Modelling the Réseau Breton, Husband and wife team, Gordon and Maggie Gravett give us a pictorial tour of their exquisite scratch-built 1:50 scale French narrow gauge masterpiece, Pempoul.
PEMPOUL
Gordon and Maggie Gravett BRM Annual 2009
FACT FILE
Layout Name: Pempoul
Scale/Gauge: 1:50
Era/Region: 1960s
Location: Brittany, France
Layout Type: Fiddle Yard to fiddle yard
Pempoul was built to satisfy a number of criteria. Primarily, we were planning to start another layout project and we wanted to try something French – preferably rural and something in which we could both take an interest. We also preferred the idea of operating from the front of the layout and being in a position to talk to the public – something as esoteric as this might need some explanation. A continuous circuit would also, hopefully, make operation easier at exhibitions.
Learning of the Réseau Breton at a local society meeting was a happy coincidence and this railway system (it was a network of metre gauge lines serving inland Brittany) had immediate appeal. For a start, we had not seen any other models depicting the railway. This was probably because there were no kits available other than a couple in HOm and I preferred something larger, but this also appealed to us because we enjoy building the stuff and the research, although time-consuming, would make it even more enjoyable. Using Maggie’s skills with the language and modelling the buildings, and my interest in railway matters, we were able to embark on our first proper joint project.
Building a model of a French railway, with nothing available off the shelf, meant we could build in whatever scale we liked; so, although outside the normal model railway scales, we chose 1:50. One reason was that any information or drawings that we might come across would inevitably be in metric dimensions and dividing by 50 was going to be relatively easy. It also provided models – to my mind – of a very pleasing size. A metre gauge line at 1:50 should have a track gauge of 20mm, but I was happy to compromise with the well-proven standards of EM 18.2mm, and this, at least, gave me some track gauges and 4mm scale chassis components to work with. Without space to erect it at home, photographing Pempoul in its entirety was always going to prove difficult.
A Piguet 0-6-0+0-6-0 Mallet draws a mixed goods train round the curve into Pempoul. There were eight locos in the class and they were a firm favourite among the enthusiasts who visited the system before it closed in 1967. Fortunately, one is preserved outside the station at Carhaix, the erstwhile centre of the network, so I was able to photograph and measure it first hand.
The huge bulk of the front low-pressure cylinders of the Corpet-Louvet Mallet is prominent in this head-on view as it heads towards the level crossing.
The unguarded level crossing on the main street with the tail end of an autorail disappearing between the buildings. Nearest to the camera is the crossing keeper’s house, a common sight throughout the country, and beyond, the gabled end wall of the bar-tabac. This style of architecture, with a gable and chimney at each end, is very typical throughout Brittany.
Autorails, as they are known in France, were introduced to many French secondary lines during the ‘30s. The Billard in the centre of the picture would date back to 1937 but has long since had its engine removed and is seen here being hauled by a de-Dion OC2. The models are made from ABS plastic and clear acrylic sheet - all held together with superglue. The grass on the embankment is produced from Heki fibres charged with static electricity through a Noch ‘Grassmaster’ device. Unfortunately, the colours of the nylon fibres are not very convincing. so the grass has been airbrushed over with a mix of Doncaster green, white and yellow in varying proportions. The shrubs and gorse are mostly scraps of ‘sea moss’ with fine scatter or short fibres applied.
The back end of the station yard with the Piguet Mallet drawing to a halt. Heki static grass grows around some old lengths of rail and between the tracks of the line in the foreground. Citroen ‘H’ vans were once very characteristic on the country’s roads but, sadly, there are few left now. The model was made from Evergreen styrene, much use being made of their corrugated sheet material. Beyond the van, the rendering has started to come away from the back wall of the station building and dampness has started to creep in. The rendering on the model was achieved with white pepper sprinkled over wet gloss paint. The brick quoins and embellishments were formed from DAS modelling clay with the mortar courses scribed in after it had dried.
The tail end of a Billard 150 railcar. On the opposite platform, one of the few carriages on the system fitted with a toilet can be seen. The water tank was carried on the roof.
These 4-6-0 tanks were the largest class on the system in later years and comprised 12 locos. This is E332 at the head of a mixed train departing the island platform. As the passenger carriage has no brake compartment, a goods brake is attached at the rear of this train.
Due to the curvature of the track and heavy freight requirements, the Réseau Breton made extensive use of compound Mallet locomotives. Two classes of Mallets, 0-4-0+0-4-0s and 0-6-0+0-6-0s, were built specifically for the railway, and this single Corpet-Louvet 0-6-0+0-6-0 was brought in; quite late - in 1953 - and numbered 41. The model is built from nickel-silver and is powered with a Mashima motor driving just the rear ‘engine unit’. Wheels are Romford but with alternate spokes removed – nothing is available off-the-shelf for this railway. The livery was (unlined) green but this loco often appeared black (with dirt) so the model has been well weathered.
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