B
Brinkly
Guest
A Foreword (Sounds like my dissertation!)
Right it is about bloody time at I actually built this layout! I started ‘planning’ this whilst I was still at university, which was nearly 5 years ago!
Apologies for not posting of late, there have been a number of changes in my life which have thrown things in the way of modelling! The first major event has been a change of school and the second is I have met a new partner so have spent time with her, which is nice and productive in different areas, but not modelling!
OK back to business. Originally Horrabridge was conceived as a Finescale 00 layout, but has now progressed to P4 as I really wasn’t happy with the spacing between rails of 00 track.
Background Information
The layout itself will utilise the track plan of Horrabridge Station and most of the surrounding countryside as it was in the mid 1950s to the early 1960s, the line itself closed to passengers in December 1962 and freight in 1964. I want to try and produce a realistic model of this wonderful branch line station, I have a great love of the GWR which probably comes from my grandfathers own love of all things steam, in fact he travelled on the line daily from Tavistock South to Plymouth North Road from 1948 to 1962 and often spoke of its charm.
If you want any further information regarding the line I cannot recommend highly enough;
The Plymouth Tavistock and Launceston Railway by A. R. Kingdom (2001), ARK Publications, Devon.
The Branch by B. Mills (1982) Plym Valley Railway Company Ltd (Publishers), Plymouth.
Both books provide track plans, photographs of the stations and important structures such as bridges and level crossings, timetables and a list of the locomotives that worked the line.
General information regarding the Plymouth and South Devon Railways;
Images of Plymouth & Sound Devon Railways by M. Dart (2007) Halsgrove (Publishers), Wiltshire.
For the construction of the model I will be using;
Landscape Modelling by B. Norman (1986) Wild Swan Publications Ltd. Didcot, Oxon.
Aspects of Modelling ??“ Baseboards for Model Railways by I. Morton (2007) Ian Allan Publishing, Surrey.
The Right Track DVD Series Parts 5 and 6 Landscapes by Barry Norman.
The Right Track DVD Series Track building by Norman Solomon.
And countless Model Rail, British Railway Modelling and Railway Modeller magazines!
In 2005/6 I started to get back into modelling again after a 3 year break after my Grandfather passed away. I wanted to model a ‘typical’ country branch line station somewhere in Devon or Cornwall. A number of lines were researched including the Ashburton branch, the line to Kingswear and the Launceston line; in the end the Launceston line was selected and further research started. (To be honest I wasn’t surprised by my decision, having been influenced by Grandpa!)
After looking at all the stations on the route, Launceston and Horrabridge were the most appealing, the decision being made by assessing operational interest, visual interest and size. Unfortunately Tavistock South which was and still is very appealing, is far too big and I feel is more of an urban layout which I didn’t really want. The other factor was my preference for watching trains running through the countryside from A-B so Launceston was ruled out as it would have been more of a shunting layout, which although I enjoy, I wanted to be able to watch trains crossing so Horrabridge was chosen.
Horrabridge has a large number of things going for it, below is a track plan from the GW track plan book from 1930. (Out of copyright protection)
Buildings
The station has two short platforms of 300 and 350 feet respectively with a small booking office on the up side and a stone shelter on the down, a small goods yard including a goods shed, dock and cattle pens all located on the down side and a water tower with two water cranes. The signal box is by Saxby and Farmer with a 16 lever frame inside and to top it all off, a level crossing (the largest single span gates in the country during the 1930s) and a Bowstring bridge allowing the line to cross over the main Plymouth to Tavistock line. All very interesting!
Baseboards
As you can see from the old OS map (dating from 1906) the station is on a curve, this is something that I wanted to replicate and move away from the traditional straight railway baseboard.
At the moment I am still debating with myself as to what to use. The rational side of me is saying use ply, but the experimental side is saying try polyfoam board. Either way the boards won’t be started until the track is finished as I don’t want to end up in a situation where the point motor won’t fit in the required space!
Track work
I’ve decided to use a mix of C&L and Exactoscale products. For plain track I settled on Exactoscale bases and chairs, but for point work I have used C&L thick timbers with Exactoscale chairs. Steel rail is used throughout.
Scenery
This will be constructed from a range of materials, carpet under felt for embankment grass, lint for meadows and fields and scatters for fine detailing work. As far as the buildings are concerned all will be scratch built, either from card or plasticard.
Signals and the level crossing gates will be from MSE, most of which have already been purchased.
Operation on the prototype
7 passenger services a day in each direction visited the station, these were a mix of auto trains and carriage sets. Most services were two carriage sets, although the very early morning and late evening services were only one carriage affairs. Very busy times would see three and occasionally four carriage sets, usually these would be additional Collects or Hawksworths post 1956.
