Our new 'OO' layout.
Hamworthy is located on the ex-LSWR line between Bournemouth and Weymouth. It was electrified in 1987-8 as part of the Wessex electrification, and we are building the layout with all of the post 1987 electrification features, most of which are unchanged today, which will allow us to operate both Network SouthEast and post privatisation era trains.
New Class 442 'Wessex Electrics' were introduced from May 1988, and would have taken over from push-pull class 33/1's with 4TC sets. Summer Saturday cross-country, and 'boat' trains would have added to the passenger services.
In addition there have been a number of quite busy freight flows through Hamworthy during this period
• BP Gas/Oil tankers from Furzebrook (on the Swanage branch).
• Ball (china) clay in 'Clay Tigers' and 'Polybulks' from Furzebrook .
• Sand in hoppers from Wool .
• Bagged fertiliser in Cargowaggon ‘holdall’ vans.
• MOD supplies to Wool in a variety of BR vans.
• Nuclear flask traffic to and from Winfrith.
• Departmental trains.
To and from the Hamworthy Quay branch
• Steel traffic - typically re-bar on bogie bolster wagons and steel coil, both on open wagons and in sliding hood wagons.
• Aggregate traffic - both inbound and outbound
• Car Imports
• Shale (bunker) oil
From 1975 to 1987 there was a
Blue Circle cement terminal at the junction, the track is still partly in
place today so it would not be too much of a stretch to imagine it continuing
to operate beyond 1987.
The Layout
We have already built the six 5ft scenic boards, these are a mixture of open frame and solid top designs in a mixture of 6 and 8mm plywood, The view above shows the first 4 baseboards, looking east towards Poole, Southampton and London, the lines diverge, to the left the mainline continues to Weymouth, to the right the Hamworthy docks branch. The boards have all been individually built to capture the characteristic curvature of the prototype.
The cement terminal at the junction was in theory out of use by the time the mainline was electified, however it gives additional operational interest if we assume that it remained open longer. In reality the cenent terminal was used after closure to restore an ex-Turkish railways 8F, we hope that there might be someone out there with photo's - if you are that person please get in touch - we are not sure what some of the buildings look like, perhaps you photos show them in the background?
Hamworthy is stored at Tolworth Recreation Centre, where we hold our weekly meetings, however it cannot remain out. After every club night we must return it to our storeage cupboards, and to save space boards are paired together with end plates.
We still need to build a further 3 fiddleyard boards, these will probably have to be traversers (for the mainline) or a turntable (for the branch) to keep the space required to a minimum, the society hasn't built a layout with either type of fiddleyard before.
We are using finescale (not PECO) 'OO' track. Point control will be wire in tube from a mechanically interlocked lever frame.
Update Jan 09
We have started to lay cork as a foundation for the track. In order to confirm platform length was adequte a couple of Wessex Electrics have been parked where the platforms will eventually be built. The first photo shows the view from the former trackbed from Broadstone, the second and third are looking toward Weymouth.
Progress update May 2009 - the following two photo's show progress at 10th May 2009. All cork underlay is down, has ben painted grey, and the surface sanded to get rid of any bobbles. We have then laid out the main track sections to determine if we have enough track in stock (we haven't, but more it to be procured) .
Progress Update November 2009 - Tracklaying is almost complete, work has started on building the platform structure
Latest progress February 2010
The front edge of the layout at the London end has been adjusted, this isn't the final lay of the land, just a rough cut to give us a better idea of what the finished product will look like. The embankment, currently nothing more than strips of masking tape, will eventually be built up from expanded polystyrene covered in plaster.
The platforms are now mostly laid, yet another wessex electric is being used to test the clearances beside the platform edge.
The wooden case that Haworthy packs into between club meetings is rather full. As the weather improves we will start to think about setting up a working weekend on a members patio, so that we can cut the woodwork for the last remaining baseboards to be built, those for the fiddle yard. The Fiddleyards (all three of them) will not fit into this case, but we have a spare that used to hold our old 'Millbridge Street' layout, and which currently contains all the Societies clutter - time for a clearout!
Hampton Court MRS needs new blood to help us progress this new project, we meet every Sunday night at Tolworth Recreation Centre from 8pm onwards. We are due to start laying track, and starting on the scenic work, so now is an ideal time to join the club, and learn some of these techniques.