Success at Scalesforum

This year competitions were re-introduced at Scaleforum, therefore I decide to make a couple of entries, in the passenger stock and freight stock sections. To my surprise my entry in the freight stock, a GWR dig. P8 "Scorpion" (open carriage truck) and Stanhope Gig, won.

Its August it must be Wells

Seeing that the summer holidays are upon us then it must be time for me to make my annual pilgrimage to Somerset to visit friends,the West Somerset Railway and onto Wells for the show - for any who have not been to Railwells I recommend it, not only is it an excellent show but the location is superb.

This year having been persuaded (or should that be invited) to demonstrate an etched solebar for the 16ft Cooper Craft wagons. So in preparation I have made a number of new wagons for the demonstration.







If you are at Wells please come along and have a chat - it can be awfully lonely sitting at a table when nobody speaks to you.

New Crane for the Yard

With the date of the Challenge final fast approaching I had not done much detailing work to the goods yard and so knowing that the plan showed a yard crane I quickly purchased a Ratio kit, made and painted it and planted it in the yard. I was never happy with it and so decided to find a better example.

The plan said the crane was rated at 2 tones with a 12' radius. So I purchased a Springside white metal kit which was a GW example but I thought look to heavy and with no clear photo of the yard decided to investigate further. I finally found a drawing of a GW 2 ton crane in GW Railway Journal using Matt Ots index. After enlarging, on the computer, the only photo with any view of the goods yard again it seems that the Springside example would fit the bill.

So with file and soldering iron in hand the crane got built and here it is, resplendent in its place in the yard on its brick plinth, although it still needs painting and planting.

A question of date

When it finally decided that Hallatrow was to be the prototype for the 18.83 Challenge and with the time constant i.e. launch 2005, exhibit 2005 the question of the date of the model had to be addressed but the following had to be taken into account.

1. The station rebuilt was started in 1910 and completed to 1912.
2. The Camerton Branch lost its passenger service in 1915 (a war time measure) - it was not restored until the summer of 1923 and only lasted till 1925.
3. The Hallatrow to Camerton section was closed and lifted in the 1930's
4. At the time I had not locos being, content to built stock for the Mid-Sussex Groups layouts (Pulborough & Brighton Road) all set c.1912 and LBSCR not GWR.

So it was decided, for the Challenge, to set the layout in the Summer of 1923 (to get the return of the Camerton passenger service) but to use RTR stock and locos.

Now, with time available, the layout will be set in my preferred period pre-WW1 and in fact 1912-13 (before the footbridge was built). But for the time being my 'B Set', 14xx and 57xx will continue to run.

Oh well can't be helped, got to play trains as well as build them.

A little history & layout details

The Great Western's Bristol and North Somerset line was part built by the independent Bristol & North Somerset Railway Company (B&NS) which promoted the line to provide a better outlet for the collieries of the Somerset Coalfield. Its act, of July 1863, authorised the company to build a standard gauge line from Bristol to Radstock to join the Great Western's (GWR) then broad gauge mineral branch from Radstock to Frome.

The first turf was cut at Clutton on the 7th October 1863 but following this auspicious occasion the company was beset with financial difficulties which caused no less than six contractors to be employed and the line took ten years to complete. By the time the line opened, on the 3rd September 1873, the B&NS had entered into an agreement with the GWR to work the line. In July 1873 the B&NS received powers to build a branch into the Cam Valley, from Hallatrow to Camerton, which was opened on the 1st March 1882. The B&NS became part of the Great Western's empire when it was absorbed on the 1st July 1884. The Camerton branch was extended by the GWR to Limpley Stoke, on the Great Western's Bradford-upon-Avon branch, in 1910. At the same time Hallatrow also under went a major re-build with the provision of a platform and additional sidings. The station became a passing point and a new signal box was built for the re-signalling.

The part of the station modelled for the 18.83 Layout Challenge shows it after the new 'up' platform was built around 1910-1. The track plan was developed using the TEMPLOT computer design program using a copy of a GWR track plan as a guide. Construction techniques are fairly standard, 4mm ply for the base boards, nickel silver rail in P4 Track Co. chairs stuck to 'full' depth sleepers stained with Colron wood dye. The point work was built was built by my good friend Roger Sanders using his innovative jigs to construct GW curved switch blades.

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Introduction

Hallatrow was a station on the Great Western's Bristol & North Somerset (B&NS) branch which ran from Bristol North Somerset Junction to Frome through the North Somerset Coalfield.

My model of Hallatrow was built as an entry in the Scalefour Society's 18.83 Layout Challenge.

The Challenge, set at Scaleforum 2002, was to design and built a layout to P4 standards with a total layout foot print of no more than 18.83 sq. ft. The designs were to in by the following Scaleforum, in September 2003. A progress report was required the following September and the "finished" layouts to be exhibited at Scaleforum 2005.

Of the 50 designs submitted, 25 were finally exhibited at Scaleforum 2005. If you want to see all the designs plus photos of those exhibited at Scaleforum follow the link to the Challenge page on the Scalefour Society's web site.