MODEL RAILWAYS ON-LINE ASHPRINGTON ROAD Part 1 By Graham Plowman Photographed by Paul Plowman
2 MODEL RAILWAYS ON-LINE ASHPRINGTON ROAD A 00 layout based on the Western Region Main Line between Exeter and Plymouth By Graham Plowman The history of my layout commenced some six years ago when I built a new house, which included a railway room measuring 13.5m x 4.5m. The layout was planned to be 7m x 3.7m which would leave ample space around two sides for viewing. Three years later, after building the ideal railway room, I moved house again and repeated the process, this time with a railway room measuring 9m x 5m. As is the usual scheme of things in this hobby, with all the jobs to be done in a new house, about 18 months passed after moving in before I was able to commence work on the layout. My interest is the Western Region during the early 1960 s period up to Above: Britannia Class 7P 4-6-2 No.70021 Morning Star drifts past the Ashprington Road Down Home signals with a train for Plymouth. Notice the drainage channels taking water from the tunnel. about 1965. This was the period of transition from steam to diesel traction with significant changes in rolling stock and liveries. It was a period of great variety, with many steam locomotives still in service but with the new order of diesels gradually taking over. I also have an interest in the South Western Division of the Southern Region. I wanted to build a layout with a double track main line and to add operational interest I wanted some kind of branch line or local service operation. A goods yard would also be required. Locomotive depots are usually only found at major centres not intermediate main-line stations, which I was planning to model. This therefore limited the layout to only having minimal watering and coaling facilities. Naturally, a fiddle yard would be required for off stage storage. I wanted to be able to run trains of prototypical lengths and therefore, the fiddle yard would need sufficient length to accommodate them. This requirement ruled out the use of traversers, which are impractical for trains longer than about 4/5 coaches. I have always had an interest in the Western Region in Devon and
FEBRUARY 2004 3 this was the area I wanted to model. Given my requirements for a layout, the task was now to find a real location, which included the features I was looking for. I found such a location at Brent which is located on the Western Region mainline between Newton Abbott and Plymouth. It was one of only two major stations on the line, the other being Totnes. It was also the junction for the Kingsbridge Branch. Today, Brent Station no longer exists. The Kingsbridge branch closed in September 1963, having been operated by a single diesel railcar for the latter years of its existence. The line between Exeter and Plymouth through South Devon provides operational interest because it was the diversionary route for Southern services when the route to Plymouth via Oakhampton was closed for engineering works. In addition to the weekend diversions Southern locomotives could be found hauling regular Western Region stopping services over the line during the mid-week period to enable crews to keep their ticket for the route up to date. This would justify my use of Bullied Light Pacifics and N Class 2-6-0 s on the layout. Brent represented the location and operational interest, which I was looking for. It was on a Western Region double-track main line with a branch service, a goods yard and Southern stock had a justified presence. The station had the virtually standard British cross-country platform length of six coaches, but it frequently saw 8-coach or longer trains. I proposed to build my layout to accommodate 8-coach trains, but would provide only 6-coach platforms. Given the space I had available for the layout, I felt that 6-coach platforms looked prototypical and proportionally reasonable. The problem with long platforms is that they can dominate a layout. Having chosen the location for my layout, I felt that I did not really want to model Brent. Models of real places can be difficult to build requiring extensive research. At exhibitions there will always be someone who will know the place better than you and point out all the inaccuracies! My layout is based on Brent in respect to its location, operation and practices but it is not a model of Brent. The name of my layout was chosen from a map of the local area. I have adopted the name Ashprington from a nearby village and added Road to create Ashprington Road. Historically railway companies added the word Road to indicate that their station was indeed some distance Above: BR Type 4 Diesel Hydraulic No.1016 Western Gladiator eases around the curve past Ashprignton Road East Box with a train for Paddington. Below: Morning Star slows as it approaches the station with a train for Penzance. from the village of that name.
4 MODEL RAILWAYS ON-LINE On a Sunday afternoon SR West Country Class 4-6-2 No.34007 Wadebridge heads for Plymouth with a train diverted from the Southern Region Main Line via Oakhampton due to weekend engineering works. Planning the Layout The layout was designed for use at home and to be transportable for exhibitions. The baseboards were constructed to be easily dismantled. I decided that it would be unwise to fill the entire room with a layout as it would be a very expensive exercise even if only considering the cost of track and the impracticability of transporting it to exhibitions. Like most people, I only have limited time to devote to our hobby and to embark on a very large layout would probably result in the project never being completed. I therefore decided I would build the layout in an area 8im by 4.5im. This allowed a large layout but it would still be transportable. Once the size of the layout had been determined, I commenced sketching some plans. I started by designing the countryside, drawing up a contour map of the area, which the layout would later occupy. In real life, the countryside existed long before railways. I wanted my layout to look as though the countryside was there first and the railway added later. I didn t want it to appear as though the hills had been added afterwards to a flat landscape. This approach, of
FEBRUARY 2004 5 preparing a contour map, lends itself to open frame baseboard construction. However, on balance I decided against open frame because I felt that conventional flat top construction would be simpler and stronger for a portable layout. Only the area around the viaduct would have benefited from an open frame and here I lowered the level of the boards in two steps of 10cm to create a 20icm difference between track level and the valley floor. Designing the Track Layout Having designed the countryside, I turned my attention to the track layout. This occupied my time while commuting to and from work by train. Other passengers tend to look at you very strangely when they see you scribbling these funny little diagrams! At the outset I set myself a number of standards, which I would attempt to adhere to: Curves would have a minimum radius of 5ifeet except on curved turnouts where the radius would be smaller. Track would be Peco Codei75 fine scale using large radius turnouts. The fiddle yard would be codei100 to make use of track recovered from a previous layout. All of my rolling stock, with the exception of a few older Lima coaches, is fitted with fine scale wheels. Lima and older Hornby wheels need to be checked for gauge and flange depth. The track layout would be designed to ensure that there would be no reversals of curvature ( S bends) without transitions or a length of straight between. The reversal of curvature across crossovers can be a problem by causing buffer locking. Due to the configuration of the layout this problem has been largely avoided. Top: Morning Star leans into the curve as it pulls away from Ashprington Road. Middle: A Hall Class 4-6-0 with a down train passes a new Hymek on the viaduct. Right: A Southern Region N Class 2-6-0 works an up stopping service for driver training over the South Devon line.
6 MODEL RAILWAYS ON-LINE All curves on the main running lines would be canted (superelevated). The calculation of the cant and the design of the transitions would be in accordance with former BR and now Railtrack Standards. Professional railway alignment design software would be used. Track would be laid at 52imm centres, which appears to be the nominal spacing of Peco turnouts. Although greater than a true scale spacing of 45mm the value of 52mm adopted by Peco is about right for passing clearance on a 5 foot radius curve between, say a steam loco with a long overhang on the inside track and say a Mk3 coach on the outside track. Six-coach platforms would be provided. The layout would be designed to accomodate 8-coach trains. The track layout would be designed to avoid locating turnouts over board joints. Turnouts would not be located closer to board joints than 5cm. The positions of turnouts would be designed to avoid point motors being obstructed by board bracing. In practice, the boards were designed around the layout and board bracing as positioned away from turnouts. The baseboards would be 900mm deep in the visible area and 600mm deep in the fiddle yard.