Long Line

Railway modelling has been described as a journey and this project is an ongoing one. Compiled from previously published sources from over a decade of modelling and exhibiting the base document for this text (written in 2018) is that used at Warley NEC 2015. INTRODUCTION The Long Line is a UK outline N Gauge exhibition model railway. It was born from Castle Hill GWR (built between 2002 and 2006. This was a double to single track design using the track plan from Adderbury; and reminiscent of Filleigh on the Devon and Somerset Railway (Barnstaple Branch). This incorporated a straightened and approximated length lattice viaduct (5ft long) of a similar design to that which was built nearby. The name Castle Hill coming from an earlier time at Filleigh and the phrase ‘Long Line’ was born out of disparaging comments made by Southern men towards the GWR’s route to Barnstaple. The model was well received attending 50+ shows and in wanting to keep the popularity and exhibition nature of my modelling for years to come I started considering the building of a replacement during 2008. EXTENSION OR REVISION? January 2009 plans were aired at the South Wales Model Show / Rhondha to extend the layout (then 30ft) to be as long as Caerphilly Castle in the Steam Museum, Swindon as had been suggested by the museum manager the previous September. I planned to do so by adding to the left end a representation of Morebath Junction and by Easter that year the larger baseboards were built (some were at Ally Pally that year) and some architectural models started. However the loss of a suitable space through a club room move halted any construction for long enough for me to loose faith in this increased single track project and it was cancelled. What was needed, were means of simultaneously operating numerous trains on multiple lines across the scenic section to aid public entertainment. With such in mind the old singe track viaduct was sold after the Fleet Air arm show of 09 and the layout made double track throughout. Using the same simple timber framed method as originally used I now opted to build it to 60ft including a section of Goods running line incorporating the old quarry siding behind the station and a new goods loop. As possibly too long for some venues I built and rewired the model so that varying lengths could be displayed to suit venue size, budget and operator availability. I now searched for a plausible ‘GWR what if that might contain a large viaduct (as I wanted to keep this element in the newer model)?’ to base the new model upon. Two options arose, firstly it could be a line based somewhere between Bristol and Gloucester on the Severn Estuary. Secondly it could represent one of the un-adopted solutions to crossing Dartmoor that had arisen in the late 1800s prior to the building of the South Devon Railway. I chose the latter initially focussing upon the works of Thomas Rendell and his Plymouth Devenport and Exeter Railway but this later proved unsuitable, so I switched the location to the Mid Devon Railway between Heathfield and Brent anchoring the model upon a location where the railway might have crossed the River Dart which as a popular tourist area would be easily recognizable to viewers. INTERIM DIVERSIONS Whilst concluding what else I might model I took this time to also start another small layout based upon a single board and using PCB soldered track and code 40 bullhead rail built to tighter check rail tolerances and 9mm gauge: to both look and work better than current N gauge RTR examples. Inspiration for this model came from the Fairford Branch and a tongue in cheek representation of South Legh came into being named Aston Magna (a road sign we passed each September on the way home from The Steam, Swindon Show). THE LONG LINE APPESRS From autumn 2009 to 2012 I published and worked on whilst exhibiting the growing model. Taking various amounts from 24ft to 75ft to a variety of shows, all the time operating it as an end-to-end design with hidden storage tables and cassettes at each end. ‘The Long Line Project’ as it had by now been titled was made up from an ever growing number of alphabetically titled scenic sections (front or public view from left to right), L M N O (M being the original station boards). It was not a modular layout, but one railway of which individual or neighbouring sections could be exhibited. Some sections were further divisible by individual baseboard lengths, which were noted numerically from left to right, (E.G. N1-N4). The scenic section remained 11” deep, with the boards no more than 14 inches deep so it could still fit inside my Landrover. It was straight across its entire length and required between 2 and 6 operators. During 2013 I again extended the layout with 3 new scenic sections and some interim boards but now started to include some bends into the length and moved the linear position in the layout of some scenic sections relative to their neighbours, re-naming them as required to keep the alphabetical system. These alterations were part of a growing desire to make the model more, representative of the proposed railway and the area in question (which I had now a much greater understanding of) and to give some much needed assurance of stability, by widening its overall