Keeping the Bridge

“Now who will stand on either hand,

And keep the bridge with me?”

Thomas Macaulay, Horatius




Behind Chelfham Viaduct

I’m re-laying the track on Chelfham to 0-14 standards. Therein hangs a tale.

I acquired Chelfham in February 2012, picking it up from Brian Taylor’s Lancing workshop. His only requirement of me was that the layout would once more be seen on the exhibition circuit. So it was that I ended up at Warley, NEC, in November that year.

Acutely short of rolling stock at Warley, I decided that a change of approach was necessary before the next outing. This will be in August 2013 at the Wiltshire 009 Group Open Day and MOMING ’13 in Pewsey.

What I decided to do was to rip up the Peco 0-16.5 track and start again by hand-building some 0-14 track as per the L&B formation. The photographs show some of the detail so far.

Peco 0-16.5 track removed, the pine track bed is revealed.

With the track removed, a plain timber track bed was revealed. In the fullness of time, the ballast will be scraped away and I will be able to check how level the track bed is. Meanwhile, I have to decide how I am going to raise the level so as to re-create the views that show the centre-line of the Manning Wardle boilers about equal to the height of the viaduct parapet. It is not as easy as putting extra timber underneath, for this will have knock-on effects at the join with the station board.

I am resisting the temptation to take out the viaduct structure and give it a ‘make-over’. The prototype, as most viaducts, curves by means of ‘thrupenny’ bit changes in direction at the piers. The model is wrong in using a smooth curve, however I probably do not have the time to do much about it unless by sleight of hand I paint ‘shadows’ and re-model the parapet to give the impression of sharp bends. My partners in crime in this venture, Steve and John, have my permission to reign me in by whatever means, for keeping what is really a club layout going very much depends on their help.