Mainline 56XX British Railways Black

Another Mainline 56xx from eBay in excellent nick, this time in early British Railways livery, ideal for my proposed branch line engine shed layout. These old Mainline models are a bit noisy but nicely detailed and inexpensive, which means I can afford to weather them up without worrying about over cooking the final finish. 

Branch Line Engine Shed Ideas

 

I've been sketching out some ideas for a compact branch line Engine Shed layout, with the idea being to run my expanding stable of GWR and early BR locomotives. It will also have some limited shunting to supply coal to the coaling stage. To keep things simple I'll use set track as most of it will be buried up to sleeper level, so it won't look too unrealistic. The engine shed will probably be scratch built or adapted from a kit. I'll have to plan it out properly but I think this will work well.

Mainline 43xx

 

The latest addition to the GWR locomotive stable is a very nice Mainline 43xx, which I've been after for ages and which cost me just over £25 on eBay. It's in immaculate condition and runs smoothly too, so I'm very happy. I now have a fairly impressive line up of locomotives, so a compact, engine shed shelf sized layout is looking like a really good idea, possibly in addition to a shunting yard, wharf or quarry layout for goods traffic. 

British Railways Mainline Dean Goods

 

I've expanded my locomotive collection into the early 1950's with a lovely Mainline Dean Goods in early British Railways livery. It's in as new condition and runs pretty well for a model that must be forty years or so old. I'm now looking for at least one more ex-GWR locomotive, most likely a pannier tank, so that I can run them on either a shunting puzzle layout or an engine shed layout, as a variation on the earlier period. Very nice!

Minimal Space Branch Line Engine Shed Layout

 

I'm building quite a decent collection of OO gauge locos now, with most being 0-6-0 or 2-6-2 tank engines, with a couple of Dean Goods and a Collet Goods tender engines too. 

In fact, I have enough to think about a branch line engine shed layout, both as a learning tool for construction and wiring but also as a way to actually run some of my locomotive stable. The basic plan is outlined above, as a simplified version of my Moorswater inspired layout design. The engine shed itself acts as a scenic break and backdrop for the branch line, with a possible dummy exit scenic break at the other end, probably using a tunnel mouth or over bridge. 

The engine shed would be an extended version of the Wills single-track model, with the rear wall replaced with plastic card, so that the front side can use both of the textured plastic card sheets provided in the kit for a longer building. Either that or a similarly modified card kit from Scalescenes, which would be easy to customise to fit the layout design. There may or may not be an additional lean-to style extension. It's all a bit sketchy but I think it would make a nice and compact layout, with some scope for further development.

Layout in a Box

I was inspired by a layout designed to fit in Really Useful Box on Chris Nevard's blog, so had a look around for something similar off the shelf. I found this laser cut module that fits the bill (and the box), so it's a definite option for a small shunting or engine shed layout at some point in 2020?

http://nevardmedia.blogspot.com/2019/12/hotchpotch-rd-little-smoke-junction.html

https://www.scalemodelscenery.co.uk/bb018-micro-layout-baseboard-in-a-box-2-730-x-95-x-207mm-8706-p.asp

Bachmann 45xx

I've been after a second hand one of these for ages but they all seemed to go for silly prices. However, I found one on eBay yesterday as a Make an Offer auction, so I did and it was accepted. I suspect part of the reason was that the seller spotted my address and realised, as I subsequently found out, that he used to live literally round the corner! Funny old world but I now have a 45xx in pristine condition for my GWR branch line engine shed and shunting yard layouts. Excellent!

Engine Shed Designs

I've found some more images of the engine shed at Moorswater, which is the prototype that I'm thinking of using for a scratch built twin track shed. The idea would be to construct a shell out of card then clad it in either embossed plastic card or scribed DAS clay, to recreate the course stonework. Ideally I'd like to find some scale plans but that will be a challenge.

Engine Shed Layout Prototypes

I recently designed a layout for a GWR branch line engine shed including a coaling stage, which I thought was a bit extravagant for such a small facility. However, I've found some photos of just this sort of thing at Stratford upon Avon. The layout is very similar to my one and includes a twin track shed and a small coaling stage with an incline for wagons. This is a perfect basis for some scratchbuilding and would look great, as well as offering some interesting shunting operations. It's not quite the rural scene I'm looking for but there's no reason why I couldn't relocate it to somewhere more rustic.

Engine Shed Layout Ideas

Moorswater Engine Shed on the Looe Branch

I've been fiddling about in SCARM again to design a small engine shed layout, making use of the cheap Hornby track parts that I have and with a compact format of about 5' x 18'' as a default size. This could be a rural branch line engine shed, with a single road shed and basic coaling facilities, a water tower, ash pit and maintenance sidings, or it could be a more substantial two road shed with a small coaling stage, which is a bit unrealistic but a nice feature.

The scenic break would be disguised with carefully positioned buildings, although it would be tricky to make it completely hidden, unless I used a bridge or archway of some sort. The inspiration is something like Moorswater on the Looe Branch in South East Cornwall, where there was a two road shed and a very narrow bridge that could be a potential scenic break.