footprint. A CHANGE IN APPROACH Throughout its many changes and extensions the layout had remained DC analogue control. But I felt the time had now come to forget the flexible length option for shows. The occasions we had taken the layout out so far and these were only up to 60 or so feet, suggested that this would not be going out too often as way too much work. So as less bookings, were needed in future I could worry less about trying to please all comers event wise. This has allowed me to re-wire the entire layout with a much simpler solution using a localised plug and socket system and hand held controllers with 65ft leads. This permits operators to walk with their trains across the model and interact with the various local controls as they proceed, in essence becoming proper drivers. In designing this system whereby it is envisaged a ‘real’, signalmen located behind the station will manage all the train movements and the operators drive under instruction a new and exciting concept comes to mind. If the huge number of practical issues were overcome then maybe members of the audience could after some form of brief training; take a train across the layout working to signals and unsupervised! This gives forth the possibility of the project becoming a public interactive ride and not merely and exhibit. But we shall see? FIRST LONG LINE OUTING PROPER The Warley NEC show of 2014 saw the layouts next significant public appearance, being its first at over 100ft in length. The model now included a portion of the bank to the summit including an additional pair of viaducts and another small settlement. Minor electrical issues plagued the first day until resolved then it worked fine but the preparatory and event workload was significant and presented a host of issues to consider. Many comments were made as to the scope of the model being built and the commitment required, my replies at this time were the first public instances suggesting that I was not finished yet, joking that there were many more letters in the alphabet. In truth however save the completion of what existed at the show that day plus six more boards half finished in the workshop, despite a desire to do so, I was unsure where to go next or how? LAST PUBLIC OPERATION Outside of life, the workload of wiring and some more scenic improvements took up all the time and energy I had up to the next public operation of ‘Long Line’ at Ally Pally in 2015. Here was assembled just under 3 miles of railway in miniature and despite the great effort from the 10 operators who never stopped taking trains across the model all weekend. I had worked on the layout for 3 weeks solid prior to loading up thursday evening and departing not long after midnight to be on site for 9am. I was first in the venue Friday and last out Sunday save for the venues own electricians and I came away exhausted, barely making it home Sunday night without crashing the Landy trailer combination on the A5 in the small hours of Monday morning. I had a lot to dwell on but save unloading and returning to work that week my only immediate conclusion was that I would take the time to write down what had occurred. Then speak to the co-operators, respected others who’d seen the layout that weekend etc and get as much feedback as I could recorded as soon as possible. After which I would take a break from the project and work on my many other, models and projects whilst I considered the big layouts issues which were many. IN CONCLUSION From adversity a list of key requirements appeared during the remainder of that year. No order of importance was required as each was felt mission critical, in essence ‘a go, or no go issue’. The model would not go out again until it was visibly complete (except individual parts or models as a static demos’ and in accepting that there are always jobs or tweaks to be done in the life of any layout). It would need new lighter, dust and shower proof packing cases. It must be assembled within four hours regardless of increased length or complexity. It must be tested thoroughly and the regular operating team must sufficiently understand the job to do so without need for re-instruction at shows. I’d need significantly more stock to run the model properly, effectively at least three times as many trains and these would need far more vehicles in each. All the trains must be finished to my ever growing list of ‘finer’ levels of accuracy to prototype and level of finish; including see through chassis and brake gear, 3 link couplings, aging and weathering and populating. The model must represent the period suggested i.e. Late February and not lush high summer! I need a new accurate plan of the layout shape and dimension to assist in any alterations or extensions and to plan its packing, unloading and assembly without unnecessary re-handling at shows. There would be no more public feeding of key information until a final plan is agreed and ostensibly built, so as to allow freedom for redesign. Finally, that all the points are regardless of timescale. JANUARY 2024 The position today as I have relayed to the few enquiries I occasionally get across the demo table at shows: is that the layout still lives! Asides from changes in life, work and two long periods of serious illness the past nine years