THE SCALEFOUR SOCIETY 18.83 LAYOUT CHALLENGE

Pimlico Wharf  by Nick Holliday

London Brighton & South Coast Railway - circa 1905 - Inner London (Battersea) area.

The scenario supposes the original Pimlico terminal, south of the Thames, was retained as a goods yard after the opening of Victoria Station, with the engine sheds of Battersea Park on the other side of the viaduct, which carries the high level approach to Grosvenor Bridge. The relatively quiet atmosphere of this area was conducive to a better quality of paint finish, allowing the possibility that recently repaired locomotives might be brought round to it for finishing touches to their livery. Apart from that, the yard would be used for a number of purposes, including serving a gas works, to allow the use of small industrial locomotives, and handling livestock, to allow for my predilection for cattle wagons and horse boxes.

The aims of this layout are fourfold, namely to provide:

The layout has been designed around a module whose dimensions have been derived from the foamcore panels which came my way, with a view to having the lightest possible substructure whilst maintaining the necessary strength and rigidity for finescale modelling. The central sections are intended to be self-sufficient, to meet the first three aims, while keeping within a relatively small space. The outer sections are more cosmetic, although increasing the operating scope, to enhance the overall impression when on display.

Control will be through DCC, a little OTT for such a simple layout but intended as a precursor for greater things. The trackwork will be built using PCB sleepers, for speed of construction, as most of it will be buried under cobbles or other road surfacing. Points will be manually operated, using a wire in tube system.

The inspiration actually came from the cover photograph of Great Eastern Town & Country Volume 1. The GER and the LBSC have many points in common, and this picture seemed to act as a catalyst for my ideas originally stemming from views of locomotives at Battersea and at Stewarts Lane, where the various mainlines into Victoria create a fascinating backdrop of brick viaducts and girder bridges. I particularly wanted to capture the look of the intriguing example of pointwork, and extend it over a larger area. Another feature I wanted to incorporate was the pioneering overhead electrified lines, albeit as a static display, as, to date, this has not been achieved by others.

Most of the planning pre-dates lain Rice's detailed exploration of the genre, as evinced by his lecture at last year's Scaleforum, and his latest book on the subject. It is hoped to combine various commercial card buildings and backscenes to create a background of mean London streets and industry.

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