot again, which has been taken on my phone and edited for size.
     

     
    As you can see, the pointwork has changed, which I have salvaged from the previous Litlington board, as I wanted medium radius points rather than the previous medium and small combo.
     
    Over the last couple of days I have also been giving consideration to controlling the points. I was originally planning to use Tortoise Motors, and indeed the Peco points have been modified so that Frog Juicers can be used to switch polarity of the frogs in preparation, but for now, have decided to leave them as manually operated via wire-in-tube.
     
    What I have done though is worked out a way to do this 'on the cheap'. The catalyst was, oddly enough, tidying my desk at work, where I found a Biro which was completely exhausted. Looking at it, I thought the ink tube could come in handy for something, and took it home. I then got some copper wire of approximately 1mm thick, put the wire through the Biro tube and began experimenting.
     
    After testing off board, and a strong coffee, I bit the bullet and drilled a hole underneath the tiebar, and another on the front fascia, poked the Biro tube through, then threaded the wire through and up through the hole (with another piece of tube to keep it straight through the baseboard). To my great surprise, it worked perfectly!
     

     
    Here is one in place, it isn't the easiest thing to photograph, but you can see the (before cutting to height!) wire poking through the points and the front of the board.
     
    The tube has been glued to the underside of the board, and also taped over for security, with part of the Biro Tube left through the front to avoid the wire going out of shape.
     
    Given the small size of the layout, I have also removed the webbing between the sleepers on the SMP plain track, which is something I have never bothered with before, but certainly will be in future as I am very pleased with the results.
     

     
    I am also playing with arrangements for the occupation crossing, and am keen on a small signal box, of the platform mounted type, with the platform ramp in front of it. The placeholder one is 'handed' in the wrong direction unfortunately, and the steps would not be there on the real thing. The signs on the mock up shop are from Scalescenes, and were simply added to pass some time tonight and make it look a little less stark!
     
    As always, thoughts are more than welcome!
  4. dseagull

    Take one TV Unit...

    By dseagull,

    And Build a Baseboard.
     
    Not how they tell you to do it in the magazines, but when I saw the above offered for free on Facebook, my thrifty side couldn't resist.
     
    It is (or was!) an Argos 'Cubes' TV Unit - link here; http://www.argos.co.uk/beta/static/Product/partNumber/6090746.htm, and, no doubt, did that job very well. It was described as 'Free to collector, has some marks on top', and was outside waiting for me when I picked it up yesterday evening, but the short spell out in the cold seems to have done it no damage, and it was sound, with just one or two water marks from mugs etc on the top - exactly as described.
     
    I quickly stripped it down at home, with the intention of just using the top or bottom as a shelf, but then got thinking about how best I could use the rest. The plinth, helpfully, was just attached with dowels, so that came off straight away and on it's own, it was a little rickety - but the size of it immediately caught my eye, at 27 and a half inches by 13 inches, with little plastic 'feet'. A little smaller than ideal, thought I, but worth a ponder.
     
    The top, however, was perfect for my requirements, coming in at just a smidge under 3' in length and 16 inches wide. With this in mind, thoughts turned to increasing the width of the layout, however a 16' deep shelf on top of the desk looked a little ridiculous, so I lopped 3" off the back to give a 13' shelf, hiding the 'chopped' side against the wall and leaving the nicely oak veneered side facing outwards. I then put the plinth on top, just to see what it looked like...
     

     
    And realised it was too good an opportunity to pass up.
     
    I then cut the other shelf (either the top or bottom) down to the same width as the plinth, but it was gone midnight by this point, so gave up for the night, and have spent the last 10 minutes chopping 8' off the side as well to provide a flat surface for the track. This will be attached to the plinth using L-shaped Angle Brackets to form a solid baseboard, and probably covered with cork to make it easier to lay the track.
     

    This has left the three smaller pieces - two were originally sides, and the middle one provided extra support and also divided the 'shelf' underneath the TV Unit. These are just under 16' across the longest dimension, and 6.5' across the width - I was thinking of using them on the ends of the boards, but it would leave a 6.5' backscene, which is lower than I'd like.
     
    All of this has meant another amendment to the plan, to take 8' out of the length of the layout, putting us at 27" x 12", and very much into 'Micro Layout' territory. I did knock something up quickly last night, but it didn't quite sit right, so have tried again this afternoon. This time I have simply shifted everything over a little, reducing the distance between the Y point and the level crossing, and making the road more of a winding country lane. It's a bit narrow in the below plan at 2' wide, but with another slight adjustment, can be made to 3" quite easily - this would equate to a road of just over 43' in 4mm scale (if my calculations are correct!), which should do for a country lane in the 1920's.
     

     
    There are, inevitably, a few compromises - the platform ramps will be a bit steeper than I would have liked, for example, and I think the coal office may be reduced to a token representation, but otherwise, it does fit nicely and it is better than nothing. Having said that, I have gone from a board 12" wide to 13", which I haven't accounted for in the plans, so perhaps there will be a little more room than anticipated. Anyway, it all fits, the domestic authorities are happy (enough ) with the size, it will be solid, stable and portable - oh, and of course it was free!
  5. dseagull

    Ripe - The Plans

    By dseagull,

    From my previous posts not-so-subtle hint, you may guess that I have selected Ripe as the new area of the line to receive my attention.
     
    My previous posts, setting out my history for the Cuckmere Valley Railway, have barely mentioned Ripe, as a small hamlet (both historically and at the present time), a station here would be pushing the boundaries a bit, but there are plenty of real locations which barely merited a station and had one (in some cases more than one!), so Rule 1 applies here!
     
