| Sellindge - John Smith | ||
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It is the late summer of 1947 and my mate and I are on a train-spotting
trip down into Kent. We have travelled via Tonbridge to Ashford
and have spent an hour or so at each of these stations. We then
decide to move on to Folkestone and the board shows that the next
departure is a stopping train to Dover. Boarding the train we note
that it is made up of a three coach Birdcage set hauled by H class
0-4-4 tank No 1239 of Ashford shed. We are soon away and have a
very hectic few minutes recording the numbers of locomotives standing
outside Ashford Works on our right and Ashford Shed on our left. Soon our train slows for the stop at Smeeth, and we note the lovely ex-South Eastern Railway signalbox at the end of the up platform. We are soon away again expecting our next stop to be Westenhanger, but we are in for a surprise! The train enters a cutting and passes under a bridge, we emerge still in a cutting and note an oast house on the right. As the cutting falls away there are fields and we cross a bridge over a slow running river; a man sitting quietly fishing has his peace temporarily disturbed by the noise of the train. We now pass a church and a level crossing, and the brakes go on as we slow for a station stop. Passing the up platform we see the name Sellindge on the nameboards; this is strange, as we know of no station with that name. We come to a halt in the down platform and decide to get off and have a look around. Our train departs and we cross the line to the up platform; the platforms are staggered so we find ourselves at the end farthest from the station building. There is a bay platform with a P class 0-6-0 tank waiting patiently at the head of a two-coach branch set that we see is bound for Folkestone Racecourse East and Lympe. We hear a clatter as the up main line signals clear and the sound of an approaching train can be heard. A couple of minutes later a boat train consisting of mainly Pullman coaches roars through behind West Country Class No 21C137 Clovelly heading for Victoria. All a dream? Not quite. Sellindge is a real place, now well known for the restoration of steam locos. It is located between Ashford and Folkestone in Kent. It was never served by a station, although it is sufficiently close to the railway for one to have been built. Why did I choose it for a model? Well my other layout, North Foreland, which appeared at the 1999 Convention and featured in the February 2000 issue of the Gazette, is an end-to-end layout and I wanted something where we could give the trains a bit of a run; the area of Sellindge was on the part of the main line that I wanted to model. When planning the new layout, I thought that it would give added interest if the station had staggered platforms, typical of the area but not often seen modelled, and was a junction. I studied several prototype track plans and finally decided on Robertsbridge, which is located on the Tonbridge to Hastings line. Robertsbridge was the junction with the Kent & East Sussex Railway and with a bit of judicious track re-alignment and a couple of other minor changes it suited the role very well. Having got a track plan sorted out, the layout was designed for exhibition purposes, having a continuous run and, using a minimum radius of 6ft on the main line, it covers an area of 36ft by 13ft 6in. All the baseboards are of a standard size of 4ft by 2ft 8in. I did consider using curved boards at each end of the layout but I’m glad I didn’t as I now have, in effect, three dioramas. Baseboard height is 3ft. I am no carpenter, but a colleague with whom I used to work took on the job and the results are excellent. The boards, constructed from 6mm ply, are strong and comparatively light, certainly much lighter than those on North Foreland. The baseboards are aligned with steel pegs and locked together by clips. Apart from a single and double slip, all track and pointwork is Peco. The slips are from Marcway. Track is laid on a base of cork floor tiles cut to shape and stuck down using Evostik. To assist in alignment and to ensure that the long curves at each end of the layout were consistent, I used templates from Railwood of Coventry. Prior to laying the track, I had worked out the location of all power feeds and section breaks and as I laid the track rails were drilled at appropriate places to allow wires to be threaded through the webs and soldered. If clamped well into the web they do not interfere in any way with the wheel flanges. Apart from section gaps all rail joints are bonded in addition to using fishplates. Minimum radius on the main line is 6ft and about 5ft 9in on the branch. The branch also rises on a gradient of 1 in 64 for a short distance. The main line tracks on the scenic part of the layout are ballasted with granite chips but the branch and the