Beacombe in the Sunny South!
Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2024 9:10 pm
Beacombe is the first layout I've built after a hiatus of over 40 years away from the hobby. In fact it's the first layout ever, all my others as a young teenager were very much in the 'train set' category.
Beacombe is a small seaside town somewhere between Southampton and Bournemouth and the DC layout is set in the mid-60s with electrification almost complete. I run the usual Waterloo expresses, normally hauled by Mr Bulleid's finest (these are a mixture of Hornby, kit and one partially scratch) and there's a 4-CEP that appears sometimes on proving trials. Alongside this are various summer specials from other parts of the network together with a busy goods yard.
It's all very much a work in progress and there'll be plenty to do this winter. First will be laying third rail followed by finishing the scenery on top of the tunnel. Much of the layout looks deliberately down at heel, and I'm trying to capture the feel of the dying years of steam. Taw Valley especially is in dreadful cosmetic condition and much as she looked shortly before withdrawal.
Hope you like it and I'd welcome any ideas as I'm very much a returning beginner to this. It's all nostalgia fuelled and I've always found something melancholically attractive about the slow decay in the 1960s.
Beacombe is a small seaside town somewhere between Southampton and Bournemouth and the DC layout is set in the mid-60s with electrification almost complete. I run the usual Waterloo expresses, normally hauled by Mr Bulleid's finest (these are a mixture of Hornby, kit and one partially scratch) and there's a 4-CEP that appears sometimes on proving trials. Alongside this are various summer specials from other parts of the network together with a busy goods yard.
It's all very much a work in progress and there'll be plenty to do this winter. First will be laying third rail followed by finishing the scenery on top of the tunnel. Much of the layout looks deliberately down at heel, and I'm trying to capture the feel of the dying years of steam. Taw Valley especially is in dreadful cosmetic condition and much as she looked shortly before withdrawal.
Hope you like it and I'd welcome any ideas as I'm very much a returning beginner to this. It's all nostalgia fuelled and I've always found something melancholically attractive about the slow decay in the 1960s.
