PHILOSOPHY:

My Harrington Street layout is a project in the making. It was originally conceived in 1988 (based on the drawings of Cyril Freezer in Railway Modeller magazine) as an out and home layout between a small urban terminus and an extensive fiddle yard.  As my interests are the Southern Region of BR circa 1955-65 plus some childhood memories of the LMR and WR, I wanted a sort of urbanised Somerset & Dorset line and, as a result, the West London Line - with traffic to and from Clapham Junction (SR) in the south, and Acton (WR) and Willesden (LMR) in the north - looked the best choice for the variety I wanted.

The basics of a terminus were constructed but the fiddle yard was not because an impending house move provided a larger dedicated room with space for a terminus and future fiddle yard.

I had vowed that I would not progress the layout any further than station limits until the terminus was totally completed. However, visitors kept remarking about the amount of empty space available and what an advantage it would be to run trains around a continuous circuit, etc., etc.. What ultimately transpired is as follows.

THE THEORY:

Harrington Street is a fictitious railway terminus in the Chelsea area of London. The station is situated east to west within a cutting slap bang over the top of the (real) Earls Court Underground station and takes its name from a road in the area.

The western approaches converge from north and south of the West London Line just beyond Earls Court, forming a fictitious triangle heading east towards the terminus. 

The history of this station and its original (GWR) owners is typical of others born during the enthusiastic railwaymania era, and fought many battles to gain running powers on networks of other companies. I theorized that eventual responsibility would rest with a joint committee consisting of the LMS (structures), GWR (trackwork) and SR (signalling and telegraph) thus, connections to other regions of BR provided me with ample justification to run a variety of trains!

THE PRACTICALITIES:

The station proper comprises four platform roads and a parcels bay serving the local post office - all still unfinished!  Operation involves the control of arriving and departing passenger and mail trains, constant light-engine movements to and from the station plus a station pilot attaching vans to departures and detaching vans from arrivals.  Some interesting shunting is involved between the parcels bay and the platforms because, either way, the pilot must run around its vans.

BASEBOARDS:

Baseboards for the station precinct had been constructed from 9mm chipboard cut to form the framework and surface.  This choice was made to achieve firmness and lightness for (what was originally) a portable exhibition layout.  Two modules each measuring 1800mm x 400mm comprise the station proper . . . which just fitted inside my (then) Falcon Panel van

TRACKWORK:

Trackwork is to 4mm/ft scale,18.83mm gauge and comprises code 75 steel bullhead rail glued to either ply or ABS sleepers via ABS chairs, no rivets have been employed anywhere on the layout; the only soldering being to 0.6mm copper-clad bonding strips in strategic places within pointwork. All trackwork is laid onto a 3mm cork tile base glued to the baseboard surface.

ELECTRICAL FEEDS:

Electrical feed to the trackwork was originally achieved via the Protofour method of capturing a punched copper strip onto a track rivet prior to closing the rivet on the underside of a ply sleeper. The rail was then soldered to the top side of the rivet and dropper wires fed up from below the baseboard and soldered to the feed strip. This method results in an invisible feed system but may suffer voltage drops and mysterious dead spots due to corrosion around the steel rivet.  With this in mind, the trackwork was latterly re-wired using 8 amp fuse wire soldered directly to the web on the hidden side of the rails then to the original dropper wires below the baseboard surface - thus achieving a more reliable path compared to the original method.

TURNOUT CONTROL:

Turnout control is achieved via Studiolith turnout operating units (TOU) activated from Tortoise slow action point motors. Common crossing polarity being controlled via one of two internal switches.

The approaches to Harrington Street comprise 4-B8 and 4-B7 turnouts plus a B7 double slip, all arranged as crossovers, thus, only one panel switch is necessary per crossover.  Each cross-wired DPDT panel switch is wired to throw both motors simultaneously.

CONTROL PANEL:

Pre-DCC train control is achieved via two Stewart Hine-designed Pentrollers which possess full inertia (acceleration/braking) control.  This is adjustable via a built-in potentiometer and optional-sized external capacitor.  

All motors (iron core and coreless) are controllable via a selector switch.  A Rover hand held Pentroller can be plugged into DIN sockets conveniently placed around the layout. A memory lock freezes train speeds while moving from one socket to the next.

Either controller may be employed to control any part of the layout via section switches on a mimic panel - thus full Cab Control dominates.  The mimic panel also identifies the various crossovers that are cross referenced to a bank of dedicated turnout switches.  Another bank of three-way switches (will!) control the three-aspect colour light signalling system.

The track diagram is illuminated via LEDs to indicate route selection via each Tortoise power circuitry.

Three 240VAC / 7-15VDC @ 1amp transformers are employed to satisfy all requirements of the station and layout.  Each Pentroller, (being wired for common return), has its own dedicated transformer while the third serves as supply for the Tortoise Motors, (future) colour light signals and station lighting via their own rectifying/smoothing circuits.