goods yard are ballasted using budgie grit purchased from our local pet shop at a fraction of the cost of the granite. It is much lighter in weight and when painted is indistinguishable from the granite. The ballast was laid and then fixed using the usual method of watered down PVA glue. Once the glue had set, the ballast and track were painted over using Dark Chocolate Sandtex stone paint. This is a water-based paint that can be diluted to whatever shade is required; it gives a very satisfactory appearance of track that has been in-situ for a good while. A mix of black and brown at varying dilutions is then used in the four foot. It should be remembered that track that had been laid for a while was pretty dirty in appearance; there was oil, brake dust, coal and, yes, the residue from flushed toilets all lying between the rails. Once the paint had dried the tops of the rails were scraped clean. The fiddle yard consists of seven through tracks, three each for the up and down lines and a centre one that can be accessed at both ends from either track. These tracks are wired to accommodate three trains each, depending of course, on the length of the trains. The points on the scenic parts of the layout are at present operated by a mixture of Fulgarex and Lemarco motors, but I am experimenting with Tortoise motors and may replace some with these if trials are successful. Peco motors operate the points in the fiddle yard. Each electrical section is totally independent; in other words power is supplied through two switched wires for each circuit via a double-pole double-throw switch. When I first built North Foreland, I wired it on the common return principle and we had no end of trouble with short circuits so I rewired it using two independently switched wires for each circuit and the problem was cured. I am well aware that many layouts are wired on the common return principle very successfully but it just did not work for me. Power is supplied through Modelex hand-held controllers and any track section can be operated from either of two controllers. Apart from the pub that is already on the layout and a blacksmith’s shop that is under construction, both of which are my work, my good mate Peter Smith, who is now trading again as Kirtley Model Buildings, constructed all the other buildings. The oast house and associated warehouse are typical buildings found in Kent. The church, built from a small prototype, looks huge on the layout; I dread to think how a large one would have turned out. The station building is a model of Wye, a station on the Canterbury to Ramsgate line, and the signalbox is an SR standard structure. All the other buildings are typical for the area. One of the houses has an Anderson air raid shelter in the garden. The windmill is based on the delightful example at Meopham in Kent. The river was modelled in the usual way using many, many coats of varnish. The hills forming the cuttings at each end of the layout were formed using layers of polystyrene insulation blocks carved to shape using a knife designed to cut frozen food. At the river end of the layout the blocks were covered in a mixture of plaster filler and brown Sandtex to give the appearance of soil. At the other end, plain white plaster was used for the cutting faces to give the appearance of chalk. This was allowed partially to dry and was then weathered using a soft(ish) brush with a very wet mix of plaster to simulate erosion by rainwater. Coarse-grassed areas were formed of motor vehicle insulation felt torn off the mat and stuck down in tufts using PVA glue. When dry it was trimmed to height with scissors and spray painted in varying shades of green and brown using acrylic canned paint from Halfords. The more formal grass in gardens and grazed fields was formed using various shades and textures of scenics obtained from Greenscene and Anita Decor. Some hedges are formed from rubberised horsehair spray painted and with various textures sprinkled over as appropriate and secured by spray on adhesive. Other hedges were formed from the insulation matting and treated in the same way. The road surfaces have attracted some attention at exhibitions; they are formed of a type of black foam rubber sheeting sold as track underlay. I obtained mine from Exactoscale. This sheeting gives a very good impression of a Tarmac road surface. The signals are conspicuous by their absence at the moment. They are being built by Alan Walters, our club Chairman. He is a working man and is doing his level best, but there are only so many hours in a day and a week, and his family do like to see him occasionally. Meanwhile I am content in the knowledge that when they arrive they will be worth the wait. With regard to the stock operating on Sellindge, all items are more or less appropriate to the area. There are three Bulleid Pacifics, all constructed by Jim Harris of Acorn