Hopton (For Carsington) – Henmore Dale Light Railway.

Having introduced Hopton by describing the previous layouts and, to some extent, what was wrong with them and explained the hiatus and, in my opinion, beneficial pause we come to the new layout and how we arrived at the current cunning plan. I ought to have got Andy to write this bit as after around a year of ZOOM and Messenger chats he put together a document that summarised what we had discussed and laid out some options and I am now going pick and choose from that.

• A more compact layout which we can erect without needing a large hall.
• A couple of cars to go to a show rather than a rented van.
• Skill Building. (Note 1)
• Manageable Start. If that is a success, then we build something else.
• Presentation: To include backscene and lighting.
• Coherent loco and rolling stock policy when exhibiting the layout. (Note 2)

A couple of those bullet points have notes attached as whilst we know what we mean they need a bit of amplification for the wider audience.

(Note 1): One failure of the old layout was in it progressing as our skills developed. Rather than a clean break, or update what we’d done, we’d build a new bit to our current standards/finance and life with the poor bits. Whilst what I call the poor bits were exhibitable there was a lack of consistency across the full layout.

(Note 2): We decided that, when exhibiting, the locomotives and stock on the layout should show some sort of a credible policy. The likes of the Welshpool and Leek and Manifold managed all their lives with two loco’s each and they matched their stock well. As an exhibition layout we’re always going to have more that two loco’s but in the past there was almost a competition to build the most outrageous. Then, on the layout unlikely combinations would run. Things like, for example, the full stone train with a Porter on the front when the last time it appeared in the sequence the same train needed an, equally ridiculous, 0-10-0 to pull it.

This credibility note has the proviso we can run all the silly stuff at home.

In a parallel universe Andy and I had copies of Creating Cameo Layouts by Iain Rice and had been discussing our own projects using the cameo idea. My own 0n3 layout started out in my head as a room sized project but has, with practicality applied, become a series of connected cameos (Ok, I’m still on the first one and its not connected to anything yet). What appeals is the self-contained nature with the pelmet top with lighting built in completing the presentation.

If, like me, you’ve read a lot of Iain Rice’s articles over the years you’ll have noticed him banging on about the proscenium arch idea stolen from theatre stage sets and used to focus the eye on the stage. The full cameo layout idea, and the book, is really the ultimate development of that theory.

The Route

When the definitive history of the HDLR is written it will surely detail all the considerations, meetings and minutes in account of estimation of traffic along the route but for now here is just a précis of the route and traffic.

Atlow Mill – then

The modern map above shows as well as it can that the line heads east and then north east following the course of the Henmore Brook. In Ashbourne the railway had its own terminus but also squeezed through town to interchange at the North Staffordshire Railway Station. Leaving town past the railways own engineering base the line ran along the river to Hognaston station and thence to Atlow Mill having passed a timber yard and creamery on the way. From there the line climbed another three miles to Hopton and the quarries with some short branches to individual quarries.

Atlow Mill – Now

As you can see from the modern map the top end of the line is now under the Carsington Water reservoir that was built in the 1980’s and completed in 1992. It is now a popular leisure site for walking, cycling, fishing and water sports. If the HDLR Preservation Society ever get their act together a deviation towards the visitor centre would be a must.

Railway Traffic Assessment

Goods Traffic – Ashbourne to Hopton.

• General Goods.
• Farming Supplies e.g. fertiliser. Were there private stores for local farmer’s co-operative provided at HDLR stations?
• Coal to all locations.
• Empty churns.

Goods Traffic – Hopton to Ashbourne.

• Full churns.
• Flour from Sturston & Atlow Mills.
• Logs to the saw mill at Ashbourne.
• Stone from the quarries.

Passenger Traffic.

In addition to the daily passenger service. Market Day specials could be run bringing people into Ashbourne and Bank Holiday specials taking the residents of Ashbourne out into the Dale. Plus of course the Shrovetide Football specials.

Back to some modelling.

Having read up on the history (aka written it) the potential sites were discussed in the various zoom & messenger meetings and it was decided to model the end of the line at Hopton with a branch, joining at an inconvenient angle (aka operationally interesting) and some back and forth with options arrived at a plan.

There followed some full size planning with templates and mock ups in the new modelling centre on plain wallpaper and some old boards.

Options were explored  and a few changes made to the plan.

Early on we decided that we didn’t like the flat baseboard layout and wanted some subtle changes in height.

The front edge of the layout will be cut away to give a lower level roadway and to facilitate gravity drops from rail to road. This road slopes up to and then crosses the railway to the left of the station.

The mainline to the rear and quarry line to the fore in the plan had the main line level and the quarry line falling but in planning this was changed to the quarry line climbs whilst the main line falls. Both grades are small but the two being adjacent will emphasise the difference and thus the quarry line helps hide the transition to the fiddle yard of the main line.