    Despite that, I want to maintain a very definite 'rural' feel to what will be a small layout (4' x 1', excluding the cassettes which will be used for operation), and without some lateral thinking, there was no way I could get in what I wanted. When I first started pondering the scheme, over Christmas (between Christmas and New Year I was at work, and had so little to do that I often found myself doodling plans on post-it notes!), I set myself a list of the following;
    Small Through Station, rather than the halt originally envisaged
    Bay with Goods Store from Litlington
    Level Crossing
    Cattle Pen
    Very Rural, Open Feel

    Fitting all of it in has been a challenge - but borrowing an idea from the superb Llanastr - http://llanastr.webs.com/ - I have been able to, by not having all pointwork 'onstage'. Llanastr is of course a terminus, but I have adopted the same approach to a through station, by having the goods loop offstage, and only part of it in the modelled area.
     
    The plan then;
     

     
    Starting from the left (Laughton) end, the loop to serve the goods yard (if you can call it that!) begins offstage, coming onstage under a road bridge*. From the top, the first siding serves a loading bank with small cattle pen on, whilst the second, forming a bay platform, is purely for goods, with the Goods store I built for Litlington used again here;
     

     
    The third line from the top is the 'main line', which simply runs straight through the small station, over the level crossing and offstage, with the right hand exit hidden behind some trees.
     
    * - I'm not sure about this, the real Ripe is a particularly flat area, but if I set the track in a bit of a cutting, hopefully this will not 'jar' too much.
     
    Scenically, the ethos is on 'open countryside', hopefully to give the impression that the railway has been carved through - stage front will be scrubby land which slopes down to the track, with only a single, small flint-built cottage as evidence of any habitation here, the main village/hamlet centre being further past the cottage and up the lane, though a postbox on the corner of the station forecourt would be quite a nice addition.
     
    As it stands, it encompasses just about everything I want for the moment, though it is a little 'straight' and clinical, which led me on to Version 2, which puts a gentle curve in the platform road as follows;
     

     
    This would see the cottage brought to the other side of the tracks, and built in partial relief rather than full, with a heftier flint wall the other side, perhaps with apple trees poking out above it, hinting at an orchard.
     
    I am someone who enjoys building over operation (well, I aim to be....!), so you could perhaps say there is limited operating potential, though this is a rural branchline in the very early 1920's in any case, and it does allow (with cassettes) trains to run straight through, as well as somewhere to indulge in a spot of shunting.
     
    I would be interested in any thoughts, specifically if anyone can think of another way to hide the left hand side scenic exit,
     
     
    EDIT 21.45
     
    This is what it looks like flipped...
     

     
    The building front right is a Barn (this is the Wills kit which I have on XtrkCad) - I would change the building material to flint, something like this... (Credit on bottom of image) - this is in Selmeston, just down the road.
     

  6. dseagull
    Like taxes, death and failing to win the lottery, ballasting is something of a required inevitably.
     
    Its also something I've never been very good at. For the sidings, I plan to use DAS clay as per Chris Nevard's methods; http://nevardmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/creating-effect-of-ash-ballast.html
     
    For the main line though, and given that shingle extraction is in my history as a purpose of the line, I wanted to give the impression of shingle ballast. As this isn't available out of the packet, I mixed some up from various Woodland Scenics fine grade ballast with a ratio of a tablespoon of Buff, a teaspoon of Grey and half a teaspoon of Brown.
     

     
    So far, so good. So now we come to fixing it. Various methods have been suggested over the years, from a mix of PVA and water, to scenic cement, to neat glue and no doubt plenty of others to boot. There is though a new option - I saw this just after Christmas and have been tempted ever since.
     
    This is 'Ballast Magic' from Deluxe Materials - there is an advert/instructional video on YouTube;
     
    I bought the kit which comes with a water spray bottle and a mixing cup -https://www.deluxematerials.co.uk/gb/scale-plastics/108-ballast-magic-5060243901507.html
     
    As per the video, you mix it 1.7 with ballast, then apply dry and spray with water. It is then supposed to dry in a couple of hours.
     
    Here is a section of my first attempt, photographed about 20 minutes after spraying with water.
     

     
    One thing to note is that the video suggests not making up too much at once - I presume this is is to avoid the powder going off prematurely due to moisture in the air. I overestimated, so may have to have to get rid of what's left in the mixing cup - though the bottle comes with 100ml or so, which should be more than plenty to finish the rest of the layout. I also ran piece of cardboard over the track after spraying, to take any of the gluey water off that had settled on the railhead - this isn't mentioned anywhere so I may be worrying unnecessarily, but thought it better to take it off wet rather than having to scrub it off when dry!
     
    Verdict? Too early to say - it certainly goes on nicely and is easy to use, but the proof of the pudding for me will come later when I pick the board up to store on end as usual overnight.
  7. dseagull
    Well that's not bad, it's only been about 9 months this hiatus, unlike the year one previously...
     
    So, what's been going on in that time?
     
    In all honesty, not a lot. The embankment had the 'soil layer' installed and painted late last March, before progress ground to something of a halt. There was a reason for what was fully intended as a temporary pause, possibly needing some static grass and a holiday, but whatever it was, it is lost in the mists of time, and ever since, the layout has been standing on end in the hall, getting in the way and shaming me every time I walk up the stairs.
     
    It has also, not unreasonably or unsurprisingly, earned the ire of the wife, who has asked me to 'do something' with it. Now, this is where the problems come in. As it is, the layout can only be worked on on the lounge floor, ideas of getting trestles or legs made up never came to fruition. This leads directly to the second problem, in that it could only really be operated in the lounge too - my planned 'home' of the bedroom sideboard was torpedoed early on.
     
    However, there is a light - or rather two lights - at the end of the tunnel. Firstly, Litlington will most definitely not be scrapped - the Foam baseboards have remained incredibly stable throughout the spell in decommission, and I am now convinced of their long term suitability. The layout is at a stage where it can quite comfortably be left for a while, until more space is available, and then picked up with the bits I struggle with (wiring and ballasting) already done. So, when time allows, the plan is to move it to my parents loft, where it will be safe and dry, and can stay until we move to somewhere bigger.
     
