Ecclesford

A 1:100 scale layout set in West Yorkshire in the 1960s

 

 

This fictional 3mm scale station and goods depot is located on a double track branch line on the outskirts of Bradford. The scratchbuilt station building is based on a photo of the long-defunct Eccleshill. The 6mm birch ply baseboard measures approximately 6ft by 3ft and is in two halves, connected by split pin hinges and one bolt. It can be dismantled easily for transportation or storage.

 

The goods yard and Scalescenes warehouse serve local industries large and small that were typical of Bradford, receiving and distributing such loads as wool, soda ash, coal, newsprint and scrap metal, though such a large warehouse would probably have been too big for a suburban station like Ecclesford. So much for imitating reality.
Click on the map below to put this imaginary location into context with real-life locations in the Bradford area.

The trains are pulled by an old J50 on a Tri-ang TT chassis and three kit-built locos - a Stanier 2-6-4T, a J39 and a G6 (though I don't know what that one is doing in Yorkshire). A spare Tri-ang Class 31 sometimes takes over. The coaches are Tri-ang and the stock is a mixture of Tri-ang and kit-built.

 

Track and points are mostly from Peco, operated by under-board wooden dowels with piano wire stuck in the end. The exceptions are two beautifully made hand-built points from 3mm Scale Model Railways (3SMR), which, unlike the Peco points, need a polarity switch incorporating into the switching mechanism.

The walls and bridges, like the station, are scratchbuilt from thick artists' card, covered for the most part with stone effect sheet.

 

Signals are a combination of kits and Tri-ang, operated by wires and cranks under the baseboard. Ground signals are not modelled.

Finescale it isn't, but with working running signals, removable wagon loads, loco lamps and tail lamps in place and a short operating sequence, the layout can be operated in a sort of prototypical way, albeit the trains are necessarily rather short. The Up goods delivers bales of wool and other assorted merchandise to the warehouse and empties to the scrap dealer, and collects a full scrap load from said dealer and empties from the warehouse. The Down goods serves the coal merchant on the other side of the line before trundling on to the next stop. Passenger trains of course run both ways.

The sidings are laid out in such a way that they can also be used to operate the classic Inglenook Sidings shunting puzzle.

     

Products

The coaches and some of the wagons are Tri-ang. Loco, wagon and signal kits were obtained from the 3mm Society and 3mm Scale Model Railways. Merchandise and wagon loads such as bales of wool, crates, potato sacks and coal sacks were obtained from various 4mm scale suppliers. Newsprint rolls and scrap metal loads were scratchbuilt.

Information Sources

In addition to the brains of 3mm Society members and other modellers, main sources were Railway Memories No. 4 - Bradford by Whitaker and Myland (pub. Bellcode Books) and Railway Operation for the Modeller by Bob Essery (pub. Midland).

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