QLD – 0607 - Layout of the Quarter THE OXHILL AND FAIRLEY ROAD – TCH 123

 

A layout as it developed into a sense of reality.

 

 

When I decided to take up British modelling again after many years working with other prototypes, I had occupied most of the available space under our house with my HO American Albany and Pacific layout. I was not disposed to change it as it had developed over the years into a comprehensive affair partly on three levels with three terminal stations, three intermediate stations and hidden staging sidings. It was based loosely on the west coast US mountain region and was not suitable for conversion to a British layout without considerable rebuilding. What was I to do?

Stage 1—Oxhill

 

 

 

 

In the show circuit around this time was a layout that had fascinated me – Dave Jenkins’ “Finden”. It was compact and being a branch terminus with a junction provided scope for additional operation beyond that of the usual terminus-fiddle yard concept. David’s layout was a fictitious GWR line and it influenced me to follow suit. Looking at an Ordnance Atlas of Great Britain I spied a place in the Oxford region that would be a logical “might have been” railway. It was Oxhill. Now I have never visited Oxhill though I have been within a few miles of the place. Therefore, I do not know what it looks like. Consequently, I used considerable licence to make it my model railway town!

 

Having said that, it did fit in on the map for a likely line from Ashton towards Reading with a separate link from Stratford. That got me the junction. However, there was not enough space where I proposed to place the layout to model a line on to Reading, so the scenario had to be that construction was suspended when the lines from the north and west reached Oxhill – an almost plausible story – thus Oxhill became a terminus and a junction!  It still had a main platform for the through trains that never eventuated and a dock for a cross-country Auto service towards Stratford. Suitable goods amenities were added. These facilities were to serve a milk factory, a coal merchant, cattle yard and goods shed. In fact, it almost turned out as a mirror image of Finden.

 

To feed this layout was a five-track fiddle yard, three to hold trains from Ashford and two for the Stratford branch. The main station was accommodated on two 1200 x 600 mm baseboards, the fiddle yard adding 1500 mm at one end.  I had just enough space for that and after getting compliance from my good wife to take up more room under the house, I set about building it. The main baseboards were made of 75 x 19 mm pine framing screwed together using corner blocks with a screwed and glued ply top To make shunting more challenging, the main line terminal track was restricted in length to one locomotive and one wagon. As this track had to be used to place two wagons at the milk factory, which had a trailing connection and to remove two from it, visiting operators often scratched their heads about how to do it. It was simple of course, but involved a number of moves. Can you work out these moves yourself? (See Diagram 1).

 

The model was built to OO scale using Code 100 Peco rails laid on cork and ballasted. Electrofrog points were used with all main line ones operated by Peco solenoid motors screwed to the underneath of the baseboard (surface mounted in the fiddle yard).These are wired to momentary contact push buttons mounted on a mimic yard panel on which power feed and lighting switches are also located. Yard points are operated by HO Caboose Hobbies sprung hand throw levers – not exactly British prototype but effective in controlling points and routing electric power without the need to install extra wiring!

 

Scenically, the hills were built up using cardboard webbing covered by towels dipped in casting plaster and given a strengthening coat of more plaster. Natural materials (sandy loam, twigs etc) and Woodlands and Heki scenic products were used for landscaping. There was just enough room for a farmhouse with small sheep paddocks in addition to the township, which was fitted in by cutting buildings in half and butting them against the painted back scene board. These buildings were a mixture of kits and scratch built items.

 

Figure 1 - Fairley Road in 2003 with a GWR 'B' Set in the bay platform.

 

As mentioned, to make shunting more of a challenge, it was arranged for the spur at the end of the layout beyond the single run around loop long enough to accommodate a locomotive and just one wagon.

 

Timetable services for a normal operating session consisted of a main line passenger train arriving and departing, the branch line 14xx tank engine coming off shed to work an auto train connection from the dock; two main line goods trains and a branch line goods train arriving sequentially, doing their shunting to place and pick up wagons and departing again. I found this an ideal arrangement taking about 40 minutes, which was long enough to provide entertainment and short enough to enable a session to operate at most times or even at short notice without interfering with other home activities (such as continuing the saga of getting my railway notes into a data base or dozing in front of the idiot box!)

 

There was a need for only five locomotives, an auto coach, three corridor coaches, a couple of GWR Toads and an LMS goods brake van plus a small assortment of cattle, coal, goods and milk wagons. However, Oxhill was built at a time when better quality OO equipment was coming on the market and many examples were acquired and this soon exceeded the required quota. To justify buying extra locomotives I employed a scheme I had used on my previous layout of developing fleets by era. That scheme had enabled me to run trains at different times to represent various periods from 1950 to 1985. In fact, the change was made progressively as fancy dictated, with locomotives and stock being exchanged, updating the fleet periodically. Older units were ‘withdrawn from service’ and replaced by new stock ‘entering service’. In the case of Oxhill, it was simply a matter of running either GWR/LMS dating from 1934 to 1947 then British Railways stock from 1948 to about 1955.