The station handled a large amount of freight traffic, not only for Horrabridge, but also Yelverton. Yelverton has a station, but no goods facilities so the yard had to deal with a local population of around 5,000 within a 5 mile radius of the station.
Further to this, all the good wagons bound for the Princetown branch were stored at Horrarbridge for the trice weekly goods working; this was one of the reasons for the large amount siding space. Usually the Princetown loco, either a 44xx before 1955 or a 45xx after, would run light engine from Princetown with a Toad brake van and collect the wagons. Usually this would be no more than five, six tops. In the normal way this would take place at around 11am and would see two small prairie tanks shunting at once, all very modelagenic!
Stock
Motive Stock
Most of the locomotives will be RTR Bachmann and Hornby products, but Malcolm Mitchell kits and a class 22 diesel for Dapol thrown in for good measure! The main locomotives that worked the branch between 1955 and 56 were 14xx and 64xx working auto trains; 45xx/4575 and 57xx working the remaining passenger and goods services. Princetown station had a either a 44xx or a 45xx locomotive allocated to work the branch. This loco would return to Laira for servicing when required.
Passenger Stock
Ex GWR Collett and Hawksworth carriages worked most of the services, with odd MK1s turning up for strengthening.
Goods Stock
The wagons will be a mix of RTR and kit products from the usual sources all of which will have some form of compensation or springing to help it along. I do have some P4 wagons which are rigged, but will aim to compensate them in some way. Iain Rice’s Right Track DVDs 12 & 13 are excellent for the wagon modeller. It has provided me with a huge number of ideas as to how to create and authentic wagon fleet.
Operation on the model
The layout will be operated with DCC, most probably with either Gaugemaster, Lenz or Digitrax as the system. Points and signals will be operated with suitable slow action motors.
As far as train operation is concerned I have already bashed together a suitable running sequence from the WTT, which has highlighted the need for eight locomotives and eight carriages and enought stock for three goods trains. Most services had between 12-15 wagons, so for an authentic sequence I will require about 60 wagons so that a number can be in the yard at the beginning and the end of each session.
Anyway thank you for reading this essay and please do add any comments/feedback, I’m always happy to hear from everyone!
Well anyway happy modelling!
Nick. (Photos to follow but this post is long enough!)
Right it is about bloody time at I actually built this layout! I started ‘planning’ this whilst I was still at university, which was nearly 5 years ago!
Apologies for not posting of late, there have been a number of changes in my life which have thrown things in the way of modelling! The first major event has been a change of school and the second is I have met a new partner so have spent time with her, which is nice and productive in different areas, but not modelling!
OK back to business. Originally Horrabridge was conceived as a Finescale 00 layout, but has now progressed to P4 as I really wasn’t happy with the spacing between rails of 00 track.
Background Information
The layout itself will utilise the track plan of Horrabridge Station and most of the surrounding countryside as it was in the mid 1950s to the early 1960s, the line itself closed to passengers in December 1962 and freight in 1964. I want to try and produce a realistic model of this wonderful branch line station, I have a great love of the GWR which probably comes from my grandfathers own love of all things steam, in fact he travelled on the line daily from Tavistock South to Plymouth North Road from 1948 to 1962 and often spoke of its charm.
If you want any further information regarding the line I cannot recommend highly enough;
The Plymouth Tavistock and Launceston Railway by A. R. Kingdom (2001), ARK Publications, Devon.
The Branch by B. Mills (1982) Plym Valley Railway Company Ltd (Publishers), Plymouth.
Both books provide track plans, photographs of the stations and important structures such as bridges and level crossings, timetables and a list of the locomotives that worked the line.
General information regarding the Plymouth and South Devon Railways;
Images of Plymouth & Sound Devon Railways by M. Dart (2007) Halsgrove (Publishers), Wiltshire.
For the construction of the model I will be using;
Landscape Modelling by B. Norman (1986) Wild Swan Publications Ltd. Didcot, Oxon.
Aspects of Modelling ??“ Baseboards for Model Railways by I. Morton (2007) Ian Allan Publishing, Surrey.
The Right Track DVD Series Parts 5 and 6 Landscapes by Barry Norman.
The Right Track DVD Series Track building by Norman Solomon.
And countless Model Rail, British Railway Modelling and Railway Modeller magazines!
In 2005/6 I started to get back into modelling again after a 3 year break after my Grandfather passed away. I wanted to model a ‘typical’ country branch line station somewhere in Devon or Cornwall. A number of lines were researched including the Ashburton branch, the line to Kingswear and the Launceston line; in the end the Launceston line was selected and further research started. (To be honest I wasn’t surprised by my decision, having been influenced by Grandpa!)
