Trains and cars; what’s not to like? Luton MRC's O Gauge layout also features many unusual prototype locomotives; Ford’s shunter, the Fell and Hawk to name a few.
Factfile
Layout name: Central Works
Scale/gauge: O Size: 24’ x 2’6”
Era/region: 1950s
Location: Fictional
Layout type: End to End
Power/control: DC
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Central Works
From the Luton MRC, described by Dave Coasby and Nigel Adams
The 0 gauge group within the Luton Model Railway Club is best remembered for producing the well-known ‘Great Train Robbery’ diorama, so skilfully and dramatically photographed for the February 2014 issue of BRM by Andy York. Having attended over 50 shows in two years and raising over £2,700 for a railway charity (Railway Benefit Fund), it was retired from the exhibition circuit and is now on display at the Nene Valley Railway.
For our next project, we decided to choose something a little less controversial. Six baseboards, each being 2’6” wide and totalling 24ft in length had previously been constructed at the Club for use with the next 0 gauge layout. Despite a trackplan having been devised, there seemed little interest in developing this within the membership. After much head scratching, a second trackplan was produced, loosely based on the intense network of sidings that once existed at Longbridge in Birmingham. This got the juices flowing with the members and track laying soon commenced, using mainly Peco track, with Markway points, a couple of 3-way and a double slip.
The 24ft length available to us within the Club enabled us to construct an industrial scene featuring sidings that lead off to an imaginary car assembly plant. The layout has two segments – the mainline exchange sidings and the industrial section of the factory complex. But of course, as we all know, the Longbridge car plant was part of BMC and, within our wider group, we’d already started to build an industrial Bo-Bo diesel shunter based at Ford Dagenham!
The answer was to have a generic car plant, with operating sequences alternating with BMC or Ford vehicles. Being in different parts of the country, this also permitted the running of a great variety of locos and stock from the 1950s through to the 1960s. To help identify which sequence is in operation, either a large BMC or Ford logo is installed on the roof of one of the industrial buildings (Interestingly, we had to gain special permission from Ford UK to use their logo on the layout). Also, appropriate poster hoardings alternate on one of the factory walls, advertising either a Ford Anglia or BMC mini poster.
A great attraction of the layout is when completed vehicles are ready to emerge from the factory they are shunted onto the main line for onward transport on CARFLAT vehicles, which we have constructed from Ragstone Models kits. We have a large collection of suitable Ford and BMC vehicles to load onto the CARFLATS, though obviously these don’t appear at the same time. When we are running a ‘Ford’ sequence you will notice the previously mentioned scratch-built industrial Bo-Bo diesel shunter, one of three that were formerly stationed at Dagenham. As far as we know this is the only 0 gauge model of this loco (The prototype is now safely preserved on the Kent and East Sussex Railway – where we were given permission to photograph and measure her up!)
All the locomotives seen on the layout are owned by individual Luton MRC members and are a mix of RTR, kit-built, or scratch-built. Our chosen period (1950’s –1960’s) is an interesting one, when steam was still king. However, being an exchange sidings does not provide much of a chance to portray gleaming steam locomotives in glamorous pre-grouping colours, but we are happy to live with engines in uncleaned black, which include a Jinty; Black 5; Standard 2MT; Patriot; 8F; B1; J69 and a couple of 4F’s, plus an assortment of industrial locos. However, we are aware of the short fall in our Eastern Region steam fleet and will endeavour to correct this as time and funds permit.
Several early diesel prototypes that were around in the period can also be seen on the layout from time to time, notably the Fell diesel 10100, the North British 10800, and a couple of jack-shaft diesel shunters. The diesel fleet also includes slightly later diesel types, including Classes 15, 20, 26, 31 and 47’s. Stock is predominantly freight, with many different kit-built and proprietary vehicles to be seen. Traffic for the factory arrives in the form of raw materials and is exchanged into the works via one of the industrial locomotives. The occasional passenger operation may also be seen arriving at the short platform. These are workmen’s trains and usually comprise of a 2-car DMU or a small steam loco with a couple of suburban coaches.
Another feature of this layout is a working coal tippler, which provides fuel from loaded wagons to the plant boiler house. This tippler was generously donated to the Luton MRC by the Model Railway Club of London (MRC), so it would enjoy future use on a layout after their Happisburgh layout was decommissioned. It has gone through extensive refurbishment and already has become a great attraction with the viewing public. The raising of a coal wagon (full of real crushed coal) to the top, the tipping, and the eventual lowering, takes about 2 minutes and includes appropriate warning bells, clanking and hydraulic sound effects.
The greater majority of low-relief industrial buildings you will see on 'Central Works' are scratch-built, with some still under construction. Another model we have constructed is the ARP signal box. Designed during the 1930s, with the threat of war and in particular of aerial bombardment, there was an urgent need for the railways to keep vital buildings operational. Construction consisted of thick brick and concrete walls and thick concrete roofs and floors. They were built at various locations around the country, in particular at vulnerable sites such as strategic junctions, military and factory locations (perfect for our project).
The layout is wired to be able to run on either DC (the most common mode – as it allows the widest flexibility of members stock to be utilised) or DCC where it can be switched over and all sections become energised on a common bus. Two controllers are available in DC mode, one for the mainline BR side and the other for the industrial complex of sidings. Obviously, with DCC, the number of controllers is virtually unlimited. A number of fixed output power supplies are concentrated on one baseboard to allow ease of testing and replacement in case of failure (although hopefully this feature will not be required). Four units are used, each provides an output of 18V at 5A, so there is plenty of power available. These supplies are then wired to each of the other five baseboards down a busbar network of wiring that means all supply outputs are available wherever a resource for the two controller, lighting/accessories, or point power is needed.
Pointwork is operated using the tried and trusted Tortoise mechanisms with easily removable electrical connections and all are mounted on special bases to aid speedy replacement. In the fiddleyard a cassette system is employed to minimise handling of stock between rakes and locomotives. The layout also incorporates a number of colour light and semaphore signals, which are being made operational as time progresses.
Functionally, the Tippler, its operation and accompanying sound effects are always a great visitor attraction as already mentioned. This is complemented with a number of lighting effects on various buildings along the backscene, these incorporate welding features and a loader facility in the overtrack building that fills wagons with swarf and waste material from the plant. To balance the visual appeal of features across the layout there is also a complex series of pipeworks adjoining the industrial sidings (as typically seen alongside many railway sites), this is actively being developed as the layout matures. This will include effects such as escaping smoke or steam from various outlets and vents from buildings as well as a very large brick chimney.
This chimney is of interest in a number of ways, it is a recently released Skytrex product, which has undergone some modifications to allow it to emit smoke in a hopefully realistic manner. The three sections comprise a square base, an intermediate cone and then the taller main chimney segment with a decorative top. The detail of the brickwork is very fine and once painted and weathered it presents an imposing structure on the layout. We have lettered the chimney in a way that was common in the early years when many factories had power plants or required a chimney to vent its waste products (before the clean air act!) and with the company name or logo down the side of the column. The upper section of ours is reversible so that it can display either FORD or BMC to suit the era and company/region we are portraying with the stock on the layout. Smoke is provided by a theatrical fog machine and pressurised using a small fan to force the smoke up through external pipework and then out through the chimney itself. Another small feature is the intended addition of a steeplejack on his platform partway up the structure, something not seen on other layouts as far as we recall.
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Layout detail
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