The Upton to Dunton Line

Time to put the Upton to Dunton Railway back on the map. Well the track plan was completed back in August. The railway is set in the BR green diesel era and is mounted on a base board which is 12' x 9', with a central operating well. Although it is essentially a looped oval there are two mainline terminus stations - Upton Pier and Dunton Castle, a through station at Middleton and a branch line terminus at Deepdale. Deepdale also has a small oil depot. Each of the two main stations has a goods yard and there is a factory complex at Upton near the docks. Here is the track plan:







….and here is an overview of the layout during early construction:






I decided to start work on the Middleton area concentrating on the two tunnels that run under Middleton, forming part of the loop. After a lot of trial and error and good advice from the forum I installed light signals, did some ballasting and produced a pleasing result:






Those who saw this thread before it vanished into cyberspace will remember the cynical comments of Mr Dapol. His view that this glossy report is merely a piece of Company nonsense and that it covers up much of trial and error, building, tearing down and rebuilding.  Mr Dapol, however, puts this down to the gross mismanagement and incompetence on the part of the Railway board.






Novice

The next project I tackled was dealing with the troublesome gradients around Dunton. I had decided to use a commercial product and after a long wait the great day arrived with some Woodland Scenics gradients appearing in the post.







They were great, however I had got the calculations wrong and finished up with a 4 inch climb over 8 feet, ie 4%. What I need is a 3 inch climb over 8 feet ie 3%. Fortunately this product is not too expensive (at £9.00 per set) and I have ordered new ones.  :oops:  Mr Dapol takes note of yet another example of poor management by the Railway board.  He considers writing to his MP  :wink:

Novice

Looking vey nice novice and i cant wait for Mr Dappol's response when he sees you running at a loss at this moment in time but hey what profit, you have to spend to gain in the long run  :D
Phill

Having been inspired by the excellent results of members on this site in constructing card kits I thought I ought to have a go. At the outset I had determined that Upton to Dunton should make use of existing Hornby and Triang buildings, as I had a considerable stock - some very old. At Dunton Castle I intended to use a 1960's style Hornby terminus:










I decided that it really was not good enough and even with more work and detailing it would not look right. I used this as an opportunity to have a go at a card structure and went for this:






Well, it may be called superquick but it took me a whole week to build. I liked the results, although I thought the central well and entrance leading to the platforms should have been modelled, rather than the void that the model provides. I also thought the instructions were a little vague in places. That said the results are better than the triang option:














Mr Dapol sees this latest project as merely a distraction to divert attention away from the Railway board's bodged work on the Upton tunnel and the gradients.  He rolls his eyes and goes into his hut for tea. :)

Novice

The weekend before last was very busy. I converted my Class 108 DMU and a Class 37 to DCC, using the Bachmann 3 function decoder. The results were stunning and with back EMF the locos tackled the 4% gradients with ease. Here's a picture of the Class 37 emerging from the Upton tunnel.






Novice

Good to see some layouts back "on screen" Novice.

By the way, don't bin those old Triang/Hornby buildings - they must surely be quite collectable nowadays.

The Superquick station does look good.

Petermac

Oh I do like that class 37…..uuummmm will it fit in a 50/60's transition era layout? :?

Novice the class 37 coming out of the tunnell, looks like a guy sat in the cab, is there?. Nice class 37 but think its too big for my needs  :(
Phill

Phill

Yep, there is a driver - he came with the loco.  In fact Bachmann include drivers with many of their locos.

Novice

A good idea that,always thought it was weird seeing them going round the track with no driver  :D
Phill

Hey that is nice! By the way what camera are you using?
Mike

Mike

Thanks - a Canon Power Shot A460, 5.0 mega pixels.

Novice

They are all really really clear pics. well done1
Mike

looks good, i am a bit behind you with my layout still on wiring :shock:

nice one, another layout returns :!:

I wondered how you had found the Woodland Scenics inclines :?: I've seen them in a model shop but not spoken to anyone who's used them. How do they rate :?:

Very nice!  Your scenic work looks good. I like that diesel too  :)

 Mike

Gwent Rail said

I wondered how you had found the Woodland Scenics inclines :?: I've seen them in a model shop but not spoken to anyone who's used them. How do they rate :?:

Jeff

I am very impressed.  They are quite cheap (about £9 per incline), flexible and very strong.  They give a very smooth transition.  I will give you a full report when the 3% grades arrive - being a numpty I got my sums wrong.

Novice

Cheers Novice.
As a Woodland Scenics fan, I look foward to your report in good time.

During the past couple of weeks I have focussed my attention upon the Middleton area of the layout:






I have laid ballast and started to construct the station.  The platforms are in and I have started to build a footbridge.  This is quite a large task as buildings, scenic work and trackwork all need to be done concurrently.  
The first task was to weather the track and then fit, wire and test the 2 signals which control the 2 points on the station approaches.  Once done I fixed down the platforms and laid the ballast.  Next will be the scenic work and putting 'tarmac' on the roads.  

Novice

The station is now well under construction. The contract went to Dapol Construction Ltd (cousins of Mr Dapol) and is based on the the design of that well known german railway engineer Herr Ficks who was very prominent in the 1950's.  :wink:

I have run a few trains through to check platform clearances and the main station building is in place.  I am trialling the postioning of station furniture, but will not fix anything down until the foot bridge is ready for installation.

A general view of Middleton looking towards the level crossing and showing the signals working.






Novice