WAYMOUTH (OO)

For Dan Evason, prototype fidelity wasn’t mandatory for great enjoyment, as his coastalthemed layout inspired by online archive footage demonstrates.

After building the commission layout ‘Oldbury’ (BRM Spring 2021) for my client and still very much in the first lockdown, I thought I would knock something together as a bit of fun for myself with leftover items from previous builds.

Key elements I wanted to included some sort of coastal scene, along with having the track elevated at points. I also liked the idea of road and rail sharing the same space.

I struck gold when I stumbled across YouTube videos of Weymouth Harbour railway in its heyday – it really ticked all my boxes and I couldn’t wait to get started with the project!

Layout design

The trackplan is a simple end-to-end layout, consisting of four points, the track itself being Peco Finescale Code 75. With this layout design, I really liked the idea of locomotives sharing the road, and in my Google searches, this is where I discovered the town of Weymouth on the south coast, its harbour station and quayside railway. This was never going to be an exact replica, it was merely a ‘nod’, hence the spelling of the layout ‘Waymouth’.

As I wanted to keep the cost down with the construction of this layout, my rolling stock wasn't correct for this project.

However, I feel it didn’t look completely out of place with the Bachmann Class 25 and the little BR 'Jinty' working the line, really capturing the essence of what I wanted to achieve with road and rail sharing the same working space and squeezing through that iconic tunnel of Weymouth Harbour.

Originally, ‘Waymouth’ was going to be DC, but during the process of the build, I treated myself to an NCE Power cab controller and stepped across to the dark side of DCC. Now, with the locomotives running sound, it really does add to the atmosphere of 'Waymouth'. At the time of construction, I didn’t have any spare point

motors in stock, so went for the simple route of just manually operating them. If I could make the layout again, I think point motors would have enhanced the layout.

Scenic work

The buildings were all but one from Petite Properties – the end terrace was a 'freebie' from BRM magazine. These had all been sitting on my shelf for some time in various states of construction, and building this layout was a great way of using them all up. I also had in stock some of the Scale Model Scenery downloadable brick papers that I was keen to use up and to see how convincing I could get the 2D wraps to look. Very carefully, I wrapped the buildings, then using weathering powders and some dark washes tried to create a convincing effect of grime and dirt. I also added interior detail to the shop fronts and pub with few hacksawed figures and plant pots from my odds and sods box. I also added a simple gutter system

Creating roads

I think the most fiddly part was the hard-standing road surface. I used thick mount card for this, as I have used this method in other railway builds to great effect. The trouble I had was cutting it to the correct curves and also cutting the inlay sections so that locomotive and rolling stock wheels would not interfere as they passed by.

After a lot of head-scratching, swearing, tea drinking and failed attempts, I had a ‘eureka’ moment when it came to matching the cuts perfectly with the curves of the rails. I used one of my daughter's wipeable felt-tip pens and ran it along the tops of both rails. I then quickly pressed the mount card on top of the rails, and gave it a firm rub. I then lifted the card off to reveal two perfect lines to cut. I found that, if you cut either side of the pen mark, it was a perfect fit for the inlay as well. Then, I simply wiped the rail after with a damp cloth to remove the pen marks. I did this process in three small stages as I found this was the easiest way to go about the construction of the hard standing.

using half-round Plastikard and floral wire.

The iconic road bridge was never really in the plan for this layout, but with my discovery of the harbour railway system of Weymouth, and watching YouTube videos of Class 25s and alike squeezing through this narrow bridge, it was a must to see if I could scratch-build it using card and foam board. This was a great little build, cutting all the twisted arches and painting the card to look like stone.

‘Waymouth’ was a lot of fun to build. It never really had a plan but evolved as time went on. There were a few key points I wanted to add, one was the sea, another was the railway bridge and the other was the lack of a backscene so the layout could switch around and be viewed and operated from both sides, if desired.

For the rock face, I used insulation foam and, using a small saw, I carved into it and used an array of acrylic paint washes to create a realistic rock face effect. The rough grass patches were created using a hanging basket liner for the basic ground covering, then using a selection of WWS Scenics static grass and foliage range. I then built up the layers and textures to replicate rough and wild grass areas of the layout. The ballast was a homemade brew using river silt, which was dried and sieved.

Future projects

As with all my railway projects, I am constantly updating my Facebook page, Tunnel Lane Model Railways, which shows how I go about their construction and have a great group of avid followers to the point where I was made an offer on ‘Waymouth’

before it was finished. However, due to lockdown restrictions, even when it was complete, it was a while before I could deliver it, so I had plenty of time to ‘test’ the layout before it went to its new home.

With 'Waymouth' now at its new home and my workshop empty, my next commission is an 18ft O gauge end-to-end layout. It will depict a fictitious station called 'Little Burford' on the Woofferton to Bewdley, GWR line, set in the 1930s. This will be my first experience working in 7mm:1ft scale, but I am very much looking forward to the new challenge.

The 'Jinty' pulls away from 'Waymouth' town carrying freight, freshly off-loaded from the harbour. As with many locomotives that leave 'Waymouth', it’s a common sight to see the crew taking in the sights of the sea crashing against the rocks below.

Looking up at the stone-carved bridge from the shoreline, a British Railways 'Jinty' slowly pulls the out-of-service auto coach across it, heading towards Waymouth Harbour.

It looks like someone didn’t get the memo about not parking at Waymouth Harbour seafront and now this Class 25 is trying to squeeze through without causing damage.

I wanted to create that feeling of a rural countryside town, but being only a 6ft layout, I didn’t have much space for that transition to happen. However, using hanging basket liner and an array of WWS Scenics products, I think I've captured it.

One of my favourite views of the layout with the iconic bridge of Weymouth Harbour. The local bobby is standing on the street corner enjoying the sunshine, and watching as 47619 squeezes through the narrow archway.

'Waymouth' Harbour with its row of shops, pub and bustling streets, and where locomotives and vehicles share the same space. With working in such a small area, I really wanted to capture that feeling of the busy harbour front.

'Tea up' in 'Waymouth' today, with the arrival of some Lyons tea wagons. Using railings and harbour wall stairs from the Scale Model Scenery range, this really bought together the idea of a classic seaside town look.

Blue skies for 47619 as the locomotive enters the outskirts of 'Waymouth', with its town buildings coming into sight. Having no backscene gave many options when it came to photographing outdoors. I was lucky enough to use the view from my own back garden to complement the layout.

Watching YouTube videos at the planning stages of this layout got me excited about creating this view, using a selection of vehicles from Oxford Diecast to fill the streets.

It looks like it's 'beer-o-clock' time in 'Waymouth' as 'The Black Dog' appears to be rammed already with Modelu beer drinkers. In the foreground, Sid is already thinking about that first pint when he knocks off from today’s shift.

I always knew this was going to be a heavily compressed layout, but I wanted to add a suggestion of a loading platform and a purpose to the layout. The platform was scratch-built using Will’s platform sections.

The tunnel was added and the hole cut through with a blanking plate attached with the option to add a fiddle yard at some point. The tunnel also gave visual interest at the far end of the layout with it just being mainly vegetation and rock.