    The second light comes from something I should have done at the start and adapted my plans to suit current living arrangements - something smaller. Above my computer desk is space for a shelf, of between 3' and 4' in length, depending on how much I impinge on the lounge wall - and I have been granted permission to put something in on the proviso that "this one gets finished". Whilst nothing can actually physically start until after Litlington has been moved, preliminary planning has. With my long-term intention to complete Litlington, my thoughts are to build a 'complementary' layout, using the same scenario (and buildings for the time being). I was initially torn between modelling just a section of the line, or the shingle loading point at Cuckmere Haven, but the former just doesn't appeal and the latter needs more space to do it justice - so after much pondering, have decided to model the smallest station on the line (the rough track plan in the History posts will change!)
     
    Litlington is sleeping, but the time is Ripe to move on...
  8. dseagull
    So after my ballasting issues, and a much needed - and enjoyed - four nights away with the family, I have now moved on, and have begun putting the basic landscaping in.
     
    A picture tells a thousand words, so;
     

     
    This shows what I've done so far - I have used screwed up newspaper (the Friday-Ad comes in useful for all sorts!) underneath, stuck down with PVA then covered in strips of the same. There is still a fair bit to go in, and more strips will be needed to cover the paper fixed onto the board tonight.
     
    To neaten the edge, masking tape has been applied along the rail side of the embankment. There is also a polystyrene strip, rescued from the skip at work, along the back edge, to allow for the support for a hedgerow.
     
    To the right of the (placeholder) signalbox, you will see a white strip. This is another section of the Woodland Scenics incline, used purely for scenic purposes on this occasion.
     
    If you excuse my foot, this shows what I have in mind
     

     
    Starting on the far right, the white, flat card is the road surface, with a gentle slope up to a pair of railway cottages. I will scratchbuild these, but for mocking up purposes, the blue card is 130mm by 75mm, which is half the length of the Scalescenes 'row of cottages' kit - this contains four cottages, and I only need two, so will base the buildings on these measurements.
     
    The slope then continues past some allotments, before becoming a muddy track leading up to a farm gate. I recently purchased the superb Gordon Gravett book on modelling grassland, rivers and roads, which really is excellent and has given me some ideas and, more importantly, the knowledge of how to do it. It has also seen some rather eccentric purchases, including chinchilla dust, tights, sawdust and white pepper...
     
    Finally, going back to the signalbox, it will be raised above the bank, similar to that at Mayfield on the Cuckoo Line - the one on the layout at present is a Wills kit built and painted (badly) for an old layout - I'm actually planning to use the Ratio 'Platform Signal Box' kit, as it is smaller, but put it on brick foundations to raise it to the same height as this one to enable the signalman to see the top of the bank.
  9. dseagull
    So after last nights failed attempt with the new 'Ballast Magic' product, tonight I started again.
     
    To recap, late last night I was feeling hopeful, after the board and its ballast survived 'the lift' onto its end from the lounge floor. This morning though I touched a patch of supposedly fixed ballast, only for it to come away instantly.
     
    A quick hoover dealt with most of what had been laid last night, though a couple of sections were stuck fast, offering some encouragement (picture below). I then went back into 'mad professor' mode, mixing the layout ballast from three colours, then decanted this mix back into the cup using a teaspoon, meaning I could then use a teaspoon to put the right amount of powder in as well.
     

     
    I mixed it tonight for a good 3-4 minutes, making sure it was all thoroughly coated, before spreading across 'in the usual fashion'.
     

     
    Again, I've just attempted the one section tonight, and of it doesn't work I will go back to other methods. We'll see in the morning!
     
    EDIT - picture after 24 hours. See comments!
     

     

  10. dseagull

    Building Number Two

    By dseagull,

    Its been something of a fraught week in the household as, after a rough weekend, our eldest broke out in the very visible symptoms of chickenpox on Monday.
     
    In between applying calamine lotion and trying to prevent the inevitable scratching, I have been working on a few bits and have now started on the second building. Again referring to the Cuckoo Line book for inspiration, and with the knowledge that there was one in Litlington in the early part of the last century, I have decided to add a blacksmiths to the layout.
     
    Full of ambition, I printed out the relevant plans of the blacksmiths shop built by the LBSC at Groombridge for use by the PW department, scaled it up -and then found it was far too big for the intended location, so what follows is another 'based on' rather than a brick for brick scale model.
     
    The shell went together reasonably quickly from the usual Wills sheets (English Bond brick, doors and windows from the spares box and Roof Tiles, with an offcut of 60thou plasticard to replace the hidden rear wall as I ran out of brick sheeting). In keeping with my usual methods, I've built and painted this first before applying the detail - bargeboards, glazing, gutters & downpipes, door frame etc so the picture is a little 'rough and ready' but will hopefully be improved with those additions. I should also add the chimney stack is not yet painted and is just balanced in its position at the end of the building at present.
     

     
    The arched windows, also refugees from the Ratio Goods Shed mentioned previously, may seem a little high, but they are positioned as per the plan of the blacksmiths from Groombridge. The door on the front elevation is the entrance from the street and will have a sign above it, whilst the door on the side will open into a cobbled yard, bounded by a flint wall (again, I'm a glutton for punishment considering I may still rework the first one I've built!) with some of the lovely etched gates from the Scalelink range at the front opening onto the road. The yard will have plenty of junk etc and maybe, if I can fit one in, either a cart shed (would a blacksmith have had/needed one?) or a stable (same question applies!) in the far corner of the yard.
     
    Alternative options could be a builders yard, small engineering works or a wheelwrights perhaps? - I'm quite sold on the yard with its flint wall and gates though!
  11. dseagull

    The Wall - v1

    By dseagull,

    In the last update I talked about a scenic identity, and mentioned the common use of flint in Sussex for building and construction.
     
