Wandle, part of the Bourne Valley Railway 009 system - Upgrading for its first show in over 10 years

[roundhouse]

I thought that I had already created a topic on the Bourne Valley Railway many years ago but after searching I couldnt find it.

 

Wandle has been dug out of the garage and is now being prepared for its first show in over ten years. It will be going to the Furness exhibition in Barrow In Furness in October this year. This will be its first time out as a stand alone layout as it was built as an extension to my first 009 layout 'Bourne' not long after I passed it onto a fellow 009 modeller and friend, Graham Stenning who sadly took ill almost exactly 10 years ago, a day after my father's funeral and a year later he passed away. He even had a loco named after him although the names were removed last year when the class 73 moved from Southern Railway to GBRF and I gather will soon be repainted.

 

Graham was taking the layout to a show where I knew there was plenty of space, so within just over a week I built a 3 foot 6 inch extension to fit onto the high level branch from the terminus on the main layout. This was the original part of 'Wandle'

 

That then spurred Graham on to build various extensions that would fit in between Bourne and Wandle. I remember the first time that Graham new sections were due at a show, so he brought the original layout and his new extension to my parents place to test it the day before a show where he found out that he had wired the track polarity opposite to the orignal boards but didn't show up during testing till they were both linked up. He spent that night at my parents changing the wiring and it worked well the following day at the show.

 

The layout became known as the Bourne Valley Railway and it grew to around 34 feet that could be set up straight, L shaped or U shaped. It even featured on an intro to a TV programme but I cant recall the name at present. It was 'The Big Train' - Thanks Dan

 

We took the layout to many shows  including the MRC show when it was a good part of a week at the horticultural halls then again at Ally Pally. Graham eventually built a new section called Bourne to replace my original layout and he passed that onto another friend who still occasionally takes it out but with a new name called ' Fircombe'.

 

When Graham passed away his parts of the layout went to various friends and my section sat in the garage. All of Grahams sections still exist and we had hoped to take all of it to a show but the pandemic got in the way and now one owner is currently working abroad.

 

A few photos of the Bourne Valley Railway below

 

The layout set up in Southampton Eurotrack show. Graham is third from the left. We all looked a lot younger back then but luckily I am behind the camera. The original Bourne wasn't used at this show. Wandle is the closer sections but the quarry has since become a brewery.

 

The original Bourne terminus. Graham built the new section to closely represent this.

 

Bourne Junction on the low level continuous run part of the layout

 

Graham's dad Brain, with his friend Jeff helping behind (I dont recall him cleaning Brians ear lugs out!).  Brain who also built exhibition layouts sadly passed away in September 2014 whilst Graham was in hospital. One of his layout'scalled Bodmin Generally is still on the exhibition circuit.

 

And finally Grahams first extension Wandle Forest.

Edited September 6 by roundhouse

[roundhouse]

Below are the track plans of the various modules along with set up options. Graham produced these prior to the brewery on Wandle being aaded where the disuesd sidings are shown and before the boards were widened to add an extra loop at Wandle station. They also show orignal Bourne before Graham built the replacement.

[roundhouse]

We used to have a lot of fun with the layout but it did require six of us to operate the hwole layout properly and also allow for relief breaks. I think that we would stuggle now to find enough operators.

 

Some of the rolling stock also added a bit of humour.

 

Grahams fire train wagon

 

Grahams beer wagons

 

There was no way that such a load on a transporter wagon could fit through the backscene or tunnels. The loco had to be placed onto the transporter on scene.

 

This is a take on the Southern tavern cars that our long time hlepr Mike built. He also has a toilet coach and an outside seating area with umbrellas. This will be seen running on Wandle when it goes out in October.

 

Edited August 14 by roundhouse

[roundhouse]

I think that it was 1991 when I built the first board of Wandle.

 

A few photos of it back then with the station building a close to scale model of Black Dog on the Calne branchline.

 

The namboard had been removed from another layout and had yet to receive the correct name.

 

A photo of Bourne terminus

Edited June 16 by roundhouse

[roundhouse]

It wasn't very long before I wanted to make Wandle bigger as it was very restrictive shunting on 3.5 ft long board.

 

The run round loop was moved and a second platform added. Alos this allowed for a good loop through the yard and the addition of a timber mill. The modifications also allowed for Wandle to be added onto the rest of the board as either straight on or at 90 degrees. This was duplicated at the other end of Wandle for a future extension.

 

The wiring was kept simple with a change over toggle switch to run the layout form its own control panel of remotely from and adjoining board. Digital Command Control wasnt even on our minds for any layout back then and the whole of Bourne Valley has remained conventional DC.

 

 

This photo shows a lot of my L & B rolling sotck whihc is now used on Blackmoor. I still have the Minitrix chassis Manning and Wardles but they dont get used on Blackmoor.

