There is a Guild Forum thread called Planning and Making a Layout,where Ken welcomes further discussion.

This article is to show the potential for a small, but interesting, Diesel Era layout and will help dispel the myth that ‘Modern Image’ does not work in O gauge. It is aimed at small to medium size layouts so does not include major industrial traffic flows, or heavy industry. This is basically a quick look at 36 years of modelling potential for Diesel layouts from 1958 to 1994, using Stiffkey as a starting point. 1994 to the present day will hopefully be looked at later. Many of the ideas in the text are equally applicable to other scales such as OO and N although the layout plans are designed for O gauge.

Although I mostly model the steam era(s) I have taken an interest in the current railway scene for many years. My last role working on the railway was as Signal Renewal and Enhancement Engineer for the Anglia Route. In the role I met with the Freight Manager on an ‘as required’ basis, to understand what his requirements were for any resignalling, remodelling and enhancement projects, which helped to keep me in touch with the freight scene.

My O gauge layout, Stiffkey, is a small branch terminus based on an M&GN project that did not proceed. I run a couple of periods; the early period is around 1910 and the buildings are painted for this period. The later period is subdivided into two. The first is 1950s steam. The second is 1958-61 Diesel. As some of you will be aware steam disappeared from parts of East Anglia very early, so some lines had most trains Diesel worked by the late 1950s. The Wells-next-the-Sea branch was one of the first to have a DMU-based passenger service in 1956. If the line to or through Stiffkey had it ever been built, it would probably have closed to passengers in the early 1950s, and to freight in 1964, as the line to the west of Wells-next-the- Sea did.

All the dates below are approximate as most change was gradual. Although my layout is Norfolk based, I have included rolling stock types and traffic flows from other parts of the country to make the interest wider. Some of the pictures in this article were taken on Julian Best’s layout Loch Lochy. For reference, a diagram of Loch Lochy can be found in Vol. 21 No. 8 of the Gazette. Loch Lochy - DCC Control

Let’s make the starting point 1961 and all steam has gone from the line. Most passenger services are in the hands of DMUs, with an occasional loco hauled train made up from former LNER and Mk1 stock. To add interest, a DMU can have a tail load of a four wheel parcels van for some workings. This tail load is shunted by either the pilot, which is principally there for the Harbour Branch, or by the freight loco if it is there at the time.

This gives an excuse for running a hauled passenger train, and for some shunting manoeuvres. Tail loads for DMUs varied from line to line. A two car DMU with one motor coach could only ever pull a four or six wheel vehicle. Sometimes if the route had steeper gradients, or tighter timings, then a three car unit was needed for such a tail load. An example of a short, hauled passenger train with a tail load existed on the Barnstable Branch with a Class 25, two Mk1 coaches, and three or four Fruit Ds. The mail train from Aberystwyth had a similar make up but with CCTs and BGs as the tail load.

Freight is still operated in much the same way as it was in the steam era. Cattle traffic has all but vanished from the railway, and general merchandise traffic is in decline.

Staple traffics are coal, grain and van traffic to the harbour, grain loaded in the yard, perhaps oil for refuelling ships in the harbour, seasonal fish traffic and some general traffic in vans, and open wagons in the yard. The pilot could also operate a trip working that disappears to the fiddle yard. If the layout was based in another area, and the Harbour Branch became a private siding, then milk tanks or clayhoods are other traffic that could appear.

If modelling even a minor cross-country through route there would probably have been more than one freight train. Possibly mineral, fitted and pick-up goods trains, plus others for any specialised traffic: this could include a milk train. In this period, shunters doing trip workings along the main line to access sidings were fairly common. Even some branch line freight was worked by Diesel mechanical shunters. Swaffham to Thetford and Lowestoft to Bungay are two examples of branch freights hauled by Class 03 and 05 shunters on passenger lines. 1964-65 marks a watershed as it was when many of the smaller goods yards at wayside stations closed as a result of the Beeching report.

Items that can be purchased ready to run. Various Diesels Classes 14, 17, 20, 25, 26 31, 33 and 35. Also a Class 15 if still available or secondhand. Shunters Classes 03, 05 and 08 DMUs Classes 121, 122 and 117. Others are available as kits.

Wagons include 16-ton mineral, 12-ton vans, oil tankers, conflats, 13-ton opens, milk tanks and Bolster E. Numerous other wagon types are available as kits. Some of these kits are plastic construction and easy for a novice to build.

So that is our 1961 Diesel operated layout. It can be busy with passenger moves and plenty of shunting. Trains are limited to two coaches or five or six wagons with an engine but plenty of interest. Stiffkey uses train cassettes in place of a fiddle yard or traverser.

So what would be different for the 1970s? The DMU would be in blue, or possibly blue/grey livery. Tail load parcel traffic could still be running. Hauled trains ran on a daily basis where run around facilities still existed. Some passenger branch lines had been converted to basic dead-end sidings by the late 1960s but do not make interesting models. So not much change for the passenger working probably until the mid-1980s. Tail loads continued until the early 1980s so could still be a feature of a layout.

