We return to Geoff Taylor's Welsh Coast scenes for a closer look at Barmouth Junction. Please do read through to the end as there's a surprising sting in the tail of the story!
BARMOUTH JUNCTION
Geoff Taylor
FACT FILE
Layout Name: Barmouth Junction
Scale/Gauge: OO
Size: 13'6" x 3'
Era/Region: BR Western Region 1948-1965 – West coast of Wales
Layout Type: End to end L-shape
Track – Handbuilt pointwork and SMP flexible track on the scenic sections with Peco for the storage yards and hidden sections
Power – DCC using the Lenz controllers
Barmouth Junction is part of a layout that includes Penmaenpool (featured in the July and August 2016 issues of BRM) and Dolgelley goods yard. I first became interested in this station when I borrowed the C. C. Green book, 'The Coast Lines of the Cambrian Railway', but due to space restrictions at the time, decided to model Penhelig, which is actually another station in Aberdovey. The larger station is a little way out of town to the north. Plans were drawn up for Penhelig and a start was made on the buildings, but then we moved to Mid Wales to start up my model building business.
The layout was shelved while I concentrated on the business and also the house and garden. A few years later, a space was acquired for a shed and so plans and books came out again and it was then that I decided to model Barmouth Junction. This would be ideal for me as my 'day job' was then constructing model buildings and this station didn't have many buildings on it. I also like to see a fair amount of scenery and not all trackwork on layouts, so it was just what I wanted. I may never have finished an urban scene anyway because the models take such a lot of time to construct. I very much liked the idea that trains came up both the branch and the main coast lines to the junction and then went into a single track across the bridge. This could be interesting to operate.
Plans were drawn to a scale of one inch to one foot on paper to see what could be achieved. The junction station would need a fair amount of space to model it properly and, of course, there would be three storage yards as well. I did think about modelling the lovely Barmouth bridge, but thought it would take up too much space and wouldn't be too interesting as a model. I also needed some workspace built into the room, which was another factor in the design.
Most of the space would be for Barmouth Junction, but I realised that I could also get Penmaenpool station and Dolgelley goods yard in as well by using gradients on different levels. I wanted to capture the windswept location of the area and model the platforms as near as possible to the real station. Both the main and branch lines used to splay out from the station but by curving them inwards, it could actually work as a model. Also, I wanted the trains to go on a journey to get to the next station instead of just going through the backscene into the next section. Quite an ambitious plan, which I hoped would work!
From the scale plans, I drew it full size on lining paper, so I could see exactly how it looked. I was now ready to start the baseboards and framing. For the majority of the baseboard tops, I've used 12mm MDF and 9mm for the gradient boards. Wood framing is mostly 25 x 25mm with the legs being 50 x 50mm. Gradients have been built to a minimum of 1 in 48, but even that means that certain loco's can't pull any more than three coaches, which is not really a problem as some trains only had three or four coaches anyway. I wanted the junction to be at a height of four feet, so everything else is less, coming down to the lowest part of the layout at three feet.
It was always going to be a DCC layout, so the wiring reflected that as the boards were being made with bus wires going under or by the side of the tracks. Each individual piece of track is soldered to these with dropper wires. The Lenz system is used with the rotary controllers which I find better than the thumbwheel. All loco's have decoders and these are mostly TCS. Some also have sound decoders fitted, which somehow makes quite a difference to how you drive them.
Trackwork is 4mm 00 scale and the main reason for this is that I don't make loco's and didn't want to convert all the rolling stock wheels to either P4 or EM. I was determined though that the track should look as good as I could get it.
I've used SMP flexible track, which has had all the webbing cut off and then repositioned on the plan. This makes the Woodlands Scenics ballast a bit easier to put on. All the scenic sections of pointwork were hand-built by my friend John Bailey and the three storage yards and the hidden sections have Peco track and pointwork. Tortoise motors have been used throughout for all the points and wired back to panels with diagrams of the track and LED's for direction. I've drawn up the panel displays on the computer and then had them printed onto metal and made wood surrounds for them. I had a lot of help with the panel and tortoise wiring, as I get a bit phased with any more than two wires!
The three storage yards have been named Barmouth, Machynlleth and Ruabon, which gives an indication of where the trains are going or coming from. Each one is different to operate with Ruabon being the easiest, as it is just in at one end and out at the other. Machynlleth has a traverser at the end and a run-round track, but it's Barmouth that is the busiest. Trains come in and are detached at the end of each road using magnets for the Kadee couplings and a Pannier tank fetches the coaching stock back past the first point into the scenic section. Meanwhile, the loco either backs to turn on the shed turntable or waits to turn on the junction loop. This manoeuvre was done in real life and up to four loco's could be seen turning on the loop between passenger services.
