At the interchange...

For some time I’ve pondered the idea of a small layout where instead of the locomotives being the actor, it’s the rolling stock that takes centre stage...

This stems from memories of Bristol Harbour railway as a child, watching the coal trains come, go and be shunted down the branch from Ashton Gate, across the new cut and into the harbour side coal depot of Western Fuel Company. The fledgling preservation effort on the dock railway saw the Peckett, Henbury give brakevan rides at the weekends, but the overgrown track with a mix of cinder ballast and inlaid road surface with complex point work was a young boys dream.

Of course my real passion wasn’t just the trains, but in particular the Hudswell Clarke diesel, bright yellow and bedecked with wasp stripes. I had a pair of Matchbox trains I took everywhere, the yellow diesel (or course) and Duck (which I think I’ve got in my hand above - excuse the shorts!)

The reason I’m sharing this because it’s this emotional connection to place that is more important to me than strict prototype accuracy. What this scheme intends to demonstrate is a concept, not a finished article. It’s not a new idea, switching loaded wagons with empties, but I’ve applied it to a prototype that sings to me, and one that fits very neatly with the concept.

Prototype photos Paul Stanford.

I’ve talked before about marrying available space to prototype, in this case I’d envisage this to take up one wall of a single garage and viewed at about 50” from the ground to give a view into the scene from above, and aid operation. The sector plates are not covered, to make things easier, and couplings at the end of the fixed coal rakes would be better if automatic. The layout could be presented as a cameo, with a lighting pelmet and wings, but would also suit a more traditional board and backscene approach with lighting overhead.

It would be possible to model different eras by a few different rakes of wagons. I’d probably ring the changes from the 1960s to 1980s with a rake of 16t, a rake of the later 21t hoppers and then a rake of the air brakes Railfreight branded HEAs. A BR blue 08 would work loaded trucks in from the right, run round, collect empties and leave. The industrial diesel, perhaps a Ruston, or a ex BR 03 or 04 in yellow (in lieu of the Hudswell Clarke) could collect the loaded trucks, and replace them with more empties. In might be necessary to have two tracks under the terraced houses along the back of the layout, details that would need evolving once a given space was allocated. The preservation movement could be replicated by a Hornby B2, GWR toad plus a few random wagons dotted about on the harbour side. The key to giving the character of the docks is both the mix of track type AND the steam crane in the centre of the scene which would need scratchbuilding.

I hope what this goes to show is that layouts don’t need off stage fiddle yards amd staging. If your space is limited in length perhaps a little extra depth and some creative thinking might give you operation you didn’t envisage possible. I’m happy to work with you to design your own dream layout, in addition to offering a cameo layout design and build service. Get in touch to discuss this more, until next time, more soon...

EDIT: Photos in the illustration are by Paul Stanford, author of the book ‘50 years of railways around Bristol’, published by Strathwood.