Metalcraft from heavily adapted Oakville kits. No 21C117 Ilfracombe came to the Eastern Section when new and stayed for a short time before going over to Nine Elms or Exmouth Junction. No 21C137 Clovelly also came new and was in Kent for a good part of its life until the Kent lines were electrified. Both these locomotives are modelled in as-built condition with straight fronted cabs, two frame cab side windows and short smoke deflectors. No 21C166 Spitfire was a Ramsgate engine throughout its life until electrification came to Kent. This loco is modelled with a wedge-shaped cab front, three frame cab side windows and longer smoke deflectors. All have the original high-sided tenders and are painted malachite green with horizontal yellow stripes. They all have MSC Crailcrest motors. An ex-LBSC Atlantic, No 2422 North Foreland, was built from a Modellers World kit that, as far as I know, is no longer available; it made up into a nice model. This loco is powered by a Portescap RG7 motor and is a superb performer. It is painted in lined malachite green. Another superb performer is L Class 4-4-0 scratchbuilt by my good friend the late Arthur Wooley. It was built to run on his stud contact layout Gravesend West Street. I converted it for two-rail pick-up and changed the motor to an RG7. It is painted in lined olive green. I don’t know its maximum haulage capacity, but it can more than comfortably handle any train likely to run on Sellindge. Class 01 0-6-0 No 1065 has just had to have a new set of coupling rods and a replacement motor fitted as the originals were worn out. It was built from a Shedmaster kit and is a dirty wartime black. It would look very nice in the full SECR livery that the prototype now wears on the Bluebell Railway, but it would not be appropriate for the late 1940s. It is now fitted with Shedmaster lost wax brass coupling rods and an MSC JH motor. The prototype of WD 2-8-0 No 77086 (its wartime number) was a Bricklayers Arms loco until the early 1950s. The model was built from an Oakville kit; powered by a Portescap RG7 motor, this loco is also a fine performer. The largest tank engine on the layout is an ex-LBSC Class I3 4-4-2. This was built from a Meteor Models kit, is in lined olive green, and is powered by an MSC JH motor. There are four H class 0-4-4 tanks, all built from Meteor Models kits. They are all slightly different in one way or another, three are black, one with a straight bunker and the others flared; one is in unlined olive green, one has an RG7 motor, one an MSC SM motor and the other two have Mashima 1833s. Two are compensated. Finally there is a P Class 0-6-0 tank, again a product of Meteor Models. A Q1 0-6-0 should be joining the fleet in the near future. Apart from the H2, which has Slater’s driving wheels, all wheels on my locomotives are cast iron supplied by Walsall Model Industries. Only the 0-6-0 tank has pick-ups fitted, all the other locos collect current via the wheels, in the case of tender engines from one side on the loco and the other side on the tender. I have designed a coupling to go between the engine and tender that allows current to be transmitted between the two whilst permitting instant joining and/or separation without having to resort to screws. Tank engines use the driving wheels on one side to collect current and the bogie the other side, the bogie being carried on an insulated frame stretcher. Coaching stock is a pretty mixed bag. There are five magnificent Pullmans from Wayoh Coaches of Bolton. The Maunsell sets are made up of Westdale bodies and other various parts mounted on etched brass underframes supplied by Acorn Metalcraft and running on Wayoh bogies. These Wayoh bogies are superb; they give a good representation of the prototype, are compensated and run beautifully. The branch set and other items of coaching stock are from a number of kit manufacturers. Goods stock is also from a variety of manufacturers. The layout has now attended several exhibitions, including the Guild Convention in 2001. As ever, it is never finished and additions and improvements are being made all the time so each time it goes out there is something slightly different to see. Finally, I must pay tribute to those people without whose support, help and encouragement the layout would never have been constructed. My wife and son who put up with all the mess and upheaval during construction, and without whose help in loading and unloading the van I would never get the layout to exhibitions. Peter Smith for his work on the buildings; WD Models of Chesterfield for the supply of track; Alan Walters for the signals; and all my good friends at the Little Midland Society, Chesterfield, who come to operate at shows. My grateful thanks to you all. |
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21C137 heads
a Victoria to Dover Marine Boat Train 
The WD passes
on an up goods