There are three parallel sub-baseboard busbars running the length of each module.  These are common-return paths and are labelled:

1) Track feed return.

2) Solenoids return.

3) Signalling / Lighting return.

TRACK CIRCUIT LOGIC:

Track feed is derived from the turnout settings wherever possible. However, to cater for a multitude of scenarios, this was not always possible so Centre Off circuit switches are employed to achieve maximum flexibility.  Turnout switching is, therefore, only employed for the parcels bay, head shunt and Platform 3.  Arrival locomotives are held at the concourse buffers by on/off SPST switches to allow a departure locomotive access to the other end of the train.

 

ENHANCEMENTS:

Magnetic un-couplers have been strategically placed to cater for the employment of Dingham Couplings.  Permanent magnet un-couplers are located 12 inches from each buffer stop within the terminus to facilitate uncoupling of arrival locomotives.  Electromagnetic un-couplers will be located around the station throat for shunting operations.  These will be activated from a button on the control panel.

 

OPERATION:

Passenger trains are run as permanently coupled sets possessing automatic couplings at each end only.  BGs, GUVs, CCTs and other parcels vehicles possess auto couplings at each end to allow attachment to passenger trains.  Goods and some other specialist vehicles are permanently grouped, again, with auto couplings at each end.  This will facilitate some form of shunting when the layout is extended.  Harrington Street Station has no facilities for general goods stock (except mail carrying goods vans).

 

Eight trains have been created to serve the station while one, (9), serves the main running lines only:

 

1) Midland Region Stanier express set            (7 + 1 dining car)

2) Midland Region local set                             (6 vehicles)

3) Western Region Collett express set            (6 vehicles)

4) Western Region DMU                                 (3 car set)

5) Derby Lightweight DMU                              (2 car set on excursion)

6) Southern Region Std Mk1 express set        (6 + 1 buffet)

7) Southern Region Bulleid express set          (6 vehicles)

8) Southern Region Maunsell local set            (3 vehicles + 2 luggage vans

9) Universal parcels set                                   (8 vehicles)

10) Fitted goods set.                                      (20 vehicles)

11) Unfitted goods set                                    (20 vehicles)

   

Subsequent extensions to the railway have involved a 180 degree curve of 4ft-6in minimum radius on level grade, then splitting, with the down line passing under the continuous main line on the other side of the room - Phase 2.

After splitting, both lines assume a gradient of 1:68 and, again, curving through 180 degrees at 4ft-6in radius, the outside lines enter passing loops (Eardley Junction) behind Harrington Street station - Phase 3. after which, having completed one circuit of the room, they converge into the upper main line and now pass over the curving approaches to Harrington Street - Phase 4.

The upper main line continues around a 5ft radius curve and passes through a country station (Elmwood Park) before continuing its circuit and entering a central four track storage yard behind Harrington Street, (Centre tracks, Eardley Loops again) - Phase 5

To achieve main line speeds, the nominal 5ft radius tracks are enhanced with transition curves and superelevation.  Turnouts are C10s; (long C switches feeding 1:10 common crossings), operated by Tortoise slow action point machines.

Recent enhancements have involved the construction of a motive power depot (Brompton Road) pictured brand new in 2005 plus some basic detailing - Phase 6. But, as the layout was due to be re-located 250km following my impending retirement in 2011, no scenery had been attempted until now.

 

Photo Captions.

 

Most of these were taken just before dismantling for a relocation in 2012.

 

Photo 1: Small beginnings circa 1990.

Photo 2: The same view in 1995, looking theoretically west.

Photo 3: The Parcels Bay with BR Mk1 BGs (plus trapped Collett Goods engine!).

Photo 4:  Harrington Street terminus looking theoretically east from the road bridge.                                    (The closed arches were hand cut).

Photo 5:  The entrance to Harrington Street.

We now journey around the room anticlockwise -

Photo 6: Overlooking the terminus arrival/departure roads diving under the main lines above, with Brompton Road MPD to the left.

Photo 7:  Looking in the opposite direction with the MPD and lower tracks re-emerging from under the main lines.

Photo 8:  Following on we have the MPD exit far left, main lines centre about to enter Elmwood Park Station and splitting lower tracks again to our right. The crossover sets light engines from the MPD exit to the terminus.

Photo 9: Looking in the opposite direction to Photo 8 we have the main lines this side of an embryonic Elmwood Park Station and the lower split terminus lines either side.

Photo 10: Looking to our right, we see the ex-terminus lines climbing (on the left) and falling (on the right) either side of the main continuous running lines.

Photo 11: And moving to the next corner we get a view in the opposite direction.

Photo 12: Facing to our right reveals the entry/exit lines of Eardley Loops

Photo 13: We have now travelled full circle now looking back at Eardley Loops from the opposite end.

Photo 14: A view of Brompton Road MPD when new in 2005.

Photo 15: And a peek inside before benches and lockers were installed.

Photo 16: Myself at my Works - (Ashford at this juncture!).

 

 

Roger Carrell    (February 2021)