Inspired by scenes on both the East and West coasts of Britain, Mike Knowles has constructed a wonderful quayside scene (with excellent water texture by the way) with a landmark swing bridge as part of the scene.
BOSTON FRODSHAM
Mike Knowles
FACT FILE
Layout Name: Boston Frodsham
Scale/Gauge: 4mm scale, P4 18.83mm gauge
Size: (including fiddle yards): 15' x 2'
Era/Region: 1975-85 Eastern England
Layout Type: End to end
Layout design
Boston Frodsham is my own 4mm scale P4 gauge layout set in 1975-1985 (ish) and is partly based on the swing bridge at the entrance to Boston Docks and also the wharf at Frodsham in Cheshire. Inspiration for modelling the swing bridge was from a supplement called Oil & Water issued with Traction magazine back in 2005, whilst a number of pictures from various sources of the wharf at Frodsham showing an RB22 crane gave me the urge to model this. The intention was to create a layout that could be loaded into the back of my car, a Skoda Octavia Estate (which it does – just!), and would be relatively quick and easy to erect at exhibitions. Operation of the layout assumes that trains approach the docks via a branch line off the main line (all off scene) and enter one of three reception/departure sidings, which are partially modelled on the layout. As main line locos are too heavy to cross the swing bridge, they uncouple and move off to the stabling point. The 03 & 08 shunters then move the wagons, a few at a time, over the swing bridge and into the dockside area, returning with other wagons for dispatch. Ultimately, the main line loco runs around to enable it to depart with the outgoing train.
Rolling Stock
Currently, the loco roster consists as follows;
- Class 03 shunter number 03112 - detailed and repainted Bachmann body (converted to dual brake) on High Level Kits chassis.
- Class 08 shunter number 08704 - detailed and repainted Bachmann model. Note the 03 is powered whilst the 08 had the motor and drive gears removed to create space for a sound decoder and bass speaker. They run permanently connected to each other (as they did at times at Boston) with electrical connections between the two via micro plugs and sockets.
- Class 25 number 25278 - a Bachmann/Silver Fox hybrid model detailed and repainted, running on Penbits sprung bogies.
- Class 31 number 31252 - detailed and repainted Lima body on Hornby chassis running on Rumney Models sprung bogies.
- Awaiting construction - Class 37 number 37116 - detailed and repainted Bachmann model running on Penbits sprung bogies.
Wagons are a mix of vacuum and air-braked stock and are whatever interests me and are not necessarily what actually ran to Boston (it is a fictitious layout after all). 12 T vans and 16 T minerals. Parkside and Bachmann bodies on sprung chassis using components from Rumney Models and Bill Bedford Models. OAA wagons. Hornby bodies on new sprung chassis utilizing components from Bill Bedford Models and Colin Craig. TTA wagons. Bachmann models incorporating sprung suspension units from Bill Bedford Models, etched walkways, brake levers and brake yokes plus cast Brunninghaus springs from Stenson Models and etched ladders from Model Signal Engineering. PBA Clay Tiger wagon. S Kits model fitted with sprung bogies from Stenson Models. PRA China Clay wagon, a Kernow model straight out of the box apart from P4 wheelsets and new couplings. Such a good model I can’t really see how to make any improvements to it other than weathering. PGA Hopper wagon, a Cavalex model fitted with P4 wheelsets and new couplings. More wagons to be developed in due course.
Buildings
All buildings are scratch-built and based on those at both Boston and Frodsham. Of particular note is the octagonal control building adjacent to the swing bridge complete with steps going down and around the outside to give access to the underground locking room.
Scenery
For the purposes of the layout, it is assumed that, due to an upsurge in traffic, the reception sidings have been completely re-laid hence the clean ballast. At the back of the layout, work continues behind the fence to remove the last of the old sidings and reinstate the land adjacent to the warehouse.
