The Corkickle Brake in 00...

From time to time a photograph gets lodged in my mind and niggles away until I subconsciously can ignore it no longer and an explosion of creativity results...

Photo: Collection Gordon Edgar, Photographer Roy Burt, used with permission.

I spend hours pouring over the internet and my collection of books for as much information about the scene and it's location, how it was operated, the history of the area and industries... and a plan quite quickly begins to settle in my head on how it can be turned into my trademark Cameo style whilst maintaining the prototypes unique character. As a result, another recent diversion has been the Corkickle Brake in Whitehaven, UK.

I first saw the photos of this earlier this year when I picked up one of Gordon Edgar's wonderful and inexpensive Industrial railway photo albums. The photos of the brake really struck a chord with me, industrial railways in the 1980s, run down, in close proximity to suburbia. It looked eminently modellable yet I put the book away. However, seeing Hornby's releases for 2021 and the Sentinel making a welcome return to the range something clicked inside and I couldn't ignore this project any longer.

A very brief history first, what is the Corkickle Brake? It is believed to have been the last cable worked standard gauge incline in the UK. What I liked about the history was the brake lay dormant for many years until re-invigorated in the 1950s with a heavily used period right up to the introduction of larger modern air braked wagons, along with changing fortunes in freight transport in the UK led to its ultimate demise in 1986. It linked the BR Cumbrian Coast line south of Whitehaven with the Marchon chemical works at Kells, on the cliffs above the Irish Sea, and after the Howgill incline closed at Whitehaven docks, followed by the rest of the Lowca Light Railway, it became the only link between the works and the mainline - hence both raw materials and finished product were shipped over the approximately 1 in 6 incline in a variety of covered hoppers and tank wagons over the years. Studying photo captions revealed that in general the outer two lines at the top were used for departure, with arrivals from the bottom of the incline into the centre track.

My design work began with a view of Google Earth and using this to get a feel for the size of the site. I figured the incline would be too difficult to model accurately, and the bottom end and BR exchange siding was fairly 'ordinary' in both it's topography and other visual interest... however photos of the Winding House, it's adjacent level crossing, foot bridge attached to the tower, the loop and track work, the adjacent suburban housing, the railway clutter nearby was all a perfect combination of industrial railway modelling, and best of all it was a relatively compact site that could be entirely modelled in 2m x 30cm.

However, I like my cameo scenes to be more compact, and in my humble opinion these sorts of small slices of layout work best around 1m long, and framed with integral display and lighting. That requires some 'cropping' of the scene, as Lance Mindheim would suggest... I decided that the whole 'arrival' loop west of the level crossing could be halved so two tracks go off scene instead of one (A1 and A2), and the incline could be cut off entirely leaving just the top sections of the three tracks (B1-3, as above). Key points are the surbuban housing on the back scene (ID to something that could be suitable modified), the 3 storey control tower, the level crossing gates, which for fun could be made operational, and the gradual slope rising from the control tower, to the left, so the line becomes more and more in an embankment. 

I wanted to work with the visual balance of the scene as well, see notes on the image, with the intent that the texture and detail would drop off at the right hand (eastern) end to mimic the incline dropping away. Operation would be relatively straight forward... a train 'arrives' in A2, loco pulls forwards to remove newly arrived wagons from B2 and pulls them to A1. Loco then propels wagons in A2 and sorts them into B1 and B3. It may wait for a further wagon to arrive on B2, before running back through A2, reconnecting (off scene) with wagons in A1 and these being withdrawn from the scene. Off scene, B1-B3 would be shunted by hand with tracks simple extending 15cm or so beyond the visual scene. A1 and A2 could be a simple extension and small traverser for the loco, or something more complicated.

I love the process of sharing inspiration and design with people who think differently but have the same outlook, it is so exciting and I’ve been getting a lot of modelling enthusiasm by infusing my British modelling background with ideas and inspiration from across the pond. I shared this scheme with friend Chris, with whom I have been sharing ideas and cross fertilising plans to their betterment as well as our own energy and enthusiasm, who commented that it might be worth 'shifting' the whole scene a little to the west. This would have the visual impact of making what is happening at the incline less obvious, inviting the viewers mind to wonder what is going on beyond the winding tower and to try and peer around it - which would be made difficult by the wings of the cameo and various scenic elements. It would allow a slightly longer loop so that longer trains could be handled. In this scenario I would envisage working with threes, i.e. three wagons arrive for departure, requiring a split of them between tracks B1 and B3 as only two would fit in each track... along with arrivals in ones and twos... the balanced nature of the incline meant that there could be a maximum of a 25t difference in weights on the descending and ascending wagons. Obviously the descending always needed to be heavier... how this was managed to allow a consistent flow of traffic is fascinating, and one I will endeavour to mull over and scheme so that if the layout is built the flow of empties and loaded wagons in each direction would allow the incline's continued safe operation. 

Suffice to say I have plenty on my plate at present, with Kinross my current muse, and the longer term plan of building a permanent larger switching layout based upon the Halifax and South Western spur in Halifax, however, I believe East Works may have found a new home, so perhaps in the grand scheme of things another cameo layout isn't a terrible idea - perhaps one for the summer? The design process however has been wonderfully exciting and one that will sit on the 'to do' pile for sometime. I hope it's inspired you to perhaps turn your inspiration into a real model. If I can help please get in touch, I offer layout design as well more traditional model making commissions. In the meantime, more soon...