daifly
Western Thunderer
The background.
My family moved to Swansea in 1963, missing the end of the Swansea & Mumbles Railway which closed in 1960, but the Swansea Harbour Trust lines around the docks and surrounding streets were still in use (just!). Track ran at two levels in places between the King’s and Prince of Wales Docks area and westwards across the River Tawe to South Dock with its coal hoists and fish market and allowed freight to move between the large goods yards around the town. (Swansea only became a city in 1969 – after the late-50s/early-60s period in which the layout is set)
A visitor to the area in the early-1930s would find no fewer than 6 terminus stations and 7 sheds within walking distance of the town centre. Even though there were a couple of closures over the years, by the late-50’s, 4 of the stations and 5 of the sheds were still in operation. With reference to the map above, North Dock closed in 1930 and was filled in over the next few years. The red ring shows the area being modelled.
In reality, the upper level lines served Weaver’s Mill (the blue ring on the map) and connected the goods yards on both sides of the river. Following the closure of the ex-LNWR Paxton Street shed, they allowed locomotives to route between Swansea East Dock shed and Victoria Station and also to access High Street Station when Landore was closed to become a diesel depot. I shall take the opportunity to have varied light-engine movements on this route to indulge myself!
Pete Stamper produced several suitable locomotives for this area in his Agenoria range and there is no shortage of suitable ‘50s and ‘60s British Railways rolling stock available from Slater’s, Parkside and others so all of the elements are there for a Swansea Docklands-inspired layout. Minerva have also produced a suitable Peckett 0-4-0 for the SHT lines.
This very modestly-sized layout can only hope to give a taste of the location and spent far too long being sketched, drawn, redrawn and Templotted but, finally, I was happy with the compromises and the plan so now it’s getting built. Some C&L FS track and printed Templot templates were manipulated to help the process.
The baseboards were built 6 years ago for a smaller version of the layout.
There is a good reason for the odd-coloured board top. The boards came as kits from Model Railway Solutions in Poole. I ordered 2 off 4’ x 2’ and 1 off 3’6” x 2” to create my original ‘mini-Swansea’ layout. Having assembled the frames, I went to fit the tops - supplied at the same time - to find that one of them was too big (or so I thought). A quick check with a tape measure found that the 3’6” frame was, in fact, 3’ 5”!
A quick email to MRS got an apology and a replacement frame set within days giving me a correctly-sized board. However, I still had the slightly small frame to which I’ve now added a 1/2” packer to each end and provided the extra top which is not birch ply like the rest - hence the darker colour. Still, an extra baseboard for £7.50 (the cost of the ply sheet) was a bargain but also gave me the better length of 15’ overall to play with. The reason for putting the packers at each end is to cover the previously drilled recesses for the pattern-makers dowels. They are in the wrong place at the business end and not now needed at the other end.
My original intention had been to build to O-MF standards but, since I will need to build all of my own pointwork anyway and have several locos and wagons still to be built then I might just as well do things properly and build everything to S7 standards.
The track plan
As can be seen, there are effectively two layouts with no physical connection between them. The upper level (on the right) has a siding which serves the flour mill. The lower level has a couple of sidings and a loop. There are small fiddle yards at each end on both levels.
A few days ago I had a severe boll***ing from my wife. I was sitting on the sofa in my man-cave - a 5m x 5m room upstairs containing baseboards, books, tools, workbench etc. - when I got a visit from her. SWMBO complained about the ‘mess’. (It isn’t messy but there is a lot of stuff in there!) Her parting shot was “either build the b****y thing or get rid of it all”.
Work begins.
Thus, earlier last week, the boards were moved to the garage and placed on some adjustable trestles and work commenced.
The pattern makers dowels were fitted along with bolts, washers and wing-nuts to hold everything together. The outline of the viaduct walls was marked on the baseboards and they were cut to shape. Risers were cut, levelled and installed at the end of each of the four boards. Some scraps of hardboard were placed in position to aid the 3D view.
Further bodgery had more supports added. This is where I had got to by Friday.
The fiddle yards will use cassettes. The necessary materials are in stock in readiness.
Yesterday, the viaduct wall backings were cut from some old flatpack 3mm drawer bases from my daughter’s flat which were salvaged to the ‘might come in useful one day’ stock. Some of the rear viaduct backings were attached. Some 4mm hardboard was also used to act as a cassette restraint. The viaduct walls will have cast ‘stonework’ added in due course.
So, that’s where things are at the moment. My intention is to get the basic structure as complete as possible over the next few days before moving everything back to the warmth of the man-cave for trackbuilding and tracklaying to get underway. Winter is coming!