After looking at all the stations on the route, Launceston and Horrabridge were the most appealing, the decision being made by assessing operational interest, visual interest and size. Unfortunately Tavistock South which was and still is very appealing, is far too big and I feel is more of an urban layout which I didn’t really want. The other factor was my preference for watching trains running through the countryside from A-B so Launceston was ruled out as it would have been more of a shunting layout, which although I enjoy, I wanted to be able to watch trains crossing so Horrabridge was chosen.
Horrabridge has a large number of things going for it, below is a track plan from the GW track plan book from 1930. (Out of copyright protection)
Buildings
The station has two short platforms of 300 and 350 feet respectively with a small booking office on the up side and a stone shelter on the down, a small goods yard including a goods shed, dock and cattle pens all located on the down side and a water tower with two water cranes. The signal box is by Saxby and Farmer with a 16 lever frame inside and to top it all off, a level crossing (the largest single span gates in the country during the 1930s) and a Bowstring bridge allowing the line to cross over the main Plymouth to Tavistock line. All very interesting!
Baseboards
As you can see from the old OS map (dating from 1906) the station is on a curve, this is something that I wanted to replicate and move away from the traditional straight railway baseboard.
At the moment I am still debating with myself as to what to use. The rational side of me is saying use ply, but the experimental side is saying try polyfoam board. Either way the boards won’t be started until the track is finished as I don’t want to end up in a situation where the point motor won’t fit in the required space!
Track work
I’ve decided to use a mix of C&L and Exactoscale products. For plain track I settled on Exactoscale bases and chairs, but for point work I have used C&L thick timbers with Exactoscale chairs. Steel rail is used throughout.
Scenery
This will be constructed from a range of materials, carpet under felt for embankment grass, lint for meadows and fields and scatters for fine detailing work. As far as the buildings are concerned all will be scratch built, either from card or plasticard.
Signals and the level crossing gates will be from MSE, most of which have already been purchased.
Operation on the prototype
7 passenger services a day in each direction visited the station, these were a mix of auto trains and carriage sets. Most services were two carriage sets, although the very early morning and late evening services were only one carriage affairs. Very busy times would see three and occasionally four carriage sets, usually these would be additional Collects or Hawksworths post 1956.
The station handled a large amount of freight traffic, not only for Horrabridge, but also Yelverton. Yelverton has a station, but no goods facilities so the yard had to deal with a local population of around 5,000 within a 5 mile radius of the station.
Further to this, all the good wagons bound for the Princetown branch were stored at Horrarbridge for the trice weekly goods working; this was one of the reasons for the large amount siding space. Usually the Princetown loco, either a 44xx before 1955 or a 45xx after, would run light engine from Princetown with a Toad brake van and collect the wagons. Usually this would be no more than five, six tops. In the normal way this would take place at around 11am and would see two small prairie tanks shunting at once, all very modelagenic!
Stock
Motive Stock
Most of the locomotives will be RTR Bachmann and Hornby products, but Malcolm Mitchell kits and a class 22 diesel for Dapol thrown in for good measure! The main locomotives that worked the branch between 1955 and 56 were 14xx and 64xx working auto trains; 45xx/4575 and 57xx working the remaining passenger and goods services. Princetown station had a either a 44xx or a 45xx locomotive allocated to work the branch. This loco would return to Laira for servicing when required.
Passenger Stock
Ex GWR Collett and Hawksworth carriages worked most of the services, with odd MK1s turning up for strengthening.
Goods Stock
The wagons will be a mix of RTR and kit products from the usual sources all of which will have some form of compensation or springing to help it along. I do have some P4 wagons which are rigged, but will aim to compensate them in some way. Iain Rice’s Right Track DVDs 12 & 13 are excellent for the wagon modeller. It has provided me with a huge number of ideas as to how to create and authentic wagon fleet.
Operation on the model
The layout will be operated with DCC, most probably with either Gaugemaster, Lenz or Digitrax as the system. Points and signals will be operated with suitable slow action motors.
As far as train operation is concerned I have already bashed together a suitable running sequence from the WTT, which has highlighted the need for eight locomotives and eight carriages and enought stock for three goods trains. Most services had between 12-15 wagons, so for an authentic sequence I will require about 60 wagons so that a number can be in the yard at the beginning and the end of each session.
Anyway thank you for reading this essay and please do add any comments/feedback, I’m always happy to hear from everyone!
Well anyway happy modelling!
Nick. (Photos to follow but this post is long enough!)
Pleased to hear about the big changes you been going through, but even happier to see that you have started work on Horrabridge 
I think you've made the right choice to go ahead with the one you wanted, rather than work on something else in the mean time, I reckon you will be well rewarded for this approach (I would like to be as focussed, but no hope!).
Something that might be problematic is that fact that she hasn't noticed (or hasn't mentioned) the railway bits in the modelling room! 
