Mosslanda: Isle of What-if...
A few weeks ago I shared some thoughts on a scheme based upon the forthcoming Revolution Trains N scale 1938 tube stock that spent its retirement on the Isle of Wight...
The idea of a Mosslanda project limits the scope of such a layout - but equally, the Island Line itself is of limited scope. Rather than look at other locations and compressing them - none of which really sung to me - I stumbled upon a video showing some of the last steam services in use and one shot in particular grabbed me, of an British Railways 02 tank engine heading for Cowes from the Mill Hill station, plunging into a tunnel with the all the drama you'd expect. However the confines of the platform, the garden behind, the brick tunnel mouth with some sort of ramshackle structure above felt very modellable - and more importantly very Mosslanda.
A Google and a look on some old maps showed the site was quite compact and there was potential here indeed and with a little 'what if' magic I imagine the line through Newport to Cowes remained open and was electrified with the rest of the system. Rationalised to a single track from Newport the station at Mill Hill survives, perhaps a little tired or even re-purposed or a private cafe - still of the character of the steam age though. The layout is framed at one end with the tunnel, at the other the cameo 'wing' will disguise the train exiting the stage. The back scene would feature suburban dwellings and a summery sky, trees would dominate the station, much grown from these period photos, the red multiple unit would contrast with the warm browns of the brickwork and lush green of the trees and grass. A warmth you can feel every time you switch on the light, and the feeling of holidays, sandy sandwiches and ice cream.
Until next time, more soon...
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Hi Jim,
ReplyDeletemusing on such things like Mosslanda I am pretty severelly limited by the depth of the space available, i.e. 120 mm. Here in Central Europe we inherited the basic standards for railway construction from the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. One of the standards valid for more than 150 years stipulates that edges of ground structures (such as guard houses, halt sheds and likes) must be (with a few exceptions) at least 5500 mm (almost exactly 18 feet) from the track axis; converted to N scale at least 34 mm. That means: (1) I have only a very limited selection of buildings width of which fits the Mosslanda depth (and sometimes it is simply impossible to use low-relief structures), (2) using another scale except N is unthinkable. My question is nevertheless different: I'm aware of the different British clearance profile; what about the rules concerning the distance of buildings from the tracks?
Anything larger than N just isn’t feasible on a Mosslanda, at least in my opinion. Focusing upon stations, of course platforms are close and horizontal distances within the scene can be compressed a touch as we have such a constrained viewing window. Modeling a mainline would not be possible but smaller stations, engine sheds or industrial concerns would all see right clearances in places.
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