Will L wrote:Flymo748 wrote:. Consider me intrigued
What are the plans for the "proper" railway?
I can't say there are real plans, as I can't actually see myself going it alone on a layout, but there are fantasies. Despite being born within smelling distance of Bletchley shed (LNWR/LMS), this all comes down to a GER cross country branch lines in one form or another. My wife was born in Sudbury. At the time we were courting, Stephen Poole started going on about little blue locos under a big blue sky and I fell in love with the railway as well.
I can understand that... I found the woman in Bristol, but despite having a dalliance with things Green With Rivets in the past, I've found living in the Herts/Essex/Cambs borders to be inspirational with bucolic villages and rural industry that have a real charm. It doesn't have to be big or fast (and the GER rarely was) to be interesting.
Will L wrote:I've considered Wells-Next-The-Sea which has a fascinating layout, but possesses both a layout logistical problem, as a terminus with lines in from three different directions (the third is the harbour branch), and an operational problem. For much of its history it didn't have a run round loop usable by passenger stock. Coaching stock was shunted by gravity.
You need to speak with Ted Scannell about his memory wire controlled working brakes on coaches... Wells is a nice prototype, and seems to have all of the features to be expected at a GER terminus. I would find that lack of run around frustrating though!
Will L wrote:Then there is Long Melford, or rather, the concept of Long Melford as a junction between two long distance single track cross country lines. Although the prototype is, as you might expect from the name, far too long, the actual junction intertwined with two lay by sidings is a gem. I would want to run a beefed up passenger service with some trains joining and dividing, some terminating and some just making connections. As a concept I have a worked through version in 00 which came out quite big, even with 3ft minimum curves. It would be bigger in P4.
Yes, but it does have the utterly typical three-way point and single slip combination. I do think that the GER had quite the most distictive trademark in trackwork, ranging from stations large to small, and both through and terminus. As you say, rather lengthy, although capturing that empty Fenland feel.
Will L wrote:Then there is Outwell Basin. Again the track is a gem and suits a corner site. This is a much more likely one man project, but as a tramway, very limited in terms of operation and stock, locos particularly. That said I have a loco and 4 coaches built and more in the kits awaiting attention pile. To do the job properly will need a lot of buildings, including a large church. There is an 00 version on the exhibition circuit at the moment. This captures the track work quite well but needs more of the buildings, particularly the Church.
This is the sort of thing that appeals to me. Trackwork and rolling stock insinuating its way into town and village. Expect to see some of this in the Horsley Bank inspired cabinet layout, and then onto bigger and better things. Outwell itself looks a little disjointed as a plan. Indeed more a tramway than a full railway. But it certainly has lots of potential for modelling of buildings, and the minutiae of rural life. It appeals to me
Will L wrote:I've also wondered about Sudbury, as an interesting prototype again made to measure for a corner site and with a track work oddity; and Chapel and Wakes Colne as another junction where train services did divided/join etc. The track work at Chapel isn't very exciting but could be got into a relatively short space, assuming you ignore the best bit which is the adjacent huge viaduct. I've never seen a model of this but I have a feeling that, as a preservation site, it must have been done before.
Now Sudbury is one of the plans that I already have scanned in to my laptop for fiddling around with... It's a great triangular design overall with loads of interest in that sprawling goods yard, and the tiny engine shed tucked up in the corner. The passenger station itself is quite Plain Jane, yet can be the icing on top of lots and lots of movement in the goods yard behind.
Of all the suggestions, this is the one that appeals most to me personally. Apart for the physical shape, which as a large fan would need a devoted location to do it justice at home, then I think that it is also still (just!) within the limits of a single modeller enjoying himself.
Will L wrote:Well you did ask.
And thanks very much for sharing. You got me looking through backnumbers of the GE Journal in a new light. Good luck, and I look forward to seeing whatever finally emerges.
Flymo
