Shortwaite Hill

Shortwaite Hill

(22nd layout)

There comes a time when one has to get things off one's chest.......

The Minitrains Bagnall Wing Tank 0-4-0 (as new), part of the catalyst to try something different.

Plan "S34*" has always appealed to me, and quite recently several others have used the plan as a basis for a 009 scale layout.  Then I saw Mr Tincknell's "Return to the 70's" layout which was based on the same track plan.  For me, it was quite inspirational with the well-modelled buildings in a Northern England setting, much like the Yorkshire Dales.  I never got round to my own project though, fearing that it would be labelled as "un- prototypical", or worse still, called a "rabbit warren", which I don't think it is.

* (S34 - in the PECO 60 Plans for Small Railways booklet)

Then, the Minitrains Bagnall Wing Tank appeared on the market, the perfect little loco to run on it.  But, economy had to be the watch word here.  We haven't all got a bottomless pit of money, so I sold some books and die cast buses that I did not need, and hey-presto the Bagnall has arrived, along with some new irregular sleepered track.

So, why not try to build it, or my version of the S34 track plan?

It's been adapted slightly to what I require, mainly, in that the return loop has gone, and in place of it is a line returning to the lower level so it can be run as a continuous run if required.

"Shortwaite Hill" - bare baseboard and track with point controls being installed.

It's certainly not easy to build.  My version is 44" x 24" (because that's the size of the 6mm plywood I had in the garage that was spare) - it is slightly smaller than the original plan.  It is necessary to decide on a, not too high, measurement for the high level, the higher you make it, the steeper the gradients and the more the locos will struggle.  I chose 50mm as the height, plus the thickness of the 6mm ply-wood.  The gradients have to be gradual and consistent, especially at the top and bottom of the run.  There also has to be enough clearance underneath the high level baseboard at various points, and allowances where the point rods are run.  I thought an important provision was to have access to the hidden tracks for cleaning, and to recover accidents.  Then there is the point control itself, mine is wire-in-tube which brings new problems, especially when you have a long descending gradient behind the back scene, and tubes under the high level base making the clearance less at odd points.

"Shortwaite Hill" will be another North Yorkshire style layout.  It's not an enthusiasts layout, but I'll see where it all goes...