COPENHAGEN FIELDS (2MM)

Almost four decades in the making and still entertaining crowds with every show appearance, The Model Railway Club's capital scene is re-visited.

Almost four decades in the making and still entertaining crowds with every show appearance, The MRC’s capital scene is re-visited.

Deciding on a prototype to model and making it are two very different things, especially as modelling a ‘busy’ city-scape requires rather more planning than needed for an open green fields scene. The three main protagonists of the new project back in

1983 were myself (dentist), Mike Randall (a woodwork teacher) and John Birkett-Smith (an architect). The original plan evolved from discussion within a much larger group that had developed with our previous bucolic N gauge / 2mm:1ft scale layout, ‘Chiltern Green & Luton Hoo’.

It was always intended that 'Copenhagen Fields' would record the history and character of the lands to the immediate north of Kings Cross. The railway scene at Belle Isle, past Gasworks Tunnel on the East Coast Main Line, is the closest bit of main line railway to the Club (apart from the Northern Line tube that runs under our club rooms at Keen House). Belle Isle, a shortened Copenhagen tunnel and the beginnings of the Holloway bank would therefore seem a natural choice for us to model if we wanted to depict an urban railway. While the main lines are in cuttings or tunnels, the Kings Cross Goods Yard opens up into a fan of sidings framed by York Way Viaduct, now but a memory following the HS1 rail development.

Planning begins

During the initial planning phase, we photographed the surrounding area so that our model buildings could be accurate copies of existing structures, or at least typical examples. Three buildings were made: the Caledonian Road tube station, Tom Clark’s Baptist chapel on the junction with Market Road and Paul Holth’s White Horse Public House on the corner of the Caledonian Market. Unfortunately, most of the surrounding buildings have subsequently been lost to re-development, underpinning the historical nature of our layout.

Mike Randall was adamant that the new scene should have trains coming straight towards the viewer, across the scene, something we achieved with the North London Railway (NLR). Space constraints at Keen House meant that there would be the need for compression in some directions especially east-west: but the railway through Belle Isle and the Holloway bank would be to scale length. It is to the credit of John and his architectural skills that the concept was drawn up and made into an intricate small-scale ‘concept model’. This was used to ‘sell’ the project to the MRC and anyone interested: it is uncanny that the layout has turned out to be very recognisably-based on it. This plan was sanctioned by the MRC committee in December 1983.

John planned the first stage in great detail with full working drawings for baseboard construction, spot heights for track and scenery, an accurate trackplan and some hints of the future street layout. We deliberately made the main line tracks flat, rather than on the prototype 1-in-105 gradient rising from Gasworks tunnel, primarily to make life easier for the passenger engines. The downside is that the goods trains have slightly hillier journeys.

Trackwork

Robust hidden track work was an item on our wish list. A founder of 2mm scale

modelling, Denys Brownlee, had used brass strips for the hidden tracks on his own layout and we considered this could be developed further for ‘Copenhagen Fields’. Another excellent engineer, Peter Clark, made a special rolling machine to bend the 6 x 2mm strips to the minimum radius of 600mm for the hidden curves of the layout. These are screwed directly, in gauge, to the ply baseboards with 3/8in brass wood screws. Our brass fiddle yard rails never fail to attract enquiries when on exhibition, but they do ensure much greater reliability of running than conventional railway tracks – especially when taking into account the rigours of moving the boards when going to shows. If something derails, it will carry on, riding the top of the brass strip, until it can be dealt with.

Until relatively recently, all 2mm scale track work has been hand-made using soldered construction and copper-clad paxolin sleepers. Bill Blackburn took this and refined a system, including etched chairs that also used home-milled nickel silver strip to make the bullhead rail. Fortunately, the scale is now well served by readily available drawn bullhead rail and plastic moulded sleeper bases. These have been used in the later stages of track laying, although turnouts and the complex formations that make up the main line and goods yard tracks are all of soldered construction.

The wiring on 'Copenhagen Fields' grew into a terrible tangle over the last 30 years and was becoming dysfunctional. A major re-wire was undertaken by Rob Stewart as a matter of urgency – following a very unreliable showing at an exhibition – introducing logic and more robustness to the system. Control is via DC PICtroller feedback controls – there would be no real gain in having DCC for operating the layout.

