Model a hump yard
Covid-19 has certainly given Andy Rawlins the hump, and he has used the extra free time to start a micro ‘O’ gauge layout, based on Sheffield’s Tinsley Yard.
Andy Rawlins starts a micro ‘O’ gauge layout based on Tinsley Yard.
‘ insley’ is a first for me in many ways: T it is my first attempt at building an indoor model railway and my first foray into the world of ‘O’ gauge.
I had a small collection of 7mm rolling stock, including a ubiquitous Dapol Class 08 and a handful of Heljan wagons, with the notion of one day constructing a small modern-day goods terminal, based on somewhere like Boston or Barry waterfronts. All this was just plain daydreaming and part of my thenarmchair modelling mentality. Then, 2020 happened and I needed something to occupy my time – what better reason would I get for seriously planning a small layout?
However, as I was keen to replicate an actual location rather than something fictitious, the challenge was that I didn’t really have the space, and anything that I eventually settled on would have to be some sort of micro layout, a small cameo of a real location.
One day, while trawling the internet searching for inspiration, I came across several images of a heavily weathered, work-stained ‘O’ gauge Class 13 on someone’s Flickr page. Suddenly, I felt an overwhelming sense of excitement – for many years I’d hoped that someone would release such a model in RTR form but, alas, no one ever has. I felt like a kid at Christmas, unwrapping his first train set. So many teenage memories of these unusual locomotives came flooding back and I just knew that this is what I wanted. After searching for an old magazine article dedicated to Tinsley marshalling yard, the flames of enthusiasm were well and truly fanned.
My next hurdle was to work out what part of Tinsley I could fit along one wall of the spare box room. I had space for an overall length of just 8ft 6in by 12in, a bookshelf layout so to speak. I began by examining internet archive images and referencing old magazines. All I needed was somewhere for my ‘future’ Class 13 to clank around, although I had little or no idea how I was going to build this either at that stage.
My next obstacle was deciding which track to use and this question proved to be a headache, as I wanted my layout to replicate the real thing as closely and realistically as possible. My personal thoughts were that the pointwork offered by Peco was visually incorrect and toy-like, considering the scale. I was conscious that
I wanted it to look right and knew that Peco couldn’t offer me the realism I sought.
I had read several articles and mused over internet images of hand-built track, using components from C&L Finescale. Was this something that I, as a complete novice, would be capable of producing? After a few weeks of deliberating, I plucked up the courage and ordered my first complete point kit and additional track components from C&L – there was no going back.
Before any track laying could take place, my first task was constructing the hump itself as this would be the main focal point of my layout. The real hump had a 1-in-40 incline to the summit and a 1-in-20 descent after. From this, I was able to work out that the hump summit in model form was just over 2cm higher than the surrounding track, so I decided that I would build a framework from MDF and top this with thin birch ply to produce a former, then fabricate the hump shoulders from plaster bandage, DAS clay or something similar. I duly completed my hump and fixed it in position on top of the baseboard, taking time to blend both of the thin ends onto my main board using various sanding blocks. I formed the shoulders of the hump using layers of cardboard pinned and glued in place. Once fully dried, I sculpted the shoulders using DAS clay, carefully trying to replicate the elevations of the shoulders as interpreted from actual images.
I decided to commission a bespoke replica of the hump shunt/creep signal, this being one of the main focal points of the Tinsley hump. Matt Turner at Absolute Aspects (www.absoluteaspects.com) did a fantastic job of recreating a fully working model of the prototype and I can’t wait to install this properly when the time comes.