The
Layout
The layout baseboards followed the conventional style of the 1970s, 2"x1" timber framework with a ½" layer of chipboard on top. Scenary was built up using expanded polystyrene blocks suitably covered with Polyfilla plaster. When dry it was painted with a mid green undercoat and allowed to dry. Scenic powders to represent grass etc. was sprinkled onto wet green gloss paint. These were a mixture of Railroad Scenic of Bradford and Javis of Stockport. Fine 00 gauge granite chippings was used as ballast and again it was supplied via our shop by one of the scenic powder distributors, probably Javis..
Track layout of Mardale in its final state
Electrical work was kept to a bare minimum but had a six way track selector switch for the sector plate. Control was by a Hammant & Morgan Duette controller.
The background landscape images were the Large PECO backscenes we sold in our model shop. A scene sheet with a lake was chosen to represent a similarity to Haweswater.
The layout went on the Cumbrian exhibition circuit, appearing at Workington MRC's exhibition at Workington; Furness Model Railway Club's exhibition at Barrow in Furness, The Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway's (The Ratty) Open Weekend at Ravenglass in the mid 1980s and two visits to The Derwent Railway Society's Model Railway Shows in the 1970s and 80s at Cockermouth.
When the layout was away on exhibition at Barrow in Furness the layout was visited by Mr OS Nock who was delighted by it. he noticed the authentic cattle dock railings and I said that i had sought assistance from Geof Platt, a keen LNWR enthusiast. Geof gave me a photo of a typical cattle dock which I based my model upon.
Like the cattle dock all the buildings followed the pattern of LNWR buildings. I captured the architectural style of the LNWR windows and doorways from other LNWR stations and built the goods shed and signal box based on information in the book by Jack Nelson - LNWR Portrayed.
The working station gas lamps were 12v electric ones manufactured by W&T of Birmingham. They were painted in two shades of brown to change the colour from what they originally came in. A special electronic device was built to produce a random flickering effect to simulate gas lighting. Pity I never got around to lighting up the signals. It was intended to build a correct gasholder tank wagon for to supply the gas for the station lamps. On the real LNWR these wagons stood in a station and a flexible connection was used to connect the tank to the station gas system. When people asked about the gas lamps in the remote village I said that the gas was produced by a special machine like what was used on the Cockermouth Keswick and Penrith Railway. At the north end of the station was a typical LNWR gallows signal to be seen from approaching engines clearly where the station canopy would have made sighting a conventional signal difficult.
Someday I hope to build another model of Mardale but set the period in the last few years of the LMS. I would love to see ( at least ) thirteen coach expresses hauled by Stanier Pacifics tearing though the station in their rush through Cumberland. Not to forget the busy goods services pulled by 8Fs and Super Ds.
This layout of Mardale was scrapped many years ago but I still have the memories and photos of it to remind me of enjoyable excursion into modelling the London & North Western Railway. A Keyser Coal Tank, 0-6-2T loco still exists from the Mardale layout and it has made its home on my latest 4mm scale model railway - Wyndham Row, but that is another story.
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