Crewe Curve - Potential Diorama Project

[petermeyer]

When I got round to extending my layout I had a corner that I wanted to do a bit more with rather than just a plain non-scenic board. I have always wanted to build a viaduct so decided to create a diorama in that corner in the spirit of the LNWR dioramas of Jack Nelson. Inspiration came by way of the Crewe Curve, north of Shrewsbury station, which is the site of the notorious crash of the LNWR mail train in 1907. This combines a viaduct and a sharp curve that is needed to get the layout round into the fiddle yard. Under the viaduct with its sharp curve were the entrances to the GWR cattle and goods yards at Abbey Foregate. What appealed to me about the site was the juxtaposition of the GWR signage and the LNWR line overhead.

Shrewsbury.jpg

This is the area but the whole trackplan is not included ie no GWR line to Chester just the LNWR double track to Crewe. None of the signalling.

crewe_curve_map.jpg

So the plan looks like this

crewe_curve_with_extension_.jpg

Having extended my layout, based on the same line but further down in Herefordshire, I've already built the baseboard for the diorama and laid the track to LNWR spec using ply and rivets. It's wired and working. Yesterday I had the paintpot out for the scenic work so I took the opportunity to tidy up the diorama board and use up some leftover paint. The scaled O/s map is stuck down to the board which had become my usual way of working. The main road, Castle Foregate, runs under the bridge and outside Shrewsbury station which is the other side of the bridge which I think was rebuilt around 1892. So before I painted in the road I took this shot of the board with the label Castle still visible.

Castle_foregate.jpg

The roadways were painted in to show how they all relate. The sides are about 20" but as it's all built on a curve, the back is longer than the front which is about 22".

IMG_2004.jpg

And here finally is an LNWR train running across the viaduct

IMG_2006.jpg

As this has already been started I hope that it's OK for the project. Eitherway I intend to build it as I've started, so I''ll finish but the project deadline of 2026 will give me the impetuous to get on and get it done. The challenge for me will be constructing the urban environment which I have never built before though my brother has successfully. The row of shops on Castle Foregate still exist though they have been extended upwards and their use has changed over the years. I'll post some more pictures including of the Shrewsbury disaster where both the driver and fireman plus postal workers and passengers came to grief. It was well covered by photographers at the time. My period by the way is 1912

[David B]

A great idea, Peter. I look forward to seeing the end product. It's nice to see, as well, that you will be doing something new - the urban environment. Do keep us informed of your progress.

[petermeyer]

A great idea, Peter. I look forward to seeing the end product. It's nice to see, as well, that you will be doing something new - the urban environment. Do keep us informed of your progress.

Thanks David, here's a bit more background.

This angle shows how the diorama works within the whole layout. In real life Shrewsbury station is beyond the scenic break but in my world it's Berrington and Eye station - 50 miles further south in the Herefordshire countryside.

The track is on a transition curve that reduces down to 900mm (<3ft) on the inside curve nearest the camera. As can be seen, I have also used Exactoscale chairs as well as rivets. Because of the severe speed restriction I have assumed that the LNWR did not place any cant on this section of line.

The odd bits of wood sticking out are a legacy of this area being where an end-to-end fiddleyard was attached initially. The wood holds the baseboard dowels. I will have to get creative and hide these with structures.

IMG_2008.jpg

This is the overall scene today

panorama.jpg

A lot of detail on the viaduct here though it's all still there today. Peeny Bros. occupied the first shop in 1907. Creating all the signage is going to be a challenge.

Shrewsbury_2.jpg

[bécasse]

The track is on a transition curve that reduces down to 900mm (<3ft) on the inside curve nearest the camera. As can be seen, I have also used Exactoscale chairs as well as rivets. Because of the severe speed restriction I have assumed that the LNWR did not place any cant on this section of line.

I am not sure that the lack of cant is right. The LNWR provided cant on sharp curves even on goods only lines, the notorious Gotham curve on the C&HP line reputedly had a 9" cant! Trains look very different on canted track and it is perhaps the feature that is missed most often on P4 layouts.

[Noel]

Being sharp enough to have a 10 mph speed limit, was the curve not check-railed?

[petermeyer]

Trains look very different on canted track and it is perhaps the feature that is missed most often on P4 layouts.

I agree. My scenic layout is all on a curve and all the track is canted. According to documents at the L&NWR Society, the maximum cant on the LNWR was 6" which scales to 2mm.

My challenge was, in the station area board onto which this diorama abuts, is the trailing crossover from the up line into the goods yard.

IMG_2012.jpg

Building that pointwork including cant, traversing the down line, with cant, was way beyond my skillset given this is my first and last P4 layout. So the cant in that area is reduced down to virtually nothing though the goods yard is 1mm below the running lines. Also I had to ease the cant out to get the baseboard join into the fiddleyard where I didn't want any cant. I had the same issue at the other end of the layout. So at the baseboard joins there is no cant and therefore I continued with flat track into the diorama.

At the central point of the layout line the outside rails are 2mm above the inner and the goods line flat but 1mm below. On the picture it is hardly perceptible but with a train running it does make a visible difference. I just need to build more trains.

IMG_2010.jpg

[Philip Hall]

Canted track on the prototype had a purpose, of course, but in our world it is mostly just for effect, and can in fact cause problems if overdone. I intend to try a little cant in some places but well away from pointwork and particularly crossovers between canted lines. I have however been encouraged by pictures of the running lines east of Okehampton which show little if any cant, I imagine because of a lowish speed limit, so I may quite legitimately leave it out. Which is a bit disappointing because I quite liked the idea!

Philip

[petermeyer]

Being sharp enough to have a 10 mph speed limit, was the curve not check-railed?

Quite possibly

Shrewsbury_3.jpg

[Will L]

Cant looks very nice, but beware stock without some form of suspension may well take exception to it, RTR loco conversions for instance. 4 wheel short wheel base wagons will probably be OK.