With a plan agreed it was time to crack on with some baseboards.

Hopton (For Carsington) – Henmore Dale Light Railway.

Those with decent memories will remember the Henmore Dale Light Railway of old. The HDLR is a might have been 2ft gauge line that ran from a standard gauge interchange in the town of Ashbourne in a generally easterly direction along the valley of the Henmore Brook towards the same stone quarries that the Cromford & High Peak served. Along the way it served a creamery and a saw mill. Now the top end of the line would be under Carsington Water.

That’s the fiction.

The HDLR was the group layout of the Trent Valley Group of the 7mm NGA and was started, using second hand boards, as focus for the group. It grew a bit like topsy and was the origin of the TVG Open Days as we had to rent a hall to be able to put the whole layout up.

It grew as our standard of modelling improved. The Ashbourne Park Road area used second hand chipboard base boards and reclaimed track. First it extended towards Ashbourne exchange and then the other leg towards Winster by which time it was using lightweight boards and hand laid track.

We last exhibited this layout at York in 2013 (just looking that up and finding how long ago it was came as a shock).

Troubles

I’ve thought a lot about whether to include this next bit or to just gloss over it but in the end I think some understanding of it its required to see the story develop.

So far I mentioned that it all got a bit big and unwieldy. What needs adding to that is a growing dissatisfaction with the layouts mixed standards. The newer bits were fine scale but the stock still had to run over the early bits and the Park Road base boards were showing their age.

Following that show personalities came to the fore and the group dynamic became awkward. One of stalwarts of the group was Tim Allsopp who, unable to work on medical grounds, both stored the layout and did lots to it. I am very wary of writing this as he’s no longer here to defend himself but the layout was more and more becoming Tim’s layout with less and less input from the group. Time would tend to do it his way, If you had a good idea he’d tell you it wouldn’t work and then have the same idea a week later and if he didn’t like your suggestion he’d just ignore it. It was an attitude that risked splitting the group up.

Sandy Lane Halt – Henmore Dale Light Railway

There followed a summit meeting where all expressed their views and a new way of working was agreed and a new layout started. This was to be the next chapter in the Henmore Saga and be a simple model of a halt further up the line.

Sadly, it wasn’t the cure we’d hoped and it wasn’t long before Tim reverted to type and the group just stopped working on it. We still met as a group and Tim was still a great friend, excellent modeller and an inspiration. We all just got on with our own things.

The dynamic really changed in 2018 when Tim was diagnosed with cancer and steadily declined. He was able to see the layout at its one appearance at the group open day in January 2019. Tim passed away in the July.

Much of Tim’s model stuff was left to the group with members acting as joint executors with his brother. The basic deal was take your pick, use what you can, flog what you can. The 2020 Open Day featured a sale of Tim’s stuff and a significant sum was raised which went to a cancer charity.

This all knocked the group for six and there had been no talk of layouts for ages then Covid hit.

Covid & the TVG.

Only a fool would suggest Covid was a good thing but in a world of predominantly unpleasant news there was an unexpected benefit – ZOOM.

The TVG used to meet monthly in the pub. Usually the Brunswick by Derby station. We used to have use of the boardroom so could bring and play with models whilst having a decent beer. The boardroom was redeveloped and whilst we’d kid ourselves it was a group meeting it was no different to meeting your mates down the pub with Tim in his usual spot leaning on the bar. It wasn’t convenient for the shift workers and the more distant members.

What happened with Covid was that the TVG met online using Zoom once a fortnight and we have continued to do that to this day. The format is much the same as a face to face meeting as we all get a beer and take the mick unmercifully but a bit of modelling gets done too. We’ve only missed something like three meets and those were when we were all doing something different on the zoom night. One member tried to restart the pub nights but it didn’t catch on.

As part of clearing all the stuff from Tim’s a members garage became the store and has now developed into a modelling space (albeit a bit too chilly just now). As the covid thing eased a few practical working meetings have been held that have further sorted the Tim’s stuff archive and to strip some of the remaining bits of the old layout for usable parts before consigning it to the tip.

On zoom the group discussed what a new layout would be like if we built one and this refined itself to when we built one and now we’ve started.

Hopton (For Carsington) – Henmore Dale Light Railway is born.

With bucket loads of hindsight Tim’s demise was a shock that hit us all. Dealing with that and the interlude forced by Covid provided the break the group needed to put the old aside and come back with fresh ideas. Without it, we’d probably not have got round to doing anything.

The first bits of the new layout will be at the TVG Members Day in Mickleover, Derby on the 28^th of January 2023.

The next instalment will, finally, get on to the new layout.

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