Tim Peacock's EM Gauge High Wycombe layout
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- High Wycombe is an EM gauge layout trying to capture the atmosphere of the station in the early 50s. The town is about 40 miles northwest of London and lay on the old GW & GC Joint line opened in 1906. By the 50s it came under the auspices of the Western and Eastern regions and as such featured a wide variety of traffic and motive power from both parents. Heavy mineral trains were woven between expresses from Paddington and Marylebone with an intensive suburban service from the latter. Other suburban services came up the branch from Paddington via Maidenhead and Bourne End. The goods yard was busy with additional trip workings further up the line to North yard. Apart from coal and general goods, timber in and furniture out were big users of the railway.
The layout is far from finished but steady progress is being made and various lock-downs have helped push the project forward! The Up building needs a roof and there is a further retaining wall to the east (London end) that is longer but not as high as that behind the station. The goods yard board will be going in, in the next few weeks and the track is built and ready to lay. The 1926 van shed is also built but the main goods shed is a mammoth task. To full scale it would be over a metre long but I will reduce its proportions a bit to get it to fit and not over-dominate the rest of the layout. This is a project I am taking to Missenden Summer School this August.
Trains wise, there is again a lot to be done. The Up loaded mineral is complete with 30 wagons, a fitted van train and pickup goods are also available. Suburban services are poorly represented as yet with 3 coaches out of the first 6 done, behind an A5 tank. The coaching stock for express services is gradually being accumulated - the intention being to have one each of an up and down service Western region and Eastern region.
Points are operated by Tortoises on the scenic section controlled by a S4 Society lever frame. Likewise signals (though many yet to build), driven by Megapoints servo controllers. Points in the fiddle yard are operated by digital Cobalt motors and controlled using the very useful NCE macro function.
There are two errors in the video commentary. Neither G-Plan nor Ercol are any longer in Wycombe with Ercol moving to Princes Risborough as late as 2002. The GC route departs the Joint line at Ashendon Junc but joins the route coming up from Aylesbury NORTH of Quainton Rd at Grendon Underwood Junction. Oops!