No.76 Branching Out

Some time ago I was asked to provide more details of the current layout. Where to start? I would start with the Branch Terminus.


The Branch Terminus – Long Shot 2013

First a little bit of history. Back in the 1960s I didn’t have that much space for a model railway and I had plans and even made the base boards for, a short ‘L’ shaped layout. It would be modelled on one of CJ Freezers suggestions. In this article from August 1961 CJ Freezer took the track diagram from Ashburton (ex GWR) and provided an alternative layout which I have reproduced below.

Layout Design based on track diagram from Ashburton (ex GWR) courtesy of CJ Freezer

I think this layout is one of the ‘milestones’ in railway modelling and I have thought about it a lot and have extended it and incorporated it into my last two layouts.
Branch Terminus – the Park View Layout 1990s

The original Ashburton layout has only one platform face and no passing loop. When ‘playing’ trains I always thought this a disadvantage. In the Park View layout above I added a separate passing loop on the station approach so that a train leaving the station could pass another train entering the station prior to the single line section. The extra loop also provides valuable storage space for a whole extra train.
The Branch Terminus – Layout 2013

The current Branch Terminus layout above is a further development of the same design. I had a little more space available so there are additional goods sidings. There is a short siding labelled ‘locos’. This was to be a small 9 inch turntable but in the event there just wasn’t room – a pity.
Coal drops – Hornby Skaledale

Hornby’s coal drops are based on Goathland, on the North York Moors line. I cannot imagine that the North Eastern Railway was the only company to see the benefits of dropping the coal out of the wagons without the need for men and shovels! The grey walling is all Metcalfe, in this case from their single track viaduct kits. The road surfacing is my usual recipe, fine sand and wallpaper paste.
Bachmann 22xx on Mainline ‘B’ Set, with Hornby ex GWR railcar (with Lima body).

A close up of the station with a Bachmann 22xx heading a couple of elderly Mainline type ‘B’ set coaches. The 22xx was a bargain off eBay and has been converted from GWR livery to early BR (WR) livery using transfers and etched plates. The ‘B’ set has been close coupled using Bachmann ‘mini type’ couplings as detailed on one of my earlier Posts. The Hornby ex GWR railcar has a Lima body shell with a repainted roof. I still have the original Hornby Crimson and Cream body shell but I just don’t think the colours are correct. The retaining wall in the foreground is from the Townscene Range. I think that this is probably long discontinued but kits are still occasionally available on eBay.
The Station Approach – Code 100 Peco Streamline

I have included this picture as it highlights one of the reasons why the current layout uses Peco Code 100 track. These points were lifted and reused from the older Park View layout. However wheel standards change and now twenty years on I have had to replace some of the original 1980s points with more up to date versions with smaller gaps at the ‘frogs’. Perhaps I could have changed to Code 75 after all.

The ballast is blue poppy seeds sometimes known as Maws seed, held in place with wallpaper paste.

There is still a lot to do – so that’s good to know

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