Kev G
Member
Hi all. As I mentioned in my introduction, I am about to start work on a new layout. It will represent an imaginary station on the West Croydon - Wimbledon line during the late Victorian/Edwardian era and be called Wandle Park. No actual work has started on the layout yet as I am still designing and building the baseboards, so I thought I would give an overview of what I am hoping to achieve.
The Wimbledon line branches off from the West Croydon-Epsom line and immediately curves sharply to the right passing Wandle Park, and it is on this curve that my station will be. There was never a station here when the line was open but since closure the old track-bed has been used for part of the Croydon Tramlink system and a tramstop has been opened at Wandle Park not far from where my imaginary station would have been. On the 1910 map below, the station would be immediately beyond the river bridge.
The layout is being built in a small L-shaped box room, so space is very tight. My previous layout was a terminus - fiddleyard set up which fitted into the room ok, but a through station is a bit more tricky and I will have to use setrack for one fiddleyard due to the tight curves involved (the rest will be Code 75). Since I will only be running small tank loco's and 4-wheel coaches, the tight curves shouldn't be to much of a problem (fingers crossed!). The track plan is shown below.
I have managed to get the key features of the area onto the plan, with a fair bit of modellers licence. The River Wandle is not as wide at this point and there was never a watermill here, but a mill is something that I've always wanted to model. Also, the gasworks has been moved much nearer to the park then it is in reality. As the line runs through fairly flat, open country, there were no overbridges or tunnels, so I will be using scenic breaks to disguise the fiddleyard entrances.
The station itself will be based roughly on Beddington Lane, which was the next station on the line (picture below). It was a pretty basic affair, with just a wooden station building, platform mounted signal box and a hut which I assume was either a small goods lock-up or general store.
Hopefully the baseboards should be ready before to long and construction can begin
.
The Wimbledon line branches off from the West Croydon-Epsom line and immediately curves sharply to the right passing Wandle Park, and it is on this curve that my station will be. There was never a station here when the line was open but since closure the old track-bed has been used for part of the Croydon Tramlink system and a tramstop has been opened at Wandle Park not far from where my imaginary station would have been. On the 1910 map below, the station would be immediately beyond the river bridge.
The layout is being built in a small L-shaped box room, so space is very tight. My previous layout was a terminus - fiddleyard set up which fitted into the room ok, but a through station is a bit more tricky and I will have to use setrack for one fiddleyard due to the tight curves involved (the rest will be Code 75). Since I will only be running small tank loco's and 4-wheel coaches, the tight curves shouldn't be to much of a problem (fingers crossed!). The track plan is shown below.
I have managed to get the key features of the area onto the plan, with a fair bit of modellers licence. The River Wandle is not as wide at this point and there was never a watermill here, but a mill is something that I've always wanted to model. Also, the gasworks has been moved much nearer to the park then it is in reality. As the line runs through fairly flat, open country, there were no overbridges or tunnels, so I will be using scenic breaks to disguise the fiddleyard entrances.
The station itself will be based roughly on Beddington Lane, which was the next station on the line (picture below). It was a pretty basic affair, with just a wooden station building, platform mounted signal box and a hut which I assume was either a small goods lock-up or general store.
Hopefully the baseboards should be ready before to long and construction can begin
.
