Bydemill at 1

Posted byTrevorPosted inAchievable Layouts, Great Western Railway in 7mm scale, GWR Bydemill (Highworth), Layouts I have designed or built, Philosophy, Shout Out
The daily goods train arrives at Bydemill.

If the measure of one’s hobby happiness is in the progress one makes, then I’m extremely happy. This weekend marks the one-year anniversary of starting Bydemill – my 7mm scale layout depicting a Great Western Railway branch line terminal in the Edwardian era. I know I can build layouts quickly when I put my mind to it, but even I am surprised by how much I’ve accomplished in just 12 months.

I had a head start. I was able to reuse some benchwork framing from my aborted Southern Pacific layout – although I lowered the shelf and substantially rebuilt it to make it thinner. And I had been acquiring GWR locomotives and building coaches wagons for several years before embarking on this journey. But still – I’ve gone from an idea to a fully functional and mostly scenicked layout in short order.

Several factors contributed to the rapid progress.

It definitely helped that I chose the simple, four-turnout track plan and rural location of Highworth. This was a wise move for a first-time British modeller, because it posed no trackwork challenges and minimal need to understand GWR station design practices: I simply straightened the Highworth plan to fit on a shelf. It worked for the real GWR, and it’s working for me.

(In fact, this raises a good design lesson that applies to any model railway: If you want to make a layout more interesting to operate, remove track and turnouts. That’s counterintuitive in a hobby where “more” is thought to equal “better”. But fewer tracks means operators must plan their work more carefully to avoid shunting themselves into a corner.)

As it was at Highworth, the Bydemill cattle pen is located right on the switch that completes the loop track (runaround). That’s something no modeller would ever dream of doing – a separate spur would be more likely – but it absolutely makes operating sessions more interesting.

I also embraced reliable and ready to use PECO track components. I’m sure many UK-based modellers of specific prototypes have their reservations about PECO’s appearance. The turnout geometry is a little wonky, and details such as chair design and sleeper patterns may not match how a chosen prototype did things. But I’m so far away from the UK – it’s easier to express the distance in time zones (currently, GMT -7) – that I’m not intimately familiar with how it was done on the real thing. And the prototype modeller in me can’t believe I’m saying this, but… I don’t care. I can live with the discrepancies – especially since the PECO track got me up and running in about two days and has proven 110% reliable.

Attention to paint and weathering makes PECO track look pretty good, I think. The coal merchant’s bins are empty and his workers need to get those wagons unloaded – as soon as I paint their tools.

While the layout is inspired by Highworth, I’m also glad I did not attempt to model that location faithfully. For one thing, Highworth was laid out on a curve and would not fit on a straight shelf. But it also allowed me to employ off the shelf items like working Dapol signals to speed construction, and incorporate elements that didn’t exist in reality – like an exquisite kit for a water crane, and a relocated bridge to disguise the entrance through the backdrop.

I’ve also been able to reuse components from previous layouts – mine and others – and this saved heaps of time. For example, the trees – planted in the last few days – are from my Port Rowan layout. Even more significant: I was fortunate to have a person who has become a good friend donate some absolutely spectacular structures to the effort. (Thank you again, John!) Two of those structures – the station and signal box – feature in the lead photo. The third – a lovely goods shed – is below:

I’ve also been fortunate to receive some invaluable assistance from friends in the UK, including (but not limited to) Simon and Terry. Thanks guys: Bydemill wouldn’t be the joy it is without your help and encouragement. Thanks also goes to my friend Brian in southern Ontario, who invited me to join the crew to exhibit his GWR Roweham layout. This experience rekindled a long-dormant 7mm scale fire and Bydemill is a direct result of Brian’s generosity.

I bought the 517 Class loco and build the coaches to run on Brian’s layout. The coaches never got their chance to serve Roweham but now make regular station stops at Bydemill.

I look forward to Bydemill, Year 2. I need to better plant some scenery elements – for example, by adding ground cover around the bases of trees and structures. Then there’s more scenery to create – plus many more details to build, paint, and place on the layout, starting with the rodding for switches and signals. There’s also an interlocking lever frame to install, once my friend Mark completes it.

And I plan to enjoy many more operating sessions – solo and with friends. In fact, I think I’ll start Year 2 with a session right now.

Published by Trevor

Lifelong model railway enthusiast and retired amateur shepherd who trained a border collie to work sheep. Professional writer and editor, with some podcasting and Internet TV presenting work thrown in for good measure.