The general merchandise traffic would have gradually disappeared altogether in the 1970s. The coal and grain traffic remain, together with some van traffic. Along with oil traffic, the fish traffic might survive into the 1980s but using Interfrigo wagons. The trip working for the pilot could become an oil tanks working, or to a fertiliser depot. Alternatively, it could be a short block working that comes into the terminus to run around to access an off stage siding.

On through lines the pick-up goods may well have disappeared as the smaller yards and less well-used private sidings closed. The number of through freight trains would also have been reduced. Those that remained would be moving towards block or train loads. A few lines retained pick-up goods trains into the 1980s.

The Cambrian Line was a good example of the pick-up goods. The train operated from Bescot usually hauled by a Class 24. It divided at Machynlleth with the loco going to Aberystwyth first then back to Machynlleth to pick up the wagons for the coast.

Traffic included:

• Coal for Welshpool, Newtown, Machynlleth, Aberystwyth, Tywyn, Llwyngwril, Porthmadog and Pwllheli.
• Oil for Middleton, Machynlleth, Aberystwyth and Pwllheli.
• Explosives in gunpowder vans from Minffordd.
• Seasonal animal feed in 12-ton vans for Welshpool, Newtown and Tywyn.

The Fakenham branch also had a pick-up goods in this era, loading coal, grain and scrap. It also had a block train of fertiliser to Dereham using bogie pallet PWA wagons.

Milk traffic was still quite extensive at the beginning of this period, with St Earth and Chard Junction being two of the places sending milk to London. Regular milk traffic ceased around 1979 with the final few trains run in 1981.

In this period the train ferries were still running, so another plausible traffic to add variety could be a single chemical tanker. Lenwade hosted these for a company based in Norwich, along with coal traffic in 16-ton mineral wagons. There was a small fenced compound on one of the sidings for the chemical tankers. Presumably Lenwade was preferred to the main yard at Norwich as there were few houses nearby and the chemical works was on the edge of the city closest to Lenwade.

The traffic has not changed much but the rolling stock has been updated. Perhaps there is no longer the variety of wagons on the freight trains. In this period of transition from vacuum-braked to air-braked wagons if there was only a daily freight, vacuum, air and unbraked vehicles could all run in the same train. Usually either vacuum or air braked stock was marshalled next to the loco, to provide a continuous braked head. This enabled the train to be classed as partially fitted and run at 45mph rather than 35mph if it was totally unfitted.

The buildings would need to be updated with a boarded-up station building and things generally appearing to be less well maintained. The signals would probably have become BR versions of the old ones. Wires formerly on telegraph poles would have been placed in concrete cable troughs.

The RTR rolling stock for this period is very similar to that of the 1960s. The main change is that Classes 14, 15 and 17 were withdrawn in 1971 and Class 35 by the mid- 1970s. OAAs and VDAs would have been taking over from 12-ton vans and 13-ton open wagons. Both these types are available RTR second-hand.

In this period tail traffic had gone, so no more shunting of parcels vans. Sprinters were starting to take over local passenger workings. Passenger trains include the possibility of using a mix of first generation DMUs with Sprinters for variety. Loco-hauled passenger trains would be rare but survived in places due to DMU shortages.

There is perhaps scope to run three or four different passenger trains. The station building may have been demolished and replaced with a ’bus shelter‘.

The line could have been resignalled with colour lights and motor points. This was a gradual process but until the 1980s the focus had been mostly on the major main lines and the commuter networks. If Stiffkey had been resignalled the signal box would have been demolished, or become derelict, and a relocatable equipment room (REB) provided to house signalling equipment. An REB is basically a small windowless Portakabin.

Apart from in a few places, wagon load freight and coal traffic did not last into this period. Coal would be in HEAs or similar and keeping the coal yard may still be plausible. There was a device that consisted of a very flat hopper and a conveyor that could be rolled under an HEA to unload it if no hopper discharge pit was available.

Items that can be purchased ready to run. Various Diesels Classes 20, 25, 26 31, 33, and 37. The Classes 25 and 27 were withdrawn in this period and 20s and 31s were becoming rare. Shunters Class 08, DMUs Classes 121, 122, and 117 others are available as kits including the 101 units which lasted into the 1990s. Sprinter units are available as kits.

Wagons HEAs coal hoppers, Presflo cement wagons, and TTA tankers are soon to be available. VDA vans, OAA opens, and IWB very wagons can be obtained second- hand. There is a wide range of kits available for air braked wagons for this period. Some are easier to build than others.

In this article I have focused on how my own layout could be updated to various periods up to around the 1994 privatisation. In the next article, I will look at the period from 1994 up until the present. My intention is to move away from my own layout and look at track plans and layout ideas in various size spaces, including using a mixture of PECO setrack and more conventional track work components.

I would like to thank Julian Best and Peter Besant of PRMRP for their help in providing pictures of models for this article.

• Freightmaster - an internet source of freight train types,terminals, timings and flows.
• Network Rail freight working timetables, for freight train timings locos loadings and flows.
• Google maps. Provides information on terminal layouts, siding lengths and hence operation.
• AnyRail which has been used to draw the layout plans.
• Traders LinksGauge O Guild website for links to traders’ web sites for modern rolling stock availability and the Wiki with its TOPS Coded Wagons Available in O Gauge.