Scenic structures

We were fortunate to acquire from David Hammersley a zinc-etched moulding plate for making our own brick styrene sheet. This produces a very fine representation of English bond brickwork. The sheets are hand-made by Richard Wilson, who has made a number of the shops along the front of the layout. Slight imperfections in the brick moulding can often be used to good effect to give the structures more character. Many Club members have contributed to buildings on the layout, from all corners of the globe. In particular, Tom Knapp, an architect then living in San Francisco (now Hawaii), has made some very fine buildings, even including a replica of our headquarters, Keen House.

Mike Randall became a master of producing rows of wood block houses and factories at varying scales, to try out in various positions. It was a given from the outset that we would use a diminishing scale on the layout – forced perspective – as it is now termed. True perspective modelling would be very hard to achieve with a scene occupying a 6m frontage, with multiple viewing points.

Domestic houses are of recognisable size and scale, but factories come in all shapes and sizes and so we often use a factory to allow a change in scale behind it. Another indication of scale changes is to look at the pubs on the corners of the meat market or the churches with spires on the layout – all

carved from wood by Mike, but to very different scales.

The scale of the models is obviously 1:150 at the front, reducing to 1:450 at the back; one could say that it is the biggest T gauge railway in the world. We occasionally get a T gauge Oerlikon set running through the backscene. The models at the front feature as much detail as we can accommodate, but we have deliberately downplayed detail and colours in the distance with a limited palette, leaving it to the observer to think they are seeing more detail than is the case.

Once the scene began to encompass the streets around Belle Isle – made famous by the 1955 film The Ladykillers – it was evident that we needed rows of London terraced houses with the characteristic front parapets. These particular streets had long since been re-developed, but Brian Dollemore surveyed typical local survivors and carved pear wood patterns for three types of two- and three-storey houses. These masters were subsequently solid cast in polyester resin, but then filleted with a band saw to remove 70% of their considerable weight. Richard Cook assembled dozens into a representation of the streets above Copenhagen Tunnel. The most famous of these is Frederica St., which had Mrs Wilberforce’s stage house built at the end of the film. Unfortunately, we don't have room for this, due to space compression.

Lack of space, even in 2mm scale, leads to many compromises and fudges. A classic example of this is the area representing the Kings Cross goods yards at the southern left-hand end of the layout. If we modelled this to scale, there would be no buildings in the area, but it was realised early on that we wanted a mass of structures to visually balance the rest of the scene at the righthand end. Back in 2012, Mike Randall constructed a large pair of goods sheds using laser cutting techniques to start to give some idea of what was wanted.

As more and more prototype information has become available, the scene has undergone a series of changes with the goods sheds reducing in size, but becoming visually more complicated, hence more interesting. There is now a very ‘busy’ scene at the south end including the York Road tube, Paget Christian Mission, a block of shops and a garage. If we have decent photographs to work to then models can be made quite accurately.

Running trains

In reality, Belle Isle was an area of London

where the cacophony of train movements would have been almost overwhelming – and then it could just as quickly be remarkably quiet, almost rural with the wide cutting sides – both being something that we hope ‘Copenhagen Fields’ can represent quite well. Sound effects come from the film out-takes of The Lady

Killers, playing from a small video screen embedded in the front of the layout.

The crux of the project when we started was that train movement would be visible at all times, somewhere along the front. We run full-length trains representing

East Coact Main Line practice over the first 40 years of the 20th Century. There are, in essence, six circuits representing the GNR main lines and goods lines with separate loops for the NLR. The locomotives and stock run virtually continuously, with up to two trains per line. The mileage that they accumulate is not trivial – well into hundreds of miles for some of the older mechanisms. Most locomotives have scratch-built chassis using

the near-standard split frame pick up for 2mm scale locomotives. They often have a coreless motor and an integral gearbox incorporated. Whilst these can be quite expensive, they do give good reliability and the absolute prerequisite of slow running. Alternatively, many tender locomotives have the motor in the tender driving through to the locomotive.

Exhibiting progress

It was always a given that the model would be exhibited under construction from the earliest days, with blank areas shown awaiting development. If that had not been the case and we had delayed showing until more complete then the project would have floundered – the end game would have been too far away to keep our interest. We also decided to build the layout in stages, starting at the much simpler Holloway

Bank (right-hand end), then moving south through Copenhagen Tunnel towards the North London Line, Belle Isle and Gasworks Tunnel.

