"helping to keep the branch alive"
Bromyard Branch has been modelled by Mike Pagett and Chris Tate.
Mike had always wanted to build a model railway and this is his first attempt.
After early retirement the idea gathered momentum and the big question of where to put a model railway arose. Eventually a part of a bedroom was allocated as roof space was too low and not practical.
Chris helped Mike to build the base boards and covers to protect the creation from dust and grandchildren. Mike then, with much technical help and encouragement from another experienced modeller, Chris Hurley, laid the track work and wired it up in the traditional way. Digital was considered but rejected in favour of the challenge of getting to the same level of flexibility 'old tech'.
Chris Hurley is building an "N" guage layout with full DCC and computer programmed operation.
You can see photos of this layout by clicking here. We will add to these as suitable pictures come available.
Meanwhile my approach resulted in the usual forest of wiring and, for what is a quite small 'end to end' layout, a formidable array of switches and levers.
With this work done Chris Tate expressed an interest to be involved and so Friday evenings became 'Bromyard Branch' night'. Now, four years later, we have a layout that looks 'finished' to the uninitiated but we still have plans for more development.
Operation is very hands on, and intensive, due to the end to end style but makes for some really good 'playing' in between the hard work.
The book called 'The Bromyard Branch' by W.H. Smith proved to be an invaluable source of information and photographs. Without this I doubt that we could have got any where near the look that has emerged. We must have the best 'thumbed' copy of this excellent work.
The other end of the line (Worcester) was just to be a fiddle yard to sort and send trains down the branch. However, this has now been developed into a Motive Power Depot, sidings and goods yard area hopefully capturing the atmosphere of Worcester sheds while not being an attempt at modelling it accurately.
This area is currently being remodelled to include a
fully motorised turntable and an extension that allows trains to appear through a tunnel portal onto the layout.
