As the competition is for a modern layout this is the theme of our proposal. The accent is therefore very much on modern so the theme is the HS1 from Ebbsfleet to Ripple Lane/Stratford. Hence the name. There is no way we can model an existing area so the idea is to capture an idea of the area the HS1 runs through together with the HS1 itself. As it is very modern there may be some trains on the CTRL that should be there as well as Eurostars, connecting London to other cities than Paris and Brussels. As this is East of London there are also factories, warehouses, and a cement works with a container depot off the layout together with other freight destinations, and all the other urban paraphernalia of industrial east London. This is all serviced by a single track remnant of 50s and 60s railway closures. There is even an occasional “parliamentary” DMU wending its way awaiting route rejuvenation or even redoubling. At one corner of the layout is a an urban through road route connecting the M25 with central London.
Choates Lane Cement Works. Choates Lane is a small cement works that supplies London and the South East, and is part of the Castle cement Group which is owned by Heidelberg Cement Group. It has a one kiln that can be fired by a variety of fuels, mainly recycled material. These include CemFuel, ProFuel, and of course coal. Coal, CemFuel1 and some of the ProFuel2 are delivered by rail and the cement is also taken away by rail. Buildings on the layout include the pre-heater tower, chimney, raw mills, cement mills, rail silo, coal unloading facilities and CemFuel unloading and storage facilities.
Creekmouth Power Station. A relic from the 70's, Greekmouth Power Station in slightly smaller than Drax Power Station in Yorkshire. Built in the same style it is just off board, but is supplied with coal, via a rail link.
Hornchurch Marsh Freightliner Dock and Depot. To the east of the cement works lays one of the biggest container docks in England. Recently built to meet the growing demands of London, it rivals Felixstowe in size, but it can take the new Super Ship like the MV Emma Maersk. The junction is on the right hand side of the layout, and numerous Freightliner locomotives can be seen entering and exiting the yard.
Olympic Traffic. Following London's successful bid to host the 2012 Olympics, aggregates traffic has increased. A new terminal at Temple Mills has been opened to accept this and can take either box or hopper wagons. Concrete products are required for the new stadium and some of the contracts have been awarded to Plasmor. Plasmor has been a great supporter of rail transportation. The amount of concrete that needs to be poured has also prompted British Industrial Sand (B.I.S.) to send trains to Temple Mills. As the Olympic project is near at hand, Castle Cement have also won some of the contracts to supply cement to Stratford. This will entail a step up in production. Some older wagons have been brought back into service to cope with this traffic.
High Speed Link 2 (HS2). Since the BAA debacle of Terminal 5, inter-European rail travel has increased 10 fold. This has prompted the government, in conjunction with Network Rail, to commence works on the approach lines to the proposed HS2. This will mean that the occasional Network Rail train can seen.
Gallions Reach Refinery. To supply the ever increasing demand of the motorist and industry, oil is imported to Gallions Reach. Being the major refinery in the area, Gallions Reach has its only rail loading facilities. The refinery supplies nearly 68% of the petrol and 90% of the Diesel for the South East, as well as other specialist petrochemicals. Tanker trains can be seen crossing the layout.
Chavland Fashion. To supply the Urban Youth with tasteful and functional clothing and bling, Chavland Fashion has just moved into a previously derelict building. However, the company is facing prosecution, as they used the near by working railway as a back drop for a fashion shoot. Obviously this is very dangerous and the British Transport Police are on scene to interview all those concerned.
Network Rail. Ballast (fresh and spoil) and other departmental traffic can still be seen. These trains are only operated when required,
and can be very varied in length.
We will be using Code 55 Peco track work. DC Controllers will be for 2 – 4 operators. Working signals will be a feature of the layout. PECO point motors will be used on the front of the layout.
Boards have been designed and will be ready for early June. The boards construction is mainly of 9mm ply with 2 x 1 softwood for the ends.
3 bolts will connect the boards together. There are 2 end boards for transportation, these will allow the layout to be fitted into a medium sized car.
Size: 3 boards 4' x 3' for a layout 12' x3'.
Operation: Cab control DC; 2-4 controllers, 2/3 operators
Electrical. Controllers are from Gaugemaster. 2 will be the Model W and there will be a Model UD located in the control panel. The control panel controllers will be able to operate the whole layout, depending on how many operators there are. The point motors are the PECO PL-10WE. These have the extended pin for mounting under the baseboard and are of the low current type. A CDU will be used in conjunction with the point motors. The point motors will controlled by single pole flash switches [(on)-off-(on)]. Electrically the layout will be divided into 5 sections (blocks). Blocks 1 and 2 are the HS1 Up and Down lines. Block 3 is the suburban line. Block 4 is the cement works and associated sidings. Block 5 is the entrance to the container port. A controller can be switched to control one or more blocks. Blocks 1 and 2 will be controlled by single pole, double throw centre off switches. This will only allow the two panel mounted controllers to be switched to feed the blocks. The other blocks will have a rotary switch to determine which controller will be working which block. Within some of the blocks, isolators will be located. These will controlled by single pole double throw switches. The 3 aspect signals will be controlled by a single pole on-on-on (triple throw) switch, with the feather guarding the container port being switch via the entrance point. The 2 aspect signals will be controlled by a single pole on-on (double throw) switch.
There is a crossing on the HS1, on the left hand side of the layout, out of public view, This is to aid with stock movements. To ensure which position the points are in, LED's will be mounted in the control panel to inform the operators of their position. Also micro switches on the point motors will ensure that Block 2 is isolated and Block 1 controls the Down line as well as the Up line.
Buildings. The cement works will be a mixture of scratch building and modification of propriety model kits. The clinker and cement mills that will be built are a modified version of Rolling Mill. The rail silos are based on the rail silos at Castle Cement, Ketton Works. These silos were built some 20 odd years ago by Tower Silos Ltd. The containers (for the scenery) will be a mixture of C-Rail kits and pre-painted Farish. The distribution centre is an Anglicised form of this distribution depot.
Here are the boards. The pictures were taken before we started laying the cork.
Base Boards 1
Base Boards 2
Base Boards 3
More will follow