Decisions, Decisions ...

Thanks to Am_Fet over at NZ120.org, I now have a 1995 schematic of the HIL. Studying this I see the loop should be placed first on the layout and then the United Empire Box Co. siding. No big shakes in the overall scheme of things.



A decision has been made regarding the layout's timeframe and I have opted for a bleak, grey winter's day in 1984. Of course, George Orwell writes of a bleak and grey world in his dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty Four, and this can be mirrored in the industrial grunge of a narrow, concrete/rusting tin rail corridor. The only splash of real colour will come from a series of (first generation) tags/bombings on those vast, grey canvases. I would also like to play around with creating puddles and the judicious use of a gloss finish to achieve a particular "wet look".

And there we have it, the model railway as Art modelling social commentary (he says, tounge firmly in cheek).

New Challenges

Despite the visititudes of Outrageous Fortune (see: previous post), I was able to salvage the Littledene baseboard framework (my carpentry skills are much better than I originally thought ... see Mr. Scott, I was paying attention during Woodwork class) as well as the points, and I have had ample time to reconsider the Inglenook concept within a New Zealand context.

Layout #2 is to be representative of a section of the Hornby Industrial Line (ex-Southbridge Branch). The timeframe has yet to be determined, but could be any time between 1951-1989, based solely upon the only motive power I currently own, a De loco (a recabbed 2001 Minitrix). Furthermore, a lot will depend upon the availablity of photos of the area c.1950s-60s, and the later date (1981-9) is looking more likely as:
(a) De's came to the Mainland in 1981 and
(b) all the photographic research I currently have is dated 2005 (and can be somewhat redacted backwards 20 years).

The area to be modelled is between 1 Mile 30 Chains and 1 Mile 50 Chains south of Hornby Junction and serviced several industries, notably: Crown Crystal & Glass Co. and the United Empire Box Co.

The branchline offers several unique modelling possibilities: it is a narrow rail corridor between low but somewhat imposing concrete and corrugated tin warehouses, with the occassional, overgrown, rubbish-strewn vacant lot, so the sense of confined space will be obvious; and it is industrial grunge at its best (not your bucolic rolling countryside or West Coast bushscape for me, thank you), something that is not too frequently modelled in NZ.

The layout will be another Inglenook (offers endless hours of shunting pleasure for this modeller but might not be everyone's cup o' Earl Grey) employing the traditional mainline and two "siding" layout. However ...

... In the past I had been too literal in my attempt to model NZ Railways. A loop was supposed to be a "loop" and appear (in its entirety) on the baseboard, at least to my way of thinking. A recent article in Carl Arendt's Small Layout Scrapebook disabused me of this notion when Prof Klyzlr's latest 0 Gauge 3-2-2 Inglenook layout was recently unveiled. Prof uses a simple arrangement of three tracks (an industrial siding, mainline and loop) running the length of a 1.2m baseboard. There is only one point (the mainline can be "switched" to the loop) and the whole layout uses an off-stage sector plate to perform the necessary switching operations.

This startling idea (running the mainline and loop off-stage left) had just never occured to me before. The concept was further reinforced whilst reading through the Layout Ideas on Mr. Druff's most excellent blog. There, in the Outram layout discussion, the author suggests removing two points and letting the mainline and loop run off-stage (to a sector plate).

So, after entering stage-left (travelling south from Hornby Junction), the mainline switches to service the United Empire Box Co. on a 5 wagon siding, and then switches to the loop. Both the mainline and the loop can accommodate 3 wagons each by using the simple expediency of the mainline and loop crossing a main suburban road (extreme stage-right) with closed rail gates to prevent any fouling of the road traffic. These gates are still in place today (cnr Halswell Junction Rd.). The impression of a much greater whole is maintained, and all this on a 1.2m baseboard.

Mockups certainly look very promising and there is more than ample scope for scenic detailing.

Littledene Revisited

Updates to this blog have been extremely far and few between, I am sorry to say (guess I'm just not the "blogger"type).  So, without further ado, here is the latest news...

Sadly, Littledene is no more, having suffered at the hands of a (so-called) experienced haulage company when we shifted back to Christchurch from Wellington nearly two years ago.

Since then, I have had more than ample time to contemplate what was wrong with the layout. Operationally, it was the cat's whiskers and fulfilled the needs of this type of shunting puzzle. It was compact (four square feet and, no, I'm not metrically challenged, I just happen to still think in feet and inches) and extremely portable.

So, what was wrong with it?

Aesethically, it looked ... toylike!

The original Inglenook concept calls for two sidings branching off a mainline, and, whilst this is not your common or garden variety NZR track layout, research provides us with at least one example of an NZR Inglenook, Onehunga Yard c.1950s. Instead, I opted for a mainline, loop and backshunt variant - your prototypical NZR yard. Attemping to model this arrangement, however, especially within the confines of the traditional Inglenook limits (5-3-3), was spacially wrong. Add to this: Littledene Station (Class B); a loading ramp on the 3rd road; Littledene Main Street with Mechanics Institute Hall, 4 Square Grocery, several houses (all modelled in low relief) and a railway crossing.

What I failed to consider was how cramped everything looked, given that Littledene is supposed to be a fair-sized community located somewhere on the vast mid-Canterbury plains (for those not in on the joke, Littledene is a sociological narrative of Oxford during the 1930s). And my relative inexperience with layout design meant I was not able to achieve the sense of space needed, even when modelling in NZ120.

Time has lessened the somewhat bitter disapointment I originally experienced upon unpacking Littledene after the shift. In fact, I now consider the packers did me a favour (of sorts).

So, it's time to move on to new challenges.

Littledene Sidings

Littledene Sidings is an NZ120 (TTn3.5) layout based upon the classic British “shunting puzzle” Inglenook Sidings. Whilst the Inglenook trackplan is deceptively simple, it just does not conform to the New Zealand prototype. The solution to designing a distinctly New Zealand Railways configured Inglenook was suggested by Alan Cox when he observed that the ubiquitous loop with siding (backshunt) arrangement is the equivalent of a complete Inglenook. (Small Layout Scrapbook #69.) Further correspondence with “Creating Micro Layouts” author Carl Arendt helped clarify particular design principles and operational procedures.



Littledene is a mythical rural community created by H.C.D. Somerset and features in several of his monographs: "Littledene; A New Zealand Rural Community" (1938), and “Littledene; Patterns of Change” (1974).

Littledene Siding is a shelf or tabletop layout measuring 1260mm by 300mm. Framing is seasoned 22mm by 42mm dressed rimu topped with a sheet of 11mm Pinex Soft Board. An MDF scenic backboard and front modesty panel are yet to be attached. I am still undecided if scenic end boards will be added.

Track is N gauge Peco Streamline Code 55 Universal Fine, wooden sleeper type which looks correct with respect to track height, although sleeper length and spacing are incorrect. However, when ballasted it should look acceptable.

Points are Peco Streamline N Universal Fine Small Radius Electrofrog. In keeping with the 1950s theme, points are thrown manually.

The layout portrays a slice of rural life somewhere on a typical 1950s Cantabrian branch line.

Operationally, Littledene is run as an Inglenook “shunting puzzle”. Motive power is a Wf Class 2-6-4 Tank locomotive and rolling stock consists of an assortment of kitbashed L, La, and K wagons.

Buildings are scratchbuilt from Art Card.