 

 

In this photo you can just see Grahams fiddleyard fitted at 90 degrees to Wandle. Graham is seen peering into the saw mill as it had a slot in the backscene to remove the timber loads. This actually a later photo after Wandle was widened to get an extra loop in at the front of the layout.

Edited June 24 by roundhouse

[roundhouse]

Graham also built his first extension boards to the original Bourne. As I had Wandle and he was building the source of the timber for the saw mill, he named his part Wandle Forest.

 

He included a small single platform halt and a fairly complex goods yard. Again he included for 90 degree options to connect to other parts of the layout. When operating this part of the layout you really had to think about what you were wanting to do and even more so when running trains through to other parts of the set up.

 

In this first photo we see Grahams scratchbuilt crossing. The SR wagon is now used on Blackmoor. The other wagon was one of Grahams branded as Bourne Valley Railway.

 

The train is just departing Wandle Forest Halt. The loco is a Backwoods kit and is occasionally still used on Blackmoor.

 

Graham liked cats and he modelled each one that he had at various times. 'James' can be seen on the footplate of the loco. The loco is still with one of the current owners of the boards but cant remember who.

We had a notice up saying how many cats could be found on each part of ther layout. It kept the kids and adults busy searching for them. I now do the same on Blackmoor with various animals.

[roundhouse]

With the extensions Wandle and Wandle Forest it didnt end there. I sson had plans to extend beyond Wandle.

 

Withe stations namded after the River Bourne and places that river passed through in Surrey and South London I decided to call the next section Wapses Lodge where the River Bourne could occasionally be seen when it flooded right by the large roundabout that the Caterham bypass on the A22 commences.

 

This new 7 foot extension would have a small viaduct passing over a river and a tiny halt just before the junction for a disused section of line and into a small fiddleyard.

 

The steel bridge was modelled as a replacement to the original timber structure where remains can still be seen.

 

This timber framed building had been on a layout back in 1980 and had sat in the loft for quite some time before being rescused and fitted onto the new extension.

 

and finally the end of the line . This was bult so that another extension could be added but that never happened as we already had 6 operating positions.

 

 

Edited June 24 by roundhouse

[roundhouse]

A bit of a gap in my posts due to having a new heating system installed last week where I was helping the engineer but things are getting back to normal now.

 

About the same time as I built Wapses Lodge extension, Graham built an extension to Wandle Forest. This was more of a Permanent way depot with the mainline passing infront.

 

This aerial shot was tkaen from the operators side.

 

He also built another extension that had a tunnel into a fiddleyard. This was designed to take the place of the original Bourne.

 

Even my other half would hlep in the fiddleyard. She doesn't look happy in htis photo due to me tkaing the photo.

 

[roundhouse]

The next phase of development on Wandle was to remove the disused line at the ned of the layout and turn this into a brewery. I had always wanted a brewery and as Graham had beer wagons we now had somewhere for them to go. The brewery building were built as low releif to hide the small fiddleyard behind and also gave the fiddleyard operator something to do when not changing trains.

 

The brewery was fairly basic to start with but this would change in future.

 

With around 35 feet of layout we would often have six operators running the layout. However one issue that kept arising was a bit of a bottleneck  with no passenger passinger loop at Wandle Forest. A goods train could pass a passenger trian but ont two passenger trains unless one ran fast. This would then cause Wandle to get jammed up.

So the answer was to widen the boards by a few inches and add a third loop on the front of the layout to allow runnig round to still occur if both platforms had trains in them.

 

And the completed alterations. In this shot the brewery is at 90 degrees to the station. This is how it will be at the upcoming show in October 2024,

 

[Leonardofury]

Thanks for the layout history, was nice to follow along the development of the layout.

[roundhouse]

On 10/08/2024 at 07:51, Leonardofury said:

Thanks for the layout history, was nice to follow along the development of the layout.

Thanks. its been a long history.

 

Here is the original Bourne set up in Grahams house. This now resides with another friend who renamed it 'Fircombe' and has been out a few times in the past ten years.

 

A few last photos of the whole of the Bourne Valley taken in 2010 which I believe was at the Uckfield show and possibly the last time that it was shown in its full length with the new Bourne terminus. Smaller sections were taken to a few more shows before Graham became ill in 2014.

 

And finally the other end showing Wandle with Graham at the far end and his dad in the middle who passed away ten years ago.  Luckily Mike, the other person operating in the photo is still with us and one of our main helpers at shows these days. he is taking his layout 'Star Lane' to Liverpool show in a few weeks time.

Edited August 12 by roundhouse

[adrianmc]

4 hours ago, roundhouse said:

 

A few last photos of the whole of the Bourne Valley taken in 2010 which I believe was at the Uckfield show and possibly the last time that it was shown in its full length with the new Bourne terminus. Smaller sections were taken to a few more shows before Graham became ill in 2014.

 

 

Sorry Ian, but the photographs don't show the layout at Uckfield.

 

Bourne Valley Railway did appear at Uckfield, but way back in 1998 (17/18th October).