    I'm off this week, and whilst I planned to spend a lot of time on the layout real life has somewhat got in the way, although having said that it has been a lovely few days so far with another couple to go.
     
    One thing I've long wanted to make a start on is the retaining wall, as it will be a clearly visible feature, and it needs to go in first before I can start on the goods shed/bank siding. As mentioned previously I've been playing around with a few ideas of how to produce the flint, but today hit a snag. I had wanted to use Wills Cobblestone Walling, but a visit to the model shop saw them out of stock. They did though have some of the Cobblestones, so I've decided to try it and see. I also picked up, for the princely sum of 90p, a sheet of 1.5mm ply, which is suitably flexible to put the slight curve that is required in easily.
     
    After getting home, I cracked on and have 'finished' the wall, although it is not painted and still requires some filling. In all honesty, I'm not sure - the cobblestone has produced flint which is a little large, but equally, I'd like to get it painted and then reassess.
     
    See what you think - I've cropped the image, and it is a little, but only a little, bigger than actual size. This will sit approx 10" from the baseboard edge.;
     

     
    As always, comments are encouraged! - its a shame Wills don't do N Gauge/2mm Cobblestones, as I suspect they would be perfect...
  12. dseagull
    Now that the layout plan is finally complete, I have spent a most enjoyable evening browsing various websites looking for scenic inspiration. Something which I have been keen to do since coming up with the idea is to keep a real 'Sussex feel' with regard to the scenics and the structures. As well as buildings, that also encompasses local building materials - I've even found myself looking quizzically at trees on my travels, thinking "I wonder if I could do justice to you and fit you somewhere". Apparently pills are available for this sort of thing, but as the Mrs hasn't caught me yet I will continue to do so for the time being!
     
    Now I do it intend to have a drive out towards Litlington at some point and take some photos myself, but as the kids are in bed, you will have to make do with the first fruits of my digitally researched labours for the time being.
     
    A good place to start is usually a map, and below you will see a link that takes you to an 1880 OS Map of Litlington and the surrounding areas as digitised by the British History Online website - if you first locate the word Alciston on the map, then zoom in just above the 'N', you will find the village.
     
    http://www.british-history.ac.uk/os-1-to-10560/sussex/079
     
    As you can see, Litlington in 1880 was not a large place - a pub, a few houses, a manor house a little away from the centre, a post office and, to the north, the church. In my minds eye, the station is between the pub and the river, with a conveniently placed lane being the road which crosses the tracks just south of the station.
     
    I'd previously looked at this map on old-maps and the like, but not at the same zoom level due to their paywall, so it has been a real boon to find this, especially when cross-referenced with other sources to fill in a few of the gaps with buildings that are not captioned on the map linked above. One immediate example which springs to mind is a blacksmiths, which would have been just round the corner from the station.
     
    Moving on to initial ideas for structures, there are a couple of obvious ones - albeit moved from their actual locations to fit in with my geography - those being the church and the school. Unfortunately for my purposes, they would both be a little too big and would, I feel, overly dominate what is supposed to be a rural layout.
     
    The School:
     

     
    The Church:
     

     
    So - those are buildings which I like, but don't think I can fit. Let's move on to some others which I think I can do justice to - albeit with 'representations' rather than true scale models to avoid having to ask some awkward questions of present owners! - but first, a diversion...
     
    One of the key features of the local area is the extensive use of flint as a building material. We have a lot of it in Sussex, and we've certainly made use of it over the years - as indeed those images above demonstrate. With the 'main line' rising off stage, I need a retaining wall, and flint would have been the material most probably used for this. There may be a few more sections required, but the main section will be behind the loading bank;
     

     
    If you excuse the placeholder shed and the wonky ex-mini rolls container 'bank', you will see what I mean. The card represents a wall which holds back the bank, but also continues to form a wall running alongside the track.
     
    Unfortunately I can't show images of what this kind of wall looks like in reality, because I can't find a suitable image with the right copyright licence, but here are a few links to exactly what I mean:
     
    https://ianfrithrn.wordpress.com/tag/horizontals/ - Third picture down
     
    http://miniatures.about.com/od/miniaturescalebuildings/ig/English-Village-Facades/Lewes-Flint-Wall.htm
     
    I've had various ideas on how to model this, but think I am set on using a 'core' of plasticard to get the thickness, with Wills 'Cobblestone Walling' painted accordingly for the flint. As for the brick course which can be seen in one oof those photos, some walls have it, some dont - as yet I'm undecided on if my walls will have or not. The 'capping' will be either DAS clay, scribed accordingly, or card, as used as ridge capping by the master Iain Robinson on this rather delightful model here . I was toying with the idea of scribing the lot from DAS, but I don't think I could keep the proportions right. Slaters do a flint wall product, but it looks a little too 'random' for what I've got in mind.
     
    With the use of flint in mind, another wander onto the excellent Geograph.org.uk website has revealed a few ideas which are a little smaller and I think I could fit in. Again, these are all from Litlington - all images are credited accordingly using the nifty tool on the website with relevant info at the bottom of the pictures:
     

     

     
     

     
    So hopefully this will give a little flavour of the actual area - as I continue to research I have no doubt I will find other 'possibles', but it will be nice to have plenty to try out and choose from. Any thoughts would be, as ever, very welcome!
  13. dseagull

    Taking the slow line

    By dseagull,

    Well, as predicted in my last update, the first running over the layout did occur the following evening, using the bus wires temporarily lashed up to an old Hornby controller. Much to my pleasure, and a little surprise, the whole thing worked perfectly, with my new-to-me (a £60 secondhand bargain!) Bachmann C looking very smooth as she coasted down the gradient into the station, before exploring all the sidings.
     
    I fitted the feeds to track through the bottom of the baseboard, using some cut down drinking straws as wiring conduits to avoid potential problems with the foamboard. These were installed by the high-tech method of a large screw driven through the cork, taken out again, and then the hole cleared of any residual foam by poking a screwdriver through it.
     
