A Hero comes along...

Smallbrook Studios Hero that is.

A nice resin kit to put together. It runs on a slightly modified and chipped Hornby 0-4-0 chassis. A couple more photos can be found here.

Taking Stock

Here are a few pictures of completed stock for the DLR. Some have already been mentioned.

Peco van and Smallbrook Flat

Peco coach. The tension lock is for the middle of the train, the other end has a Kadee.

Hacked about NSE Mk2 Chasis. This will form the basis of a tool/mess van. A similar example will be a bogie coach.

Denslow Light Railway

Finally I've cobbled together a layout in 0-16.5. The premise is a small preservation/tourism affair, partly built on the old (and fictional) Denslow Quarry narrow gauge branch line. The 3 1/4 mile line was used to transport chalk to the mainline railhead at Conch St. Graham. When the quarry closed in the 1960s the narrow gauge line had already been closed 12 years.

Upon closure of the quarry the locomotives and rolling stock were purchased by Colin Bottle, a local 'self made' millionaire and industry buff. He promptly formed an ad hoc preservation society and fronted the money and influence to purchase the p-way and lease the land. By the late 1970s the society was running small trains on public holidays from the terminus at Conch St. Graham up to the quarry loop and back. This continued sporadically for 10 years. When Colin Bottle died in 1989 he left a sizable chunk of his estate to the society, with the wish that the money be spent on extending the line as the quarry was too dangerous and had also been earmarked for use as a landfill.

The line now runs from Conch St. Graham to the new terminus at Cow Lane with two intermediate stops at Cod Hill and Stone Brook - both popular with walkers. The line hosts a yearly World War II weekend featuring period military vehicles and a beer tent.

Rolling stock is mostly of an industrial nature.

Obviously this is all fictional...

Track plan

Current development

Broad horizons, narrow gauge.

I've been dabbling in narrow gauge recently. It's pretty liberating to not worry about things being strictly prototype.

I've got a germ of an idea for an O-16.5 layout in my head, so watch this space. Meanwhile, some pictures.

This an etch made by A1 models to modify the Bachmann Junior shunter. This was my first brass kit so it's a bit patchy here and there, but I'm quite pleased with it.

Our next victim is a Peco O-16.5 open wagon. This goes together very nicely.

And last on the slab is a Smallbrook machinery wagon. It's a cast resin kit so feels nice and robust.

I just need to decide on a colour scheme, then maybe my light railway ambitions will move forward.

All In The Detail

It struck me that I've not actually listed any details about Spatch.

The overall size is 60" x 18".

The plain line track is C&L code 75 bullhead, the S&C is Peco code 75 short radius electrofrog.

Well that's all there is to say really. Best have some pictures.

A brake van on some plain line.

Some plain line close up.

Some early ground cover.

Ghosts of layouts past. Part 1.

Perusing my hard drive today turned up some images of my past endeavours, some have appeared elsewhere on the web.

Furthest back we have this layout. I don't think it ever had a name and I'm not totally convinced it even had a premise. It was a small shunting layout for shuffling about engineers wagons. Some scrap wagons showed up to.

Needless to say, a very simple track plan.

I didn't say which weekend...

Better late than never eh? Actually, don't answer that. Progress has been fairly slow, but some work has been done on the front of the layout, mainly vegetation.

The oddly short site supervisor inspects the recent vegetation work with the project manager.

The resident 08 prepares to move a short ballast train from the siding.

A lone van awaits the pick up goods.

Mark 2

As always, a think and messing about with track has led to some changes. I've chopped the board about a bit to make it 5 ft by 1.5ft and tinkered with the track plan to come up with this...

It retains some of the original features, but with some fine tuning. The yard is still used as an S&T store, and an occasional bit of domestic coal.

With all the P-way to hand I cracked on before I changed my mind again. Pictures will follow over the weekend.

The Wider World.

For some reason when I'm designing a layout I always get bogged down in the surroundings area and rationale.

I've knocked up this 'map' showing the immediate area around the yard.

Maybe I just think too much.

In the beginning...

Spatch is a small yard, somewhere in the Western Region of BR in banger blue days. The yard is off a branch line, and just behind the embankment is Spatch Station, which is probably not long of this world.

The branch line was originally built in the early 20th century. One of the main customers of the line was the large stables at Chutney, the terminus of the line. Horses were transported to Newbury, Cheltenham and many other great racecourses.

The yard really only survives thanks to the regional S&T department needing somewhere to store kit. The yard is also used as a headshunt and run-around for MoD trains to Long Humpton Camp, the wagons being propelled into the exchange sidings for collection by the camp's shunter.

Other traffic to the yard is mixed and fairly infrequent. During the winter months coal is delivered for Futtocks Winter Fuels but even this looks set to end as fewer people have coal fires.

Engineers trains make up the bulk of traffic, with occasional ballast and spoil loading taking place in the yard, as well as S&T equipment being stored in the former goods store.

You'll have to excuse the MS Paint drawn plan, I can't really get my head around these design programs.

I've also got a Fotopic site showing various projects for the layout, mainly stock at the moment. Have a look at the links for this, and other sites I find useful.