Updated 08 September 2009
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Abbey Road is a current day, London Underground, '00' scale, model railway layout.
It was featured in the 2009 British Railway Modelling Annual which can be viewed via the below links:
Abbey Road as featured in the 2009 British Railway Modelling Annual - (© BRM December 2008)
The layout features
a fictitious, split level station located somewhere in NW London on the London Underground.
The station building is based on the typical Charles Holden style sitting
over a four platform, Farringdon style station. On the station road over-bridge,
are various buildings including a yet to be opened
McDonalds restaurant and Tesco Metro store.
To the left of the station area, the tracks head south, over reverse crossovers,
passing Abbey Road signal cabin before disappearing
underground into deep tube tunnels heading towards Central London.
Rolling stock is predominantly Metromodels 1972, 1992 and 1995 tube stock in the
current day LUL red/white/blue livery. Various
heritage and engineering trains can also be seen.
Baseboard/trackwork data:-
Abbey Road under construction - aerial view - Mar 2004 (image courtesy of Ian Kirby)
The
layout is built on four plywood base-boards each
measuring 5ft wide x 18 inches deep. Each of these boards are joined together,
using brass alignment dowels and wing nuts/bolts, to form an 'end to end' layout that occupies a space of 6m x 0.5m (20ft x 18in). This
consists of a central 10 foot scenic section and two 5 foot sections at each end
which house the hidden fiddle yards.
Trackwork is Peco Code 75 Finescale which has been glued to a plywood track base and then ballasted using Woodland Scenics
‘N’ scale ballast. The ballast has been painted with various shades of brown
modellers enamel paint. The prototypical conductor rails and insulators/chairs are also from the
Peco range.
Scenery/structures data:-
Tunnel approaches under
construction - Jan 2004
Station platforms under construction - Feb 2004
The
grass is made from the now obsolete brown hessian backed carpet underlay. This has been
glued down using white PVA wood adhesive and then sprayed using various colours of
green/brown aerosol auto paint. Trees and bushes are generally Peco and also
include our own Metromodels hand made trees. Buildings are a mixture of
kits and scratch-built. The station building and signal cabin were scratch-built
using plastic sheet, clear plastic and brick paper whilst the ‘Canon’
warehouses were made using old Airfix garage kit parts together with additional
scratch-built items. The trackside retaining walls and tunnel mouths are from
the Exactoscale range of embossed engineers blue brick paper. All other
weathered brick surfaces were produced from scanned images which were then
printed onto on photographic quality paper using a PC and colour ink jet
printer. The line-side cable posts are from the ex Harrow Model Shop range
whilst the line-side section switch cabinets, the LU station name roundels and
the overhead cable gantries are by Metromodels.
Rolling stock:-
Most
of the rolling stock is from the Metromodels range of etched brass, ready to run
tube trains. These are fitted with Romford fine scale wheels set into injection
moulded plastic bogies for smooth and superb running. Battery locomotives are
from the ex Harrow Model Shop range whilst the ‘Heritage Trains’ are EFE
models. All trains are powered using Tenshodo SPUD motors and have extra weight
in the form of old roofing lead fitted to the underside of each chassis, to
ensure smooth operation. Some trains have both interior and directional
head/tail lamp lighting fitted.
When we are exhibiting the layout we try to run a variety of trains including
normal passenger trains, engineering trains, the Ever Ready tube train (see
below) and very soon 'Victoria' of Underground
Ernie © fame.
Station building and platforms - Feb 2005
Metromodels 1992 Waterloo & City Line Tube Stock - Mar 2006 (image courtesy of Ian
Turner)
Metromodels 1995 Tube Stock & graffiti 'tags'-
Mar 2006 (image courtesy of Ian Turner)
A veteran 'Ever Ready' tube train made in the 1950s is used for special workings on Abbey Road. This model was made around 50 years ago to promote the PJ996 battery. It was sold as a 3 car train set consisting of 1 motorised DM car & 2 non-motorised trailer cars which operated on a 6v DC power supply. It came complete with a battery operated controller & a circuit of track all of which was packed into a neat cardboard box. The car bodies & chassis were made from aluminium whilst the bogies were made from either white metal or tin plate dependent on whether you purchased an early or late model. Early versions came in a nice blue Ever Ready printed box but later models were supplied in a rather ugly, plain looking brown cardboard box with a small label stating what the box contained!
The
model is based on the 1930s Southern Railway Waterloo & City tube stock
albeit in the incorrect red LT livery and fitted with Bakerloo Line 'Stanmore'
destinations!
We plan to re-paint another set into the ex BR blue, white & red Network
South East livery in which the units operated, sponsored by Allied Lyons, until
their withdrawal in the early 1990s.
Unfortunately, due to it's age, the original 3 pole motor & bogies have become life expired. To enable it to run, the car bodies now sit on adapted Metromodels etched brass chassis and it is now powered by Japanese technology!
The 'Ever Ready' battery company tube train -
the first commercially made '00' scale London Underground train! - Aug 2006
'Victoria' from the Underground Ernie family of tube trains! - March 2007
Victoria is currently being converted into a working model being a cheap
childrens toy purchased for £5 on EBay!
Electrics & the control system:-
The layout is, in effect, two layouts in one. The upper level and lower level tracks are operated totally independently of each other. In normal use, two operators will control the layout, one controlling the top level and the other the bottom level. This enables us to keep the trains moving! Power & control is provided by 'Clipper', 'Duette' & 'CU1' hand held units from the H&M range of transformer/controllers. These were produced over 30 years ago and are now only available 2nd hand. More information is available via this link.
Platform building work is underway - Mar 2006
(image courtesy of Ian Turner)
Each section of track is individually powered allowing trains to be isolated via a switch as required. This is known as ‘CAB control’, a tried and tested means of operation. At busy periods trains are held in section awaiting the passage of a preceding train.
Abbey Road wins the 'Most Appealing Layout' trophy at the Farnham Model Railway
Club annual exhibition - Aldershot, Hampshire - October 2006
Abbey Road won both the 'Visitors Choice' trophy (as voted by visitors to the
show) & also the 'Pete Lindsay Shield' (as voted by the club members) whilst
exhibited at the Exeter Model
Railway Society's 2007 exhibition (image courtesy of Kevin Staddon of Exeter MRS)
Weed-killer train formed of converted 1938 Tube Stock -
Mar 2006 (image courtesy of Ian
Turner) & Schoma diesel
locomotive no. 4 - March 2007 - both built by Roger Tuke
The colour light signals are prototypical, fully operational LU signals hand made by Roger Murray Signals. They are a mix of semi automatic, automatic and junction types each having a unique signal number, including a cabin code, based on LU practice.
1992 stock waits in the platform underneath the
station over-bridge - April 2006 (image courtesy
of Aryan Snowsill)
In the late summer of 2008, we decided that the time had come to undertake a complete re-wire of Abbey Road. This was due to the increasing number of electrical faults that we were experiencing. Three of us removed all the old wiring & installed over 150 metres of new wiring in only 4 days. It is all out of sight underneath the layout - the layout runs a lot better as a result!
Re-wiring work by Roger & Howard - October 2008
Alstom Golders Green Traincare Centre's 100 year anniversary open day - June
2007
In the spotlessly clean wheel lathe workshop at London Underground's Upminster
Depot 50th anniversary open weekend - Sept 2009
Return to 'Abbey Road' Exhibition diary