    I then spent the weekend in ponderous mood, namely the thorny issue of point control. I'm undecided whether to power the points or not -I sold off my stock of Tortoise Point Motors a while ago, but if I do, it will be those again - but with the small size of the layout Wire in Tube operation is also a possibility. This also led me on to powering the frogs to aid reliability. This is something I've been particularly lazy with, and haven't done before - causing the unintentional opening of a can of worms on the subject of Frog Juicers, a rather nifty looking (to me!) product from the States which handles most of it for you. It seems to be something of a Marmite product, some love them, some think they are the work of the devil. I've looked into them, and for me, it seems they make a job I'm not keen on (wiring) a lot easier, of course at a cost, but equally so, it's no use having a layout full of beautiful stock if it won't run properly...
     
    Late last night I decided to press ahead, and made the simple modification required to one of the points in the yard, so now will need to order a couple of the aforementioned Juicers to get things up and running again. Of course, this morning would be the time the car decides it needs a new cambelt as the water pump is rapidly failng... (and you can't change one without the other) - it may be time to dig through the boxes to see what can be sold off to booster the modelling coffers.
     
    These changes have also seen me - finally -finalise the trackplan. I did some mocking up on Saturday - quickly knocking together the shell of a station building from some card from the recycling bag, but when placed in its intended place on the layout the platform looked a little narrow. So - the dock is to be shortened, which rules out an engine shed but will allow for the more realistic livestock pen, and the platform road and runaround have been pulled to the right, rather than going straight on. This has three of outcomes - firstly it buys a tiny bit more space at the front for something to block the scenic exit, the 'skewed' platform road enhances the nicely flowing look, and also it will allow space for a 'proper' station building. I'm at work at the moment, but will add a photo next update to show how this looks.
     
    So - continuing to step in the right direction, and a change made which will improve reliability and in all honesty I should have been doing long ago. It's a marathon, not a sprint -there is no rush, and I intend to enjoy the journey
  14. dseagull

    Firming things up

    By dseagull,

    Tonight has seen a productive session on the layout, after a frustrating evening with the soldering iron on Sunday. Soldering is one of those things I cannot seem to get to grips with (that's blown any pretensions of being a Finescale modeller!) and after some soul-searching, I have decided to go with the Peco pre-wired fishplates, at least initially. If I somehow develop the ability to connect a piece of wire to a piece of track using hot metal in the future, I will change it.
     
    These though have made life a lot easier for me - tonight I have put all bar three of the feeds in place (modelling time was slightly shortened by a non-sleeping baby this evening!), so tomorrow, all things being equal, could see the first trains trundle across the layout.
     
    Talking of the layout, it looks a little different from the last plan...
     

     
    I'm not sure what, but something didn't quite sit right with me about the last variant, so tonight, using the trusty map pins and some boxes rescued from the recycling bag, I went back to mocking up. You can see the gradient has already been put in place, the Woodland Scenics polystyrene profile is, in my opinion superb - it is nicely flexible but strong, and is cut very accurately. It cost less than £6 - and the box contained 6 2' sections. For that price, it is worth the 'time cost' alone to use it!
     
    So - what's new. Well, from the Alfriston direction, trains still coast down the gradient but now run into what was previously the runaround loop and is now the platform - the Frubes box represents the station building for now. As before, the loco can cross over the level crossing to run around if required. Goods workings, however, are propelled back into the siding, which has seen a separate siding for coal pens reinstated. The white card (the folded innards of a Mini Rolls packet!) represents a loading platform, on which will sit a Goods Store, as preliminary research has revealed nothing in the local area which could possibly justify a large Goods Shed. The siding running behind the platform will serve either cattle pens (certainly more than plausible as a distinctly agricultural area), or perhaps an Engine Shed with the platform side wall being used to hold up a canopy (as at Hailsham, where the engine shed went in 1885 but one wall lasted until 1968!), or possibly even both (again, at Hailsham Station the cattle pens were on the approach to the engine shed.
     
    As before, shortly after the station building is a level crossing, crossing over the lane. By far the biggest change though is the viewing side - it is now switched, giving more space at the 'front' of the layout to play with scenically, although in keeping with the 'rural idyll' master plan, think Greenery rather than industry!
     
    I hope I have explained my reasons for yet another change well enough, and thanks for continuing to stick with me throughout the process. You never know, this time next week you might see some trains!
  15. dseagull

    Baseboard Conclusions

    By dseagull,

    So after posting last nights update I was feeling pretty pleased with myself - I had a nice, flat and solid baseboard which looked good.
     
    Impatience, however, then took over - I was keen to fix the end pieces to the boards, so took out a couple of the screws as the sides seemed to be secure. Of course, allowing a couple of hours rather than the 24 recommended on the tube of Gripfill was too soon, and I quickly found I had to put them back. Luckily, no damage occurred and this morning I was able to attach the side pieces and also, again taking the "belt and braces" approach, purchased 4 angle brackets to secure each board to its neighbour on the corners.
     

     
    As per Buffalo's comment on the previous post, I have also added three battens to act as further bracing underneath - two at equal lengths and one at the somewhat roughly-cut end. There is enough wood - purchased for a long since abandoned scheme and discovered today resting in my parents loft, to add more once the track is down and I can avoid points etc.
     
    Tonight I have also been able to add cork to the top of the board - this is a personal preference and also I was unsure if my usual method of weathering track - blasting it with a rattlecan of Sleeper Grime - would be suitable on a foam baseboard. Wickes again seem the only local supplier for cork tiles, and they sell them in packets of 9. I'd calculated a total of 10 would be needed, so rather than buy another packet for one tile, I used the offcuts to fill most of the gaps, just leaving space where there will be no track and than can easily be covered with scenery.
     