On previous layouts, I've managed to paint the backscenes myself, but not being an artist, have kept them really simple, so for this project, I commissioned a local artist Sara Heller to paint them. They have been painted with acrylic paints on a long roll of acrylic canvas that has been attached to MDF and hardboard. The part at the Barmouth end didn't need to have the bridge painted on it as the track on the layout is supposed to go across it! All backscenes are curved at the ends to give a better look with no sharp corners, which gives a lot more pleasing viewing to the eye. At the widest point, the scenery is seven feet wide and access would be needed to get to the furthest parts for maintenance.
Two lifting sections have been made complete with scenery over the top and are pushed up from below and then secured with a wood bearer to keep them in place when working on the layout. The rock faces of the small hill have been built up with polystyrene shapes glued together and a very thick layer of building plaster covering it. It was left to dry for two weeks to make sure it had all set properly. I used various tools to create the rock formations, such as a screwdriver, chisel, and dental probes until the desired effect was reached. A black wash was painted on to see how the rocks would look before painting in various shades of greys, greens and whites to resemble the real thing. A magnificent view can be had from the top of this hill today.
Scenery has been achieved using different methods and materials. Woodlands Scenics have been used in the main as I like the texture and colours they produce. Other materials used were teddy bear fur, hanging basket liners, sea moss for trees and bushes and a variety of other scenic scatter flocks and earth powder from Tremendous Models. The embankment just behind the signal box was the bed of the old tramway around 1900, which only lasted a few years.
The area leading up to the bridge (not modelled) is mostly marshland with channels that are filled with water at high tide. A channel flows under a small bridge which acts as an escape to any excess water, so not washing away any ballast. To achieve these channels, I broke up pieces of insulation board and glued them down and put a watery mix of plaster over everything. When dry, a basic earth colour was applied. PVA glue was applied in some of the channels and very fine sand was sprinkled on followed with a few layers of varnish.
Quite a lot of fencing was needed and these were made from plastic posts with strong black cotton thread, glueing now and again to keep them in place. The buildings are all made from plastikard with plastic brick sheet overlays and the windows, doors and valancing are all etched brass from my own artwork.
Barmouth Junction platforms are all a bit different from one another and their faces are stone, wood and concrete. They were made from good quality card-on-card formers and some were scored where necessary. The sign boards have all been drawn on the computer and printed off, mounted on card and attached to posts or the station building. Signals have been made by Tony Geary and are operated using servo's being pulled from lever frames at the different locations.
The stock on the layout is all ready-to-run from Bachmann with a few Hornby items. The only exceptions to these are a Dukedog and a Stanier 2-6-2T, both of which are kit-built by friends. As the model is all the BR period from 1948- 1965, the coaches are a mixture of maroon, carmine and cream and chocolate and cream. They are all weathered to some degree and have Kadee couplings on each end of the rakes. Both ex-GWR and Standard class loco's can be seen during this period, which gives a lot of variety to the trains. Goods wagons and vans are mostly Bachmann and are all in the process of having Spratt & Winkle couplings fitted for shunting purposes.
The layout is operated to a sequence with screens at the main areas and was designed by John Elliott. Either I or a friend uses a laptop to change the screen pages, which tells the operator's the next move. There are 124 pages to the sequence, taking over six hours to get through, so you can never tell what the next move might be, which makes for more interesting operating.
I am more than pleased with the layout and it is better than I could have imagined when it was in the planning stage and certainly more complex than at first thought. The operating sessions are really enjoyable with friends, which makes this hobby very worthwhile. Previously, we used to shout to the next station to see if a train can travel, but that has now changed with the addition of block instrument panels that are in the process of being made. So all in all, my ambitious plans actually did work and very well it seems.
Although most of the layout is finished, there are just a few small details to be added such as porters, a station master and one or two passengers, which will be done by Alan Buttler of Modelu 3D, who is a regular visitor to the layout. He has already made the signalman with single line hoop, the benches on the platform and the rather marvellous station platform lamps.
My friend John Bailey, who passed away in 2015, was very much part of my layout, helping me in various aspects of it on a regular basis. The lovely pointwork that he made is very much still admired and it would have been nice if he could have seen the layout in it's more or less finished state.
A bombshell!
A few weeks ago, Geoff just dropped a post into a Facebook group (far too casually) - he has completely redrawn plans to replace Barmouth Junction with Bala Junction. Penmaenpool is to stay (quite rightly, it's gorgeous) and Dolgelley Goods to go. The whole re-draft is designed to simplify accessibility in years to come, which is understandable but the truth dawned on those who have been privileged enough to operate Barmouth Junction - we may have done it for the last time before Covid struck! He's more ruthless than Beeching!
Thanks for the memories; it's been a blast.
Andy
ADDITIONAL IMAGES
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