South Yard: A Devonport cameo...

It was the Devonport system that captured my imagination early in the Planet Industrials story, with our first 'steam' outline kit, the Devonport cab conversion for the Hattons Andrew Barclay. However, despite sketching ideas over the months I've never arrived at a layout plan for my own models...

Arriving South Yard 1951. Note crane jib poking out of the ‘crane shed’ engine shed on the left. Photo: Plymouth Naval Base Museum collection, from Devonport book (see references).

The last weekend of November saw our village one of many across the UK to loose power, out for nearly 48 hours. It was cold and dark but the 'downtime' was welcome in some ways, and I lost myself in books and sketching and it was with a familiar comfort that I pulled the Paul Burkhalter 'Devonport' book from the shelf, unsure where it might lead...

The book opened on the photo above and the die was set, I’d always thought this would make a great scenic layout design element… pondering how best to represent the inset track, I sketched out a few arrangements that would allow some simple operation…

Sketchbook from the power cut. Sketched by James Hilton.

It quickly became apparent that I’d need to squeeze in a loop otherwise operation would be limited. If I included the engine shed I could have two locomotives running, one on arrivals and departures and the other shunting… even a travelling crane could live in and get a trundle down the inset track from time to time… 

The Hattons Barclay with Planet Industrials cab conversion offers a simple way to represent the real Devonport however the South Yard lasted into the diesel era so one of the Hibberd Planets could also work the yard. A more generic setting could utilise Hornby Pecketts… or even at a push Heljan 07 or Bachmann 03.

It is proposed the scheme combines readily available Peco Setrack components with the expensive but time saving 3D printed track inserts for Peco Setrack pointwork to produce reliable in-laid track suitable for a shunting layout. The 'scenic' area requires just 1500mm (or 5ft) by 300mm (1ft). It could be located along a wall as a stand alone shelf, or be included in a wall mounted storage solution - perhaps even IKEA IVAR shelving, where the vertical uprights would frame the view nicely and provide unintentional view blocks - indeed the increase in length might be useful if using standard IVAR components. For ease of wiring and operation I would suggest DCC, with locomotives fitted with modern DCC decoders and stay alive, to iron out the problem of using the Setrack insulfrog turnouts.

The power came back nearly 48 hours later, that period out of the real world certainly helped focus the mind in what was important but it was lovely to get lost in a simpler form of research and track planning. I hope this gives you some ideas, there is nothing new here perhaps but the prototype, let me know what you think. If you’d like me to work with you to develop your own scheme and layout to fit your space and choice of prototype get in touch for a personal proposal. Until next time more soon…

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References

Burkhalter, P. (1996). Devonport Dockyard railway. Truro: Twelveheads Press.

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