     
    To go from paper dreams to something physical always feels like a big step, and one I have sometimes struggled to take in the past, so this will go down as a very productive weekend!
  16. dseagull

    Baseboard Beginnings

    By dseagull,

    After the diversions caused by the slight alterations to the plan, the weekend landed today and with it the chance for me to properly begin Litlington (again!)
     
    As mentioned I have decided to go along the foam board route, and this afternoon purchased the required parts. The foam board itself is Knauf Space Board Eco - which I recently found out is now discontinued in the UK, however fortunately our local Wickes still had some in stock. They now have two less!
     
    General consensus is to add timber around the edge of the foam board, in order to protect it from knocks etc, and I decided the easiest way of doing this was to buy some suitable PSE at the same time.
     
    The material itself is nice to work with, certainly easier than the Celotex I used in landscaping on a previous layout. The Space Board came in a length of just shy of 4', hence the second board which was cut to size using an old bread knife. Freehand cutting like this is not my forte, but by the time the PSE is in place and after a little tidying up, it has gone OK this time.
     
    Below is the two boards cut to size, with the PSE offered up to it for marking out. Excuse the mess on the lounge floor, I've tidied up now! (One advantage of the wife working evenings is I can get away with this kind of behaviour - well, 4 nights a week anyway!)
     

     

     
    In order to attach the PSE to the foam board, I've used Solvent Free Gripfill - it needs to be Solvent Free as the typical impact adhesive will do the foam no good whatsoever! As recommended by Re6/6 in his blog here I've screwed the timber to the foamboard too, whilst the Gripfill sets, to save having to use clamps.
     
    This final picture then shows the current state of play
     

     
    I'd love to claim it is complete, but for the want of 4 screws, unfortunately the end pieces are still awaiting fixing. Opinions are mixed on if bracing is required - the board itself is 60mm thick - but I think for safety's sake I will add some 2x1, just to be sure.
     
    Despite the minor annoyance of running out of screws meaning it won't be finished tonight, I'm very pleased with the way it has gone - this is my first experience with foam baseboards, and so far I would highly recommend it.
  17. dseagull
    Is of course, not money, not beer, but Google.
     
    In my last post, I mentioned the runaround.
    All was well and good. I then had an idle moment at work (we have had some IT issues over the past couple of days where our system has stopped working at times!) on Thursday and googled 'run round in goods yard' to see if any inspirational, real-life examples came up. The eighth link was to these virtual hallowed halls, where member jamest of this parish asked for a critique of a layout plan. 
    You can see his thread here; http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/75783-branch-line-terminusgoods-yard-advice/
     
    One of his questions was;
    The following two responses, from members very knowledgable about these prototype matters were fair, reasonable and balanced - but made it quite clear that this would be considered a major "no-no".  
    So, I stomped my feet, wailed a little (in my head at least ) and tried to forget all about my brief googling session. Of course, I couldn't, and tonight decided to have a quick play to see if I could make a slight adjustment to that 'final' (we've been here before, haven't we?) plan.
     
    After a short while, Version 5 was finalised;
     

     
    It adds another point, adds a new platform road, the old platform road becomes the runaround loop and the goods yard now stops short of the road. This is supposed to be rural Sussex, not the ECML, no three-track level crossings here please!
     
    This though all looked a little too 'clinical' to me - too clean, too neat, too... straight.
     

     
    So I altered it again. Have a look and see what you think of this. I think of all the plans I've come up with so far, it's my favourite. You'll note two things. Firstly, the separate siding for the coal pens is gone (as it was in v5), but also that I've put the goods shed road at more of a 'natural' angle.
     
    Bringing us full circle, and back to the solution - Tonight's amble through Google also took me to Geoff's wonderful Llangullo blog, where one sentence pretty much summed up what I've been aiming for all along. Less (in this case less exotic trackwork and less sidings) can be more.
     
    PS; Grammar note - should that be lifes or life's in the title? - That time, Google was inconclusive!
  18. dseagull
    The Baseboards have been on the back burner since the last update, because the weather has not tended to be at the best when I have had the time (and it isn't late enough to annoy the neighbours) . It's not a problem - I'm in no mood to rush things for the sake of it, and anyway, I have been reconsidering my reasons for going with the jigsaw method.
     
    Originally, I wanted to do this because I felt it would be an easy way of making the layout portable - which still applies. However, three 4' long boards of variable width take up the same space as one 4' long board of a fixed width. Obviously. Am I just making trouble for myself? Was I told this when I originally mooted the idea? Yes (to the latter, the former is something I've been pondering).
     
    To avoid falling into the spiral of 'problem, wonder how to resolve it, get bored and do something else', I've instead been concentrating on some of the other aspects of the layout.
     
    Firstly rolling stock - Kevin Walsh of this parish and the Uckfield Club kindly offered me four Ratio Van kits, which he had started to convert into Poultry Vans. These used to be used on the Cuckoo Line, with Heathfield in particular being a centre for Chicken Fattening. To quote from www.heathfield.net;
    'PC' it ain't, but a useful rural industry for the layout it is, especially as I'm told it is unlikely that a small rural brewery would send goods out by train, instead focusing on a tightly defined local area - so whilst the brewery will still receive coal and anthracite for the brewing process, I needed another 'export' industry, and have now found one. LBSCR/SR Insulated Van suppliers, anyone?. I've so far built two of the Ratio vans that Kev supplied, and am in the (slow, it's been years since I last used transfers) process of lettering them. I have another two more to do, couplings to install, and then they will be ready for the photo plank. 
    I also mentioned earlier that I have started work on the Station Building. This is based on and inspired by Hailsham station on the Cuckoo Line, but is not an exact copy as it has been flipped (the toilet block moved from one side to the other) to better fit in with the plan. Loads still to do, but a couple of photos are below;
     
     
     




    Platform Side






    Road Side

    This is made from Wills parts and the roof (and windows, for that matter) are just held in place temporarily with Blu Tac - but it is getting there, with nearly all of the major constituent parts cut (apart from the roof).
     