have seen me extending and exhibiting Aston Magna, and building up my stock and locomotive collection. I made further experimentation with N gauge track standards and scenic methods and acquired a prototypical understanding of the proposed route of the Mid Devon and its plausible use, had it been built. In understanding the regions railways far more I also started a small, finer scale model based on Postbridge high on Dartmoor harking back to my earliest learning’s of the regions un-built railways. Along with some plastic kit, sci-fi scratch building, exhibition stewarding and organising and more recently the initial planning, for my retirement project: Paddington. Which is the uncompromising scale model I always wanted to build but didn’t believe I could and is a journey I will relay elsewhere one day. The relevance of these activities and many more besides are that they have helped me grow as a modeller and student of the periods railways, whilst occasionally driving me to opening the plans of The Long Line Project and again assessing what could or should be done next. Consequently the suggestions for the project have over this period varied in scope from extension, reduction, replacement and the bonfire! Many times the subject has regained the attentions of me and a small band of modelling friends and railway experts for a period, and in most instances something of use or inspiration came from these discussions, doodles and lively debates as to the nature of the layout, our hobby and exhibiting today. Typing today with the now much altered plan of 2012 strewn over the model bench beyond the laptop, I can say with some certainty that there is a solution, that I am happy with it and that it presents such a positive outcome for the project that it gives me the resounding confidence that was lacking back in 2018 to complete the task in hand. Over time the issues that plagued its continuation have been removed or resolved. What has critically changed in more recent years is the level of thought that has gone into the project and of the improved materials and methods employed. Despite our modellers need to make the world fit onto the baseboard, Working from large scale ordnance survey plans; it is now a true to scale linear depiction of the proposed route as it climbs across the foothills of Dartmoor, it bends in all the right places and all the scenic vistas are presented correctly. It now encompasses far more potential for prototype railway operation and hopefully public enthrallment and education. There are a few twists like; DC Analogue control with some sound effects, colour-light signalling and electric point control in 1942 and as a proposed but not built line some might have been train formations and plausible rewrites of history. Experience is only any good if you learn from it and I have. So more use has been made of out-sourced modelling solutions, the latest techniques and products, and more care is being taken to correctly emphasise less detail over a larger area. When next seen whole it will look completely different, but to those with an old copy of BRM in hand or a good memory for model railways, they will see the old layout somewhere in there, if looking anew. Progress wise the significantly increased layout structure is around 75% complete and much of the component models and materials are already built or acquired. I now have sufficient re-worked to the correct standard stock to operate the model but do have a list of oddments and ‘special workings’ to build as time permits once the model is operating again. The layout and stock remain my own property and a few key folk kindly assist on occasion to make some cumbersome jobs easier and to provide much needed specialist skills or knowledge I do not possess. The layout is stored at home within its cases and for now boards only comes out to be worked upon. Timescale wise there is no completion date scheduled or plans to publicly operate the layout until it is finished as this was a primary conclusion post 2015 and remains the position. Realistically I have at least two more years work ahead of me allowing for my many other diversions, so that could easily become 4 years! However a location for its initial testing and crew training are being sourced and its next public operation has been agreed. Parts and models will continue to populate my demo stand at shows from time to time, even if they are not specifically noted as Long Line components and I shall endeavour to put items which might be of interest to RM Webbers on this thread as I feel worthwhile from time-to-time. On one final point: The Long Line Diaries (British Railway Modelling). After 17 episodes the series was cut short for editorial and publishing reasons many years back but I continued to record the ongoing saga. But alongside the work of building and exhibiting the model at the time it proved too much work for one man so it remains a work in rough. Who knows maybe one day when we have a conclusion to the tale, I may look at my notes and photo libraries again with a view to writing up the journey? Many thanks go to Andy York in anticipation of his assisting in replacing my previous images and assisting me in editing out any confusing or outdated info which the thread contained. cheers Mark