 

Figure 2 - Fairley Road engine shed.

 

Of course, in time more than sufficient stock to do this was acquired, too. Eventually I started to look at a way to utilise it. By shifting Oxhill to a new position under the house, I calculated I could add an extension leading to another fiddle yard with a branch to another station. Thus was born the Oxhill and Fairley Road.

Stage 2 – Oxhill and Fairley Road

 

 

Fairley Road was selected as the name of the branch station, based on nothing more than a pun on the name of a goods shed kit I had acquired from a fellow member. The shed was a model of the one at Fairford and the station was going to be fairly representative of Fairford. In time honoured tradition, the word “Road” was added as it was in Britain where the station for the township or village of the same name was miles away from it. So ‘Road’ added to avoid having to build another township!

 

Oxhill station yard was modified by repositioning the cattle yard and adding a siding for the coal merchant in order to provide a crossing loop. The main line was extended over a level crossing and via a through girder bridge over a river at the terminal end to a simple junction. One leg led around a curve to a two-track layover (“Reading”) and the other to another curve that led to Fairley Road station. The overall layout was now L shaped. The layover tracks were hidden behind this station and two tracks were all that could be squeezed in. This part of the layout was also against a wall, therefore it was necessary to install lift out sections for access but these were camouflaged reasonably successfully by covering them with green felt fields, stone and brush fences and a small farmhouse. One satisfying part of the extension was that there was enough room to include a scratch built model of a house in which the late John Ahern of Madder Valley fame lived.

 

Fairley Road itself has a simple layout with station, main platform, and dock, run around, goods shed and siding, a combined coal and cattle siding with another spur to a single road engine shed.

 

Now logically, you would think that having five layover tracks at one end and two at the other would lead to an operating nightmare. Not so – trains from Stratford layover work to and from Fairley Road, as does one main line train from Ashford. The other two Ashford lines accommodate a passenger and a goods train as does the Reading layover and these trains swap ends during the course of a session. A B-set runs from Fairley Road to Oxhill and return to connect with the auto train, which can run down the ‘Stratford’ line when one or other of the two branch trains are at Fairley Road.

 

The whole thing is set up for operation by either one or two persons, with Fairley Road partly operable from the main Oxhill throttle or fully from a local throttle. Electronic plug-in controllers built by one of the Brisbane Westside members operate the trains admirably. A normal timetable sequence now takes about an hour to complete, during which time nine different trains run.

Stage 3 – Extra platform for Oxhill

 

 

 

Of course, Oxhill, no longer being a branch terminus, seemed a bit small with only one main line platform and a dock. In addition, the crossing loop severely limited train lengths. It was difficult to cross two 3-car passenger trains.  Along came Stage 3. This involved inserting a 600 mm section in the middle of Oxhill yard. This is not a method of extension I would recommend to anyone. It meant more than simply separating the two existing baseboards as all the major wiring underneath had to be cut and hooked up each side to terminal strips so 600 mm lengths of connecting leads could be added later to reinstate electrical integrity. However, in due course, the wiring was done and the baseboard and extra platform were installed. To provide more platform length the crossover and points at the Ashford end were replaced by a double slip and a siding was laid behind the platform leading to the relocated Goods shed with another siding off it to the coal merchant’s, which now has a scratch built styrene bagging shed. See diagram 2.

 

Figure 3 - Oxhill station stage 1, 1999, with Collett 0-6-0 ready to depart and branch line Auto trainwaiting for a connection.

Figure 4 - Oxhill with extra platform and extension. An 8F and a Jinty amble through platform 1.

 

 

The layout gives scope for interesting timetable or sequential operation with three types of passenger trains, open wagons and vans, mineral wagons for the two coal merchants, milk for the factory and cattle for both stations. The main line freight trains convey some wagons for Oxhill and extra wagons that are not detached. Therefore, variety can be achieved by adding vehicles for other non-modelled industries such as tank cars, container flats, fruit and meat vans.

 

Logically, there is little or no need to do anything further to the Oxhill and Fairley Road. However, the length of the run between the two modelled stations is a bit short so there is a chance that sometime in the future, Stage 4 will emerge to extend it into a U shape. That will overcome a small problem also with the sharp entry to Fairley Road and enable an extra layover track or two to be added, perhaps even an extra industrial siding.

 

Proposed Stage 4 could cater for a couple of extra trains, for which locomotives and stock has, surprise, surprise, been acquired. Ah well, a model layout is never finished!

 

Figure 5 - A busy moment at the Oxhill loco shed.

 

 

Figure 6 - Oxhill goods yard with the station footbridge behind.