HISTORY OF BAMBURY SHED

Graham Heald; 17th January 2008

I had been buying 00 locos for a long time and they were just stored in a cupboard. I realised that I should really create a layout where I could have the pleasure of seeing them in operation.

About 10 years ago, Shed based layouts were beginning to appear on the exhibition scene and I liked the idea of a shed layout with the associated station, goods yard and town “off scene”.

I am a Great Western Man and have always had a preference for freight locos, so I started to look around for a suitable location for a shed layout.

Banbury fitted the bill. It was a cross-over location for several lines, allowing more than just GWR locos to appear. There were heavy freight sidings either side of the station and much iron ore traffic from Oxfordshire passed through, generally pulled by 9Fs.

Banbury location is identifiable by the location of the shed, the coaling stage, the signal box and particularly the gasometers, so these are reproduced on the layout. The turntable, however is at the wrong end of the shed and hence the name was changed to “Bambury” to ensure that it was not seen to be an exact model of the location.

The bus depot was the most southerly of the Midland Red empire and is located in Banbury.

Bambury Shed was originally built and is owned by Graham Heald. It has been extended and upgraded by club members.

It has been a regular “visitor” at the W&NW club (and it’s predecessor The Buckley and District Club) where the members have been heavily involved in the maintenance, upgrading and operation of the layout when on exhibition.

BAMBURY SHED  depicts a semi fictitious location during the transition period between the old steam locomotives and the new diesel fleet. The steam locomotives are almost invariably dirty and badly looked after, which is the way that most of us remember them!

Top Row:  Bambury Shed Front/ with dent layout behind/ general view/

Middle Row - General Views of the layout

Bottom Row - The town area

Below - Developments at the Shed end of the layout - a new scenic board with a 90 deg curve into a 6ft traverser has been added. The same arrangement will be constructed for the town end to provide for 6 coach trains on the main line.

Bambury in its original form at the Bishops High School Exhibition in Chester in November 2004

Photos - John Rutter

Bambury under development in the Neston Clubrooms February 2008

Above: Scenic work under way on the tunnel board. The first 2 pictures show club members applying the covering layer and the third picture shows the end result awaiting detailing.

Above and Below:  views of the Locomotive Maintenance shed. The building is still under construction but has been positioned to check the fit and appearance. The view bottom right shows the completed area 27th March 2008

The signal box and the repairs to the damaged wall

LINK TO VIDEO OF TESTING ON BAMBURY SHED

Overview of the layout from the Shed end

Updated 6th April 2009

LINK TO SECOND VIDEO OF TESTING ON BAMBURY SHED

Thursday 27th March - Bare Baseboards with the canal cut out and foam sections being fitted for scenic levels.

Thursday 17th April - lock in place and scenics well in hand

Thursday 17th April - Woodyard in place and detailing in hand

Thursday 17th April - still bare boards on the back side of the tracks

Thursday 10th April - base of the canal in place and scenic structures under way. Lock assembly in place.

Thursday 24th April - Detailing on the front of the board complete and scenic work commencing on the back side of the tracks. When complete it will be possible to see through the canal bridge under the railway to the next set of locks.

All pictures - John Rutter

Bambury at Leigh 27 & 28th October 2008. Photos by Chris Manners and John Rutter

The ‘New’ Fiddle Yard under construction on 4th November 2008 in the clubdooms at Neston. The far section and both curved sections have been reused from the Skelwith Junction layout, making the job a lot easier and quicker. Some modifications have been required to the wiring.

Panorama of the layout in the clubrooms. The ‘N’ Gauge layout of ‘Dent’ is beyond Bambury

All photos - John Rutter

During transit to the exhibition at Crewe in January, the layout suffered significant damage due to the failure of a racking support member  in the trailer. The turntable board dropped on to the shed board, punched the turntable upwards out of its mountings and scraped the scenery on the shed board. The layout was ‘fixed up’ before the show and operated without turning the locos. On return to the club, it was found that the surface boards under both shed boards were life expired and a decision was taken to strip the track, make new baseboards and relay with hand-made track. This work is well under way as the pictures show.

Bambury Shed repair work: Below, photos taken on 10th Sept 2009 show; L to R; John Vacher contemplating wiring using the compulsory chocolate digestive to aid thinking; New track outside the shed; the LH end board attached to allow joining of the scenery; the potato crop has grown. - all pics John Rutter

Below - progress on 2nd June 2009; L to R; Chris fitting hand made points; pointwork round the turntable (2 pics); new pointwork on the roads behind the shed.