Dave
My family moved to Swansea in 1963, missing the end of the Swansea & Mumbles Railway which closed in 1960, but the Swansea Harbour Trust lines around the docks and surrounding streets were still in use (just!). Track ran at two levels in places between the King’s and Prince of Wales Docks area and westwards across the River Tawe to South Dock with its coal hoists and fish market and allowed freight to move between the large goods yards around the town. (Swansea only became a city in 1969 – after the late-50s/early-60s period in which the layout is set)
A visitor to the area in the early-1930s would find no fewer than 6 terminus stations and 7 sheds within walking distance of the town centre. Even though there were a couple of closures over the years, by the late-50’s, 4 of the stations and 5 of the sheds were still in operation. With reference to the map above, North Dock closed in 1930 and was filled in over the next few years. The red ring shows the area being modelled.
In reality, the upper level lines served Weaver’s Mill (the blue ring on the map) and connected the goods yards on both sides of the river. Following the closure of the ex-LNWR Paxton Street shed, they allowed locomotives to route between Swansea East Dock shed and Victoria Station and also to access High Street Station when Landore was closed to become a diesel depot. I shall take the opportunity to have varied light-engine movements on this route to indulge myself!
Pete Stamper produced several suitable locomotives for this area in his Agenoria range and there is no shortage of suitable ‘50s and ‘60s British Railways rolling stock available from Slater’s, Parkside and others so all of the elements are there for a Swansea Docklands-inspired layout. Minerva have also produced a suitable Peckett 0-4-0 for the SHT lines.
This very modestly-sized layout can only hope to give a taste of the location and spent far too long being sketched, drawn, redrawn and Templotted but, finally, I was happy with the compromises and the plan so now it’s getting built. Some C&L FS track and printed Templot templates were manipulated to help the process.
The baseboards were built 6 years ago for a smaller version of the layout.
There is a good reason for the odd-coloured board top. The boards came as kits from Model Railway Solutions in Poole. I ordered 2 off 4’ x 2’ and 1 off 3’6” x 2” to create my original ‘mini-Swansea’ layout. Having assembled the frames, I went to fit the tops - supplied at the same time - to find that one of them was too big (or so I thought). A quick check with a tape measure found that the 3’6” frame was, in fact, 3’ 5”!
A quick email to MRS got an apology and a replacement frame set within days giving me a correctly-sized board. However, I still had the slightly small frame to which I’ve now added a 1/2” packer to each end and provided the extra top which is not birch ply like the rest - hence the darker colour. Still, an extra baseboard for £7.50 (the cost of the ply sheet) was a bargain but also gave me the better length of 15’ overall to play with. The reason for putting the packers at each end is to cover the previously drilled recesses for the pattern-makers dowels. They are in the wrong place at the business end and not now needed at the other end.
My original intention had been to build to O-MF standards but, since I will need to build all of my own pointwork anyway and have several locos and wagons still to be built then I might just as well do things properly and build everything to S7 standards.
The track plan
As can be seen, there are effectively two layouts with no physical connection between them. The upper level (on the right) has a siding which serves the flour mill. The lower level has a couple of sidings and a loop. There are small fiddle yards at each end on both levels.
A few days ago I had a severe boll***ing from my wife. I was sitting on the sofa in my man-cave - a 5m x 5m room upstairs containing baseboards, books, tools, workbench etc. - when I got a visit from her. SWMBO complained about the ‘mess’. (It isn’t messy but there is a lot of stuff in there!) Her parting shot was “either build the b****y thing or get rid of it all”.
Work begins.
Thus, earlier last week, the boards were moved to the garage and placed on some adjustable trestles and work commenced.
The pattern makers dowels were fitted along with bolts, washers and wing-nuts to hold everything together. The outline of the viaduct walls was marked on the baseboards and they were cut to shape. Risers were cut, levelled and installed at the end of each of the four boards. Some scraps of hardboard were placed in position to aid the 3D view.
Further bodgery had more supports added. This is where I had got to by Friday.
The fiddle yards will use cassettes. The necessary materials are in stock in readiness.
Yesterday, the viaduct wall backings were cut from some old flatpack 3mm drawer bases from my daughter’s flat which were salvaged to the ‘might come in useful one day’ stock. Some of the rear viaduct backings were attached. Some 4mm hardboard was also used to act as a cassette restraint. The viaduct walls will have cast ‘stonework’ added in due course.
So, that’s where things are at the moment. My intention is to get the basic structure as complete as possible over the next few days before moving everything back to the warmth of the man-cave for trackbuilding and tracklaying to get underway. Winter is coming!
Dave