    How does it look compared with the original? - well, not too bad if you ignore the (thankfully part built!) roof.
     
    Nick Catford has supplied a photo from 1965 to the excellent 'Disused Stations' site which shows the front elevation well - http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/h/hailsham/index7.shtml (And also shows that I have the angle of the roof all wrong. I wondered why it was a pain in the arse to fit... - that'll be a trip out for some more Wills roof tiles then!)
     
    This is the first time I've scratchbuilt to a plan (The A.C Elliott book 'The Cuckoo Line' published by Wild Swan has the relevant scale drawings, which I've enlarged from 2mm to 4mm on a photocopier), and I have found it a most enjoyable process. Hopefully this will continue!
     
    http://cuckmerevalleyrailway.wordpress.com/
  19. dseagull
    Over the last week I've been mostly working on some rolling stock, but today have been able to put together the first of the baseboards.
     
    As has been explained previously, I intend to use the 'Jigsaw' method of construction. This has been giving me headaches over the past few days, but today I bit the bullet and got on with it.
     
    The first board is below;
     

    Click image to enlarge
     
    The result? - Not half bad, especially the slabs underneath (photo taken in the garden for natural light) aren't the most level.
     
    Framing is blocks of 2" x 1", pinned to the ply 'top'. Another thing to consider is that this was just placed together for the photo - there will be catches holding the boards together. You can see the lines of each 'piece' a little more than I would like, because the jigsaw (power tool, not baseboard design - confusing stuff) made the edges a little rough. I intend to cover the boards in cork to make it a little neater (and hide the pins).
     
    I am though pleased with it so far - I am by no means a master craftsman - but the three sections 'mesh' nicely together already, before adding the catches. For this photo, in order to expose the joints to scrutiny, I took the full-scale plan off, but a quick glimpse of the layout plan below shows that these three boards are numbers 1, 2 and 5.
     

     
    Comments and questions are, as always, welcome and appreciated.
  20. dseagull
    The usual Sunday morning trip round one of the local Car Boot Sales revealed some interesting bits. Firstly – an old Hornby Sheep Wagon. I believe this is nothing like the prototype, but at a solitary pound, with no broken bits (I have a spare wheelset!) , it will do as a placeholder and something in the right livery to shunt around whilst I am building kits.
    The books both caught my eye on the same stall (£2 the pair). The H.P White ‘Regional History of the Railways’ book has already thrown up some interesting snippets on a very quick first glance through earlier, and this edition was published in 1964. As well as plenty of text, there are a few interesting pictures, and a lovely pullout Map (in perfect condition, despite the somewhat tatty dust jacket) of the area.
    Finally, and with a nod to the always thought-provoking Neil Rushby, I picked up ‘Sussex’ by John Burke (1974). This is immaculate, and will hopefully prove enlightening reading whether or not it throws up anything which can be incorporated into the layout. Neil mentioned on his Rushby’s Railways blog a few weeks ago that modellers sometimes struggle to get what is outside the railway boundary as correct as they do inside, and suggested the Country Life volumes from the 50?s as a useful resource. A quick squint on Amazon shows up some interesting potential books for a matter of pence (one on Alfriston and one on Alfriston and the Cuckmere Valley), which may well follow these two onto the shelves.
    Moving to the layout, it has been a quiet weekend with the wonderful weather allowing plenty of time to get the garden looking good – although I have waved the jigsaw at some plywood. The first of the boards is now cut into three sections, awaiting the cutting of side panels – then we’ll see if the jigsaw idea works…
     
    Admin note; I am now also blogging externally at http://cuckmerevalleyrailway.wordpress.com/ . Posts are likely to continue to be identical on here and Wordpress for some time, but as things progress I am likely to add additional images (and possibly off-topic thoughts) to the external blog. Anyone interested is more than welcome to follow, comment or ask questions on either.
  21. dseagull

    Beginnings...

    By dseagull,

    Tonight has seen the first real tangible progress on the layout - although there isn't a lot to show for it.
    What I have done is to print out the XtrkCad plan in 1.1 scale, and tape it on the board. Now that I've worked out that the gap in the middle was down to the printer rather than any fault of mine, I'm pretty pleased with it - the layout flows nicely, with something that I had previously only seen on screen now taking physical shape.
    This though is the easy part - what comes next is something I'm a little apprehensive about. For the Baseboards, I'm planning something completely new to me. I mentioned way back at the start that I am a big fan of Iain Rice's writings, and in his 1990 book 'An Approach to Model Railway Layout Design - Finescale in Small Spaces' he introduced the concept of Jigsaw Baseboards.
    Iain Rice, Model Railway Layout Design Finescale in Small Spaces, Pg 20
    Iain then goes on to discuss the first two - but it was the third that caught my eye - that of splitting the whole baseboard into 'chunks', which connect, jigsaw-like, to form the whole layout.
    Putting that in the concept of Litlington...

    Apologies for the ugly red lines, but it is the best way of demonstrating. The layout will be physically divided (and I mean completely divided, the individual parts will be held together with dowels (as in flat pack furniture) and over-centre catches when in use, but otherwise totally separate) into 6 sections as shown above.
    Looking at each one in turn, you can see that Sections 1, 3, 5 and 6 are purely scenic. Sections 2 and 4 carry the track - with the wiring run along the front of the battens (I'm planning on using the glued ply method of ply-softwood block-ply. Dowels will locate into the softwood block, with the catches on the ends of each section to join it to its neighbour). The main reason for going with this method is to try to avoid obvious joins, but also to enable the layout to be split easily for transport (Sections 2 and 4 joined together electronically by plugs and sockets) - as I'll be using DCC, there will be a main bus, with droppers to each individual piece of track. Sections 2 and 4 will be wide enough to accomodate the track, wiring and Tortoise Point Motors, but little else - so I should be able to hide the join to the scenic pieces fairly easily (expanded below)
    You'll also see that those big red lines run straight through two of the buildings - they will be demountable, for safety's sake (I'm going to be scratchbuilding both, so this would have been a sensible option anyway).
    As for the other joints, the lineside fence should take care of the one along the back, whilst the one running through the goods yard should be taken care of with the usual gunk and ash that forms the 'ballast' in this area. The only one that is a slight concern is the (unavoidable, whatever method of baseboard) join in the track in the middle (sections 2-4) - hopefully I'll be able to hide this from normal viewing angles with some careful placement of greenery - as the layout is intended to be viewed at close to eye level, hopefully it won't be too obvious in any case.
    Thoughts on this are more than welcome!
  22. dseagull
    OK, so first things first (at risk of boring my regular readers and contributors to tears!) - another plan.
     
