COLCESTER LAYOUTS
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COLCESTER INTERNATIONAL: From Past to Present
By COLIN SMITH
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TRACK PLANS
Colcester Track plans over the various layouts do share one thing in common, they have centred around the fictional mainline station of Colcester and its surrounding city. But upon careful inspection there are a few more not-so-obvious things that these plans share, some of which have made their way onto the latest layout, Colcester MK3 - Colcester International.
Here are the Track plans from MK1 through to MK3 with a few notes to give you a bit of background as to what was being designed, why and what changed during construction...
Colcester MK1 (Garage Layout)
The Colcester MK1 Layout which was based in the garage at my previous Saffron Walden house was built up using the geometry of the standard set track curves, straights and standard points too, no express points. Only one piece of flexible track was used and this was for the long outside track for platform 4 (left hand track of the station on the plan) and was bent into shape with no need for cutting.
The whole layout was a big learning experience on the "do`s and don'ts" of model railway construction. One of the biggest challenges faced was the fact nothing on the board could go above a certain height or it would get damaged every time the layout was winched up to the garage roof. The winch and pulley system itself became a nightmare with constant snagging and jamming too!. The plan therefore allowed for several low relief structures, the tallest of which was a church and as you can see there are no high level tracks at all.
MK1 displays probably the best out of all of the Colcester plans the natural progression from train set to model railway.
COLCESTER MK2 - Shed Layout
A new location - a shed in the garden of the Saffron Walden house - and a new plan..!! Colcester MK2 took off quite rapidly, with a number of goals. Firstly after seeing the layout called New Annington at a Model Railway Show in London over the Easter of that year, it showed the importance of having a really big and functional mainline station, and if Colcester was a city, it deserved to be served by a station worthy of it. The main station on the first plan here an impressive 6 platforms, one of which catered just for DMU services, but all the rest would take fairly long train sets, including the latest mk4 coaches that Hornby had just released. Several of these platforms were bi-directional too and this would make for interesting use of the storage yards. This was always seen as a busy interchange station where two lines crossed and with a small Motive Power Depot placed at one end.
The other really big change was that apart from the points and a few straight sections of track, all the geometry was drawn up with flexible track in mind from the outset, this meant a lot of track cutting but the end result looked really good.
COLCESTER MK2a
As work progressed with Colcester MK2, it became apparent that the Inner Storage Yard wasn't performing as was hoped - its length was too short to keep the Class 91 trains in and we also realised that the DMU services had nowhere to run back and forth too, so the idea came up to remove the Inner Storage lines and replace it with a through line, double track, which passed through a small station, footbridge and level crossing. All of this was done and indeed scenery was commenced on it too, and it was at this point that we nearly had our first complete circuit of Overhead wires installed too, save for a couple of gaps.
This all meant that the plan had effectively become Colcester MK2a with all these changes.
COLCESTER MK2b - Never Finished
The final phase of Colcester MK2 - Best referred to as MK2b - was in fact one that was never fully realised in the end. This change of plan came about after operating the MK2a layout for about a year, and it was becoming increasingly noticeable that we had a big problem at one end of the station. On one side the tracks came in with a nice gentle curve over two 4-way switches and then into the platforms, but at the other end, despite testing before ballasting - the curves and point work were very tight with only the outer loop into platform 1 being accessible to the Class 91 and its mk4 coaches. Also the coaches were getting close too and sometimes touching the Overhead wire masts despite attempts to re-position them.
After so much scenic work had already been applied to the layout, we could however only see one way out - rip up the scenery and track and re-start the layout again. There were some positives to doing this, the layout would run more smoothly, plus we would be able to increase the length of run the trains had by taking them below the boards for a hidden storage area, and our large station could retain 4 platforms whilst hiding its true short-comings in that it will reside underneath the townscape, and we will incorporate a separate dedicated DMU branch line with station and its own hidden storage lines. It was a grand idea, and in fact a lot of features intended for this MK2b layout would eventually find their way onto the Colcester MK3 plan, like hidden storage and stations.
Removal of scenery and track started in late 1996 and was progressing, along with the required cutting out of the Sundeala hobbyboard in two corners for additional access - but things came to a full stop in April 1997 with the passing away of my Father, Brian Smith. Colcester was to lay dorment, the shed filled first with cobwebs and the trains lay forgotten in boxes. I myself moved away from the family home in 2011 but my interest in model railways had been renewed by this time, so when finally the shed reached a state where it started to fall apart, in 2015/2016, a rescue mission was started to empty it of all salvageable train items. At the time of writing in 2017, this shed now stands empty.
COLCESTER MK3 - Colcester International
And so we come right up to date with the Colcester MK3 plan - Colcester International...
Immediately you can see from this plan it caters for a variety of complicated train movements. First of all we have the two "borrowed" ideas left hanging over from the MK2b plan which consist of the main station being on a curve and partly hidden with a cityscape modelled above it. Secondly we have the hidden lower level Loop Line which will actually be underneath the top half of the plan as your viewing it, and the ramps to access them being at the bottom half of the plan. This plan also adds two new elements into the mix - there is provision on the Lower Loop Line for it to be wired to standard analogue operation and will serve as a back up power supply to the layout. The other extra element is the access to and from the outside into the garden. The house we are at here in Letchworth is blessed with nearly 40ft of rear garden, so once the shed size had been agreed upon at 12ft by 8ft, provision was made to allow for an extension into the garden - initially just double track but with the possibility to increase to four tracks. These two added items also come on top of another interesting development in railway modelling since the days of the mid to late 90`s which is the advent of Digital Computer Control, or DCC as its called. The main running tracks shown in red on the plan are all to be wired up for just DCC power, meaning all the loco`s running on them will require a command chip at some point. However for track testing and trouble-shooting they will start off powered for analogue. Provision on the plan has also been made for Overhead Wires to be installed on the scenic sections and the required clearances this needs for when the tracks go below board - the storage lines wont be wired up with overhead lines due to access issues but the trains will run through them with pantographs in the up position, so adequate height is needed, hence the long ramps as suggested on the plan.
At the time of writing in 2018, the main running boards are in place, and track laying commenced on the 16th May 2018. By the 20th May the track had been completed up to and including the two inclines needed to join up with the Upper Level.
COLCESTER 2019 UPDATE
Over the Easter Weekend 2019 it was decided to remove the gradients completely from the layout due to continued difficulties in using them. As they hinder the full operation of the layout its been decided to split Colcester into two separate levels - Upper and Lower, both running independently of each other. There will be an upper and lower storage yard which will allow for greater operation
COLCESTER 2020 UPDATE
Further alterations were carried out in early 2020 to both the Colcester South Junction and the Viaduct line, the latter was re-aligned to give a better entry into the Colcester platforms and decrease the risk of derailments. The entry/exit roads from the upper storage yard were given new points and the sharp curves were removed. The trackwork inside the shed is now complete exit for the tracks leading out to the forthcoming Garden Loop.
COLCESTER 2021 UPDATE
Further work has been done to improve the plan which includes showing the different levels, scenic changes and new track work. This also shows the improved and realigned lower loop on the DC line, and the repositioned South Junction with its new exit to the Garden Loop which formally went out from the corner of the shed behind the International Station.
MARCH 2021 REVISION
A major change to the plan, transforming it from a three circuit tailchaser to a back to back shed layout with optional outdoor running weather permitting which will add in an extended tailchaser element. This new revision will see the lower DC loop removed in favour of running fully DCC, and access to the shed greatly improved with the need to duck under boards to gain entry being removed.
The new plan has been added below...