Today, the main operation is divided into four positions: one person at each end running the passenger and, currently, the goods lines. The operator view is spectacular from either end, but it is interesting how members of the team have quite strong preferences for which end they work from. Another person behind the backscene is in charge of the NLR goods trains and Oerlikon EMU shuttle service. We use iPads to look through the backscene, with small holes in the sky.

There is often a fourth operator who sits at the front, shunting the Caledonian Goods & Coal Yard in the middle of the layout. Apart from having a grandstand view of the trains, they also serve to answer any questions from the public.

Much effort has been expended in making suitable cases so that moving damage can be minimised. It all fits very snugly into a Luton-headed 35cwt Transit van, which is quite surprising, considering the overall volume of the model.

‘Copenhagen Fields’ is displayed as a massive diorama with stage lighting and a large backscene. This is made of three sheets of thin ply and slots into place behind the scenery. The fact that it is partly concave in plan view helps to improve its stability. Nonetheless, it gets re-touched occasionally to keep it looking fresh, especially on the joints. There are some fairly stormy skies above ‘Copenhagen Fields’ and the

Dominion of Canada heads north from Gasworks Tunnel with an express. The locomotive body started as a Lone Star 1950s push along toy, probably making it the oldest 2mm scale locomotive in service!

A J50 shunts wagons amongst the North London terraced houses on top of Copenhagen Tunnel.

Framed by the NLR viaduct, a GC 9P 4-6-0 Valour coasts through Belle Isle on its way to Kings Cross. This locomotive ran on early LNER Pullman services in full GC livery in 1923.

A view across the massed houses of 'Copenhagen Fields'. In the very centre of the view is a model of Keen House, both out of position and time, but quite fun to include it.

The impressive ‘Balmoral’ public house, featuring a temporary window repair following some vandalism. It faces onto the Caledonian Road, with Frederica St on the side - famous for the location of the Ladykillers' house at its far end. This building still exists, although many of the prototypes on Copenhagen Fields have disappeared.

An N2 in GNR livery scurries along with a four-wheel suburban set, with the NLR viaduct in the background and a GC 9P (LNER B3) on the fast lines.

Making a model of a building being demolished requires a great deal of thought about how it was made in the first place. It was a useful solution to an awkward triangular plot on top of Gasworks Tunnel.

A view past the cemetery building spire into Kings Cross Goods Yard where a fish van train has just arrived. The extensive goods sheds can be seen to the left: an area of the model that has been extensively developed over the last year. The Midland roundhouse can be seen behind York Way viaduct. The roundhouse was demolished in 1931: the model is an interesting exercise in perspective modelling.

Looking northwards over the goods sheds at the yard throat and the the Belle Isle mainline ‘trough’. The telegraph poles through the building rooves were a feature at Kings Cross.

These buildings on North Road were made in the early ‘90s, in the first completed stage of 'Copenhagen Fields'.

The tube station is an excellent example of team working with modern technologies. Jim Watt drew up the CAD artwork for the windows and had these etched. Meanwhile, Richard Wilson took the same CAD data and worked up 3D-printed shapes for the window surrounds, and dentil courses. Even with the application of all this technology, each individual bay of the classic Leslie Green tube station requires 50 separate components to complete it. To make it more interesting, the interior is modelled, including the ladies' and gents' toilets (look out for the gent reading the newspaper on the loo). The sanitary ware was drawn up in Australia and 3D-printed in Croydon by Justin Colson.

Our road vehicles are often scratch-built or heavily modified commercial models. Getting decent horses has been a real challenge for 2mm scale carts and drays, but that has been recently solved, again by 3D printing, courtesy of Lawrence Boule in New Zealand. We can never have too many horse-drawn vehicles on ‘Copenhagen Fields’ and the availability of these horses will be a boon.

One feature of Copenhagen Fields is that Club members and individuals associated with the project are immortalised in shop & factory names.

Rolling stock is derived from many sources, but much of it has been kit- or scratch-built over the years. 3D printing technologies are also becoming highly appropriate for making wagons and some carriages, especially when combined with etched carriage sides for laterstyle vehicles.

The model has a huge mechanism made by Denys Brownlee, running under the road in a trough. This is coupled via magnets to the very fine model on top, made by Matthew Wald, who was also responsible for the delicate B type bus outside the Caledonian Road tube station, as well as many buildings on the layout.

‘Copenhagen Fields’ represents many modes of wheeled transport in London with both the working Piccadilly Line tube and a tram moving along the Caledonian Road – powered in the prototype by the ‘conduit’ system between the rails.