Callington Branch Layout Plans

 

The latest edition of Model Rail has not one but two track plans for a Callington Branch layout, one modelling the whole line from Bere Alston and the other a section from Callington to Chilsworthy Halt. I don't have space or time to build either but a smaller shunting layout based on the Hingston Down  part of the plan or a through and through based on the Chilsworthy Halt section would be workable. It's a short article but well worth a look.

Kilgerran Station

A bit of pictorial inspiration for the GWR branch line mood board, with some photos of Kilgerran station on the Whitland to Cardigan branch line, which I'm sure must have been modelled by someone already? I really like the straightforward track plan, the two storey station building and the very neat little goods shed, all of which would make very nice models in OO or even N, if I could afford the cost of a locomotive for the latter. I'd compress it down to fit on a 8' x 11/2' board, with fiddle yards at either end, although this is currently out of the question due to the space and time factor. So, it's back to the shunting layouts instead!

www.disused-stations.org.uk/k/kilgerran/

N Gauge Dead Engine

I had a test track set up today to see if the ancient N gauge Wrenn Ivatt 2MT I inherited still works. The answer is a qualified no, although it did try very hard to get going. I think it needs a good overhaul and a lubrication but even then will probably only do either zero or one hundred scale miles an hour full speed ahead, in proper 1980's model train set style. Other than that I don't know what I can do to revive it or to get it to behave itself in proper shunting fashion?

I think I will need to get myself a new and or good second hand N gauge locomotive of some description before I can even think about building a layout. As this will be expensive, it will have to wait until Father Christmas can deliver something down the chimney, perhaps even a starter set of some sort, ready to be used as the basis of an N gauge branch line layout. Oh well, best laid plans and all that! At least I can crack on with my plans in OO.

N Gauge Inglenook Wiring

Not very exciting but very useful

I moved my N gauge 'proof of concept' Inglenook shelf layout a little closer to the starting line today by purchasing a Bachmann N gauge power lead, to use with my existing handheld controller. I suppose I could have just bought some Peco track power clips and a bit of wiring, or even just soldered it up directly to the track, but this seemed like the simplest option for the lowest cost to effort ratio.

I can now clip this power lead onto the track directly, then use cable clips and a bit of careful scenic camouflage to make it a permanent wiring connection. The controller will then just plug into the lead ready for use. Easy, cheap and tidy. Job done! I have a spare floating shelf somewhere in the garage that I am going to try to locate, then I might even be a able to start building this little shunting layout before the end of the year!

Callington Branch: Gunnislake Station

This is the other potential prototypical layout that I've always wanted to re-create in N gauge, although it's a bit more involved than Luckett on the same branch line. I used to catch the train from Gunnislake into Plymouth when I was a kid and remember the old station buildings before they were demolished, along with the rest of the station eventually, now replaced by a housing estate and a new station across the road.

The track layout of the original station offers lots of shunting opportunities as well as having potential for some interesting passenger trains, hauled by a range of locomotives. I would love to have the original PD&SWJR engines operating on the layout but they're not available in N gauge (you can get them as kits in OO though). Instead, I'd run post war era Southern O2's alongside Ivatt 2MT's, with an occasional appearance of a Class 22 diesel or two car DMU to make things interesting.

I reckon a you'd would need at least six feet of layout space by about eighteen inches of width to avoid overcrowding, even if the layout was condensed to feasible proportions and not taking the fiddle yards into consideration. There's a convenient scenic break at the up end of the station but you'd need to do some clever scenic transition at the down end, probably by masking the exit with trees or houses. I don't think this would be too difficult with a little imagination?

Who know, I may even build it one day?

N Gauge Inspiration

I have been reading 'Making a Start in N Gauge' by Richard Bardsley and it has really started me thinking about a layout in a smaller scale. I inherited a load of N gauge track, rolling stock and locomotives from my grandfather about twenty years ago, which have since been sitting in a box in the loft gathering dust. The locomotives are all old Minitrix models but they are in as new condition, having rarely been used, including a 9F, a Britannia, a Deltic and an Ivatt 2MT. They are a bit dated and crude by modern standards but still nice models in their own right. I particularly like the 2MT, which I've been thinking could be the motive power behind a simple compact layout in N gauge.