    Combining the best bits from previous ones - reintroducing the river which guides the eye, a bridge over said river - and keeping the shed and station building as a view block. I've also 'flipped' the layout - whilst I liked the idea of passenger trains traversing the length of the layout before pulling into the station, it would have produced an issue with operation, in that the loco would have to 'propel blind' the stock into the loop. This variant allows bunker-first operation in, before pulling the stock into the loop, running round, then coupling up to return forwards to Alfriston. On a more practical level, the 'narrowness', which benefits the jigsaw is kept too.
     

     
    Buildings
     
    One thing I want to do is have a definite 'LBSCR Flavour' - so instead of using kit built buildings, I plan to build four of the five structures shown in the plan above from scratch (The odd one out being the coaling stage). I may live to regret this!
     
    One of my biggest sources of inspiration for the project has been the Wild Swan book 'The Cuckoo Line' by A.C Elliott. At the back are drawings (to 2mm/foot scale) of various buildings along the line.
     
    Starting with the Station Building, I think that of Hailsham (pg 142) suits it well. A quick Google reveals this photo from John Law on Flickr; http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnmightycat/5631935654/
     
    The Engine Shed will also be that from Hailsham (Page 144)- the real thing was demolished in the 1880's, but as I've moved it to another location, I felt it only fair to give the old thing an extended lease of life!
     
    The Water Tower will be that of Heathfield ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/16913586@N03/6466195117/ from 'heffle-senior' on Flickr), but without the hoist (described as unusual on the excellent www.lbscr.org website - http://www.lbscr.org/models/IW/structures.htm#Water_Tower ) . (Page 152)
     
    Finally, the Goods Shed - this is the Goods Warehouse from Rotherfield (First picture on http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/r/rotherfield_and_mark_cross/index.shtml)
    .
  23. dseagull
    As mentioned in the last post, I'm still fiddling with the trackplan. '3' was definatley my favourite - until I considered changing the orientation of the bottom set of points;
     
    That resulted in this - 'Version 3B'
     

     
    Whilst fiddling with that one, however, and having a re-read of the A.C Elliott 'Cuckoo Line' book, I noticed from the plan of Hailsham that the Cattle Dock was behind the platform. I still liked the idea of the Engine Shed as a view block though, so after much moving around, I came up with something a little more radical. This one also swaps the 'direction' of the layout - giving passenger services a longer run;
     
    Version 4
     

     
    This one has also been designed a little more with the 'Jigsaw' in mind - requiring just one joint, on plain track, in the 'track section' (at around the 4' mark), with the sloping downland moved from the rear to the front of the layout. As I've just noticed that I haven't captioned it on the picture, the black box at the top represents livestock pens.
     
    Or, finally, there's this...
     
    Version 4b
     

     
    Which gives a longer stretch of river again. And having come full circle, I suppose I should pick one, take some photos of items I plan to sell in order to fund the beginnings of the project, then move on from pure planning and think about making a start?
  24. dseagull
    So after the last two plans I've been continuing to play around, and re-reading the excellent 'An Approach to Model Railway Layout Design - Finescale in Small Spaces' book which has given me so much inspiration for this project.
     
    With that in mind, and a nagging 'is it the best use of space' thought in the back of my head regarding 'V2', see Version 3 below.
     

     
    This borrows shamelessly from Iain Rice's 'Witheridge' plan in the aforementioned tome (Page 44, and sadly I can say that without even having to look it up!), in that the station becomes a 'Bitsa', with the runaround loop moved into the yard to make things a little more interesting and operationally engaging. It fits all of my 'wants' in, at the expense of losing the 'river' frontage (which was, in any case, causing me a few headaches, especially with the proposed Jigsaw construction).
     
    Scenic Thoughts
     
    As I mentioned, this plan does borrow somewhat from 'Witheridge' - in particular, the arrangement of Station Building acting as a view block for the hole in the sky, a tiny hint of fence, then a loco shed. Small sheds like this - more of a 'shed to cover a loco' than a true Engine Shed of the 'depot' variety weren't uncommon (As far as I know! - there was one until the 1880s at Hailsham, for a start, which was similarly placed to this one). In the previous paragraph I mentioned that this one loses the river frontage - however what it will allow me to do is fit in the start of the sloping downland at the back, which along with the river, is a key feature of the area - though unfortunately I think that without adding another 2-3 foot (and that's being optimistic!) in depth, the 'White Horse' would just look silly.
     
    Operation
     
    Passenger services would pull in to the platform from the left, with the loco running Bunker-first. This would then be hauled into the upper part of the loop, loco detaches, runs around and pulls the train back into the platform before heading off to Alfriston again. Goods workings to the Shingle loading sidings at the Haven would obviously run straight through, whilst local goods traffic would be split in the loop (or platform road) before being taken off to the 'general' siding, the coal siding or the brewery. I did think about a slip, rather than the 'ladder' of points, but thought it a little 'expensive' for such a small station. Again, everything from Alfriston (With the possible exception of the shingle trains, as there would be a loop at the loading area) would arrive bunker-first.
     
    Your thoughts are, as ever, both welcomed and appreciated!
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