 

It appeared in a 'U' shape as shown in the the Exhibition Guide.

 

 

I have probably got some photographs from the show if you are interested - but as they are pre digital will have to find the album and scan them in.

 

 

[roundhouse]

2 hours ago, adrianmc said:

 

Sorry Ian, but the photographs don't show the layout at Uckfield.

 

Bourne Valley Railway did appear at Uckfield, but way back in 1998 (17/18th October).

 

It appeared in a 'U' shape as shown in the the Exhibition Guide.

 

 

I have probably got some photographs from the show if you are interested - but as they are pre digital will have to find the album and scan them in.

 

 

Adrian.

Thanks for clarifying that.  Unfortunately I don't know who has the exhibition badge board that Graham made so cant check these days. I probably do have some of your show in 1998 and might even be digital as I bought my first digital camera earlier that year in Japan.

 

Ian

[adrianmc]

Found the Uckfield 1998 Photo Album - five photographs.

 

The evident poor quality shows the limitations of the point and shoot compact film camera I had at the time. Didn't go digital until January 2000 when overtime due to the 'millennium bug' funded amongst other things a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S70 3.3 Mega Pixel camera.

 

If memory serves me correctly it was on the wrong side of £650! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 12 by adrianmc

[roundhouse]

Thanks Adrian. Didnt we all look young back then compared to now.

[roundhouse]

Wandle sat boxed up in the garage for many years but when the first Heljan Manning & Wardle loco arrived in 2018 I took the layout to Mums new home and set it up in the conservatory.

 

Apart from a deep clean of the rails and one loose wire, all worked well. The Manning & Wardle wasn't so good as expected after reading all the reports of poor running. After various modifications the loco ran reasonably well through the short 009 turnouts but didn't like any reverse curves. This would not be an issue as the future L & B layout would use the Peco mainline 009 turnouts.

 

I set the layout up again in 2019 after reworking the Backwoods 'Lyn' to give it a test run but then the layout went back into slumber till a few weeks ago.

 

 

There was a potential invite to take the whole of Bourne Valley Raiway to a show but with one of the owners of part of the system working shift work then the other person going abroad, that so far hasn't materialised.

 

 

[roundhouse]

In the week I have now commenced work on the layout.

The first task was to test the main two boards.

 

All worked as it should but I did spend some time tidying up the wiring to try and get it closer to my current standards. There were also a few wrongly coloured wires so these were replaced.

 

My other half's new Bachman diesel was used to test the track.

Edited August 15 by roundhouse

[roundhouse]

I was checking through my 009 rolling stock to run on the layout. I am not intending to run the SR branded stock that is used on Blackmoor but I had sold on my green and cream passenger coaches so have decided to utilise the Langley coach kits that had been partially built many years ago. These L and B coaches will be painted green but not have any SR branding.

Two are in primer so far.

 

 

 

[roundhouse]

The two new coaches are now in green and roofs ready for weathering. An older Langley model has had the glazing replaced and roof resprayed to match the two newer ones. All now have  Greenwich couplings and have been tested and tweeked on the layout today once I sorted out a wiring fault on the last two boards that I accidentally created a few days ago when adding the wiring for the lighting. Alls working fine again today.

 

 

The lodge now has lights in one room . This building is now 44 years old and was off my first exhibition layout. It will get an upgrade to the lit room interior.

[roundhouse]

Three Langley coaches are now painted and glazed.

 

Just a light weathering on the roofs to be done.

 

Hopefully attention will now turn to upgrading the scenery.

 

Edited August 31 by roundhouse

[roundhouse]

Whilst digging out the Langley kits from my 009 box I found four whitemwtal 4 wheel bolster kits, one of which is a Stenning kit so slightly different to the other three but I believe to be based on the same proto type. Somne had a price of 25 pence, so they are quite old. I think that they came from our late friends modelling bits.

 

They were soon assembled ready for priming.

 

 

[roundhouse]

I downloaded a Scalescenes interior detail sheet and have been assembling the various items of futniture monuted on a card backing.

 

Looking a bit like a furniture showroom on the workbench.

[roundhouse]

Isn't it odd that how doing model decorating is quite different process to real decorating.

The carpet has been laid this morning prior to changing the wallpaper. Once that is done the fireplace will go in.

 

The window is currently out for refurbishment.

Edited September 3 by roundhouse

[roundhouse]

Two rooms now fitted out in the lodge.

The roof has since been put back in place.

 

 

Also the new 4 wheel wagons are ready for a good test run.

 

 

 

 

[roundhouse]

The river has now run dry. The builders have been in and broken up all the water leaving the mermaid high and dry.

 

When I originally built these boards I used the Woodland Scenics crystals that were heated up into their liquid state and poured into the river bed. However it soon started to form cracks so this will now be replaced with a two part resin mix once the river bed has been filled and painted. Hopefully the mermaid will be happier in the new water.