I have plenty of Peco N gauge track and points, the majority of the latter being Setrack but with some Streamline medium radius points too, so I could easily create a simple scenic countryside branch line or an industrial shunting yard using the Ivatt 2-6-2 as the main locomotive. I also have several of the old Peco wagon and van kits that I collected ages ago, so could assemble them as the rolling stock, together with a handful of ready to run Graham Farish wagons that I inherited. I also have some scenic bits and bobs including tunnel portals, bridges and card building kits. In fact, apart from a controller, I have everything I could need to build a shelf style 'Inglenook' layout straight away.

It would be an excellent way to refresh my layout building skills and would cost virtually nothing in money or time. I could use one of the plans that I've developed for my OO gauge layouts or perhaps design something specifically around the track components that I have. I was thinking of a quarry or branch line theme but, to keep things simple, I may well just go for a generic industrial scene. There are some excellent low and full relief industrial buildings to download from Scalescenes as well, so I can practice my card modelling skills too.

It's just an idea at the moment but I think it might be a lot of fun!

Callington Branch Layout: Luckett Station

I grew up in East Cornwall near Callington, so have always thought about creating a layout based on the old Callington Branch, either in the PD&SWJR, post-grouping Southern or early British Railways era. I know of at least one other railway modeller who has worked on creating a OO layout based on Callington Station:

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/65255-callington-branch/

...but I've always thought the line would be perfect for an N gauge approach, given the scenic potential of large sections of the route.

My original idea was to create an N gauge layout based on Luckett Station, also at various times known as Monks Cross Depot and Stoke Climsland. This station is in walking distance of my family home and I often stood on the over bridge and looked down on the station buildings, thinking about how best to create a model railway layout to capture the scene. You can read about the station here:

http://great-devon-railway.uk/bere%20alston%20%26%20callington%20railway/luckett.html

 http://www.trainweb.org/railwest/railco/sr/cal-stn.html#LUCK

It is a very simple station, consisting of a passing loop, a platform with a waiting shelter and a station house, the original depot building for the East Cornwall Mineral Railway of 1872. There was originally another siding and signal cabin but these were later dismantled. This basic plan would be a bit boring were it not for the location, with the line curving round a steep slope from which there is a panoramic view of the western edge of Dartmoor.

However, my layout would have the line viewed from the opposite direction, with the slope of Kit Hill rising as a back drop to the station and the length of line heading to the level crossing at Latchley to the East. The overbridge at the Western end of the station would be the scenic break leading to a fiddle yard, with a second fiddle yard at the opposite end masked by trees and the house next to the level crossing at Latchley. This length of line would be condensed to fit a 10' x 2' baseboard or thereabouts, so very much a scenic design.

The ideal timeframe for the layout would be the early 60's, as this would allow me to use ready to run locomotives including a couple of Dapol Ivatt Class 2MT's and a Class 22 diesel. Ideally, I'd also have N gauge versions of the PD&SWJR locomotives, Earl of Mount Edgecombe and A.S.Harris, or an ex-Southern O2 Class, but these only exist in OO at the moment. I could also run a DMU if I extended the layout post-Beeching but that's another story.

The station itself was pretty run down as I remember it in the 1980's but it has since been renovated and turned into a very expensive private residence, complete with swimming pool and all mod cons. The station shelter has also been reconstructed, although not to the original design, which is a bit of a shame, although the track bed is now a very nice lawn and garden. You can still trace the line as it curves around the hillside, so it's easy to imagine how it would look as a layout.

I will probably never get round to it but....who knows?

Starting All Over Again

I woke up the other day and decided that, as I'm fifty next year, it was about time that I started railway modelling again after a long time away from the hobby. As is often the case, I abandoned model railways some time around about the age of thirteen, when I discovered that teenagers did other things that were far less geeky and a bit more exciting.

However, having now finally grown too old to be bothered with such things, I am now determined to build the layouts that I originally thought about way back in the early 80's. To help me get up to date with all the latest innovations in railway modelling, I've been scouring the newsagents, bookshops and the internet for reading material and have already turned up a couple of really useful titles.

I have also been sketching out some ideas for compact layouts in both N and OO gauge, based partly on the Inglenook shunting concept and partly on industrial layout designs. In the longer term I also hope to build a layout based on a prototypical rural branch line station in East Cornwall, where I grew up. This is one of the layouts that I've always wanted to make a reality.

I have some N gauge track and rolling stock which I inherited from my grandfather a few years ago and I have been acquiring some new or second hand 00 gauge locos, wagons and track as well. I grabbed a bargain at Hobbycraft last weekend, with several packs of Hornby 00 track all at half price, so I already have enough to realise my first, basic model railway project.

I'll be posting more about my plans as soon as I've sketched them out in greater detail.