As I promised, in my introductory post: http://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/Fo ... hp?t=11936,
here are a few photos of progress on my loft layout project.
Some of you may recall that I had an accident in November 2006; I dislocated my right shoulder whilst surfing (!), as such, progress on the layout has been somewhat slow, until now!
The scenic area of the layout is loosely based on the Great Central station at Ruddington; and is modelled as if the GCR was still a through route. However, in my reality, it is "semi-preserved", more of that anon.
On with the photos:
The fiddle yard area.
Overview. The boards are 2' wide, the layout itself is 21' 6" X 7'.
Now, you may ask: "What the heck is he wittering on about, semi-preserved?"
Well, the REAL history of the GCR London Extension is well-known, however I present:
The GCR - An Alternative Reality
In 1966, with the announcement by B.R. of it's intention to close the GCR as a through route, alarm bells began to ring in various places. The Councils of Charnwood Borough, Leicester City, Rushcliffe and Nottingham were particularly worried as to what impact the closure of the line would be on their respective communities.
It was decided to approach B.R. with the proposal that the Councils would lease the Nottingham Victoria - Leicester Central stretch from B.R., the services being operated by the fledgling Main Line Steam Trust.
Somewhat surprisingly, B.R. agreed to the proposal, the MLST service commencing the day after the last scheduled B.R service had ran.
The line was eventually purchased from the Councils who had saved it, and in 1996, two years after the opening of the Channel Tunnel, the rail link connecting the Tunnel with London Marylebone was opened, Sir Edward Watkin's dream finally being realised.
However, the preserved stretch presents some interesting operating problems! Due to the Nottingham-Leicester section being designated a "Heritage" site, it is not permitted to electrify it. Through electric-hauled trains from Manchester Victoria to the Continent are piloted by a preserved diesel from Nottingham to Leicester, if no loco from the "big railway" is available.
NOTE:
OK, so really the layout give me an excuse to run my Continental stock, and my electric locos without catenary!
Plus, there are some areas I'm not too happy with...
