7mm The Derby Line: Basford North

dibateg

Western Thunderer
After years of speculation, I have finally put pen to plans and begun working out what I can fit in the available space that I have. Party due to being incapacitated at the moment, and the prospect of possibly finishing the house renovation in the next 6 months I had some free time to sit and play with this idea. Originally I had planned on doing West Hallam, but after several operating sessions on other layouts I wanted something with a little more interest and challenge from an operating point of view. So Geoff Taylor and I sat down and went through a few ideas and Basford North became a possible choice. There are principally two traffic flows, north to Annesley via Bulwell Common, and south to Nottingham Victoria via Bagthorp junction. The tunnel at Mapperley had closed in 1960, so the direct line to Colwick was just open as goods only by the time I am modelling, 1962. It was occasionally used as a refuge, to allow the Derby locals to proceed unhindered.

So I obtained some large scale maps and then began to work out what I could fit in 23' by 15' with outside return loops at one end. After several iterations Mrs Tony came up with a great idea, which looks like it might actually work.

So here is the initial map:-
Basford North OS.jpg

So there have to be lots of compromises of course, but the whole of the station is only slightly compressed and using a minimum radius of 6 feet, and having 6 tracks passing outside the building I came up with this. I really wanted the whole station on the straight, but that is just not possible as tracks can only exit at one end of the building. The outside tracks will be in boxes, but I shall actually build a lean to, to give double protection from the weather. I came up with this:-
Basford North V2.jpg

The GNR liked their long ladder crossovers and it could be that one will be required outside the building to allow goods trains to back from the up line to Mapperley into the goods yard. I'm still thinking about that one.
 

dibateg

Western Thunderer
Once this has been chewed over and reviewed for a while, a more detailed plan will be made incorporating transition curves etc. Eventually it will be drawn out full scale on lining paper. That is impossible at the moment as the railway room has all the lounge furniture in it at present.

Comments, ideas and any photos of the goods yard and Vernon road approach to the station welcome. I have all the known books published on the area. A review on Google earth shows only the Northern Baths extant!
 

adrian

Flying Squad
That looks very interesting, you seem to have managed to fit the characteristics in to the space available.

I have one question though about the track plan. On the map the line through the goods shed has a crossing back to the long goods sidings. You haven't included this on your track plan. Was this a later addition? Or something deliberately omitted from your plan?
 

Phill Dyson

Western Thunderer
Hi Tony,

Very nice plan :) will the outside return be a covered return br loop like David Jenkinson's ? (I think had on his 'Last Great Project' ?).........good space saving idea IMO.

Do you still have plans for an outdoor 7mm line?:)

Phill
 

Dikitriki

Flying Squad
Hi Tony

That's a nice plan - lots of scope for operational interest.

You've got a long reach from the front of the boards to the track, though I guess it's running only on the far lines.

Do you have a signalling diagram yet, or will you be able to use Basford North as it is?

Richard
 

3 LINK

Western Thunderer
Hi Tony,

A very interesting project, that should keep you busy for quite some time and the use of the outside track is a great bonus. I would of liked to have gone outside for the return loops on my proposed layout but my wife put her foot down as it would of meant going through the kitchen first before reaching the garden, I don't know, where is her sense of adventure ?:D .

Regarding the problem of setting the up goods back into the yard, would it be possible to extend the layout room on just that side? As you say you are already going to build a lean to for added protection from the elements, it's just that in my opinion there is nothing better than watching a freight set back across a main into a yard ( sad aren't I ?) :rolleyes:.

Look forward to the updates,

ATB,

Martyn.
 

dibateg

Western Thunderer
Thanks for the comments guys.

The outside tracks will be boxed in with removable covers. These in turn will ultimately be covered by a lean to. We have Welsh weather to deal with.The problem is that the building cannot be extended as it would cut out the view from the house. A low level lean to will be at a lower height and will conveniently screen next door's 'garden'. It is a metal building and it might be possible to cut a big hole out into the lean to, I'll investigate that. The I would be able to watch that freight back up! I am exiting through the only points that I can, as it is not possible out of any of the other sides.

I will follow the signalling that was in place, but I have no diagram as yet. The main boards are quite deep at 5 feet, I might compress that to 4 foot something once we get more into the detail. I don't want it to be just railway though.

Cheers

Tony
 

dibateg

Western Thunderer
The plan evolves and after due consideration, I have had domestic authorisation to extend the railway room by 9 feet or so. This will allow all of the layout to be inside, and given the challenges of Welsh weather, I'm rather please about that.

I had the opportunity to do a site visit on my way up to Yorkshire, though there is not much to see these days. There is the Park Road bridge, which has been redecked, but at least the abutments still exist.
P1020430b.jpg

Opposite the station entrance there is one interesting building - The Northern Baths, that is till extant, it would make a nice feature.
P1020442b.jpg

But I don't think it will be until the spring until I can get the extension done. So time for planning I suppose...
 

dibateg

Western Thunderer
After a long break, it's been time to get on with the layout planning, and with domestic authority to extend the railway room, so that all of the tracks ar e indoors I've begun working with Templot to try and get a layout design together. It's a great program, but takes a bit of learning! This is version 2...

I've got as far as this and am tackling tandem points to fit into the approach to the goods shed at the moment.
Untitled.jpg
 

richard carr

Western Thunderer
Tony

It looks very interesting, I'm pleased to see you mastering Templot, its worth the perseverance, I have a couple of comments, that might help.

Even with a tandem point, I don't think the goods shed area is going to fit in its present form. points take always up so much more space than you think.
Are the diamonds intended to be slips, if they are I don't bother to add all the slip detail in templot, its not worth the effort, I just build them as a slip once the template has been stuck down.

In the fiddle yard the base board is plenty wide enough to fit in all the tracks but some of the loops will end up being very short, I have had the same problem on croscombe, the loops have ended up much shorter than we would have liked, the same is now happening the fiddle yard.

Do you know anyone who has a roll feeder on their printer, if you do this makes it so much easier to print out the whole thing in a few long bits of paper, otherwise you end up with a thousand pieces of paper that turn into a jig saw puzzle.

Richard
 

Phil.c

Western Thunderer
The Station Building looks like a good project, you have a good picture there to work out the scale for a plan.

Phil
 

dibateg

Western Thunderer
Thanks Richard - some useful tips - and a mate offered today the use of a plotter/printer to print out the plan.

Yes, the diamonds are mostly single slips and your right, it looks like the good shed might need a little shrinkage - it is a large building in any case. Loops - fortunately, there are some short trains that use the line...

Phil - the station building was in stone - unlike the others on the line that were all brick build - I don't know why, but I do have some useful photos of it apart from what was originally the road side. This became a bay platform in the 1890's when the GC arrived and the layout was changed considerably to add the junctions etc.

Regards
Tony
 

Suddaby

Western Thunderer
Hi Tony,

Don't know if you go on Facebook, but there is a group called "Nottingham's Railways Remembered, who often unearth some interesting photos of Nottingham. Looks an interesting project!

Kevin
 

40126

Western Thunderer
Hi Tony,

Don't know if you go on Facebook, but there is a group called "Nottingham's Railways Remembered, who often unearth some interesting photos of Nottingham. Looks an interesting project!

Kevin
Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Railways of the past. On Facebook too
 
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