Project Eskalon, what is it?

This is a blog about my return to railway modelling and is called Project Eskalon. But what is it? Well Eskalon is the project name for my new layout. Why Eskalon? No idea, the name just popped into my head and it stuck. When my new layout is built Eskalon will be the name of the station, now the layout will be based in Austria and Eskalon doesn't sound terribly Germanic but its a better name than trying to make up a name. It will be my layout anyway and i can call it whatever i like!

As the project is now moving forward i have created a dedicated blog for it, some earlier posts on my personal blog have been moved here to provide some background. So then what exactly is the project...

For years i had model railways (usually OO scale but with one N scale attempt) but in my early 20s i stopped due to space reasons mostly but i kept all of my stock, track and buildings in boxes ready for a relaunch one day. When i had my own house i finally though i had the space for a new layout but it still took me 10 years to get around to it! The catalyst for returning to railway modelling is probably my return to Airfix models a couple of years ago, this got me back into the world of glue and tiny paintbrushes. In fact some of my models i made last year make up a small train (in OO scale).

I have decided upon a HOe scale layout based on the Austrian Zillertalbahn. Phase 1 of Project Eskalon will be to buy a train, a loop of track and a power controller so i can get used to operation again and also test out some layout ideas. This hopefully can begin next month. Following on from this will be phase 2 which will be a proper layout on a dedicated board and a more interesting layout.

This blog also will include my Airfix modelling where the subject is railway focussed such as the train i built last year.

HOe the way?

After planning my future return to model railways i did at least explore the possibility of an OO scale layout as in the past i have found N scale too fiddly (i am not blessed with dexterity or small fingers) however in the space available an OO scale layout is not really feasible unless i settle on an end-to-end layout and to be honest i've found them a bit dull to operate in the past.

But then reading Continental Modeller i had a revelation, why not narrow gauge? In particular HOe which uses HO stock (which is only a little bit smaller than OO) but with N gauge track! Is this the best of both worlds? Maybe. It does mean having a continental based layout though and i am thinking on one based on the Austrian Zillertalbahn but thats fine as a continental layout has always been an ambition of mine. Liliput make some lovely stock such as D13.

More research is needed but i think we might just have found the winning formula.

The continental question

The good thing about planning my return to railway modelling is that i can evaluate all of the options and alternatives, the bad thing is i have so many options and alternatives to evaluate. Reading the Continental Modeller magazine has led me to consider a mainland Europe layout. The railways of Germany, Switzerland and Austria for example look so interesting...

The problem with this of course is i have a lot less knowledge of these railways so it could easily go so wrong (but maybe thats part of the fun?). Its also rather more expensive than British layouts though not insurmountably. As nothing is set in stone yet i still have time to decide. At the moment a layout perhaps based on somewhere like Assmannshausen which i went to in the late 80s could be on the cards? Maybe this train set can start me off.

Designing my layout

At the weekend i bought some model railway layout design software to help me develop my future layout. RailModeller is a great tool which allows you to play around with layout designs using real track elements. I have not decided on what the overall theme of my layout will be yet though and have experimented with double and single loops, both with and without branch lines and shunting opportunities.

One current idea thats ticking the right boxes is a double loop mainline plus branch line layout similar to Hatton. What i plan to do is buy a trainset next month (maybe it can be my end-of-year treat) and this can help me get back into the groove. It will also help me visualise the layout i am planning especially when i build the boards. Then i shall get more track and more stock and see how we go from there.

Going N?

My model railway layouts in the past were always OO scale (apart from a brief excursion once into the smaller N gauge) but now i am planning my return to the hobby i am thinking of going with the smaller scale again despite still having my old OO gauge stock, buildings and track in boxes.

The reason is space, as in i don't have a great deal to play with. Atop my desk in the study looks to be the best place for the layout and this would allow a board of about 150x70cm. In that space i could have a basic end-to-end OO layout but it would be pretty limited. If i use N gauge however i could easily get a much more extensive loop layout with a fiddle yard. I've been playing around with a layout planning software tool and think i could just about get a double loop!

This would allow me to have the early 70s BR layout i've always wanted. Class 20s and 25s hauling freight passing a DMU... Well thats the dream and maybe next year it can become a reality.

Return to rail?

One of my major hobbies when i was a child was my model railway. I had one from about the age of 5 or 6 when i was bought a trainset for the first time (Hornby Royal Mail set with a BR blue class 37 locomotive). Until my late teens i continued with the hobby with layouts first in my parent's garage and later in my bedroom. You can see a photo of the early garage layout here.

I stuck with OO gauge most of the time though did experiment with N gauge at one stage. I lost interest in my late teens and needed the space for other things anyway. My rolling stock, buildings and track were packed away in boxes... and remain there to this day! When i got my own house i did start thinking of restarting the hobby though never quite got around to it. Well now i am thinking about it again!

While my later layouts focussed on contemporary British Rail i am now thinking of going back in time and travelling the popular track of an interwar GWR branch line. I might even do a small layout based on the line down to Stratford. I got an excellent book on this line a few weeks ago and its given me a bit of inspiration to consider recreating Wilmcote station circa 1934 for example.

In the meantime the Perry Barr turntable is still in existance, hidden away behind a fence. This is one of the last remnants of a live steam layout that once ran on the sports field next to where i worked. I've never actually seen the trains running on there but they did up until the mid-2000s i think. The track indeed was only lifted in around 2006 or 2007. I don't have any photos of the track in existence but these photos from 2008 clearly show the trackbed (this photo i took in 2004 for a Quicktime VR does show the track - just about). You can compare the turntable with the photo below (one of the two turntables was destroyed of the layout was destroyed).

Adding a crew

Apart from my OO gauge train all of my other Airfix kits are 1:72 scale... apart from my Bloodhound SAM kit which was in 1:76 scale (in other words OO scale). As i had a few spare people from that kit i decided to use them on the train. A quick and free way to get a bit of a crew. I added a crew to the locomotive and a guard to the brake van. I also gave the guard a trusty dog to help him keep watch!