One aspect I had not done before was modeling water. After a few practice pieces, I ended up with the following method; paint the board tops a suitable mucky greeny brown, cover with 2 or 3 coats of PVA (test first to make sure it dries clear, the cheap craft type glues don’t), form the ripples using Deluxe Materials Making Waves applied with a fine brush held almost parallel to the surface and dragged backwards to “extrude” the ripples, finish of with further coats of PVA and finally gloss varnish.
One of the main features is the swing bridge, which is a shortened version of the prototype to fit the available space and is made using modified Wills Vari Girder sections to give the sloping/curved ends. In the interests of reliable running, the bridge is permanently fixed in place.
The timber fendering protecting the central bridge support is made from mahogany stripwood, painted with thinned sleeper grime paint followed by a wash of very thinned light grey to give the appearance of old sun-bleached timber. Finally, a bit of weathering was applied. As stated earlier, one of the reasons for including the wharf at Frodsham was to let me model the RB22 crane, which was evident in the photos I had seen. This is built from a Langley Models kit. The Hymac 580 excavator seen near the rear of the layout is a Rosencombe Replicas kit.
About the modeller
I am 68 years old and now retired having spent most of my working life in the construction industry. This probably explains my fascination with bridges, cranes and excavators! As a youngster, although a keen modeler, I had no interest at all in railways, cars and motor racing being the order of the day. I only became interested in railways and model railways in the late 1980s as a result of my son’s developing interest. Hence, despite my age, I am more interested in diesel traction than steam.
As stated previously, the idea for the layout came from a supplement in an old Traction magazine, in particular the double-page photo of the swing bride that just cried out to be modelled. As my interest lays more with freight stock than passenger it gave me the basis for a small shunting layout on which to run my stock and be relatively cheap and easy to take to exhibitions. I have constructed a few layouts previously in OO Gauge, the last of which used hand-built track using ply sleepers with C&L rail and chairs. I found this aspect of railway modelling very satisfying and, from the research I did for it, I found myself being drawn towards the idea of building a layout to P4 gauge.
Given that the layout was primarily intended for exhibition use, I wanted the overall appearance to be as good as possible. To this end, the entire front of the layout including the fiddle yards and the support frame for the lighting rig have been covered in a dark blue (rail blue?) Perspex rather than just painted as seems to be the norm.
A good lighting system is in my view essential for an exhibition layout. Two strips of LED lights, one warm white and one cool white have been used following trials with various combinations and are 12V units giving 2700 lumens per 2.5 metres and were obtained from LED Hut. Ideally, this needs to be installed and activated before doing the scenery as it can dramatically change the appearance of something compared to viewing it under normal room light.
The layout is operated via a Lenz 100 DCC system and all the locos are fitted with sound decoders. I find DCC control is perfectly suited to shunting layouts such as this as there is no need for isolating sections, locos can run anywhere you send them. The points are operated by Tortoise slow motion motors, activated by a lever frame obtained from the Scalefour Society. The somersault signal (built from an MSE kit) controlling entry onto the bridge is operated by a servo motor connected to a servo control unit built from a kit supplied by MERG. I am certainly not an electronics expert so I was pleased with the success of all this.
My favourite way of operating is with a group of friends at exhibitions. Usually, there are four of us, one to each of the fiddle yards including driving the shunters, one driving the mainline trains and one making the tea! A detailed operating schedule is used, which takes about 3 hours to complete so that each operator is aware of what is happening and what they need to do to keep things moving. Or that’s the theory anyway!
The layout was booked to appear at a number of exhibitions last year but other than the Festival of British Railway Modelling last February they have all been postponed due to the Coronavirus epidemic. Hopefully they will go ahead next year and there are also plenty of other exhibition organisers interested in it so it will keep me occupied for some time yet.
I don’t expect to make any major changes to the layout in the future but will keep building more locos and rolling stock to satisfy my interests. For the future, in the same Traction magazine supplement that started all this off, there was also an article about the Queenborough Rolling Mill on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. Thought processes are now working on a layout based on this but in O Gauge. Hopefully, it won’t take another 15 years to come to fruition as Boston Frodsham has done!
ADDITIONAL IMAGES
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