Scarborough to Hull Railway
12th October 2021 - Recreating a railway
I decided that I wanted a railway to run through my track, partly for sentimental reasons, partly because it is a link between the two main tracks which I'm featuring, and partly just because I wanted more movement and variety within the layout.
The Wolds Coast line which runs from Scarborough through to Hull, travels through the low ground at the bottom of Olivers Mount, and also through a cutting right behind Hunmanby Raceway nine miles away, just as it will on my layout.
The line was built in 1846, though it would be another year before it was properly completed. The delay was "due to the more difficult terrain which it had to pass through" on the section between Filey and Bridlington, according to the official brochure. More specifically, I reckon most of that difficult terrain was the section which is right at the back of Hunmanby Raceway, running for a mile or so. We saw it for ourselves when we went to the Autograss meeting on Sunday, and it's a heck of a cutting.
The line managed to avoid the swathing cuts brought about by the Beeching report of 1963, and is now marketed as a scenic coastal and wolds route. Since I'd used the line between Hunmanby and Scarborough on a daily basis at one time, it seemed the obvious choice for inspiration, and in some ways an essential addition.
Gallows Close
But several problems presented themselves when I looked into this as a possibility. Firstly, trains are confusing to me, often working to the guage of the track rather than clearly stating the actual scale. Secondly 1/32 scale trains are big, very big. They are so big that even a small passenger train would start to dwarf the limited stretch of line I have. Finally, as well as being big in size, they also have price tags to match.
Perhaps there will come a time when I might consider extending the railway, and maybe then I'll consider the expenditure worthwhile. But for now, I have to consider the alternatives.
So instead of the passenger trains I'd initially imagined, I decided to use some much smaller shunters, based in a goods yard.
As it happens, Scarborough had a goods yard called Gallows Close, which operated from 1899 to 1985. The goods yard joined with the Scarborough line through a tunnel close to the main station. So this seemed ideal, since my railway track will have a tunnel at one end and a locomotive or goods shed at the other.
1/32 Scale
Then I found a company called Bowaters Models, who make a range of kits, clearly labelled as 1/32 scale, and quite reasonably priced.
Their models might not be as intricately detailed as others, but for the moment they are perfect for what I want, and should this work out as well as I hope, then the details can always be added later.
Bowaters Models
The two shunters above are the Ruston & Hornsby D88, and the Baguley Drewry 162hp Diesel Hydraulic. I can't decide which one I prefer.
But since both will be controlled by the LocoRemote system, which can control multiple locos from a tablet or mobile, I guess I could have both.