Elkington-On-Sea

Enfield Town Model Railway Club

Members' layouts

- Elkington-On-Sea - by Roger Elkin -

The availability of the new Bachmann 0n30 single deck 4-wheel streetcars inspired this layout - a 7mm scale narrow gauge (0-16.5) British seaside tram layout. This has been built by Roger Elkin with help from other Club members and friends. The picture on the right shows one of the trams as bought.

There are currently seven tramcars available for use on the layout. These include two single deck enclosed cars, a toastrack car with a roof and open sides, an open top double deck car, a works car, and a coal carrying tram (based on one used in Huddersfield.) The trams are all adapted from the Bachmann American street cars. Some only require minimal alterations as several British tram systems had similar cars in the early 1900s, some of which had quite long lives.

The double deck, coal and works cars needed more extensive rebuilding, but still retain the basic Bachmann chassis. The most recent addition to the fleet is a fully enclosed double deck car based on a Rawtenstall Lancashire car that was rebuilt in the 1920s. This was made from laser-cut plywood parts produced from my own drawings. Again a Bachmann mechanism and truck has been used. Both double deck cars use Terry Russell castings for the stairs and seats. All cars are fitted with home-made bow collectors which automatically reverse direction at the end of each journey. These are used to pick up current from the overhead wires (supported by Terry Russell traction poles) for the lighting on the passenger cars. This enables the lights to stay on even when the tram is stopped. Conventional 2-rail pick-up is used for the traction current and this also supplies the power for the directional headlights, as on the original Bachmann models.

The baseboards have been built from plywood - 7ft long and 15 inches wide, designed to be easily portable by one person and to fit into the back of a Ford Fiesta. The front edge of the baseboard forms the sea wall of a seaside promenade, with a double track running most of the length of the layout. There is a turn-back crossover at one end and a single track "fiddle yard" siding at the other. Entry to the fiddle yard is screened off by a high level pier entrance. The track has all been hand-built with code 100 rail on copper clad sleepers. Wide sleeper spacing has been used, hidden by the road surface.

Although Bachmann cars are normally on the layout, there are also likely to be occasional visiting cars with coarser wheel standards, so rather than use correct scale grooved rail, a "check rail" has been laid alongside the running rail to give the appearance of grooved rail, while accommodating a variety of flange depths.

Although it is only a small layout with a simple track plan, dividing the track up into relatively short electrical sections which can be isolated separately enables up to five cars to be run on the layout. A small "fiddle yard" enables cars to be swapped over out of view of the public. The layout is controlled by one hand held controller. This enables the operator to walk along the length of the layout with the controller. The isolating switches are all located on a track diagram at the fiddle yard end of the layout. The points are all sprung loaded and arranged to send the trams automatically along the correct route on the double track or over the crossover when reversing. The road surface has been completed using Metcalfe '00' gauge embossed card cobble stones and printed tarmac surfaces.

The background includes low relief rock and gift shops, hotel, cafe, amusement arcade, lifeboat station, theatre, coach tours booking office and other seaside features. Interior details have been included in the shop windows, hotel and amusement arcade, and the theatre has a working clock - permanently showing summer time! Scenic features on the promenade include the life-boat, ice cream stall, tea bar, Punch & Judy show and a man with a glowing cigarette. Illuminations with coloured and flashing lights have been installed along the promenade. A particularly eye-catching feature is the flashing "Fish & Chips" sign on the restaurant.

There are about 150 people on the layout, including tram passengers and crews, with over 20 seagulls flying around and resting on the various structures (with appropriate droppings represented!!!) The layout first appeared in June 2001 and since then has made over 25 exhibition appearances. The layout continues to prove popular with the public. See Exhibition Diary for forthcoming exhibition bookings for this layout.

Some useful information for exhibition managers can be found by clicking here

revised 7th Oct 06